Big Guns in the Tidewater: Yorktown’s 1862 Siege

As Maj. Gen. McClellan advanced up the Peninsula toward Richmond, Confederate Maj. Gen. Magruder responded with a bold defensive strategy—constructing three dams along the Warwick River to create flooded barriers and transforming Yorktown and Gloucester Point into a “Gibraltar of the Confederacy.” This program explores the photographs, people, and events that defined an often overlooked chapter of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.

A compelling look at the Tidewater defenses that tried to stop McClellan’s march—brought to light through historian Owen Lanier’s fresh research and powerful imagery.