at the beginning of 1862, president abraham lincoln wanted his generals to attack in force against the confederacy. major general george b. mcclellan was massing his army for his peninsula campaign with the goal of capturing the confederate capital of richmond, virginia and ending the war. to do this mcclellan had to weaken his forces protecting washington, d.c.. this left only two union forces to protect washington. besides banks in the shenandoah valley, general irwin mcdowell had forces in northern virginia. banks was to clear the shenandoah valley of confederate forces, then move up towards washington so mcdowell's force of 30,000 could move against richmond from the north.