When the General came to the corner of the principal street the ladies thronged around him. I have never witnessed such a scene. [108] Proponents of this school claim that McClellan is criticized more for his admittedly abrasive personality than for his actual field performance. 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. The Battle of Williamsburg on May 5 is considered a Union victoryMcClellan's firstbut the Confederate army was not destroyed and most of their troops were successfully moved past Williamsburg to Richmond's outer defenses while the battle was waged and for several days thereafter. [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. Such a villain as he is ought to bring defeat upon any cause that employs him. Malaria would recur in later years; he called it his "Mexican disease. 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. 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. McClellan's wife, Ellen, died in Nice, France, in 1915 while visiting Mary at her home "Villa Antietam".[93][94]. 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. I graduated second in my class at West Point in 1846. 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. 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. His final words, at 3 a.m., October 29, 1885, were, "I feel easy now. in one way or other. [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. So it was that George McClellan imagined three Rebel soldiers for every one he faced on the Antietam battlefield. George Brinton McClellan was born into an elite Philadelphia family on December 3, 1826. But all of these opportunities were impossible, given the opposition within the administration and the knowledge that McClellan posed a potential political threat. "[79], Secretary Stanton ordered McClellan to report to Trenton, New Jersey, for further orders, although none was issued. McClellan Park in Milbridge, Maine, was donated to the town by the general's son with the stipulation that it be named for the general. I think Lee has made a gross mistake, and that he will be severely punished for it. For this reason, some of his Southern colleagues approached him informally about siding with the Confederacy, but he could not accept the concept of secession. Early in the campaign, Confederate General John B. Known within the family as Max, he too became a politician, serving as a United States Representative (18931903) and as Mayor of New York City from 1904 to 1909. Many classic histories have portrayed McClellan's army as moving lethargically, averaging only 6 miles (9.7km) a day. McClellan's pursuit began on September 5. [97] McClellan himself summed up his style of warfare 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. [17], In June 1854, McClellan was sent on a secret reconnaissance mission to Santo Domingo at the behest of Jefferson Davis. 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. I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency. 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 plan's details being presented to the president. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant". Both passed the legislature in 1878 and 1880, respectively. 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 any second-in-command who might direct his retreat. George B. McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 3, 1826. . "Prince John" Magruder defended the Peninsula against McClellan's advance with a vastly smaller force. This placed him in great demand as the Union mobilized. On November 1, 1861, Winfield Scott retired and McClellan became general-in-chief of all the Union armies. Place Of Burial: Trenton, NJ. 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 .. By June the expedition reached the source of the north fork of the river and Marcy named a small tributary McClellan's Creek. 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. [91] Few concrete measures passed and those that did, such as the abolition of the state tax and improvements to the National Guard, were widely popular. On January 27, Lincoln issued an order that required all of his armies to begin offensive operations by February 22, Washington's birthday. McClellan asked for the opinion of his chief engineer John G. Barnard, who recommended against an assault. By delaying the Union army for almost a month, the Confederates had obtained valuable time to assemble and organize the forces that eventually beat McClellan back from the gates of Richmond and thwarted the Union's Peninsula Campaign. After the defeat of Pope at Second Bull Run, President Lincoln reluctantly returned to the man who had mended a broken army before. McClellan never received another field command and went on to become the unsuccessful Democratic Party nominee in the 1864 presidential election against the Republican Lincoln. On March 8, doubting McClellan's resolve, Lincoln again interfered with the army commander's prerogatives. The second would use the same force to drive south instead, crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky and Tennessee. I find myself in a new and strange position herePresdt, Cabinet, Genl Scott & all deferring to meby some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land. Lincoln's share of the vote in the Army of the Potomac was 70%. 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. Upon their arrival on July 28, they were astonished to find that they had been given up for dead. [25], McClellan's first military operations were to occupy the area of western Virginia that wanted to remain in the Union and subsequently became the state of West Virginia. 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. 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. allowing approximately 200,000 Black soldiers to serve in the Union Army during the Civil War. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac on November 9, 1862. Yet this halting between two opinions had the result that, when he had abandoned the purpose of making the turning movement, it had become too late for him to make a direct attack." A major contributing factor in this decision was McClellan's failure to pursue Lee's army following the tactically inconclusive but strategic Union victory at the Battle of Antietam outside Sharpsburg, Maryland. West Point Officers in the Civil War - Class of 1846 No single group of men at West Point--or possibly any academy--has been so indelibly written into history as the class of 1846. The day before, at the Battle of Antietam, Lee's force had engaged in the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War against the army of General George B. McClellan. 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.a graduate of west point, mcclellan served with distinction during the mexican-american war (1846- 1848), and later left the army to serve "[34] 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 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]. 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. He witnessed Scott's success in balancing political with military affairs and his good relations with the civil population as he invaded, enforcing strict discipline on his soldiers to minimize damage to property. The first would use 80,000 men to invade Virginia through the Kanawha Valley toward Richmond. The enemy is driven back into Virginia." Like other observers, though, McClellan did not appreciate the importance of the emergence of rifled muskets in the Crimean War, and the fundamental changes in warfare tactics it would require.[19]. 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