Virginia Peninsula

The Peninsula refers to the Virginia Peninsula, a spit of land bounded by the York and James Rivers, Hampton Roads, and the Chesepeake Bay. It offers an approach to Richmond.

In 1862, US General George McClellan landed the Army of the Potomac on the Peninsula, and marched on Richmond. However, he marched slowly and timidly, and was repulsed by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, which he outnumbered, despite multiple opportunities to defeat the Confederates decisively.

Eighty years later, US General Daniel MacArthur and Commodore William Halsey thought to duplicate the Peninsula Campaign, moving much more aggressively than McClellan. However, the technology of the Second Great War made the Peninsula much more defensible, and the campaign most likely would have been disastrous. The plan, which MacArthur did not intend to submit to the General Staff, was betrayed to that body by General Abner Dowling, and the Staff forced MacArthur to abandon it.