What is Siege of Yorktown (1862)?
{{Infobox military conflict |image=Battle of Yorktown, Pursuit sketch.png{{!}}border |caption=''Pursuit of the flying rebels from Yorktown Sunday morning.''<br>[[Alfred R. Waud]], artist. |partof=the [[American Civil War]] |conflict=Siege of Yorktown (1862) |date= April 5 – May 4, 1862 |place=[[York County, Virginia|York County]] and [[Newport News, Virginia]] |result=Inconclusive |combatant1= {{flag|United States|1861|size=23px}} ([[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]) |combatant2= {{flag|Confederate States|1861|size=23px}} |commander1=[[George B. McClellan]] |commander2=[[John B. Magruder]]<br/>[[Joseph E. Johnston]] |strength1=121,500<ref name=Sears24>Stephen W. Sears, ''To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign'' (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1992), p. 24</ref> |strength2=35,000<ref>John S. Salmon, ''The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide'' (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001), p. 76</ref> |casualties1=182<ref name=K90>''The Civil War Battlefield Guide'', 2nd Edition, ed. Frances H. Kennedy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998), p. 90</ref> |casualties2=300<ref name=K90/> |campaignbox= |}} The '''Battle of Yorktown''' or '''Siege of Yorktown''' was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the [[Peninsula Campaign]] of the [[American Civil War]]. Marching from [[Fort Monroe]], [[Union Army|Union]] [[Major general]] [[George B. McClellan]]'s [[Army of the Potomac]] encountered Maj. Gen. [[John B. Magruder]]'s small [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] force at [[Yorktown, Virginia|Yorktown]]. McClellan suspended his march up the [[Virginia Peninsula]] toward [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] and settled in for [[siege]] operations. On April 5, the [[IV Corps (Union Army)|IV Corps]] of [[Brigadier general]] [[Erasmus D. Keyes]] made initial contact with Confederate defensive works at Lee's Mill. This was an area McClellan expected to move through without resistance. Magruder's movement of troops back and forth convinced the Union that his works were strongly held. As the two armies