: Westholme Publishing, 2015. [32] He reveled in his newly acquired power and influence:[30]. 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. [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). Unlike some of his fellow Union officers who came from abolitionist families, he was opposed to federal interference with slavery. So it was that George McClellan imagined three Rebel soldiers for every one he faced on the Antietam battlefield. 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. The outnumbered Confederate forces fought desperately and well. 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. "[104], While McClellan's reputation has suffered over time, especially over the later half of the 20th century, there is a small but intense cadre of Civil War historians who believe that the general has been poorly served in at least four regards. I was appointed to the staff of General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War (1846-48). 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. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration. For other people with the same name, see, "Little Napoleon" redirects here. [16], Returning to the East, McClellan began courting his future wife, Mary Ellen Marcy (18361915), the daughter of his former commander. In the course of a disagreement about defensive forces on the Potomac River, McClellan wrote to his wife on August 10: "Genl Scott is the great obstaclehe will not comprehend the danger & is either a traitor, or an incompetent. Union general George B. McClellan had a number of accomplishments that have gone unnoticed due to his replacement as the general in charge of Union forces early in the US Civil War .. [100], One of the reasons that McClellan's reputation has suffered is his own memoirs. 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 effectively blocked this potential approach to Richmond. Making an amphibious clockwise turning movement around the Confederate Army in northern Virginia, McClellan's forces turned west to move up the Virginia Peninsula, between the James River and York River, landing from Chesapeake Bay, with the Confederate capital, Richmond, as their objective. "[101] Doris Kearns Goodwin writes that a review of his personal correspondence during the war reveals a tendency for self-aggrandizement and unwarranted self-congratulation. He concluded by implying he should be restored as general-in-chief, but Lincoln responded by naming Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck to the post without consulting, or even informing, McClellan. "[10] He served as an engineering officer during the war, was frequently subject to enemy fire, and was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for his services at Contreras[11] and Churubusco[12] and to captain for his service at Chapultepec. In the fall of 1852, McClellan published a manual on bayonet tactics that he had translated from the original French. [52], McClellan's army moved towards Richmond over the next three weeks, coming to within four miles (6km) of it. He telegraphed President Lincoln: "I have the whole rebel force in front of me, but I am confident, and no time shall be lost. Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the U.S. Confederate States presidential election of 1861, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_B._McClellan&oldid=1133191257, American military personnel of the MexicanAmerican War, Democratic Party (United States) presidential nominees, New York State Superintendents of Public Works, People of New Jersey in the American Civil War, Candidates in the 1864 United States presidential election, Commanding Generals of the United States Army, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from November 2021, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Despite his successes and lucrative salary ($10,000 per year), he was frustrated with civilian employment and continued to study classical military strategy assiduously. This caused him to decide on a siege of the city, which required considerable preparation. [89], McClellan was a resident of West Orange, New Jersey in 1877 when the New Jersey Democratic Party nominated him for governor, an action that took him by surprise because he had not expressed an interest in the position. Thank you." 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. He was very popular with his men, despite having a number of serious shortcomings as a commander. [43] On November 13, he snubbed the president, who had come to visit McClellan's house, by making him wait for 30 minutes, only to be told that the general had gone to bed and could not receive him. The platform called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy. Every decision he made that September 17 was dominated by his fear of counterattack by phantom Confederate battalions. McClellan was thus required to give chase without any benefit of the heavy artillery so carefully amassed in front of Yorktown. It ruined Lee's plans to invade Pennsylvania and took the initiative away from the Confederate commander. Historian Allan Nevins wrote, "Students of history must always be grateful McClellan so frankly exposed his own weaknesses in this posthumous book. Gen. George B. McClellan, his wife, infant daughter, nurse, and mother-in-law at his headquarters near Alexandria, Va.Courtesy Brian C. Pohanka, Alexandria, VA. After the disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run the same month, McClellan was placed in command of what was to become the Army of the Potomac. [110] Camp McClellan, in Davenport, IA, is a former Union Army camp established in August 1861 after the outbreak of the Civil War. Historian and biographer Stephen W. Sears observed that McClellan's actions would have been "essentially sound" for a commander who was as outnumbered as McClellan thought he was, but McClellan in fact rarely had less than a two-to-one advantage over the armies that opposed him in 1861 and 1862. [71], Still, historians including James M. McPherson in Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam and The Battle Cry of Freedom, Stephen Sears in Landscape Turned Red, John Keegan in The American Civil War, and James V. Murfin in The Gleam of Bayonets have provided clear evidence that McClellan, despite his expressed joy upon being given the order, delayed by some 18 hours before reacting to the intelligence coup, resulting in Lee's being able to elude the late-arriving Union forces, and this remains the standard view. The number of men McClellan was actually faced varies, with Joseph Harsh in Confederate Tide Rising placing Lee's army at 112,220 men compared with the 105,857 under McClellan. "[58] In the battle of Glendale, McClellan was five miles (8km) away behind Malvern Hill, without telegraph communications and too distant to command his army. He graduating second in his class of 59 in 1846. During his administration, two companies were equipped with Gatling guns, a new battalion was organized, regular rifle practice was instituted, and provisions were made to supply new uniforms. When the General came to the corner of the principal street the ladies thronged around him. These include Fort McClellan in Alabama, McClellan Butte and McClellan Peak in the state of Washington, where he traveled while conducting the Pacific Railroad Survey in 1853, and a bronze equestrian statue honoring General McClellan in Washington, D.C. Another equestrian statue honors him in front of Philadelphia City Hall, while the McClellan Gate at Arlington National Cemetery is dedicated to him and displays his name. Johnston saw 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. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Civil War General George B. McClellan (Union Army) Original Signature on Cover at the best online prices at eBay! He waved the order at his old Army friend, Brig. However the battle had a significant impact on McClellan's nerve. Davis, Jefferson, and McClellan, George B. Leigh, Philip "Lee's Lost Dispatch and Other Civil War Controversies". Died 29 Oct 1885 in Orange, New Jersey. I almost think that were I to win some small success now I could become Dictator or anything else that might please mebut nothing of that kind would please metherefore I won't be Dictator. Even as they served their country, Black soldiers were subject to a number of discriminations. 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. His first personal command in battle was at Rich Mountain, which he also won. [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. McClellan's feeling of facing overwhelming odds in subsequent campaigns throughout his tenure as General of the Army of the Potomac were strongly influenced by the overblown enemy strength estimates of his secret service chief, detective Allan Pinkerton, but in August 1861, these estimates were entirely McClellan's own. [4] The couple had five children: Frederica, John, George, Arthur and Mary. But all of these opportunities were impossible, given the opposition within the administration and the knowledge that McClellan posed a potential political threat. George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelphia on December 3, 1826, the son of a prominent surgeon, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. McClellan's plan for a rapid seizure of Yorktown was foiled by the removal of 1st Corps from the Army of the Potomac for the defense of Washington. CIVIL WAR UNION GENERAL GEORGE MEADE ~ J. E. McCLEES-PHILADELPHIA ~ c. - 1863 . He told one of his generals, "He is an able general but a very cautious one. Such a villain as he is ought to bring defeat upon any cause that employs him. George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. The surprise appearance of Maj. Gen. 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