To help replace the Army of the Potomac’s losses, the president gave McClellan control of the Fort Monroe garrison, from which the general promptly summoned nine regiments. In addition, reinforcements from Baltimore and Washington, as well as another division of McDowell’s corps from Fredericksburg, were rushed to augment the army on the Peninsula. From North Carolina, 7,000 men of Burnside’s division were assigned to McClellan’s command. But two divisions of McDowell’s corps were left in the Valley to deal with any potential threat from Jackson, whose whereabouts were unknown. Because those units did not join him, the Young Napoleon characteristically complained about lack of support: “Honest A has again fallen into the hands of my enemies,” he exclaimed to his wife, “& is no longer a cordial friend of mine!” To be sure, Lincoln had on June 15 told him that he could not forward Shields’s division because it “has gotten so terribly out of shape, out at elbows, and out at toes, that it will require a long time to get it in again.” But McClellan was well furnished with troops. On April 1 he had 158,419 on his rolls (including McDowell’s corps and Blenker’s division), and on June 20 he had 156,838. The loss of Blenker and McDowell’s 45,000 troops had been made up by the replacements.
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃