By the final week of June 1862, the Union army lay east of Richmond on both sides of the flooded Chickahominy River as General George B. McClellan planned to move within artillery range of the city, while Confederate leader Robert E. Lee was determined to drive him away even at the cost of a major battle. With a fractured nation watching and wondering whether the war might end in the summer of 1862, Lee made a bold gamble on June 26, temporarily dividing his available force into three separate commands and launching his first attack as commander of the Confederate army from this area. Six days later, McClellan's army had been driven 25 miles across country to the banks of the James River, and his retreat ended hopes for an early conclusion to the war.
