George B. McClellan

George B. McClellan
December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885
George B. McClellan, portrait by Mathew Brady, 1861
Nickname	Little Mac, the Young Napoleon
Place of birth	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Place of death	Orange, New Jersey
Allegiance	United States of America
Years of service	1846 – 1864
Rank	Major General
Commands held	Army of the Potomac
Battles/wars	Mexican-American War American Civil War: • Peninsula Campaign • Maryland Campaign
Other work	1864 Democratic candidate for President, Governor of New Jersey

George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was a major general during the American Civil War. While not necessarily a supporter of the abolition of slavery, his aim above all was to preserve the union of the United States, the consequence of which was the abolition of slavery. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly (November 1861 to March 1862) as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Early in the war, McClellan played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army for the Union. His policies helped weed out unqualified soldiers and officers and provided a more efficient means of leadership selection. Although McClellan was meticulous in his planning and preparations, these attributes are said to have hampered his ability to challenge aggressive opponents in a fast-moving battlefield environment. He chronically overestimated the strength of enemy units and was reluctant to apply principles of mass, frequently leaving large portions of his army un-engaged at decisive moments. He was also routinely late to attack, often missing the prime opportunity to strike at his more vulnerable foe.

McClellan's Peninsula Campaign of 1862 ended in failure, retreating from attacks by General Robert E. Lee's smaller army, failing in the planned seizure of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. His performance at the bloody Battle of Antietam blunted Lee's invasion of Maryland, but allowed Lee to eke out a precarious tactical draw and avoid the destruction of his army, despite being highly outnumbered. As a result, McClellan's leadership skills during battles were questioned by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who eventually removed him from command, first as general-in-chief, then from the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln famously quoted, "If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time." Had not Lincoln removed McClellan, some historians believe he would have become an American Napoleon Bonaparte.

Early life and career

McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a prominent surgical ophthalmologist, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. His mother, Elizabeth Steinmetz Brinton McClellan, was the daughter of a leading Pennsylvania family. The couple had five children: Two girls and three sons. As a child, McClellan was a precocious student and attended private schooling. In 1840, at 13 years old, McClellan entered the University of Pennsylvania, to study law. After two years, he changed his academic goals. With the assistance of his father's letter to President John Tyler, McClellan was accepted by the United States Military Academy. The academy waived the normal minimum age of 16 years old by two years. He graduated in 1846, second in his class of 59 cadets. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Mexican War

Following graduation, McClellan's first assignment was with a company of engineers formed at West Point, but he soon received orders to sail for Mexico and the Mexican-American War. He arrived near the Rio Grande River in October 1846, well prepared for action, carrying a double-barreled shotgun, two pistols, a saber, a Bowie knife, and his dress sword. Despite these preparations, he arrived too late to take part in the American victory at the Battle of Monterrey. During a temporary armistice, McClellan was stricken with dysentery and malaria, which hospitalized him. The malaria would recur in later years—he called it his "Mexican disease." He recovered sufficiently and served bravely as an engineering officer, subjected frequently enemy fire. He was brevetted to first lieutenant following the Battle of Contreras and Battle of Churubusco and then to captain after the Battle of Chapultepec, but his reputation for performing reconnaissance missions for Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott was overshadowed by the more daring engineering captain, Robert E. Lee. Under Scott, McClellan also served with future Confederate General, Pierre Beauregard. During the war McClellan built his reputation based on his talents in engineering.

Peacetime service

McClellan returned to West Point to command his engineering company, but he chafed at the boredom of peacetime garrison service, although he greatly enjoyed the social life. In June, 1851 he was ordered to Fort Delaware, a masonry construction on an island in the Delaware River, 40 miles south of Philadelphia. In March, 1852 he was ordered to report to Capt. Randolph B. Marcy at Fort Smith, Arkansas, as second-in-command for an expedition to discover the sources of the Red River. By June the expedition reached the source of the north fork and Marcy named a small tributary McClellan's Creek. Upon their return July 28, they were astonished to find that they had been given up for dead. A sensational story had reached the press, that the expedition had been ambushed by 2000 Comanches and slaughtered to the last man. McClellan blamed this on "a set of scoundrels, who seek to keep up agitation on the frontier in order to get employment from the Govt. in one way or other,"

In the fall of 1852, McClellan published a manual on bayonet tactics that he had translated from the original French. He next received an assignment to the Department of Texas, ordered to perform a survey of Texas rivers and harbors. In 1853 he participated in the Pacific Railroad surveys, ordered by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, to select an appropriate route for the upcoming transcontinental railroad. McClellan surveyed the northern corridor along the 47th and 49th parallels from St. Paul, Minnesota to the Puget Sound in Washington territory. During this assignment, he demonstrated a tendency for insubordination toward senior political figures. Isaac Stevens, governor of the Washington Territory, became dissatisfied with McClellan's performance in scouting passes across the Cascade Range. (McClellan selected Yakima Pass without a thorough reconnaissance and refused the governor's order to lead a party through it in winter conditions, relying on faulty intelligence about the depth of the snowpack in that area. He also neglected to find three greatly superior passes in the near vicinity, which would be the ones eventually used for railroads and interstate highways.) The governor ordered McClellan to turn over his expedition logbooks, but McClellan steadfastly refused, some believe because of embarrassing personal comments that he had made throughout.

Following these events, McClellan returned East. There he began courting Ellen Mary Marcy (1836 – 1915), daughter of his former commander. She refused McClellan's first proposal of marriage, one of nine that she received from a variety of suitors, including McClellan's West Point friend, A.P. Hill. Ellen accepted Hill's proposal in 1856, but her family did not approve and Hill withdrew as her suitor.

In June 1854, McClellan was sent on a secret reconnaissance mission to Santo Domingo at the request of Jefferson Davis. McClellan assessed local defensive capabilities for the secretary. (The information was not used until 1870, when President Ulysses S. Grant attempted unsuccessfully to annex the Dominican Republic.) Davis was beginning to treat McClellan as a protégé, and his next assignment was to assess the logistical readiness of various railroads in the United States, with the intent of planning the first transcontinental railroad. In March 1855, McClellan was promoted to the rank of captain and assigned to the 1st U.S. Cavalry regiment.

Because of his political connections and his mastery of French, McClellan received the assignment to be an official observer of the European armies in the Crimean War in 1855. Here he experienced firsthand the tactics of warfare employed by the English and French against their Russian foes. Traveling widely, and interacting with the highest military commands and royal families, McClellan observed the siege of Sevastopol. Upon his return to the United States in 1856 he requested assignment in Philadelphia to prepare his report, which contained a critical analysis of the siege and a lengthy description of the organization of the European armies. He also wrote a manual on cavalry tactics that was based on Russian cavalry operations. A notable failure of the observers, including McClellan, was that they neglected to explain the importance of the emergence of rifled muskets in the Crimean War, and how that emergence would require fundamental changes in tactics to prepare for their common usage in the American Civil War.

The Army adopted McClellan's cavalry manual and also his design for a saddle, the "McClellan Saddle," which he claimed to have seen used by Hussars in Prussia and Hungary. It became standard issue for as long as the U.S. horse cavalry existed and is currently used for ceremonies.

Civilian pursuits

George B. McClellan and Ellen Mary Marcy McClellan

McClellan resigned his commission January 16, 1857, and capitalizing on his experience with railroad assessment, became chief engineer and vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad when he was only 30 years old. In 1860, then 32 year old McClellan became the president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. He performed well in both jobs, expanding the Illinois Central toward New Orleans and helping the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad company recover from the Panic of 1857. But despite his successes and lucrative salary ($10,000 per year), he was frustrated with civilian employment and continued to study classical military strategy assiduously. During the Utah War against the [[Mormons, he considered rejoining the Army. He also considered service as a filibuster in support of Benito Juárez in Mexico.

Before the outbreak of the American Civil War, McClellan became active in politics, supporting the presidential campaign of Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 election. He claimed to have disclosed and disrupted attempted vote fraud by Republicans when he ordered a train delayed that was carrying men to vote illegally in another county, and thus enabled Douglas to win the election cleanly.

In October, 1859 McClellan resumed his courtship of Ellen Marcy and they were married in Calvary Church, New York City, on May 22, 1860.

Civil War

Ohio and strategy

McClellan's knowledge of what was called "big war science" and his railroad experience implied he would excel at military logistics placed him in great demand as the Union mobilized. Viewing him as an ideal commander, he was pursued by the governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. William Dennison, Governor of Ohio, was the most persistent, and McClellan was commissioned a major general of volunteers and given command of the Ohio militia on April 23, 1861. Unlike some of his fellow Union officers who came from abolitionist families, McClellan was opposed to federal interference with slavery and believed in white supremacy. Some of his Southern colleagues also approached him informally about siding with the Confederacy, but he could not accept the concept of secession. McClellan hoped to preserve the Union, keeping intact the system of slavery if possible.

On May 3, 1861 McClellan re-entered federal service when he was named commander of the Department of the Ohio, responsible for the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and, later, western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Missouri. On May 14, he was commissioned a major general in the regular army, and at 34 years old, outranked everyone in the Army other than Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, general in chief. McClellan's rapid promotion was due in part to his acquaintance with Salmon P. Chase, Treasury Secretary and former Ohio governor and senator. By July, 1861 he was appointed as field commander of the Union army.

As McClellan scrambled to process and train the thousands of men volunteering for service, he also set his mind toward grand strategy. Within four days of assuming command of the Union volunteers in Ohio, he wrote a letter to General Scott. That was the first proposal for a unified strategy for the war. It contained two alternatives, both with a prominent role for himself as commander. The first called for 80,000 men to invade Virginia through the Kanawha Valley toward Richmond. The second called for those same men to drive south instead across the Ohio River into Kentucky and Tennessee. Scott dismissed both plans as being logistically infeasible. Although he complemented McClellan and expressed his "great confidence in your intelligence, zeal, science, and energy," he replied by letter that the 80,000 men would be better used on a river-based expedition to control the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy, accompanied by a strong Union blockade of Southern ports. This plan, which would have demanded considerable patience on the part of the Northern public, was derided in newspapers as the Anaconda Plan, but eventually proved to be the exact and successful outline used to prosecute the war. The relations between the two generals became increasingly strained into the summer and fall seasons of 1861. The public revered Scott as the most famous soldier alive, himself a hero in wars gone by, while McClellan seemed to be the country's savior at the present.

Western Virginia

McClellan's first military operations were to occupy the area of western Virginia that wanted to remain in the Union and later became the state of West Virginia. He received intelligence reports on May 26, 1861, that the critical Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridges in that portion of the state were being burned. As he quickly implemented plans to invade the region, he triggered his first serious political controversy, by proclaiming to the citizens there that his forces had no intentions of interfering with personal property.

"Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce you to believe that our advent among you will be signalized by interference with your slaves, understand one thing clearly — not only will we abstain from all such interference but we will on the contrary with an iron hand, crush any attempted insurrection on their part."

McClellan realized he had overstepped his bounds by making the statement and apologized by letter to President Abraham Lincoln. The controversy was not that his proclamation was diametrically opposed to the administration's policy at the time, but that he was so bold in stepping beyond his strictly military role.

His forces moved rapidly into the area through Grafton, western Virginia and were victorious at the skirmish called the Battle of Philippi Races, arguably the first land conflict of the war. His first personal command in battle was at Battle of Rich Mountain, which he also won, but after displaying a strong sense of caution and a reluctance to commit reserve forces that would be his hallmark for the rest of his career. His subordinate commander, William S. Rosecrans, bitterly complained that his attack was not reinforced as McClellan had agreed. Nevertheless, these two minor victories propelled McClellan to the status of national hero. Union supporters in the area had been protected and later western Virginia came to the Union as a separate Northern, non–slave state. The New York Herald ran an article about him, "Gen. McClellan, the Napoleon of the Present War."

Building an army

After the defeat of the Union forces at First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Lincoln summoned McClellan from western Virginia. He traveled by special train on the main Pennsylvania line from Wheeling through Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and on to Washington, D.C., and was overwhelmed by enthusiastic crowds that met his train at the various station stops along the way.

On July 26, 1861, the day he reached Washington, D.C., McClellan was appointed commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, the main Union force responsible for the defense of Washington. On August 20, several military units in Virginia were consolidated into his department and he immediately formed the Army of the Potomac, with himself as its first commander. McClellan reveled in his new fame and clearly felt that he had it in his power alone to ensure the preservation of the Union.

I find myself in a new and strange position here—Presdt, Cabinet, Genl Scott & all deferring to me—by some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land. … I almost think that were I to win some small success now I could become Dictator or anything else that might please me—but nothing of that kind would please me—therefore I won't be Dictator. Admirable self-denial!

George B. McClellan, letter to Ellen, July 26, 1861

During the summer and fall, McClellan brought a high degree of organization to his new army, and greatly improved its morale by his frequent trips to review and encourage his units. It was a remarkable achievement, in which he came to personify the Army of the Potomac and reaped the adulation of his men. He created defenses for Washington that were almost impregnable, consisting of 48 forts and strong points, with 480 guns manned by 7,200 artillery gunners. But this was also a time of tension in the high command, as he continued to quarrel frequently with the government and the general-in-chief, Winfield Scott, on matters of strategy. McClellan rejected the tenets of Scott's Anaconda Plan, favoring instead an overwhelming grand battle, in the Napoleonic style. He proposed that his army should be expanded to 273,000 men and 600 guns and "crush the rebels in one campaign." He favored a war that would impose little impact on civilian populations, and one that would require no emancipation of slaves.

McClellan's antipathy to emancipation would add to the pressure on him, as he received bitter criticism from Radical Republicans in the government. He viewed slavery as an institution recognized in the Constitution, and entitled to federal protection wherever it existed. His writings after the war were typical of many Northerners: "I confess to a prejudice in favor of my own race, & can't learn to like the odor of either Billy goats or niggers." But in November 1861, he wrote to his wife, "I will, if successful, throw my sword onto the scale to force an improvement in the condition of those poor blacks." He later wrote that had it been his place to arrange the terms of peace, he would have insisted on gradual emancipation, guarding the rights of both slaves and masters, as part of any settlement. He made no secret of his opposition to the Radical Republicans. He told Ellen, "I will not fight for the abolitionists." This position handicapped him because many politicians running the government believed that he was attempting to implement the policies of the opposition party. Even Lincoln would express distrust with McClellan after he proved lax to maneuver quickly and decisively in battle.

The immediate problem with McClellan's war strategy was that he was convinced the Confederates were ready to attack him with overwhelming numbers. On August 8, believing that the Confederates had over 100,000 troops facing him (in contrast to the 35,000 they actually deployed at Bull Run a few weeks earlier), he declared a state of emergency in the capital. By August 19, he perceived 150,000 enemy to his front. McClellan's future campaigns would be strongly influenced by the overblown enemy strength estimates of his secret service chief, Allan Pinkerton, but in August 1861, these estimates were entirely McClellan's own. The net result was a level of extreme caution that would sap the initiative of McClellan's army and cause great condemnation by his government. Historian and biographer Stephen W. Sears has called McClellan's actions "essentially sound" if he had been as outnumbered as he believed, but McClellan, in fact, rarely had less than a two-to-one advantage over his opponents in 1861 and 1862. That fall, for example, Confederate forces ranged from 35,000 to 60,000, whereas the Army of the Potomac in September 1861 numbered 122,000 men. By early December 170,000 and by year end, there were 192,000 trained Union soldiers.

Winfield Scott (along with many in the War Department) was outraged that McClellan refused to divulge any details about his strategic planning, or even mundane details such as troop strengths and dispositions. McClellan conferred directly with President Abraham Lincoln, bypassing Scott whenever his plans were voiced. For his part, McClellan claimed not to trust anyone in the administration to keep his plans secret from the press, and thus the enemy. During disagreements about defensive forces on the Potomac River, McClellan wrote to his wife on August 10, 1861, in a manner that would characterize some of his more private correspondence: "Genl Scott is the great obstacle—he will not comprehend the danger & is either a traitor, or an incompetent. I have to fight my way against him." Scott became so disillusioned over his relationship with McClellan that he offered his resignation to President Lincoln, who initially refused to accept it. Rumors traveled through the capital that McClellan might resign, or instigate a military coup, if Scott were not removed. Lincoln attempted futilely to forge a reconciliation between the two generals, instead only staving off the split for a temporary period. Lincoln's Cabinet met on October 18, 1861 and agreed to accept Scott's resignation for "reasons of health."<refname=McPherson360>McPherson, 1988, 360.</ref>

General in chief

On November 1, 1861, Winfield Scott retired and McClellan became general in chief of all the Union armies. The president expressed his concern about the "vast labor" involved in the dual role of army commander and general in chief, but McClellan responded, "I can do it all."

Lincoln, as well as many other leaders and citizens of the northern states, became increasingly impatient with McClellan's slowness to attack the Confederate forces still massed near Washington. The Union defeat at the minor Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg, Virginia in October added to the frustration and indirectly damaged McClellan. In December, 1861 the Congress formed a Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. This committee became a thorn in the side of many generals throughout the war, accusing them of incompetence and, in some cases, treason. McClellan was called as the first witness on December 23, 1861, but he contracted typhoid fever and could not attend. Instead, his subordinate officers testified, and their candid admissions that they had no knowledge of specific strategies for advancing against the Confederates raised many calls for McClellan's dismissal.

McClellan further damaged his reputation by his insulting insubordination to his commander-in-chief. He privately referred to Lincoln, whom he had known before the war as a lawyer for the Illinois Central Railroad, as "nothing more than a well-meaning baboon," a "gorilla," and "ever unworthy of … his high position." On November 13, 1861, he snubbed the president, visiting at McClellan's house, by walking directly past him and making him wait for 30 minutes, only to be told that the general had gone to bed and could not see him.

On January 12, 1862, McClellan was summoned to the White House, where the Cabinet demanded to hear his war plans. For the first time, he revealed his intentions to transport the Army of the Potomac by ship to Urbanna, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River, outflanking the Confederate forces near Washington, D.C. and proceed 50 miles overland to capture Richmond. He refused to give any specific details of the proposed campaign, even to his friend, newly appointed War Secretary Edwin M. Stanton. On January 27, Abraham Lincoln issued an order that required all of his armies to begin offensive operations by February 22, 1862, George Washington's birthday. On January 31, 1862, Lincoln issued a supplementary order that directed the Army of the Potomac to move overland to attack the Confederates at Manassas Junction and Centreville. McClellan immediately replied with a 22-page letter objecting in detail to the president's plan and advocating instead his Urbanna plan, which was the first written instance of the details presented to the president. Although Lincoln believed that his plan was superior, he was relieved that McClellan finally agreed to begin movement and reluctantly approved. On March 8, 1862, doubting McClellan's resolve, Lincoln called a council of war at the White House. When assembled, McClellan's subordinates were asked about their confidence in the Urbanna battle plans. His subordinate officers expressed their confidence to varying degrees. After the meeting, Lincoln issued another order, naming specific officers as corps commanders. McClellan had been reluctant to name anyone as corps commanders before assessing the division commanders' effectiveness in combat.

Two more crises would befall McClellan before he could implement his plans. The Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston withdrew from their positions before Washington D.C., assuming new positions south of the Rappahannock River. This action completely nullified the Urbanna strategy, and positioned McClellan's troops in Johnson's rear. McClellan retooled his plan so that his troops would disembark at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and advance up the Virginia Peninsula to Richmond, an operation that would be known as the Peninsula Campaign. However, McClellan came under extreme criticism from the press and the United States Congress when it was found that Johnston's forces had not only slipped away unnoticed, but also for months they misled the Union Army through the use of Quaker Guns; fake guns created from wood to resemble regular cannon. The Congress's joint committee visited the abandoned Confederate lines and Radical Republicans introduced a resolution demanding the dismissal of McClellan, but it was narrowly defeated by a parliamentary maneuver. The second crisis was the appearance of the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the Potomac River, throwing the Union capital into panic, making United States naval support operations on the James River seem problematic and risky.

On March 11, 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan as general-in-chief, leaving him in command of only the Army of the Potomac, ostensibly so that McClellan would be free to devote all his attention to the move on Richmond. Lincoln's order was ambiguous as to whether McClellan might be restored following a successful campaign. In fact, his position was not filled by another officer. Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and a group of officers called the "War Board" directed the strategic actions of the Union armies during the Spring of 1862. Although McClellan was assuaged by supportive comments Lincoln made to him, in time he saw the change of command very differently, describing it as a part of an intrigue "to secure the failure of the approaching campaign."

Peninsula Campaign

McClellan's army began to sail from Alexandria, Virginia on March 17, 1862. It was an armada that dwarfed all previous American expeditions, transporting 121,500 men, 44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant." The army's advance from Fort Monroe up the Virginia Peninsula proved to be slow. McClellan's plan to seize Yorktown, Virginia was foiled quickly when he discovered that the Confederates had fortified a line across the Peninsula, causing him to decide on a siege of the city, which required considerable preparation.

McClellan continued to believe intelligence reports that credited the Confederates with two or three times the men they actually had. Early in the campaign, Confederate General John B. "Prince John" Magruder defended the Peninsula against McClellan's advance with a vastly smaller force. He created a false impression of many troops behind the lines and of even more troops arriving. He accomplished this by marching small groups of men repeatedly past places where they could be observed at a distance or were just out of sight, accompanied by great noise and fanfare. During this time, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was able to provide Magruder with reinforcements that were, even then, still far fewer troops than McClellan had miscalculated were opposite him.

After a month of preparation, just before he was to assault the Confederate works at Yorktown, McClellan learned that Johnston had withdrawn up the Peninsula towards Williamsburg, Virginia. Thus McClellan was required to give chase without any benefit of heavy artillery so carefully amassed in front of Yorktown. The Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862, is considered a Union victory—McClellan's first — but the Confederate army was not destroyed and a bulk of their troops were successfully moved past Williamsburg to Richmond's outer defenses while it was waged, and over the next several days.

McClellan had also placed hopes on a simultaneous naval approach to Richmond via the James River. That approach failed following the Union Navy's defeat at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, about seven miles downstream from the Confederate capital, on May 15, 1862. Basing artillery on a strategic bluff high above a bend in the river, and sinking boats to create an impassable series of obstacles in the river itself, the Confederates had effectively blocked this potential approach to Richmond.

McClellan's army cautiously inched towards Richmond during the next three weeks. On May 31, as McClellan planned an assault, his army was surprised by a Confederate attack. Johnston observed that the Union army was split in half by the rain-swollen Chickahominy River and hoped to defeat it in detail at Seven Pines and Fair Oaks. McClellan was unable to command the army personally because of a recurrence of malaria, but his subordinates were able to repel the attacks. Nevertheless, McClellan received criticism from Washington for not counterattacking, which some believed could have opened the city of Richmond to capture. Johnston was wounded in the battle, and Gen. Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Initially, McClellan believed that Lee's appointment would prove favorable, ironically assuming that the general would prove a timid opponent. McClellan spent the next three weeks repositioning his troops and waiting for promised reinforcements, losing valuable time as Lee continued to strengthen Richmond's defenses.

At the end of June, Lee began a series of attacks that became known as the Seven Days Battles. The first major battle, at Mechanicsville, Maryland was poorly coordinated by Lee and his subordinates and caused heavy casualties for little tactical gain. But the battle had significant impact on McClellan's nerve. The surprise appearance of Maj. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's troops in the battle (when they had last been reported to be many miles away in the Shenandoah Valley) convinced McClellan that he was even more significantly outnumbered that he had assumed. He reported to Washington that he faced 200,000 Confederates, although they actually numbered 85,000.

As Lee continued his offensive at Gaines' Mill to the east, McClellan played a passive role, taking no initiatives and waiting for events to unfold. He kept two thirds of his army out of action, fooled again by Magruder's theatrical diversionary tactics. He decided to withdraw his army to a safer base, well below Richmond, on a portion of the James River that was under control of the Union Navy. In doing so, he may have unwittingly saved his army. Lee had assumed that the Union army would withdraw to the east toward its existing supply base and McClellan's move to the south delayed Lee's response for at least 24 hours. Lee may have been defeated in the campaign's battles, but he did succeed in protecting the Confederate capital and preventing the Union Army from maintaining a superior position. Meanwhile, McClellan was tacitly acknowledging that he would no longer be able to invest Richmond, the object of his campaign; the heavy siege artillery required would be almost impossible to transport without the railroad connections available from his original supply base on the York River. In a telegram to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, reporting on these events, McClellan blamed the Lincoln administration for his reversals. "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army." McClellan felt that he had performed superbly. Fortunately for McClellan's immediate career, Lincoln never saw that inflammatory statement (at least at that time) because it was censored by the War Department telegrapher.

Cartoon of McClellan used in 1864 presidential campaign.

McClellan was also fortunate that the failure of the campaign left his army mostly intact because he was generally absent from the fighting and neglected to name a second-in-command to control his retreat. Military historian Stephen W. Sears wrote, "When he deserted his army on the Glendale and Malvern Hill battlefields during the Seven Days, he was guilty of dereliction of duty. Had the Army of the Potomac been wrecked on either of these fields (at Glendale, Virginia the possibility had been real), that charge under the Articles of War would likely have been brought against him." During Glendale, McClellan was five miles away behind Malvern Hill, without telegraph communications and too distant to command the army. During the battle of Malvern Hill, he was on a gunboat, the U.S.S. Galena, which at one point was ten miles away down the James River. When the public heard about the Galena, it was yet another enormous embarrassment, comparable to the Quaker Guns at Manassas. Editorial cartoons during the 1864 presidential campaign would lampoon McClellan on the safety of a ship while a battle was fought in the distance.)

McClellan was reunited with his army at Harrison's Landing on the James River. Debates were held as to whether the army should be evacuated or attempt to resume an offensive toward Richmond. McClellan continued his estrangement from Abraham Lincoln by his continuous call for reinforcements and by writing a lengthy letter in which he proposed strategic and political guidance for the war, continuing his opposition to abolition or seizure of slaves as a tactic. He concluded by implying he should be restored as general in chief, but Lincoln effectively responded by naming Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck to the post, without consulting, or even informing, McClellan. Lincoln and Stanton offered command of the Army of the Potomac to Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who refused the appointment.

In Washington, D.C., a reorganization of units created the Army of Virginia under Maj. Gen. John Pope, who was directed to advance towards Richmond from the northeast. McClellan resisted calls to reinforce Pope's army and delayed return of the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula enough so that the reinforcements arrived while the Northern Virginia Campaign was already underway. He wrote to his wife before the battle, "Pope will be thrashed … & be disposed of [by Lee]. … Such a villain as he is ought to bring defeat upon any cause that employs him." Lee had assessed McClellan's offensive nature and gambled on removing significant units from the Peninsula to attack Pope, who was beaten decisively at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862.

Maryland Campaign and the Battle of Antietam

Lincoln with McClellan and staff after the Battle of Antietam. Notable figures (from left) are 5. Alexander S. Webb, Chief of Staff, V Corps; 6. McClellan;. 8. Dr. Jonathan Letterman; 10. Lincoln; 11. Henry J. Hunt; 12. Fitz John Porter; 15. Andrew A. Humphreys; 16. Capt. George Armstrong Custer.

After the defeat of Pope at Second Bull Run, President Lincoln reluctantly returned to the man who had mended a broken army before. He realized that McClellan was a strong organizer and a skilled trainer of troops, able to recombine the units of Pope's army with the Army of the Potomac faster than anyone. On September 2, 1862, Lincoln named McClellan to command "the fortifications of Washington, and all the troops for the defense of the capital." The appointment was controversial in the Cabinet, a majority of whom signed a petition declaring to the president "our deliberate opinion that, at this time, it is not safe to entrust to Major General McClellan the command of any Army of the United States." The president admitted that it was like "curing the bite with the hair of the dog." But Lincoln told his secretary, John Hay, "We must use what tools we have. There is no man in the Army who can man these fortifications and lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he. If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight."

Northern fears of a continued offensive by Robert E. Lee were realized when he launched his Maryland Campaign on September 4, hoping to arouse pro-Southern sympathy in the slave state of Maryland. McClellan's pursuit began on September 5. He marched toward Maryland with six of his reorganized corps, about 84,000 men, while leaving two corps behind to defend Washington. Lee divided his forces into multiple columns, spread apart widely as he moved into Maryland and also maneuvered to capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. This was a risky move for a smaller army, but Lee was counting on his knowledge of McClellan's temperament. He told one of his generals, "He is an able general but a very cautious one. His army is in a very demoralized and chaotic condition, and will not be prepared for offensive operations—or he will not think it so—for three or four weeks. Before that time I hope to be on the Susquehanna." This was not a completely accurate assessment, but McClellan's army was moving lethargically, averaging only six miles a day.

However, Little Mac soon received a miraculous break of fortune. Union soldiers accidentally found a copy of Lee's Special Order No. 191 which divided his army and delivered them to McClellan's headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, on September 13. Upon realizing the intelligence value of this discovery, McClellan threw up his arms and exclaimed, "Now I know what to do!" He waved the order at his old Army friend, Brig. Gen. John Gibbon, and said, "Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home." He telegraphed President Lincoln: "I have the whole rebel force in front of me, but I am confident, and no time shall be lost. I think Lee has made a gross mistake, and that he will be severely punished for it. I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency. … Will send you trophies.".

Despite this show of bravado, McClellan continued his cautious line. If McClellan had acted quickly upon receiving this advice he would have stood a probable chance of destroying Lee's arm one piece at a time. Instead McClellan though it necessary to amass an army 100,000 strong to face a 40,000 troop opponent that had estimated to be much larger in size. After telegraphing to the president at noon on September 13, he ordered his units to set out for the South Mountain passes the following morning. The 18 hours of delay allowed Lee time to react, because he received intelligence from a Confederate sympathizer that McClellan knew of his plans. (The delay also doomed the federal garrison at Harpers Ferry because the relief column McClellan sent could not reach them before they surrendered to Stonewall Jackson.) In the Battle of South Mountain, McClellan's army was able to punch through the defended passes that separated them from Lee, but also gave Lee time enough to concentrate many of his men at Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Union army reached Antietam Creek, to the east of Sharpsburg, on the evening of September 15. A planned attack on September 16 was put off because of early morning fog, allowing Lee to prepare his defenses with an army less than half the size of McClellan's.

The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, was the single bloodiest day in American military history. The outnumbered Confederate forces fought desperately and well. Despite significant advantages in manpower, McClellan was unable to concentrate his forces effectively, which meant that Lee was able to shift his defenders to parry each of three Union thrusts, launched separately and sequentially against the Confederate left, center, and finally the right. And McClellan was unwilling to employ his ample reserve forces to capitalize on localized successes. Historian James M. McPherson has pointed out that the two corps McClellan kept in reserve were in fact larger than Lee's entire force. The reason for McClellan's reluctance was that he was, as with previous battles, convinced he was outnumbered. The general's hesitancy would prove debilitating.

Lincoln in McClellan's tent President Abraham Lincoln and Gen. George B. McClellan in the general's tent at Sharpsburg, Maryland after the Battle of Antietam, Maryland, October 3, 1862. Photographer Alexander Gardner (1821–1882).

The battle was tactically inconclusive, although Lee technically was defeated because he withdrew first from the battlefield and retreated back to Virginia. McClellan wired to Washington, "Our victory was complete. The enemy is driven back into Virginia." Yet there was obvious disappointment that McClellan had not crushed Lee, who was fighting with a smaller army with its back to the Potomac River. Lincoln himself expressed distaste with McClellan's decision not to follow the weakened rebels back into Dixie. Although McClellan's subordinates can claim their share of responsibility for delays (such as Ambrose Burnside's misadventures at Burnside Bridge) and blunders (Edwin V. Sumner's attack without reconnaissance), these were localized problems from which the full army could have recovered. As with the decisive battles in the Seven Days, McClellan's headquarters were too far to the rear to allow his personal control over the battle. He made no use of his cavalry forces for reconnaissance. He did not share his overall battle plans with his corps commanders, which prevented them from using initiative outside of their sectors. And he was far too willing to accept cautious advice about saving his reserves, such as when a significant breakthrough in the center of the Confederate line could have been exploited, but Fitz John Porter is said to have told McClellan, "Remember, General, I command the last reserve of the last Army of the Republic."

Despite being a tactical draw, Antietam is considered a turning point of the war and a victory for the Union because it ended Lee's strategic campaign (his first invasion of the North) and it allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, taking effect on January 1, 1863. Although Lincoln had intended to do so earlier, he was advised by his Cabinet to make this announcement after a Union victory to avoid the perception that it was issued out of desperation. The Union victory and Lincoln's proclamation played a considerable role in dissuading the governments of France and Britain from recognizing the Confederacy; some suspected they were planning to do so in the aftermath of another Union defeat. McClellan had no prior knowledge that the plans for emancipation rested on his battle performance, as he was opposed to putting an immediate end to the institution of slavery.

When McClellan failed to pursue Lee aggressively after Antietam, Lincoln ordered that he be removed from command on November 5. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac on November 7. McClellan wrote to his wife, "Those in whose judgment I rely tell me that I fought the battle splendidly and that it was a masterpiece of art. … I feel I have done all that can be asked in twice saving the country. … I feel some little pride in having, with a beaten & demoralized army, defeated Lee so utterly. … Well, one of these days history will I trust do me justice."

Politics

Secretary Stanton ordered McClellan to report to Trenton, New Jersey, for further orders, although none were issued. As the war progressed, there were various calls to return Little Mac to an important command, following the Union defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, as Robert E. Lee moved north at the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, and as Jubal Early threatened Washington in 1864. When Ulysses S. Grant became general in chief, he discussed returning McClellan to an unspecified position. But all of these opportunities were impossible, given the opposition within the administration and the knowledge that McClellan posed a potential political threat. McClellan worked for months on a lengthy report describing his two major campaigns and his successes in organizing the Army, replying to his critics and justifying his actions by accusing the administration of undercutting him and denying him necessary reinforcements. Ironically, McClellan felt the army was guilty of causing delays rather than accept responsibility himself. The War Department was reluctant to publish his report because, just after completing it in October 1863, McClellan openly declared his entrance to the political stage as a Democrat.

McClellan was nominated by the Democrats to run against Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 U.S. presidential election. Following in the tradition of Winfield Scott, he ran as a U.S. Army general still on active duty; he did not resign his commission until election day, November 8, 1864. He supported continuation of the war and restoration of the Union, but the party platform, written by Copperhead Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, was opposed to this position. The platform called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy. McClellan was forced to repudiate his party's platform, which made his campaign inconsistent and difficult. He was also not helped by the party's choice for vice president, George H. Pendleton, a peace candidate from Ohio.

Though Lincoln initially feared that he would lose the presidency at the hands of his former general, tides would turn to render him the victor in the end. The deep division in the party, the unity of the Republicans (running under the label "National Union Party"), and the military successes by Union forces in the fall of 1864 doomed McClellan's candidacy. Lincoln won the election handily, with 212 Electoral College votes to 21 and a popular vote margin of 403,000, or 55 percent. While McClellan was highly popular among the troops when he was commander, they voted for Lincoln over him by margins of 3-1 or higher. Lincoln's margin in the Army of the Potomac was 70 percent.

Postbellum

After the war, McClellan and his family departed for a lengthy trip to Europe (from 1865 to 1868), during which he did not participate in politics. When he returned, the Democratic Party expressed some interest in nominating him for president again, but when it became clear that Ulysses S. Grant would be the Republican candidate, this interest died. McClellan worked on engineering projects in New York City and was offered the position as president of the newly formed University of California.

McClellan was appointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks in 1870, a position that did not demand his full-time attention because, starting in 1872, he also served as the president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. He and his family returned to Europe from 1873 to 1875. In 1877, McClellan was nominated by the Democrats for Governor of New Jersey, an action that took him by surprise because he had not expressed an interest in the position. He was elected and served a single term from 1878 to 1881, a tenure marked by careful, conservative executive management and minimal political rancor. The concluding chapter of his political career was his strong support in 1884 for the election of Grover Cleveland. He hoped to be named secretary of war in Cleveland's cabinet, a position for which he was well suited, but political rivals of his from New Jersey were able to block his nomination.

McClellan's final years were devoted to traveling and writing. He justified his military career in McClellan’s Own Story, published posthumously in 1887. He died unexpectedly at age 58 at Orange, New Jersey, having suffered from chest pains for a few weeks. His final words, at 3 A.M., October 29, 1885, were, "I feel easy now. Thank you." He is buried at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton. McClellan's son, George B. McClellan, Jr. (1865 – 1940), was born in Dresden, Germany, during the family's first trip to Europe. Known within the family as Max, he was also a politician, serving as a United States Representative from New York State and as Mayor of New York City from 1904 to 1909. McClellan's daughter, Mary ("May") (1861 – 1945), married a French diplomat and spent much of her life abroad. His wife Ellen died in Nice, France, while visiting May at "Villa Antietam." Neither Max nor May gave the McClellans any grandchildren.

Legacy

The New York Evening Post commented in McClellan's obituary, "Probably no soldier who did so little fighting has ever had his qualities as a commander so minutely, and we may add, so fiercely discussed." This fierce discussion has continued for over a century. McClellan is usually ranked in the lowest tier of Civil War generals. However, the debate over McClellan's ability and talents remains the subject of much controversy among Civil War and military historians. He has been universally praised for his organizational abilities and for his very good relations with his troops. Clearly, the man was a great administrator who proved highly capable of gearing his army into a well-prepared fighting force. Soldiers were so devoted to him that they referred to him affectionately as "Little Mac"; others sometimes called him the "Young Napoleon." It has been suggested that his reluctance to enter battle was caused in part by an intense desire to avoid spilling the blood of his men. Ironically, this led to failing to take the initiative against the enemy and therefore passing up good opportunities for decisive victories, which could have ended the war early, and thereby could have spared thousands of soldiers who died in those subsequent battles. Generals who proved successful in this era, such as Lee and Grant, tended to be more aggressive and more willing to risk a major battle even when all preparations were not perfect. McClellan lacked psychological and mental courage, thus he was doomed when posed against a more confident opponent. McClellan himself summed up his cautious nature in a draft of his memoirs: "It has always been my opinion that the true course in conducting military operations, is to make no movement until the preparations are as complete as circumstances permit, & never to fight a battle without some definite object worth the probable loss."

McClellan's reluctance to press his enemy aggressively was probably not a matter of personal courage, which he demonstrated well enough by his bravery under fire in the Mexican War. Stephen Sears wrote, "There is indeed ample evidence that the terrible stresses of commanding men in battle, especially the beloved men of his beloved Army of the Potomac, left his moral courage in tatters. Under the pressure of his ultimate soldier's responsibility, the will to command deserted him. Glendale and Malvern Hill found him at the peak of his anguish during the Seven Days, and he fled those fields to escape the responsibility. At Antietam, where there was nowhere for him to flee to, he fell into a paralysis of indecision. Certainly he was more than qualified for the job, himself a child prodigy with a long and successful past working in the army. Seen from a longer perspective, General McClellan could be both comfortable and successful performing as executive officer, and also, if somewhat less successfully, as grand strategist; as battlefield commander, however, he was simply in the wrong profession."

McClellan failed to maintain the trust of Abraham Lincoln, and proved to be frustratingly insubordinate to the commander-in-chief. After he was relieved of command, McClellan became the unsuccessful Democratic nominee opposing Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. He ran on an anti-war platform, promising to end the war and negotiate with the Confederacy. At first his platform seemed promising, but subsequent Union military victories turned the tides overwhelming in the favor of President Lincoln. McClellan served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. He eventually became a writer, defending his actions during the Peninsula Campaign and the American Civil War.

One of the reasons that McClellan's reputation has suffered is because of his own memoirs. His original draft was completed in 1881, but the only copy was destroyed by fire. He began to write another draft of what would be published posthumously, in 1887, as McClellan's Own Story. However, he died before it was half completed and his literary executor, William C. Prime, editor of the pro-McClellan New York Journal of Commerce, included excerpts from some 250 of McClellan's wartime letters to his wife, in which it had been his habit to reveal his innermost feelings and opinions in unbridled fashion.

While McClellan's reputation has suffered over time, especially over the last 75 years, there is a small but intense cadre of American Civil War historians who believe that the general has been poorly served on at least four levels. First, McClellan proponents say that because the general was a conservative Democrat with great personal charisma, radical Republicans fearing his political potential deliberately undermined his field operations. Second, that as the radical Republicans were the true winners coming out of the American Civil War, they were able to write its history, placing their principal political rival of the time, McClellan, in the worst possible light. Third, that historians eager to jump on the bandwagon of Abraham Lincoln as America's greatest political icon worked to outdo one another in shifting blame for early military failures from Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to McClellan. And fourth, that Lincoln and Stanton deliberately undermined McClellan because of his conciliatory stance towards the South, which would have resulted in a less destructive end to the war had Richmond fallen as a result of the Peninsula Campaign. Proponents of this school claim that McClellan is criticized more for his personality than for his actual field performance. Clearly, the general can be both lauded and discounted for his the many positive and negative effects he had on the Union army.

Although the majority of modern historians assess McClellan poorly as a battlefield general, a small but vocal faction of historians maintain that McClellan was indeed a highly capable commander, and that his reputation suffered unfairly at the hands of pro-Lincoln partisans who needed a scapegoat for the Union's setbacks. Others claim if McClellan had not been thrust into the leadership of the army at such a young age he would have matured into a much more capable commander. Thus, his legacy defies easy categorization. After the war, Ulysses S. Grant was asked to evaluate McClellan as a general. He replied, "McClellan is to me one of the mysteries of the war."

Several geographic features and establishments have been named for George B. McClellan. These include Fort McClellan in Alabama, McClellan Butte in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, where he traveled in the area while conducting the Pacific Railroad Survey in 1853, McClellan Street in North Bend, Washington, McClellan Street in South Philadelphia, McClellan Elementary School in Chicago, and a bronze equestrian statue honoring General McClellan in Washington, D.C.

Selected works

• The Mexican War Diary of George B. McClellan, William Starr Myers, editor, published posthumously, 1917.
• Bayonet Exercise, or School of the Infantry Soldier, in the Use of the Musket in Hand-To-Hand Conflicts, translated from the French of Gomard, (1852). Reissued as Manual of Bayonet Exercise: Prepared for the Use of the Army of United States. 1862.
• The Report of Captain George B. McClellan, One of the Officers Sent to the Seat of War in Europe, in 1855 and 1856. (1857) Reissued as The Armies of Europe. 1861.
• European Cavalry, Including Details of the Organization of the Cavalry Service Among the Principal Nations of Europe. 1861.
• Regulations and Instructions for the Field Service of the United States Cavalry in Time of War. (1861). Reissued as Regulations for the Field Service of Cavalry in Time of War. 1862.
• McClellan's Own Story, William C. Prime, editor, 1887.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Forward to Richmond: McClellan's Peninsular Campaign. Time-Life Books, 1983. ISBN 0809447207.
• Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. The Bloodiest Day: The Battle of Antietam. Time-Life Books, 1984. ISBN 0809447401
• Beagle, Jonathan M. "George Brinton McClellan," Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds., New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 039304758X
• Beatie, Russel H. Army of the Potomac: Birth of Command, November 1860 – September 1861. New York: Da Capo Press, 2002. ISBN 0306811413
• Catton, Bruce. Mr. Lincoln's Army: The Odyssey of General George Brinton McClellan and the Army of the Potomac. Doubleday & Company, 1962.
• Eicher, John H., & David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0804736413
• McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States). Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0195038637
• McPherson, James M. Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, The Battle That Changed the Course of the Civil War. Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0195135210
• Ridgway, James M., Jr. Little Mac: Demise of an American Hero. Xlibris, 2000. ISBN 0738805793
• Rowland, Thomas J. George B. McClellan and Civil War History: In the Shadow of Grant and Sherman. Kent State University Press, 1998. ISBN 0873386035
• Sears, Stephen W. Controversies and Commanders: Dispatches from the Army of the Potomac. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. ISBN 0395867606
• Sears, Stephen W. George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon. New York: Da Capo Press, 1999 (original 1988). ISBN 0306809133
• Sears, Stephen W. Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam. Houghton Mifflin, 1983. ISBN 0899191720
• Sears, Stephen W. To the Gates of Richmond: The Peninsula Campaign. Ticknor and Fields, 1992. ISBN 0899197906

Preceded by: Irvin McDowell	Commander of the Army of the Potomac August 1861–October 1862	Succeeded by: Ambrose Burnside
Preceded by: Winfield Scott	Commanding General of the United States Army November 1861–March 1862	Succeeded by: Henry W. Halleck
Preceded by: Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge(a)	Democratic Party presidential nominees 1864 (lost)	Succeeded by: Horatio Seymour
Preceded by: Joseph D. Bedle	Governor of New Jersey 1878 – 1881	Succeeded by: George C. Ludlow
(a) The Democratic party split in 1860, producing two presidential candidates. Douglas was nominated by Northern Democrats; Breckinridge was nominated by Southern Democrats.

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