Richmond a Hard Road to Travel (1862)

SOURCE: “Richmond a Hard Road to Travel, or, The New Jordan”

An annotated look at an epic parody:

1.	By 1862, the Army of the Potomac was well into a long (and unsuccessful) campaign to capture the Confederate capitol at Richmond and bring an early end to the war.This epic parody of “Jordan Is a Hard Road” documents Summer 1861 – Fall 1862 of that failed campaign.
2.	Gen. Irvin MacDowell Manassas (First Bull Run) Gen. Stonewall Jackson Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard Gen. Joseph Johnston
3.	“Woolly-Horse” = John C. Fremont, a.k.a. “The Pathfinder” “the Valley” = Shenandoah Valley, a fertile farmland route to Richmond Battle of Cross Keys = Fremont Vs. Jackson “Commissary Banks” = Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks, so-called because Jackson captured so much of his supply depot at Manassas Junction that the confederate soldiers felt they were being drawing supplies from Banks himself!
4.	USS Galena = experimental US ironclad USS Monitor = first US ironclad Drewry’s Bluff USRC Naugatuck
5.	Gen. McClellan Thaddeus S. C. Lowe‘s Balloon Corps McClellan’s Peninsular Campaign Battle of Williamsburg Gen. Longstreet Gen. A.P. Hill
6.	Gen. Pope = Lincoln’s next pick to lead the Army of the Potomac! Pope famously said to his troops: “I desire you to dismiss from your minds certain phrases, which I am sorry to find so much in vogue amongst you. I hear constantly of “taking strong positions and holding them,” of “lines of retreat,” and of “bases of supplies.” Let us discard such ideas. The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy is one from which he can most easily advance against the enemy.” Within a month Pope was retreating from 2nd Bull Run, and Lincoln sacked him. “seceder” = Battle of Cedar Mountain = Jackson forced Union forces to withdraw from the Shenandoah Valley
7.	Gen. Burnside “rebel slaughter pen” + “2nd Waterloo” = Battle of Fredericksburg
8.	Next to fail would be General Joseph Hooker.