George
McClellan, the son of a surgeon, he was born in Philadelphia
on 3rd December, 1826. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania
and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point,
where in 1846 he graduated second in his class.
McClellan was appointed to the staff of General Winfield
Scott during the Mexican War (1846-48)
and won three brevets for gallant conduct. He taught military engineering
at West Point (1848-51) and in 1855
was sent to observe the Crimean War in
order to obtain the latest information on European warfare.
McClellan left the United States Army in
1857 to become chief of engineering for the Illinois Central Railroad
where he became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln,
the company's attorney. In 1860 McClellan became president of the
Ohio and Mississippi Railroad.
Although McClellan was a member of the Democratic
Party he offered his services to President Abraham
Lincoln on the outbreak of the American
Civil War. He was placed in command of the Department of the Ohio
with responsibility for holding the western area of Virginia. He did
this successfully and after the Union Army
was defeated by the Confederate Army
at Bull Run, Lincoln appointed McClellan
as commander of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan insisted that his
army should undertake any new offensives until his new troops were
fully trained.
In November, 1861 McClellan, who was only 34 years old, was made commander
in chief of the Union Army. He developed
a strategy to defeat the Confederate Army
that included an army of 273,000 men. His plan was to invade Virginia
from the sea and to seize Richmond and
the other major cities in the South. McClellan believed that to keep
resistance to a minimum, it should be made clear that the Union forces
would not interfere with slavery and
would help put down any slave insurrections.
McClellan appointed Allan Pinkerton
to employ his agents to spy on the Confederate
Army. His reports exaggerated the size of the enemy and McClellan
was unwilling to launch an attack until he had more soldiers available.
Under pressure from Radical Republicans
in Congress, Abraham Lincoln decided
in January, 1862, to appoint Edwin M. Stanton
as his new Secretary of War.
Soon after this appointment Abraham Lincoln
ordered McClellan to appear before a committee investigating the way
the war was being fought. On 15th January, 1862, McClellan had to
face the hostile questioning of Benjamin Wade
and Zachariah Chandler. Wade asked
McClellan why he was refusing to attack the Confederate
Army. He replied that he had to prepare the proper routes of retreat.
Chandler then said: "General McClellan, if I understand you correctly,
before you strike at the rebels you want to be sure of plenty of room
so that you can run in case they strike back." Wade added "Or
in case you get scared". After McClellan left the room, Wade
and Chandler came to the conclusion that McClellan was guilty of "infernal,
unmitigated cowardice".
As a result of this meeting Abraham Lincoln
decided he must find a way to force McClellan into action. On 31st
January he issued General War Order Number One. This ordered McClellan
to begin the offensive against the enemy before the 22nd February.
Lincoln also insisted on being consulted about McClellan's military
plans. Lincoln disagreed with McClellan's desire to attack Richmond
from the east. Lincoln only gave in when the division commanders voted
8 to 4 in favour of McClellan's strategy. However, Lincoln no longer
had confidence in McClellan and removed him from supreme command of
the Union Army. He also insisted that
McClellan left 30,000 men behind to defend Washington.
During the summer of 1862, McClellan and the Army of the Potomac,
took part in what became known as the Peninsular Campaign. The main
objective was to capture Richmond, the
base of the Confederate government. McClellan and his 115,000 troops
encountered the Confederate Army at Williamsburg
on 5th May. After a brief battle the Confederate forces retreated
South.
McClellan moved his troops into the
Shenandoah Valley and along with John
C. Fremont, Irvin McDowell and
Nathaniel Banks surrounded Thomas
Stonewall Jackson and his 17,000 man army. First Jackson attacked
John C. Fremont at Cross Keys before
turning on Irvin McDowell at Port
Republic. Jackson then rushed his troops east to join up with Joseph
E. Johnston and the Confederate forces fighting McClellan in the
suburbs the city.
General Joseph E. Johnston with some
41,800 men counter-attacked McClellan's slightly larger army at Fair
Oaks. The Union Army lost 5,031 men
and the Confederate Army 6,134. Johnson
was badly wounded during the battle and General Robert
E. Lee now took command of the Confederate forces.
Major General John Pope, the commander
of the new Army of Virginia, was instructed to move east to Blue Ridge
Mountains towards Charlottesville. It was hoped that this move would
help McClellan by drawing Robert E. Lee
away from defending Richmond. Lee's
80,000 troops were now faced with the prospect of fighting two large
armies: McClellan (90,000) and Pope (50,000)
Joined by Thomas Stonewall Jackson,
the Confederate troops constantly attacked McClellan and on 27th June
they broke through at Gaines Mill. Convinced
he was outnumbered, McClellan retreated to James River. Abraham
Lincoln, frustrated by McClellan's lack of success, sent in Major
General John Pope, but he was easily beaten
back by Jackson.
McClellan wrote to Abraham Lincoln complaining
that a lack of resources was making it impossible to defeat the Confederate
forces. He also made it clear that he was unwilling to employ tactics
that would result in heavy casualties. He claimed that "ever
poor fellow that is killed or wounded almost haunts me!" On 1st
July, 1862, McClellan and Lincoln met at Harrison Landing. McClellan
once again insisted that the war should be waged against the Confederate
Army and not slavery.
Salmon Chase (Secretary of the Treasury),
Edwin M. Stanton (Secretary of War)
and vice president Hannibal Hamlin, who
were all strong opponents of slavery,
led the campaign to have McClellan sacked. Unwilling to do this, Abraham
Lincoln decided to put McClellan in charge of all forces in the
Washington area.
After the second battle of Bull Run,
General Robert E. Lee decided to invade
Maryland and Pennsylvania. On 10th September, 1862, he sent Thomas
Stonewall Jackson to capture the Union
Army garrison at Harper's Ferry and moved the rest of his troops
to Antietam Creek. When McClellan heard that the Confederate
Army had been divided, he decided to attack Lee. However, the
Harper's Ferry garrison surrendered on 15th September and some of
the men were able to rejoin Lee.
On the morning of 17th September, 1862, McClellan and Major General
Ambrose Burnside attacked Robert
E. Lee at Antietam. The Union Army
had over 75,300 troops against 37,330 Confederate soldiers. Lee held
out until Ambrose Hill and reinforcements
arrived from Harper's Ferry. The following day Lee and his army crossed
the Potomac into Virginia unhindered.
It was the most costly day of the war with the Union
Army having 2,108 killed, 9,549 wounded and 753 missing. The Confederate
Army had 2,700 killed, 9,024 wounded and 2,000 missing. As a result
of being unable to achieve a decisive victory at Antietam, Abraham
Lincoln postponed the attempt to capture Richmond.
Lincoln was also angry that McClellan with his superior forces had
not pursued Robert E. Lee across the Potomac
Abraham Lincoln now wanted McClellan
to go on the offensive against the Confederate
Army. However, McClellan refused to move, complaining that he
needed fresh horses. Radical Republicans
now began to openly question McClellan's loyalty. "Could the
commander be loyal who had opposed all previous forward movements,
and only made this advance after the enemy had been evacuated"
wrote George W. Julian. Whereas William
P. Fessenden came to the conclusion that McClellan was "utterly
unfit for his position".
Frustrated by McClellan unwillingness to attack, Abraham
Lincoln recalled him to to Washington
with the words: "My dear McClellan: If you don't want to use
the Army I should like to borrow it for a while." On 7th November
Lincoln removed McClellan from all commands and replaced him with
Ambrose Burnside.
In 1864 stories began to circulate that McClellan was seeking the
presidential nomination of the Democratic
Party. Worried by the prospect of competing with the former head
of the Union Army, it is claimed that
Lincoln offered McClellan a new command in Virginia. McClellan refused
and accepted the nomination. In an attempt to obtain unity, Lincoln
named a Southern Democrat, Andrew Johnson
of Tennessee, as his running mate.
During the campaign McClellan declared the war a "failure"
and urged "immediate efforts for a cessation of hostilities,
with a view to an ultimate convention of the states, or other peaceable
means, to the end that peace may be restored on the basis of the federal
Union of the States". However, McClellan added that this could
happen when "our adversaries are willing to negotiate upon the
basis of reunion." McClellan made it clear that he disliked slavery
because it weakened the country but he opposed "forcible abolition
as an object of the war or a necessary condition of peace and reunion."
The victories of Ulysses S. Grant, William
Sherman, George Meade, Philip
Sheridan and George H. Thomas in
the summer of 1864 reinforced the idea that the Union
Army was close to bringing the war to an end. This helped Lincoln's
presidential campaign and with 2,216,067 votes, comfortably beat McClellan
(1,808,725) in the election. McClellan carried only Delaware, Kentucky
and New Jersey.
After the war McClellan he spent time in Europe before returning to
serve as chief engineer of the New York Department of Docks (1870-72)
and in 1872 became president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad.
He also served as governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. George
McClellan died on 29th October, 1885, in Orange, New Jersey.
This
cartoon of George McClellan holding the skull of Abraham
Lincoln was
published in the New York World
during the presidential campaign of 1864.
(1)
In July, 1861, Oliver Howard
joined the Army of Potomac under the command of General George McClellan.
Howard wrote about McClellan in his autobiography published in 1907.
My first sight of McClellan was in 1850, when I was a cadet
at West Point. He had then but recently returned from Mexico, where
he had gained two brevets of honor. He was popular and handsome and
a captain of engineers, and if there was one commissioned officer
more than another who had universal notice among the young gentlemen
of the academy it was he, himself a young man, a staff officer of
a scientific turn who had been in several battles and had played everywhere
a distinguished part.
Eleven years later, after his arrival in Washington, July 23, 1861,
an occasion brought me, while standing amid a vast multitude of other
observers, a fresh glimpse of McClellan. He was now a major general
and fittingly mounted. His record, from a brilliant campaign in West
Virginia, and the urgent demand of the Administration for the ablest
military man to lift us up from the valley of our existing humiliation,
instantly brought this officer to the knowledge and scrutiny of the
Government and the people.
(2)
General George McClellan, letter sent to officers in the Army
of Potomac (12th November, 1861)
As far as military necessity will permit, religiously respect
the constitutional rights of all. Be careful so to treat the unarmed
inhabitants as to contract, not widen, the breach existing between
us and the rebels. It should be out constant aim to make it apparent
to all that their property, their comfort, and their personal safety
will be best preserved by adhering to the cause of the Union.
(3)
In his autobiography General Oliver
Howard commented on the way that Abraham
Lincoln treated General George
McClellan during the early months of 1862.
Mr. Lincoln evidently had begun to distrust McClellan. There
was growing opposition to him everywhere for political reasons. Think
of the antislavery views of Stanton and Chase; of the growing antislavery
sentiments of the congressional committee on the conduct of war; think
of the number of generals like Fremont, Butler, Banks, Hunter, and
others in everyday correspondence with the Cabinet, whose convictions
were already strong that the slaves should be set free; think, too,
of the Republican press constantly becoming more and more of the same
opinion and the masses of the people really leading the press. McClellan's
friends in the army had often offended the Northern press. In his
name radical antislavery correspondents had been expelled from the
army.
(4)
George McClellan, letter to Edwin M. Stanton
after the battle at Gaines Mill (28th
June, 1862)
I have lost this battle because my force was too small. I have
seen too many dead and wounded comrades to feel otherwise than this
government has not sustained this army. If you not do so now the game
is lost. If I save this army now, I tell you plainly that I owe no
thanks to you or any other person in Washington. You have done the
best to sacrifice this army.
(5)
George McClellan, letter to Abraham Lincoln
(7th July, 1862)
The rebellion has assumed the character of a war; as such it should
be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles
known to Christian civilization. It should not be a war looking to
the subjugation of the people of any state. It should not be a war
upon population but against armed forces and political organization
of states, or forcible abolition of slavery should be contemplated
for a moment.
In carrying out any system of policy which you may form, you will
require a commander in chief of the Army, one who possesses your confidence,
understands your views, and who is competent to execute your orders
by directing the military forces of the nation to the accomplishment
of the objects by you proposed. I do not ask that place for myself.
I am willing to serve you in such position as you may assign me, and
I will do so as faithfully as ever subordinate served superior.
(6)
Salmon Chase had severe doubts about the
wisdom of appointing George McClellan as a senior commander. He wrote
about his fears to Zachariah Chandler
on 20th September, 1862.
Of course the action of the President in placing General McClellan
in command was not prompted by me. I thought that there were brave,
capable and loyal officers, such as Hooker, Sumner, Burnside and many
more who might be named, to whom the command of armies might be more
safely and much more properly entrusted. The President thought otherwise,
and I must do all I can to make his decision useful to the country.
(7)
Carl Schurz wrote about George
McClellan and Antietam in his autobiography published in 1906.
On the 17th of September, the battle of Antietam was fought, in
which McClellan might have made a victory of immense consequence,
had he not, with his usual indecision and procrastination, let slip
the moments when he could easily have beaten the divided enemy in
detail. As it was, General Lee came near being justified in calling
Antietam a "drawn battle". He withdrew almost unmolested
from the presence of our army across the Potomac.
(8)
James
Garfield, like
many officers in the Army of the Potomac, was highly critical of his
commander, General George McClellan (13th October, 1862)
All my former opinions of McClellan are
confirmed. His late campaign in Maryland has been most shameful. He
has lain perfectly idle 27 days since the last battle with a force
almost twice the number of the rebel army and has been constantly
been asking for reinforcements. All three (Edwin Stanton, Abraham
Lincoln, Henry Halleck) desire to get rid of McClellan and two or
three times have been at the point of removing him, but have lacked
the courage. Stanton would have done it but was not allowed - the
President would have done it, but feared the Border States and the
army - Halleck would have done it, but claimed the responsibility
should not be placed on his shoulders. It is still being agitated
and I think it is to be done soon, but I believe they are waiting
for the elections to be over - lest it may strengthen the Peace Democrats
who will praise McClellan to the skies.
(9)
Henry Villard worked
for the New York Tribune
during the American Civil War. In his
memoirs he wrote about why McClellan was sacked.
The President's proclamation of the abolition
of slavery of September 22 had met with strong opposition in the border
States and among the Democrats of the free States, especially in New
York, Ohio, and Indiana. It was known that McClellan, and the generals
nearest to him, were also opposed to this portentous act. It was proclaimed
by the Democratic press that his relief from active command was due
to his hostility to it, and a concession to the Abolitionists, who
then, as I could personally confirm, still seemed to many Union generals
no better than rebels. General McClellan did nothing to disclaim this
pseudo-political martyrdom, which was certainly a convenient cloak
for the real cause of his dismissal - his military shortcomings.
(10)
In 1867 John
Singleton Mosby, was interviewed in the Philadelphia Post
about the merits of the different generals in the Union
Army during the American Civil War.
Whom do you consider the ablest General
on the Federal side?" "McClellan, by all odds. I think he
is the only man on the Federal side who could have organized the army
as it was. Grant had, of course, more successes in the field in the
latter part of the war, but Grant only came in to reap the benefits
of McClellan's previous efforts. At the same time, I do not wish to
disparage General Grant, for he has many abilities, but if Grant had
commanded during the first years of the war, we would have gained
our independence. Grant's policy of attacking would have been a blessing
to us, for we lost more by inaction than we would have lost in battle.
After the first Manassas the army took a sort of 'dry rot', and we
lost more men by camp diseases than we would have by fighting."
(11)
George McClellan, McClellan's Own Story (1887)
Had I been successful in my first campaign, the rebellion would
perhaps have been terminated without the immediate abolition of slavery.
I believe that the leaders of the radical branch of the Republican
Party preferred political control of one section of a divided country
to being in the minority in a restored Union. Not only did these people
desire the abolition of slavery, but its abolition in such a manner
and under such circumstances that the slaves would at once be endowed
with the electoral franchise and permanent control thus be secured
through the votes of the ignorant slaves.
(12)
George McClellan, McClellan's Own Story (1887)
Of all the men whom I have encountered in high position Halleck
was the most hopelessly stupid. It was more difficult to get an idea
through his head than can be conceived by any one who never made the
attempt. I do not think he ever had a correct military idea from beginning
to end.
A day or two before Halleck arrived in Washington Stanton came to
caution me against trusting Halleck, who was, he said, probably the
greatest scoundrel and most barefaced villain in America; he said
that he was totally destitute of principle, and that in the Almaden
Quicksilver case he had convicted Halleck of perjury in open court.
When Halleck arrived he came to caution me against Stanton, repeating
almost precisely the same words that Stanton had employed.
(13)
After the American Civil War, the journalist,
Noah Brooks, claimed that in an interview in April, 1863, Abraham
Lincoln, explained why he was reluctant to sack General George
McClellan.
I kept McClellan in command after I had expected that he would win
victories, simply because I knew that his dismissal would provoke
popular indignation and shake the faith of the people in the final
success of the war.
(14)
Abraham Lincoln, in discussion with journalists
about General George McClellan (March, 1863)
I do not, as some do, regard McClellan either as a traitor or an officer
without capacity. He sometimes has bad counselors, but he is loyal,
and he has some fine military qualities. I adhered to him after nearly
all my constitutional advisers lost faith in him. But do you want
to know when I gave him up? It was after the battle of Antietam. The
Blue Ridge was then between our army and Lee's. I directed McClellan
peremptorily to move on Richmond. It was eleven days before he crossed
his first man over the Potomac; it was eleven days after that before
he crossed the last man. Thus he was twenty-two days in passing the
river at a much easier and more practicable ford than that where Lee
crossed his entire army between dark one night and daylight the next
morning. That was the last grain of sand which broke the camel's back.
I relieved McClellan at once.
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