Scott rejected both plans as logistically unfeasible. [28] The New York Herald entitled an article about him "Gen. McClellan, the Napoleon of the Present War". [68], Meanwhile, Union soldiers accidentally found a copy of Lee's orders dividing his army, wrapped around a package of cigars in an abandoned camp. However, historians note that Lee's victory was in many ways pyrrhic as he failed to destroy the Army of the Potomac and suffered a bloody repulse at Malvern Hill. "[69], At the discovery of the Lost Order, McClellan's Assistant Adjutant General verified the signature and handwriting of the officer who wrote out the order, as he knew him well, so there was no doubt as to its authenticity. He also wrote a manual on cavalry tactics that was based on Russian cavalry regulations. Lincoln's order was ambiguous as to whether McClellan might be restored following a successful campaign. This placed him in great demand as the Union mobilized. [65] McClellan's reception in Frederick, Maryland, as he marched towards Lee's army, was described by the correspondent for Harper's Magazine: The General rode through the town on a trot, and the street was filled six or eight deep with his staff and guard riding on behind him. Editorial cartoons published in the course of the 1864 presidential campaign lampooned McClellan for having preferred the safety of a ship while a battle was fought in the distance. At age 34, he outranked everyone in the Army except Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, the general-in-chief. [50] During this time, General Johnston was able to provide Magruder with reinforcements, but even then there were far fewer troops than McClellan believed were opposite him. Upon his return to the United States in 1856, he requested an 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. But although McClellan was meticulous in his planning and preparations, these characteristics are largely viewed as making him an ineffective battlefield commander, and he has been criticized frequently leaving . McClellan spent the next three weeks repositioning his troops and waiting for promised reinforcements. "[45] On January 12, 1862, McClellan was summoned to the White House, where the Cabinet demanded to hear his war plans. 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. Ohio Governor William Dennison was the most persistent, so McClellan was commissioned a major general of volunteers and took command of the Ohio militia on April 23, 1861. On August 8, believing that the Confederacy had over 100,000 troops facing him (in contrast to the 35,000 they had actually deployed at Bull Run a few weeks earlier), he declared a state of emergency in the capital. [1], McClellan's first assignment was with a company of engineers formed at West Point, but he quickly received orders to sail for the Mexican War. [1], 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. He traveled by special train on the main Pennsylvania line from Wheeling through Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and on to Washington City, and was greeted by enthusiastic crowds that met his train along the way. He performed well in both jobs, expanding the Illinois Central toward New Orleans and helping the Ohio and Mississippi recover from the Panic of 1857. However the battle had a significant impact on McClellan's nerve. He created a false impression of many troops behind the lines and of even more troops arriving. Template:Otherpeople2 George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 - October 29, 1885) was a major general during the American Civil War. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant." When Ulysses S. Grant became general-in-chief, he discussed returning McClellan to an unspecified position. George B. McClellan forced the Confederates in northwestern Virginia to retreat into the Alleghenies in 1861. In a telegram to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, reporting on these events, McClellan blamed the Lincoln administration for his reversals. [87], In March 1877 the Governor of New York, Lucius Robinson, nominated McClellan to serve as the first state Superintendent of Public Works,[88] but the New York State Senate rejected him as "incompetent for the position". Marcy, Randolph B, assisted by McClellan, George B., This page was last edited on 12 January 2023, at 16:49. "George Brinton McClellan." He attended the University of Pennsylvania but . Thank you." That fall, for example, Confederate forces ranged from 35,000 to 60,000, whereas the Army of the Potomac in September numbered 122,000 men; in early December 170,000; by year end, 192,000. Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. 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, and then president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1860. $35.00 + $5.00 shipping . At Antietam, where there was nowhere for him to flee to, he fell into a paralysis of indecision. But McClellan was also 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. A sensational story had reached the press that the expedition had been ambushed by 2,000 Comanches and killed to the last man. 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. Beauregard. The effectiveness of his campaign was damaged when he repudiated his party's platform, which promised an end to the war and negotiations with the Confederacy. George Brinton Mcclellan Jr, McClellan, George B. McClellan, George B. [90] The legislature also enacted several highly partisan measures designed to ensure Democratic control, including an aggressive gerrymander of the New Jersey Assembly districts and another disenfranchising college students (who tended to vote Republican). "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. in one way or other. When he discovered that the Confederates had fortified a line across the Peninsula he hesitated to attack and instead played it safe. During the summer and fall, McClellan brought a high degree of organization to his new army, and greatly improved its morale with frequent trips to review and encourage his units. McClellan supported continuation of the war and restoration of the Union, but not the abolition of slavery, although the party platform, written by Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, was opposed to that position. Seven Days' Battles, (June 25-July 1, 1862), series of American Civil War battles in which a Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee drove back General George B. McClellan's Union forces and thwarted the Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. 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. Davis was beginning to treat McClellan almost as a protg, and his next assignment was to assess the logistical readiness of various railroads in the United States, once again with an eye toward planning for the transcontinental railroad. McClellan's army began to sail from Alexandria on March 17. Nevertheless, McClellan received criticism from Washington for not counterattacking, which some believed could have opened the city of Richmond to capture. McClellan returned to West Point to command his engineering company, which was attached to the academy for the purpose of training cadets in engineering activities. [90] McClellan's administration was marked by caution and conservatism. However . Scott (as well as many in the War Department) was outraged that McClellan refused to divulge any details about his strategic planning, or even such basic information as the strengths and dispositions of his units. [60], McClellan was reunited with his army at Harrison's Landing on the James. 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. 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. [90][91], In the general election, he faced William A. Newell, a Republican former governor who accused McClellan of living in New York, which he easily refuted. The Union defeat at the minor Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg in October added to the frustration and indirectly damaged McClellan. "[56] Fortunately for McClellan, Lincoln never saw that inflammatory statement (at least at that time) because it was censored by the War Department telegrapher. [42], McClellan further damaged his reputation by his insulting insubordination to his commander-in-chief. 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. The camp was the training grounds for recruits and a hospital for the wounded. If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight."[65]. [31] 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, Lt. Gen. Scott, on matters of strategy. [21], In October 1859, McClellan was able to resume his courtship of Mary Ellen, and they were married in Calvary Church, New York City, on May 22, 1860. Admirable self-denial! McClellan revised his plans to have his troops disembark at Fort Monroe, Virginia, and advance up the Virginia Peninsula to Richmond, an operation that would be known as the Peninsula Campaign. Upon their arrival on July 28, they were astonished to find that they had been given up for dead. This plan, which would require considerable patience of the Northern public, was derided in newspapers as the Anaconda Plan, but eventually proved to be the outline of the successful prosecution of the war. [86], McClellan was appointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks in 1870. Old ladies and men wept for joy, and scores of beautiful ladies waved flags from the balconies of houses upon the street, and their joyousness seemed to overcome every other emotion. Although Lincoln had intended to issue the proclamation earlier, he was advised by his Cabinet to wait until a Union victory to avoid the perception that it was issued out of desperation. Backlash to these measures led to the election of Republican majorities in both houses for the remainder of McClellan's term in office, limiting the scope of his agenda. Davis, Jefferson, and McClellan, George B. Leigh, Philip "Lee's Lost Dispatch and Other Civil War Controversies". The names are legendary: Thomas . McClellan had hoped to use the 1st Corps to capture Glouchester Point and thus outflank the Confederate position. In this, McClellan was perhaps influenced by his questioning of Confederate deserter Edward B. McMurdy, whose testimony was not accepted by Lincoln, Secretary of State Seward, or General-in-Chief Scott, but reaffirmed for McClellan the numbers he had convinced himself of. "[40] Scott became so disillusioned with the young general that he offered his resignation to President Lincoln, who initially refused to accept it. Such a villain as he is ought to bring defeat upon any cause that employs him. The Battle of South Mountain also presented McClellan with an opportunity for one of the great theatrical moments of his career, as historian Sears describes: The mountain ahead was wreathed in smoke eddies of battle smoke in which the gun flashes shone like brief hot sparks. [66], 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. 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. They expressed their confidence to varying degrees. [73], The Union army reached Antietam Creek, to the east of Sharpsburg, on the evening of September 15. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant". By June the expedition reached the source of the north fork of the river and Marcy named a small tributary McClellan's Creek. With the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, northern civilian leaders encouraged McClellan to re-enter federal military service. [112] While this vessel is sometimes said to be named after the General, it was actually named after his son, who was Mayor of New York City, when the vessel was launched. He established a supply base on the Pamunkey River (a navigable tributary of the York River) at White House Landing where the Richmond and York River Railroad extending to Richmond crossed, and commandeered the railroad, transporting steam locomotives and rolling stock to the site by barge.[53]. On March 8, doubting McClellan's resolve, Lincoln again interfered with the army commander's prerogatives. He wrote a letter to Gen. Scott on April 27, four days after assuming command in Ohio, that presented the first proposal for a strategy for the war. In the fall of 1861 McClellan launched a small-scale invasion of western . [22], At the start of the Civil War, McClellan's knowledge of what was called "big war science" and his railroad experience suggested he might excel at military logistics. [82] For all his popularity with the troops, McClellan failed to secure their support and the military vote went to Lincoln nearly 31. [57] 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. Appointed chief engineer of the Present War '' that employs him 's Lost and... Ready to fight. `` [ 65 ] cavalry regulations into the in... Ambushed by 2,000 Comanches and killed to the frustration and indirectly damaged McClellan they. 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