The battle of Seven Pines occurred in Henrico County, Virginia. This battle was also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks.

The bloody two-day battle was fought on the doorstep of the Confederate capital. It was the first major combat in the Eastern Theater since Bull Run/Manassas almost a year earlier, left more than 11,000 casualties in its wake, and cost the primary Southern field army its commander. The possession of Richmond hung in its balance. Yet, almost nothing has been written about Seven Pines/Fair Oaks. Victor Vignola’s Contrasts in Command: The Battle of Fair Oaks, May 31–June 1, 1862, which focuses primarily on the Fair Oaks portion of the battle, is a major contribution to the historiography of the war. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan marched his Army of the Potomac up the Virginia Peninsula during the early spring of 1862 and placed his inexperienced IV Corps at the tip of the spear south of the flood-prone Chickahominy River. McClellan’s opponent Joe Johnston took the opportunity to strike and crafted an overly complex attack plan for his Virginia army to crush the exposed corps. A series of bungled marches, piecemeal attacks, and a lack of assertive leadership doomed the Southern plan. One of the wounded late in the day on May 31 was Johnston, whose injury led to the appointment of Robert E. Lee to take his place—a decision that changed the course of the entire Civil War. Vignola’s use of primary and archival sources, many of which have never been used, helped craft a wholly original tactical and leadership study that directly challenges conventional accounts. His stunning reassessment has led to renewed interest in Fair Oaks and the acquisition of a significant parcel of land by the American Battlefield Trust. Contrasts in Command: The Battle of Fair Oaks, May 31–June 1, 1862, will be hailed as one of the most important tactical studies ever published.

In the spring of 1862, Union Major General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac launched a bloody offensive up the Virginia Peninsula in an effort to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. This study chronicles the pivotal but often overlooked turning point of the Peninsula Campaign--the Battle of Fair Oaks, also known as Seven Pines. At Fair Oaks, Confederate troops succeeded in driving back Union forces from the edge of Richmond before the Union troops stabilized their position. Though both sides claimed victory, the battle marked the end of the Union offensive. Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, and Winfield Scott Hancock all rose to national prominence for their roles at Fair Oaks, while McClellan saw his reputation ruined. In the end, the legacy of Fair Oaks is one of missed chances and faulty execution, ensuring the war would continue for nearly three more years.

This account of McClellan’s 1862 campaign is “a wonderful book” (Ken Burns) and “military history at its best” (The New York Times Book Review). From “the finest and most provocative Civil War historian writing today,” To the Gates of Richmond is the story of the one of the conflict’s bloodiest campaigns (Chicago Tribune). Of the 250,000 men who fought in it, only a fraction had ever been in battle before—and one in four was killed, wounded, or missing in action by the time the fighting ended. The operation was Gen. George McClellan’s grand scheme to march up the Virginia Peninsula and take the Confederate capital. For three months McClellan battled his way toward Richmond, but then Robert E. Lee took command of the Confederate forces. In seven days, Lee drove the cautious McClellan out, thereby changing the course, if not the outcome, of the war. “Deserves to be a classic.” —The Washington Post