Peninsula and Seven Days

Often cited as one of the most decisive campaigns in military history, the Seven Days Battles were the first campaign in which Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia—as well as the first in which Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson worked together. In this guidebook, the acknowledged expert on the Seven Days Battles conducts readers, tourists, and armchair travelers through the history and terrain of this pivotal series of Civil War battles. Maps and descriptive overviews of the battles guide readers to key locales and evoke a sense of what participants on either side saw in 1862. From the beginning of George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, which culminated in the Seven Days, to the bloody battles that saved the Confederate capital from capture, this guide unfolds the strategies, routes, and key engagements of this critical campaign, offering today’s visitors and Civil War enthusiasts the clearest picture yet of what happened during the Seven Days.

“[The Peninsula and Seven Days], which uses the battlefield itself as a tool for analyzing what took place there, will be of great value to those seeking to understand this pivotal epoch of the war.”—Steven E. Woodworth, author of Shiloh: A Battlefield Guide, “As with many engagements during the Civil War, some of the problems for commanders on the Peninsula developed as a direct result of their unfamiliarity with the local terrain, and understanding the contemporary landscape is fundamental for grasping the 1862 battles fought over the Virginia peninsula. For this purpose, Burton has produced an easy-to-use, well-organized, and thorough guide to a complex campaign.”—Barton A. Myers, Journal of America’s Military Past

Brian K. Burton is a professor of management, associate dean of the College of Business and Economics, and MBA program director at Western Washington University. He is the author of Extraordinary Circumstances: The Seven Days Battles.