alternatehistory.com

26 June

After much debate, it is decided that the United States ironclads should attack Gosport. This would, so the theory goes, aid substantially in regaining control of the Chesapeake area - and it would also destroy one of the two Confederate squadrons (the other being on the rivers).
It is also observed that, of the other options, sending ironclads up the Potomac would split force (not considered a good idea) and attacking the British would be similar to attacking the Confederacy with the additional problem that the British could retreat out to sea after a battle - good if it opens the Chesapeake, but not so good if the Confederate Navy can outflank the Union ironclads with a few fast gunboats - or bring the Virginia back down.
There are further arguments, and the matter is not settled, but the orders are cut - the US ironclad squadron is to run past or neutralize the guns of Hampton Roads, engage the Confederate navy and destroy it, and to shell Gosport.


A report of the Ordnance department is requested in Congress by Clement Vallandingham (D-OH). The report is duly read out, laying bare the state of the Union's military logistics - in summary, not good.
Gunpowder is becoming extremely scarce, with resupply not being able to be provided on time in many cases, and the Ordnance Department is starting to draw up plans to request gunpowder back from forts and magazines to which it has been distributed - thus allowing them to prioritize.
There are effectively no spare long arms in the country that are available to be issued. The greatest windfall in the last two months was a blockade-runner from Belgium which carried 4,000 new rifles, and which escaped British inspection by hiding them inside the substance of the ship itself (though this necessitated severe damage to the ship to extract the rifles).
The artillery situation is marginally better in that artillery is still being produced in quantity, though the requirements are extensive - among other things, the Army of Lake Champlain and the Army of the St Lawrence (the latter a misnomer as it is currently on the Black River some miles to the south, and is having to work hard to avoid being pushed further south) keep losing artillery to long ranged, accurate British counter-battery fire. Part of the problem for Union artillery, in turn, is that the gunners are forbidden from practicing due to the powder shortage.

Once the report has been read, Vallandingham makes the forceful point that the Union is not in a fit state to keep fighting. He has long held that the Union has no right to keep the states of the Confederacy from seceding - now he reiterates this, and adds that the Union clearly does not have the ability either.
This time, he is not shouted down - the stark facts are hard to argue with - but the mood (or hope) of Congress is that things will get better soon.


27 June

Lee's skirmishers run into McClellan's line in the early afternoon. This information is communicated back to Lee's two main wings, and he has them concentrate to prepare for an assault.
He also sends a messenger back to Leesburg, with a simple instruction - 'Launch operation as previously specified'.

Ignorant of this, McClellan abandons a plan for a division to cross the Conococheague and march south, using it as a shield against the main Confederate concentration while attempting to manoeuvre against Lee's logistics. While he has swelled his ranks with nearly every infantryman able to make it to the battlefield in time, he still wants to retain a reserve - and the Conococheague plan, while offering the chance for a fairly major victory, would mean committing his last reserves.

The Mississippi's return to the Atlantic shipping lanes nearly ends in disaster, when she fires a shot across the bows of a British paddle steamer only to be met in reply by a dozen cannonballs and shells - she has run into the HMS Great Eastern (which looked closer than it was!), and only a hasty disengagement at maximum speed (and the Great Eastern's schedule to keep) saves her from a nasty end to her encounter with the auxiliary vessel.
(Once the danger is passed, the Mississippi's captain remarks that the Great Eastern in such a configuration would make a stunning blockade runner!)