
47: Bull Run, Trent Affair, the Merrimack, & Fort Donelson: The Early Days of the Civil War
History That Doesn't Suck
00:00
The Battle of West Virginia
Confederates had already cut the vital B&O rail line and control the main train station at Grafton. Union forces want it back. Enter George B. McClellan, a West Point graduate and Mexican-American war vet. He spends June and July chasing the 4,500 poorly armed Confederates out of Northwest Virginia. But with sick men, an overly complicated plan, and 45 days of near-constant rain that turns the Appalachian mountain passes into mud slicks, Bobby fails.
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