Union general Phil Kearny was nearly shot or captured when he wandered into a Confederate skirmish line at Glendale

The Union battle north of the Glendale crossroads was led by Phil Kearny, a one-armed Army regular and one of the Army of the Potomac's best generals. The area's topography was complicated and heavily forested. Kearny overstepped his bounds when conducting reconnaissance in the Confederate tree line during a pause in the action. A young officer who approached him and said, "What shall I do next sir?" made this clear. Kearny observed that there were numerous enemy skirmishers there in the woods. Why do what you have always been instructed to do, do dammit you! Kearny replied sharply. The officer, mortified to have received such condemnation from a superior, did not question Kearny further as the quick-thinking New Jerseyan slipped back to his own lines.

After the Seven Days Battles concluded, speculation that Kearny might succeed McClellan spread across Washington. However, on September 1, 1862, Kearny was shot dead at the Battle of Chantilly after a similar scouting encounter went wrong, putting an end to the whisperers.