南方保卫首都

在任何战争中，对方的首都历来都是重要的战略目标，攻占对方的首都通常也就意味着战争的胜利。在美国内战中，北方希望能够迅速占领南方位于维吉尼亚州的首都雷切蒙德。此时北方军非常强大，在华盛顿周围驻守有25万大军，这支波托马可军团由麦克莱伦将军指挥，这是北方最强大，也是训练最好的军队。本周，我们就在麦克莱伦军团向雷切蒙德进军的途中向你报道。

在内战的第一年，这支波托马可军团没有投入战斗。麦克莱伦将军为他的未采取行动而辩护，他说，他有一个计划，同时，他的军队在没有准备好之前是不会采取行动的。他的计划是将他的军队通过船只沿波托马可河而下，进入无人防守的切萨皮克海湾，然后在雷切蒙德东面的维吉尼亚海岸登陆。

亚伯拉罕.林肯总统希望能够占领南方的首都，但他并不完全同意麦克莱伦将军将他所有的军队全部向南方首都进军的计划，因为这将使华盛顿处于无人防守的境地。麦克莱伦试图消除林肯的恐惧，他说，一旦他率军向南方首都进发时，驻守在盛顿周围的南方军就会迅速撤退去保卫他们自己的首都。

1862年3月17日，波托马可军团出发了，在两个星期内，已经有五万多人到达了雷切蒙德东南的门罗军事要塞（Fort Monroe），这五万人配备了一百门大炮和大量的炮弹。一天天过去了，北方军队在门罗军事要塞越聚越多。麦克莱伦将军决定迅速攻占约克镇，然后向雷切蒙德进军，他将沿着约克河和詹姆士河之间的狭窄地带前进。然而，他很快就发现，他不能如期按计划向前推进，因为春汛迅速使得原本干燥的道路变得非常泥泞，人是可以过去，但他们所携带的大炮却无法行进。麦克莱伦将军决定等待，因为他不想在没有这些大炮的情况下进攻约克镇。

林肯总统对此非常不满意，他给麦克莱伦发去一封信，林肯说：“你必须立即进攻，你必须采取行动。”但麦克莱伦仍然在等待。到他的重型装备完全到达并进入指定位置后，南方的军队已经撤离了，他们撤到了威廉斯堡外面的森林地带。麦克莱伦向他们发起追击，他的军队第一次投入战斗。这场战斗非常激烈。这里的森林非常茂密，以致双方的军队都很难看到对方，士兵们冒着硝烟、枪炮声向他们前进中所遇到的一切开火，他们的目标很广，大约有四千名士兵阵亡。

根据麦克莱伦向华盛顿的报告，麦克莱伦声称在约克镇和威廉斯堡取得了巨大的胜利，然而，他错了。麦克莱伦认为南方在雷切蒙德的军队要远比他的军队多，他要求更多的援军和装备。事实上，南方在雷切蒙德的军队要比他少得多，但南方军队摆开阵势，给人感觉好像军队很多似的。这一假象欺骗麦克莱伦。到1862年5月中旬，麦克莱伦的军队距雷切蒙德只有15公里，但仍然没有向雷切蒙德发起进攻，他仍然在等待更多的军队和装备。

南方的总统杰斐逊.戴维斯正在担忧，他知道南方军要比北方军少得多。戴维斯的军事顾问罗伯特.李将军向他提出了一个计划，李将军建议，让斯通威尔.杰克逊（Stonewall Jackson）将军率领他的部队向维吉尼亚州的雪兰多山谷（Shenandoah Valley）进发，北方军将会发现南方军的移动，并会感受到华盛顿将受到威胁，这样会使本准备向雷切蒙德增援的北方军队将留在华盛顿附近，不再增援麦克莱伦。戴维斯总统同意了李将军的计划，他向杰克逊下达了命令。

斯通威尔将军是南方军中最优秀的将领之一，他是一位非常强有力的领导人，他能让他的士兵一直冲锋，直到倒下为止。在1861年夏的布尔朗战役中，他获得了“石墙（斯通威尔）”的称号。当时，南方军正在撤退，有一位南方军官试图阻止他的士兵向后撤，他要求士兵们向杰克逊学习，站住，并投入战斗，他嚎到：“杰克逊就站在那，他就像一堵墙一样。”现在杰克逊所面对的是在雪兰多山谷周围的三支强大的北方军队，然而，他的攻击很凶猛而且非常迅速，并很快就控制雪兰多山谷中的主要城镇。杰克逊的这次战役仍然是世界各军事院校的经典案例，这次战役是如何率领军队向他们最需要的地方进攻的最优秀案例。

杰克逊的这次袭击起到了罗伯特.李将军所想要的效果：华盛顿中的每个人立即就担心南方军会进攻华盛顿，巴尔的摩和附近的一些城市的军队担心华盛顿的安全，同时，林肯总统派遣数千人的军队去追击还在雪兰多山谷中的杰克逊，而不再是去帮助麦克莱伦进攻雷切蒙德。在雷切蒙德城外等待的北方军队在奇克哈默尼河（Chickahominy River）驻扎。奇克哈默尼河是一条小河，有好几个地方很容易过河。当麦克莱伦还在等待进攻雷切蒙德时，大雨来临了，这条小河很快就上涨了。在雷切蒙德城中的南方指挥官看到了这一点，认为这是一次粉碎麦克莱伦军团的机会。

上涨的河水将很快把北方军分割成两部分，一旦这成为现实，那么南方军就将发起进攻，南方军希望能够消灭一半北方军。这个计划似乎很完美。在南方军发起进攻的头几天，南方军似乎就要取得胜利了，但在这条河上还有一座桥，北方士兵仍然能够过河。南方军队被迫撤离到原先的位置，什么也没有得到，却有11000人伤亡，在众多受伤的人中，有一位是整个南方军的指挥官――乔.约翰斯顿（Joe Johnston）将军。罗伯特.李将军因此接替了他的位置。

李将军没有浪费时间，他要将北方军从雷切蒙德赶走。不过，他首先要获取大量的敌方信息，他派一位年轻的指挥官――杰布.斯图尔特（Jeb Stuart）去搞情报。斯图尔特带领一千骑兵出发了，他们沿着北方军营地四周巡查，三天后，他们带回了报告，李将军知道了他所要攻击的位置。这将是著名的“七日战役”中一系列战斗的第一战。

李将军抓住了一次大机会，他将主力运动到他现在所知道的北方军防线最薄弱的右侧，他在麦克莱伦面前只留下数千人的部队。李将军希望他的计划能够蒙骗到麦克莱伦，因为如果麦克莱伦一旦识破他的计划，发现在他面前只有数千人的部队，那么，麦克莱伦就将很轻松地通过这数千人的防守而攻占雷切蒙德。在斯通威尔.杰克逊部队的帮助下，李将军的计划开始行动了。麦克莱伦真的被蒙骗了。经过一天惨烈的战斗后，麦克莱伦被迫撤离这一地区。

李将军追击麦克莱伦，他们先后在梅卡尼克斯维尔（Mechanicsville）、白桦沼泽地（White Oak Swamp）等地遭遇，并最后在莫尔山（Malvern Hill）彻底击败了麦克莱伦。南方军获得了“七日战役”的胜利，北方军对南方首都雷切蒙德的威胁结束了，南方邦联得以挽救。但这次胜利的代价却非常沉重，有二万多南方士兵伤亡。南北双方很快就意识到，内战所付出的代价远远超过任何人的想象。

简评：

可悲而又可恨的麦克莱伦，根本就不懂军事！

由麦克莱伦，使我想起了赵括，完全是一个纸上谈兵的人。林肯将北方最强大的军队交给这样的人指挥，难辞其咎。

South Defends Its Capital

In any war, the enemy's capital city is an important target. To capture the enemy's capital usually means victory. In the American Civil War, the North hoped for a quick victory by capturing the southern capital at Richmond, Virginia. Northern forces were strong enough. There were about one hundred fifty thousand Union soldiers in and around Washington. General George McClellan led this Army of the Potomac. It was the biggest, best-trained and best-equipped of the Union armies. This week in our series, we report on McClellan's move against Richmond.

For the first year of the Civil War, the Army of the Potomac did not fight. General McClellan kept making excuses for his failure to act. He had a plan, he said. And he would not move until he was sure his men were ready. McClellan's plan was to put his army on boats in the Potomac River. They would sail down the river to where it emptied into the Chesapeake Bay. Then he would land the boats on the coast of Virginia, east of Richmond.

President Abraham Lincoln wanted to capture the Confederate capital. But he did not like the idea of moving all of McClellan's men. That would leave the city of Washington without protection. McClellan tried to calm Lincoln's fears. He said that as soon as he marched toward Richmond, any Confederate soldiers near Washington would withdraw. They would be needed to defend their own capital.

The Army of the Potomac began to move on March seventeenth, eighteen sixty-two. Within two weeks, more than fifty thousand had reached Fort Monroe, southeast of Richmond. They were equipped with one hundred big guns and tons of supplies. Day by day, the Union force at Fort Monroe grew larger. McClellan had planned to move quickly to Yorktown, then push on to Richmond. He would move along the finger of land between the York River and the James River. He soon learned, however, that he could not move as quickly as planned. Heavy spring rains had turned the dirt roads into rivers of mud. McClellan's men could push through. But there was no way they could bring their big guns. McClellan decided to wait. He did not want to attack Yorktown without artillery.

President Lincoln was not pleased. He sent a message to McClellan. "You must strike a blow," Lincoln said. "You must act." But still McClellan delayed. By the time his artillery had arrived and was in place, Confederate troops had withdrawn. They moved to the woods outside Williamsburg. McClellan chased them. For the first time, his army went into battle. The fighting was strange. The woods were so thick that the two sides could not often see each other. Soldiers fired at the flash of gunpowder, at noises, anything that moved. Their aim was good enough. About four thousand soldiers were killed.

In his reports to Washington, McClellan claimed great victories at Yorktown and Williamsburg. Yet he was worried. He believed the Confederate force around Richmond was much larger than his. He demanded more men. The Confederate force was, in fact, much smaller than the Union force. But it was deployed in a way to make it seem much larger. The trick fooled McClellan. By the middle of May, eighteen sixty-two, his army was only fifteen kilometers from Richmond. Still, he did not attack. He continued to wait for more men and equipment.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis was worried. He knew the Confederate army was smaller than the Union army. Davis' military adviser, General Robert E. Lee, offered a plan. Lee proposed that General Stonewall Jackson lead his army up Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The North would see the move as a threat to Washington. Union troops would be kept near Washington, instead of being sent to Richmond. President Davis agreed. Orders were sent to Jackson.

Stonewall Jackson was one of the South's best generals. He was a forceful leader. And he could make his men march until they dropped. He got the name "Stonewall" at the Battle of Bull Run in the summer of eighteen sixty-one. Southern soldiers were withdrawing. A Confederate officer tried to stop them. He urged them to follow Jackson's example, to stand and fight. He shouted, "There stands Jackson -- like a stone wall."  General Jackson faced three large Union forces in and around the Shenandoah Valley. Yet he struck hard and fast, and soon had control of the valley's main towns. His campaign is still studied at military schools around the world. It is considered an excellent example of how to move troops quickly to where they are most needed.

Jackson's raids produced the exact effect Robert E. Lee had wanted. Everyone in Washington feared an immediate attack on the city. Soldiers were hurried to the capital from Baltimore and other nearby cities. And President Lincoln sent thousands of troops to chase Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, instead of helping McClellan at Richmond. The Union army outside Richmond was deployed on either side of the Chickahominy River. The Chickahominy was not a big river. It could be crossed easily at several places. While McClellan waited to attack the Confederate capital, heavy rains began to fall. The little river began to rise. The commander of Confederate forces in Richmond saw this as a chance to smash a large part of McClellan's army.

The flooding river would soon cut the Union force completely in two. When that happened, the Confederates would attack. They expected to destroy at least half of McClellan's army. The plan seemed good. And after the first few hours of battle, the Confederates were close to victory. But one bridge remained over the Chickahominy River. Union soldiers were able to cross it. The Confederates were forced to withdraw to their earlier positions. No ground was gained. And more than eleven thousand men were killed or wounded. Among the wounded was the commander of all Confederate forces, General Joe Johnston. General Robert E. Lee would take his place.

Lee wasted no time. He wanted to push the Union army far away from Richmond. First, however, he wanted more information about his enemy. He sent a young officer -- Jeb Stuart -- to get it. Stuart set off with more than a thousand men on horseback. Theirs was a wild ride around the edge of the Union army. When they reported back three days later, General Lee knew exactly where he would attack. It would be the first in a series of battles known as the Seven Days Campaign.

Lee took a big chance. He moved most of his men into position to attack what he now knew was the weak, right side of the Union line. He left only a few thousand men to defend Richmond. He hoped the Union commander, McClellan, would be fooled by this plan. For if McClellan discovered how few men were left behind, he could smash through easily and capture the city. With the help of Stonewall Jackson's army, Lee's plan worked. McClellan was fooled. And after a day of fierce fighting, he was forced to withdraw from the area.

Lee chased McClellan for a while. They clashed at such places as Mechanicsville, White Oak Swamp, and finally Malvern Hill. The South won the Seven Days Campaign. The threat to Richmond was ended. The Confederacy was saved. But victory came at a terrible price. Twenty thousand Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded. As both the North and South were learning quickly, the Civil War was becoming more costly than anyone had imagined.