June 30, 1862---The Seven Days' Battles: Day Six (The Battle of Glendale)

JUNE 30, 1862:           

The Seven Days’ Battles (Day Six)---The Battle of Glendale (The Battle of Frayser's Farm; The Battle of Frazier’s Farm; The Battle of Nelson's Farm; The Battle of Charles City Crossroads; The Battle of New Market Road; The Battle of Riddell's Shop).   

As with all the other Seven Days’ Battles, Robert E. Lee's battle plan was overall poorly executed. Nevertheless, Lee was able to exploit McClellan's timidity to win the day.

Confederate troops were slowed by trees felled by Union troops intent on obstructing the Charles City Road. The Grays hacked a new road through the thick woods in an action sardonically named the "Battle of the Axes". 

An attack on Malvern Hill, the left flank of the Union line, was delayed. 

Fighting near White Oak Swamp was desultory (The Battle of White Oak Swamp) and became a fruitless artillery duel, but the Confederates failed to cross the river in pursuit of the fleeing Federals. 

Confederate attempts to advance were repulsed by artillery fire and by Federal gunboats on the James River. 

Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, and visiting Confederate President Jefferson Davis were conferring on horseback when they came under heavy artillery fire.

The assaults made under Longstreet's overall command, turned out to be the only ones to follow Lee's order to attack the main Union concentration. They assaulted the disjointed Union line of 40,000 men north and south of the Glendale intersection, but the brunt of the fighting was centered just west of the Nelson (or Frazier) Farm.

Despite Stonewall Jackson’s stunning victories in the recent Valley Campaign, Jackson's contributions to the Seven Days’ Battles were marred by slow execution and poor judgment throughout.

In sum, Lee failed to achieve his objective of preventing the Federal escape and crippling McClellan's army, if not destroying it. His disorganized handling of the Seven Days’ Battles could have ended in disaster for the South, but his errors were nullified by McClellan’s steadfast refusal to join battle in earnest.   

 

McClellan, for his part, was now comfortably headquartered on a vessel in the James River, far from the front and had witnessed none of the fighting; but he wired the War Department: "My Army has behaved superbly and have done all that men could do. If none of us escape we shall at least have done honor to the country. I shall do my best to save the Army." 

He also requested 50,000 reinforcements. 

Union casualties in the Battle of Glendale were 3,797 (297 killed, 1,696 wounded, and 1,804 missing or captured). Confederate casualties were 3,673 (638 killed, 2,814 wounded, and 221 missing).