General George B. McClellan marched three brigades of Federal troops into position along nearby Roaring Creek and on July 10, 1861, ordered a strong scouting party up this road to test the Camp Garnett defenses. Withering infantry and artillery fire from the Confederate fortifications convinced McClellan that a direct attack was folly, so he instead plotted to strike Camp Garnett from two directions. "I have been looking at the camps with my glass - they are strongly entrenched..." George McClellan