George mcclellan biography civil war soldiers

Like other observers, though, McClellan did not appreciate the george mcclellan biography civil war soldiers of the emergence of rifled muskets in the Crimean War and the fundamental changes in warfare tactics it would require. The Army adopted McClellan's cavalry manual and also his design for a saddle, dubbed the McClellan Saddle, which he claimed to have seen used by Hussars in Prussia and Hungary.

It became a standard issue for as long as the U. McClellan resigned his commission on January 16,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 He performed well in both jobs, expanding the Illinois Central toward New Orleans and helping the Ohio and Mississippi recover from the Panic of Despite his successes and lucrative salary, 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. Douglas in the election. He claimed to have defeated an attempt at vote fraud by Republicans by ordering the delay of a train that was carrying men to vote illegally in another county, enabling Douglas to win the county. Unlike many of his colleagues who were abolitionists, he did not support federal involvement in state affairs.

He believed that the federal government should not interfere with slavery. His stance was so strong on this issue that when the Civil War broke out, he was recruited to become a Confederate General. However, as much as he disagreed with federal involvement with slavery, he liked secession even less. He would join the Union and become an important name at the beginning of the war.

McClellan's knowledge of the railroad made many believe that he would be excellent at logistics. He was highly sought to take command of state militias until settling in Ohio. This appointment did not last long as he would eventually become general-in-chief after the First Battle of Bull Runbut it was during his command in Ohio when he began lobbying a former mentor, Winfield Scott, for a great position in the war.

As McClellan scrambled to process the thousands of men who were volunteering for service and to set up training camps, he also applied his mind to grand strategy. McClellan put his Peninsula Campaign into action in Marchlanding overmen on the coast and proceeding east toward the Confederate capital. Despite his strong position, McClellan failed to capitalize on his tactical advantage, once again believing that he might be outnumbered.

When General Robert E. Lee took control of Confederate forces on June 1, he launched a series of bold offensives that culminated in the Seven Days Battles. Aggravated at what he saw as indecisiveness on the part of McClellan, Lincoln had grown dissatisfied with his most famous general. The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of combat in the Civil War, and while it was presented as a Union victory in the Northern press, it was in effect a tactical draw.

His campaign was marred by a schism that split the Democratic vote along pro- and anti-war lines. Following his presidential defeat, McClellan resigned from the army and spent several years in Europe. He would return to the railroad business in as president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. From tohe served one term as the governor of New Jersey.

You can opt out at any time. McClellan proceeded to bombastically proclaim that secessionist presence in West Virginia has been completely crushed. McClellan chose Rosecrans as his successor and briefed him on the situation before departing for Washington upon being summoned to reorganize the routed Union Army of Northeastern Virginia after the defeat at Bull Run.

After the defeat of the Union forces at Bull Run on July 21,Lincoln summoned McClellan from western Virginia, where McClellan had given the North the only engagements bearing a semblance of victory. He traveled by special train on the main Pennsylvania line from Wheeling through PittsburghPhiladelphiaand Baltimoreand on to Washington Cityand was greeted by enthusiastic crowds that met his train along the way.

Carl Sandburg wrote, "McClellan was the man of the hour, pointed to by events, and chosen by an overwhelming weight of public and private opinion. 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. He reveled in his newly acquired power and influence: [ 30 ].

George mcclellan biography civil war soldiers: George B. McClellan was

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! 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.

It was a remarkable achievement, in which he came to personify the Army of the Potomac and reaped the adulation of his men. Scott, on matters of strategy. McClellan rejected the tenets of Scott's Anaconda Planfavoring instead an overwhelming grand battle, in the Napoleonic style. He proposed that his army should be expanded tomen and guns and "crush the rebels in one campaign".

He favored a war that would impose little impact on civilian populations and require no emancipation of slaves. McClellan's antipathy to emancipation added to the pressure on him, as he received bitter criticism from Radical Republicans in the government. But he made no secret of his opposition to the Radical Republicans.

George mcclellan biography civil war soldiers: George McClellan was born in Philadelphia,

He told Ellen, "I will not fight for the abolitionists. 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 Confederacy had overtroops facing him in contrast to the 35, they had actually deployed at Bull Run a few weeks earlierhe declared a state of emergency in the capital.

By August 19, he estimatedrebel soldiers on his front. 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 Pinkertonbut in Augustthese estimates were entirely McClellan's own.

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 and That fall, for example, Confederate forces ranged from 35, to 60, whereas the Army of the Potomac in September numberedmen; in early December ,; by year end,The dispute with Scott became increasingly personal.

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. McClellan claimed he could not trust anyone in the administration to keep his plans secret from the press, and thus the enemy. I have to fight my way against him.

Rumors traveled through the capital that McClellan might resign, or instigate a military coup, if Scott were not removed. However, the subsequently formed Army of the Potomac had high morale and was extremely proud of their general, some even referring to McClellan as the savior of Washington. He prevented the army's morale from collapsing at least twice, in the aftermath of the First and Second Battles of Bull Run.

Many historians argue that he was talented in this aspect. 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.

In December, the Congress formed a Joint Committee on the Conduct of the Warwhich 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, 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, as "nothing more than a well-meaning baboon", a "gorilla", and "ever unworthy of On January 10,Lincoln met with top generals McClellan did not attend and directed them to formulate a plan of attack, expressing his exasperation with General McClellan with the following remark: "If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time.

For the first time, he revealed his intentions to transport the Army of the Potomac by ship to UrbannaVirginia, on the Rappahannock Riveroutflanking the Confederate forces near Washington, and proceeding 50 miles 80 km overland to capture Richmond. He refused to give any specific details of the proposed george mcclellan biography civil war soldiers, even to his friend, newly appointed War Secretary Edwin M.

On January 27, Lincoln issued an order that required all of his armies to begin offensive operations by February 22, Washington's birthday. On January 31, he issued a supplementary order for the Army of the Potomac to move overland to attack the Confederates at Manassas Junction and Centreville. McClellan immediately replied with a 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.

Although Lincoln believed his plan was superior, he was relieved that McClellan finally agreed to begin moving, and reluctantly approved. On March 8, doubting McClellan's resolve, Lincoln again interfered with the army commander's prerogatives. He called a council of war at the White House in which McClellan's subordinates were asked about their confidence in the Urbanna plan.

They expressed their confidence to varying degrees. After the meeting, Lincoln issued another order, naming specific officers as corps commanders to report to McClellan who had been reluctant to do so prior to assessing his division commanders' effectiveness in combat, even though this would have meant his direct supervision of twelve divisions in the field.

Two more crises would confront McClellan before he could implement his plans. The Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston withdrew from their positions before Washington, assuming new positions south of the Rappahannock, which completely nullified the Urbanna strategy. McClellan revised his plans to have his troops disembark at Fort MonroeVirginiaand advance up the Virginia Peninsula to Richmond, an operation that would be known as the Peninsula Campaign.

Then, however, McClellan came under extreme criticism in the press and Congress when it was learned that Johnston's forces had not only slipped away unnoticed, but had for months fooled the Union Army with logs painted black to appear as cannons, nicknamed Quaker Guns. 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.

On March 11,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, the general-in-chief position was left unfilled.

Lincoln, Stanton, and a group of officers who formed the "War Board" directed the strategic actions of the Union armies that spring. 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".

McClellan's army began to sail from Alexandria on March It was an armada that dwarfed all previous American expeditions, transportingmen, 44 artillery batteries, 1, wagons, over 15, horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant". 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.

McClellan had hoped to use the 1st Corps to capture Glouchester Point and thus outflank the Confederate position. When he discovered that the Confederates had fortified a line across the Peninsula he hesitated to attack and instead "played it safe". As Swinton notes:. It is possible, however—and there is a considerable volume of evidence bearing upon this point—that General McClellan, during all the earlier george mcclellan biography civil war soldiers of the month before Yorktown, had it in his mind, even without McDowell's corps, to undertake the decisive turning movement by the north side of the York.

In this event, it would not only be in the direction of his plan to make no attack, but it would play into his hands that his opponent should accumulate his forces on the Peninsula. 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.

McClellan asked for the opinion of his chief engineer John G. Barnardwho recommended against an assault. This caused 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.

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. 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.

McClellan was thus required to give chase without any benefit of the heavy artillery so carefully amassed in front of Yorktown. The Battle of Williamsburg on May 5 is considered a Union victory—McClellan's first—but 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.

George mcclellan biography civil war soldiers: A career Army officer

McClellan had also placed hopes on a simultaneous naval approach to Richmond via the James River. That approach failed george mcclellan biography civil war soldiers the Union Navy's defeat at the Battle of Drewry's Bluffabout 7 miles 11 km downstream from the Confederate capital, on May 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.

McClellan's army moved towards Richmond over the next three weeks, coming to within four miles 6. 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 railroadtransporting steam locomotives and rolling stock to the site by barge.

On May 31, as McClellan planned an assault, his army was surprised by a Confederate attack. 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. McClellan was unable to command the army personally because of a recurrence of malarial fever, 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 General Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia. McClellan spent the next three weeks repositioning his troops and waiting for promised reinforcements.

As Lee recounted, McClellan was attempting to make "this a battle of posts" which would lock the Confederate army in an attritional battle with superior Union firepower. The first major battle, at Mechanicsvillewas poorly coordinated by Lee and his subordinates and resulted in heavy casualties for little tactical gain. However, the battle had a significant impact on McClellan's nerve.

The surprise appearance of Maj. 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 outnumbered than he had thought. He reported to Washington that he facedConfederates, perhaps due to a false report on the arrival of another Confederate army P.

Lee continued his offensive at Gaines's Mill to the east. That night, McClellan 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, 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.

Not only did McClellan's decision allow the Federals to gain control of the time and place for the battles that took place in late June and early July, it enabled them to fight in a way that inflicted terrible beating on the Confederate army More importantly, by the end of the Seven Days Battles, McClellan had dramatically improved his operational situation.

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. In a telegram to Secretary of War Edwin Stantonreporting on these events, McClellan blamed the Lincoln administration for his reversals.

You have done your best to sacrifice this army. 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. 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 the possibility had been realthat charge under the Articles of War would likely have been brought against him. When the public heard about the Galenait was yet another great embarrassment, comparable to the Quaker Guns at Manassas. Editorial cartoons published in the course of the presidential campaign lampooned McClellan for having preferred 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. Debates were held as to whether the george mcclellan biography civil war soldiers should be evacuated or attempt to resume an offensive toward Richmond. McClellan maintained his estrangement from Abraham Lincoln with his repeated 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 responded by naming Maj. Henry W. Halleck to the post without consulting, or even informing, McClellan. Ambrose Burnsidewho refused the appointment. Back in Washington, a reorganization of units created the Army of Virginia under Maj. John Popewho was directed to advance toward Richmond from the northeast.

McClellan, not wishing to abandon his campaign, delayed the return of the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula enough so that the reinforcements arrived while the northern Virginia campaign was already underway. A frustrated McClellan wrote to his wife before the battle, "Pope will be thrashed Such a villain as he is ought to bring defeat upon any cause that employs him.

On September 2,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".

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. Numbers vary as to the size of McClellan's force with its paper strength at 87, Steven R. Stotelmyer in Too Useful to Sacrifice places it at about 60, men, noting that the 87, number includes non-combat soldiers and units not immediately available.

McClellan left two corps behind to defend Washington. 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. The General had his head uncovered, and received gracefully the salutations of the people. 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.

When the General came to the corner of the principal street the ladies thronged around him. Bouquets, beautiful and fragrant, in great numbers were thrown at him, and the ladies crowded around him with the warmest good wishes, and many of them were entirely overcome with emotion. I have never witnessed such a scene. The General took the gentle hands which were offered to him with many a kind and pleasing remark, and heard and answered the many remarks and compliments with which the people accosted him.

Only his indifferent skills at drawing kept him from top place. Sent to the Rio Grande inhe was disappointed to have been too late to fight at the Battle of Monterrey. It was at this time that McClellan suffered the first of what were to be repeated bouts of malaria, and he was hospitalized for several weeks. Although his bravery won him brevet promotions to first lieutenant and then captain, McClellan became somewhat disillusioned with the glacial pace of promotion in the regular ranks.

He became a fierce advocate for discipline, especially in terms of respect toward civilians, while he also noted his effectiveness of flanking assaults. After the war was over, McClellan controlled a company of engineers which trained cadets at West Point. He was sent to Arkansas in the spring of to take part in an expedition along the Red River, in the hope of discovering its source.

His commander, Captain Randolph B. Meanwhile, the press had been told, erroneously, that the entire expeditionary party had been killed by Comanches, so there was general astonishment when they reappeared safe and well in late July. Over the next few years, McClellan was kept busy both professionally and personally. In his military capacity, he undertook a survey of land earmarked for the planned transcontinental railroad.