Civil War Dispatch by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan

Major General George B. McClellan

An interesting telegraph dispatch by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, commanding the Union forces during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. This order was issued as the campaign had almost ended, in a humiliating Union defeat, as the aggressive Gen. Robert E. Lee emerged, and beat back the numerically superior but tactically timid McClellan. The order directs Maj. Gen. Erasmus Keyes, who had earlier in the day been ordered to hold at Yorktown, to "send all you have of Rushes [sic] Cavalry by land to Ft. Monroe" at the base of the Peninsula. The cavalry in question was the 6th Regiment of Cavalry (70th PA Volunteers), the so-called "Rush's Lancers." Docketed on the reverse as a telegraph dispatch, with a content summary. A terrific and scarce Civil War item. Wartime field orders of any sort are hard to find, as most were not retained. From Heritage Collectors Society.

Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Penn.), Fri., 30 October 1885

Labels: 6th Regiment of Cavalry, 70th PA Volunteers, Civil War, Heritage Collectors Society, Major General Erasmus Keyes, Major General George B. McClellan, Peninsula Campaign of 1862, Pennsylvania, Rare Document