The Army of the Potomac

This lithograph details the Union army’s supply wagons and soldiers retreating down the Virginia Peninsula during the Seven Days Fight, a series of battles fought between June 25 and July 1, 1862. Once Major General George McClellan’s attempt to take the Confederate capital of Richmond had failed, his army was forced back to the James River. Bachelder, a New England artist, here emphasizes the scale of the Union forces with long lines of horse-drawn wagons and infantry platoons waiting to ford Bear Creek. A steep fissured bank challenges the descending wagons, several of which have foundered. At left and right drummers wade across the stream and fusiliers pull cannons up the bank. In the foreground, infantrymen rest around a campfire near two cavalrymen who survey the scene. Bachelder traveled with the army, and his military sketches were described by Union General John Caldwell as "by far the most accurate of any I have ever seen."