Lead
- The passage starting "The background of the battle was McClellan's ambitious plan to launch his Peninsula Campaign and eventually take Richmond" seems to me clumsily worded, and we don't say which peninsula we are talking about. Perhaps "The Seven Days Battles were the climax of the Peninsula Campaign, during which McClellan's Army of the Potomac sailed around the Confederate lines, landed at the tip of the Virginian Peninsula, south-east of Richmond, and struck inland towards the Confederate capital. Confederate commander-in-chief Joseph E. Johnston fended off McClellan's repeated attempts to take the city ..." Then you don't need to clarify "Seven Days Battles" again later in the paragraph.
- "took up positions on the hill on June 30 in preparation for the battle, which began the following day" you can end this sentence at "June 30" in my opinion
- "McClellan himself" don't need "himself"
- "having boarded the ironclad USS Galena and sailed down the James River" why?
- "Confederate preparations were hindered by several mishaps. Bad maps and faulty guides " perhaps improve the flow a tadge by substituting an emdash for the full stop in the middle here.
- @Cliftonian: (one of two pings) Not sure what you mean. I see a short sentence in front of a snaky one; joining them makes snakezilla. Am I understanding this correctly?• Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 03:38, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
- It is not clear here what side Armistead was on. Ditto Hill.
- artillery fire by who? three successive infantry charges by who? the Confederates or the Union?
- I think "exchange of artillery fire" entails both sides, or is it not as clear as I think? Plus I added the word "Confederate" twice, but worry if that's too repetitive. Tks
- Ah, I missed "exchange". Cheers — Cliftonian (talk) 01:31, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
- "Lee withdrew to Richmond to prepare for his next operation, as the action on Malvern Hill ended the campaign on the Peninsula." don't think you need this.
- "and thereby suffer heavy casualties" I think this is a run-on and would do better as a separate short sentence. The sentence before it is very good.
Background
- "developed an ambitious plan to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital, and the Virginian Peninsula" I think the main priority was Richmond as opposed to the whole peninsula. I would stop at "to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital", and mention the Virginia peninsula for the first time at "to the tip of the peninsula at Fort Monroe".
- Virginia Peninsula or Virginian Peninsula? We have both. I think either is okay but be consistent.
- Why not link Lincoln?
- "spy its church spires" I think "spy" and "spire" sound unfortunately similar. perhaps change "spy" for a synonym or change "spire" for "steeple"
- "By May 30, he had begun moving troops" McClellan?
- General Lee, one of my own personal favourites, is not wikilinked here.
- "was the only clear Confederate victory during the Seven Days" but we haven't yet introduced the Seven Days in the body of the article.
- we have both "Union Army" and "Union army". be consistent with capitalisation
- "Nevertheless, on June 30," I'm not sure "Nevertheless" is needed. I think "On June 30" would do just as well.
- I believe sandwiching prose between an image and a quote box, as we have here under "Geography and location", is against MOS (see WP:IMGLOC). I would recommend putting the box in the centre as in the background section at Shangani Patrol, either at the start or the middle of the section (the end, I think, has a good peroration that is worth retaining as we go on to the prelude).
- I removed the map. We may have from one to four more maps coming onto the page soon, and that map didn't really add much anyhow IMO. Tks. • Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 01:58, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Rather good so far; the prose is a little choppy in places but also has some great turns of phrase I enjoyed. More later. — Cliftonian (talk) 23:57, 11 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Prelude
- Perhaps substitute an image of Lee that shows him more or less the same size as McClellan and Porter next to him. As we stand he looks a bit small. — Cliftonian (talk) 01:28, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
- Third try for an image now, with Lee not such a wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie. Unfortunately, however, now Porter has that undesirable flaw in scale.• Lingzhi ♦ (talk) 02:16, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
- I've subbed another one that is both more contemporary to the battle and more appropriate size-wise. I hope this is okay. — Cliftonian (talk) 23:51, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Prelude, continued
- "and his fear of being cut off from his supply depot[17] left him cautious and wary." why this citation in the middle of the sentence rather than at the end?
- "So, on the night of June 28" You don't need "So"; just "On the night of June 28" would do just as well
- "McClellan announced to his generals his intentions to move his army" perhaps "McClellan told his generals that he intended to move his army"
- Fitz John Porter is wikilinked in the image caption but not in the prose itself. Perhaps wl in the prose too.
- "from which Lee's forces were expected to attack" careful regarding POV. perhaps "from which the Federals expected Lee's forces to attack" or similar.
- "Having recently come" when? a few hours before? a few days before?
- Harrison's Landing is wikilinked at the second mention but not the first. reverse
- "Western Run—an area necessary for the planned movement of his forces to Harrison's Landing—where he feared an attack might come" he feared an attack might come at Western Run or at Harrison's Landing? The first, right? The mention of Harrison's Landing between the two emdashes also creates ambiguity in the next sentence ("As a result, he posted the largest portion of his army there"). Since we've already said this was the penultimate stop before Harrison's Landing, perhaps change to "Western Run—an area necessary for the final leg of his planned movement—where he feared an attack might come" or something like that, to make clear we're still talking about Western Run.
- "Despite saying that his army was "in no condition to fight without 24 hours rest" and praying Lee's forces might leave his army alone that day,[23] McClellan left his troops at Malvern Hill and traveled downstream aboard the ironclad USS Galena towards Harrison's Landing on the north bank of the James River to inspect his army's future resting place there." This is a very long sentence. I would trim "towards Harrison's Landing on the north bank of the James River to inspect his army's future resting place there" down to "towards his army's future resting place at Harrison's Landing."
- "McClellan did not give the command of the troops to any person" perhaps "McClellan did not delegate an interim commander" or similar
More soon — Cliftonian (talk) 23:51, 12 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Prelude, continued
- "led Lee to conclude that the men of the Army of the Potomac were demoralized and retreating" perhaps just "led Lee to conclude that the Army of the Potomac was demoralized and retreating"
- spacing of initials: A. P. Hill but D.H. Hill? Is this deliberate?
- Can't find anything in MOS; assume a space. Done.
- "rimming" oh my.
- Oh my indeed! A sex act was going to be mention at some point; I should have known.
Changed to "fringing". --ceradon (talk • edits) 01:51, 15 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
- Rest of the section is very well done and the map is helpful.
Battle
- The quote box at the top right is labelled as a message from Lee, but then attributed beneath as from Colonel Chilton. I understand that this is explained in the prose but it will still probably confuse people. This message wasn't really from Lee, as I understand it—we say "it is quite unlikely that Lee saw and approved such a vague and poorly drawn order". Presumably, then, Lee just gave Chilton the gist of what he wanted and the colonel composed the actual message, which was still presented as from Lee? I would clarify this.
- We have already wikilinked Darius Couch higher up.
- footnote d has no inline citation in it.
- Are the cannons in the picture here Federal or Confederate pieces? Or just decorative reproductions?
- I can't find a source ofr whether or not it's the actual cannons or not. --ceradon (talk • edits) 17:57, 15 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
- "Lt. Haydon supposedly fell asleep" who? Northerner, presumably?
Down to Magruder's charge. Very good work, I must say. More later. — Cliftonian (talk) 01:36, 15 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
Battle, continued
- "Magruder was told to move to Huger's right." by who?
- He was told at that morning's council. Done.
- Perhaps add to the caption of the map here that the Confederates are in red and the Federals in blue (the lay reader may get confused by the Southerners being in the northern positions and vice versa).
Aftermath
- "In fact, one veteran of the War wrote" who? Union or Confederate? Officer or enlisted man?
- Removed that whole thing. Unnecessary.
- Sneden, who made this map, was a Union private, presumably? I would make this 100% clear
- "Lee, with Stonewall Jackson, met President Jefferson Davis" perhaps "Lee and Stonewall Jackson met President Jefferson Davis"
- I'd move the "Gunboat candidate" picture to the right. On my screen it forces the section header beneath over to the middle of the page in a rather unsightly manner.
- "continuously being reassigned" don't need the word "being"
- In the caption, perhaps substitute "McClellan is depicted as saying:" for "The dialogue box reads:"
I hope this helps. Thanks for the great read. — Cliftonian (talk) 02:23, 20 August 2015 (UTC)Reply[reply]
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