Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection open for research .

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material.

Preferred Citation

W. Roger Smith Civil War Research Collection, 1862 (SC 0084), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

W. Roger Smith, Midland, TX

Alternative Form Available

None

Accruals

1995.0046

Processing Information

Emily Hershman, 27 June 2011

Historical Information

From its organization in July 1861, the Army of the Potomac remained the primary Union military force in the East, confronting General Robert E. Lee's (1807-1870) Army of Northern Virginia in a series of battles and skirmishes. In the early years of the Civil War, however, the Army of the Potomac suffered defeats at the Battle of the First Bull Run in 1861, the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, as well as the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. Historians attribute its initial lack of victories to poor leadership from a succession of indecisive generals: Irvin McDowell (1818-1885), George McClellan (1826-1885), Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881), and Joseph Hooker (1814-1879).

When General George Meade (1815-1872) took command of the Army of the Potomac in June 1863, he was successful in pushing the Army of Northern Virginia out of Pennsylvania following the Battle of Gettysburg. General Ulysses S. Grant's (1822-1885) headquarters were located with Meade's forces for the duration of the War, and he advised Meade to continually attack the Army of Northern Virginia despite heavy casualties among his troops. Though Meade lost large numbers of soldiers at the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor in 1864, they were ultimately successful in weakening Southern forces and morale, contributing to the Confederate surrender of April 1865. The Army of the Potomac disbanded at the conclusion of the Civil War.

Scope and Content

The W. Roger Smith Civil War Research Collection consists of photocopies of regimental histories and New York Times newspaper articles discussing the early campaigns of the Army of the Potomac assembled by W. Roger Smith (n.d.) of Midland, Texas. It includes reports and correspondence of General George McClellan, as well as memoirs and eyewitness accounts of nurses and soldiers. The newspaper articles are dispatches from the Army of the Potomac, discussing skirmishes in Harpers Ferry and southern Loudoun County throughout 1862.

Arrangement

Folder

Related Material

None

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Other Finding Aid

None

Technical Requirements

None