George B. McClellan: Difference between revisions

'''George Brinton McClellan''' (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer, politician, engineer, businessman and writerpolitician who served as the 24th [[governor of New Jersey]]. Aand [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] graduate, McClellan served with distinction during theas [[Mexican–AmericanCommanding War]]General before leavingof the [[United States Army]] tofrom serveNovember as1861 ato railwayMarch executive1862. andHe engineerwas untilalso thean outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] in 1861. Early in the conflictengineer, McClellanand was appointedchief to the rank of [[Major general (United States)|major general]]engineer and playedvice anpresident important role in raisingof the [[ArmyIllinois ofCentral the PotomacRailroad]], whichand served in the [[Easternlater Theaterpresident of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]]; he also served as [[CommandingOhio Generaland ofMississippi the United States ArmyRailroad]] fromin November1860. 1861 to March 1862.

A [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] graduate, McClellan served with distinction during the [[Mexican–American War]] before leaving the [[United States Army]] to serve as a railway executive and engineer until the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] in 1861. Early in the conflict, McClellan was appointed to the rank of [[Major general (United States)|major general]] and played an important role in raising the [[Army of the Potomac]], which served in the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]].

McClellan organized and led the [[Union Army]] in the [[Peninsula campaign]] in southeastern [[Virginia]] from March through July 1862. It was the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. Making an amphibious clockwise turning movement around the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] in northern Virginia, McClellan's forces turned west to move up the Virginia Peninsula, between the [[James River]] and [[York River (Virginia)|York River]], landing from [[Chesapeake Bay]], with the Confederate capital, [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], as their objective. Initially, McClellan was somewhat successful against General [[Joseph E. Johnston]], but the emergence of General [[Robert E. Lee]] to command the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] turned the subsequent [[Seven Days Battles]] into a Union defeat. However, historians note that Lee's victory was in many ways [[Pyrrhic victory|pyrrhic]] as he failed to destroy the Army of the Potomac and suffered a bloody repulse at [[Battle of Malvern Hill|Malvern Hill]].

At the start of the Civil War in 1861, McClellan's knowledge of what was called "big war science" and his railroad experience suggested he might excel at military logistics. His old report from his tour in the Crimean war was quickly rushed for publication. This placed him in great demand as the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] mobilized its militia and its armies. The governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, the three largest states of the Union, actively pursued him to command their states' militia. McClellan expressed desire to command the state militia of his home state of Pennsylvania, but when the despatch did not arrive to him as early as he expected it, he departed Illinois for Pennsylvania with the intent of commanding its state militia. On his way there, he stopped at Columbus to discuss the military situation in the Ohio valley with Ohio governor [[William Dennison Jr.|William Dennison]]. Dennison was impressed with McClellan and offered him command of the state militia on the spot, which he accepted. [[Andrew Gregg Curtin|Pennsylvania's governor]] had in fact already sent a wire to McClellan offering him command of the Pennsylvania state militia, but he did not receive this until the next day. McClellan was commissioned a major general of volunteers and took command of the Ohio militia on April 23, 1861. Unlike some of his fellow Union officers who came from [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] families, he was opposed to federal interference with slavery. 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]].<ref name="GB5P3" />

As his forces moved rapidly into West Virginia across the Beverly-Fairmont turnpike towards [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]], Confederate forces under the command of General Porterfield retreated quickly before McClellan's superior forces towards [[Philippi, West Virginia|Philippi]], where Porterfield ordered his forces into a momentary rest before continuing the retreat. McClellan planned to encircle Porterfield's command at Philippi through a complex plan that required coordination between three separate forces. This coordination failed, and the bombardment of the village commenced with a false signal. [[Battle of Philippi (1861)|The confederatesConfederates at Philippi were completely routed]], but they did not retreat towards a prepared line of unionUnion troops as the plan originally envisioned. This was the first land conflict of the war. McClellan then split his forces up, one column went under the command of general [[Thomas A. Morris]], marched to the Beverly-Fairmont turnpike to attack confederateConfederate troops defending Laurel Mountain, who were under command of confederateConfederate general [[Robert S. Garnett]], and secure the northern road leading to the valley east of the mountains. This force beset the rebels at Laurel Mountain on July 7. His first personal command in [[Battle of Rich Mountain|battle was at Rich Mountain]], where McClellan was plagued by hesitation and his erroneous idea that he was facing a sizeable confederateConfederate force. McClellan wished to flank the strong confederateConfederate position at Rich mountainMountain but found no avenue to do so, and ordered his forces into a preliminary siege. A young boy from the Hart family, whose house was on Rich mountainMountain, behind the confederateConfederate position, a family with unionist sympathies, walked into McClellan's camp and offered to show the unionistUnion troops a route through the woods around the confederateConfederate left, this small trail would eventually turn north and link up with the Buckhannon-Beverly pike that cut through Rich mountainMountain eastwards to the valley, and then to cheatCheat riverRiver. McClellan was pleased and ordered his subordinate, Colonel [[William Rosecrans|William S. Rosecrans]], to lead a contingent of troops, flank the confederatesConfederates and take them by surprise. Due to intense rain, a movement that was originally estimated to take an hour or two at most, took more than 7 hours.

After a long time without receiving news from Rosecrans, McClellan grew nervous and dispatched an order to call off this attack, but the orders never reached Rosecrans. Finally, after an exhausting march, Rosecrans took up positions south of the Hart home and launched a vigorous attack up the hill to the Hart farm. Confederate troops, who were under the overall command of general [[John Pegram (general)|John Pegram]], attempted a defense and moved two guns to the road to repulse this attack, which was well east of the main confederateConfederate position on Rich Mountain. Another regiment was ordered out of Beverly to link up with the confederateConfederate position at Rich mountainMountain, this regiment had arrived too late and found the unionistUnion troops had overrun the road, captured a Confederate cannon and were holding the road between Beverly and the confederateConfederate troops west of their position on Rich Mountain (behind the rebel defensive line on the road). McClellan heard the sounds of battle from his headquarters but being hesitant, unsure and nervous, ordered no attack on the mountain. The next day the demoralized confederateConfederate troops retreated from Rich Mountain through trails that took them northwards and then attempted to move eastwards back to Beverly on the Tygart valley. A harrowing pursuit caused several hundred, including Pegram, to surrender next day, and the battle of Rich Mountain ended in a decisive unionistUnion victory. Confederate troops 15&nbsp;km north-west, defending Laurel Mountain on the Beverely-Fairmont turnpike, retreated in great disorder after hearing of the rebel defeat on Rich Mountain. McClellan in his later report severely criticized Morris for his purported late pursuit of the confederatesConfederates after their retreat from there, even though he had extensively instructed Morris earlier to be very cautious and wary in his advance against enemy forces. Rosecrans bitterly complained that his attack on Rich Mountain was not reinforced as McClellan had agreed.<ref name="sMJ3X" />

McClellan was obliged to absorb all credit for the victory at Rich Mountain, and lent no credit to Rosecrans' performance during the battle. These victories propelled McClellan to the status of national hero.<ref name="fSfGg" /> The ''[[New York Herald]]'' entitled an article about him "Gen. McClellan, the Napoleon of the Present War".<ref name="Z7uIL" /> After the defeat of confederateConfederate forces at Rich Mountain and Laurel Mountain, unionistUnion troops sharply pursued them eastwards across the [[Tygart Valley River|Tygart Valley]] all the way to [[Cheat River]] & [[Cheat Mountain]]. Confederate general Garnett was [[Battle of Corrick's Ford|killed in a rearguard action on Cheat River at Corrick's ford by Morris' force]], and thus confederateConfederate presence had been completely ejected from West Virginia, although confederateConfederate troops were still present in [[Kanawha County, West Virginia|Kanawha]] under the command of [[Henry A. Wise]] and [[John B. Floyd|John Floyd]]. McClellan proceeded to bombastically proclaim that secessionist presence in West Virginia has been completely crushed. McClellan organized a defensive network of the region spanning Cheat Mountain, [[Allegheny Mountains|Allegheny Mountain]] all the way to [[Gauley Bridge, West Virginia|Gauley Bridge]] in Kanawha. McClellan chose Rosecrans as his successor and briefed him on the situation before departing for Washington upon being summoned to reorganize the routed UnionistUnion Army of Northeastern Virginia after the [[The Battles of Bull Run|defeat at Bull Run]].

In March 1877, the Governor of New York, [[Lucius Robinson]], nominated McClellan to serve as the first state [[New York State Department of Public Works|Superintendent of Public Works]],<ref name="59Zc2" /> but the [[New York State Senate]] rejected him as "incompetent forto fill the position for which he was named".<ref name="PSMe4" />

The New York [[New York Post|''Evening Post'']] commented in McClellan's obituary, "Probably no soldier who did so little fighting has ever had his qualities as a commander so minutely, and we may add, so fiercely discussed."<ref name="2mkwm" /> This fierce discussion has continued for over a century. McClellan is usually ranked in the lowest tier of Civil War generalscommanders.<ref name="Carlson">{{cite news |url=https://www.deseret.com/2014/10/29/20551550/this-week-in-history-mcclellan-becomes-the-army-s-commanding-general#canons-at-antietam-national-battlefield-in-maryland-and-its-known-as-the-bloodiest-one-day-battle-in-american-history-photo-taken-in-june-2014 |title=This week in history: McClellan becomes the Army's commanding general |last=Carlson |first=Cody K. |date=October 29, 2014 |website=Deseret News |location=Salt Lake City, UT}}</ref> However, the debate over McClellan's ability and talents remains the subject of much controversy among Civil War and military historians.<ref name="Ruane">{{cite news |last=Ruane |first=Michael E. |date=October 17, 2011 |title=Civil War Gen. George McClellan: Deemed a savior, then a failure |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/civil-war-gen-george-mcclellan-deemed-a-savior-then-a-failure/2011/09/21/gIQAfpF6SL_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |location=Washington, DC}}</ref> He has been universally praised for his organizational abilities and for his very good relations with his troops.<ref name="Carlson"/><ref name="Ruane"/> They referred to him affectionately as "Little Mac";<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historynet.com/george-mcclellan |title=Facts, information and articles about George McClellan |last=Bonekemper |first=Ed |date=December 2010 |website=History Net |publisher=Historynet LLC |location=Tysons, VA}}</ref> others sometimes called him the "Young Napoleon".<ref name="Ruane"/> McClellan himself summed up his style of warfare in a draft of his memoirs:

One of the reasons that McClellan's reputation has suffered is his own memoirs. Historian [[Allan Nevins]] wrote, "Students of history must always be grateful McClellan so frankly exposed his own weaknesses in this posthumous book."<ref name="dtQ2L" /> [[Doris Kearns Goodwin]] writes that a review of his personal correspondence during the war reveals a tendency for self-aggrandizement and unwarranted self-congratulation.<ref name="SPMJ0" /> His original draft was completed in 1881, but the only copy was destroyed by fire. He began to write another draft of what would be published posthumously, in 1887, as ''McClellan's Own Story''. 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.<ref name="d3lJp" />

* George B. McClellan – 174203 (77.390%)

* [[Thomas H. Seymour]] – 38 (16.917%)

'''[[New Jersey]] [[Governor of New Jersey|gubernatorial]] election, 1877''':<ref>{{Cite namebook |url="YFEiC"https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433081727277&seq=93 |title=The Tribune Almanac and Political Register for 1878 |publisher=[[The Tribune Association]] |year=1878 |editor-last=McPherson |editor-first=Edward |location=New York |page=85 |access-date=2024-04-28}}</ref>

|[[File:Union army cpt rank insignia.jpg|75px|class=noviewer]] || [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]] || [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] (resigned January 16, 1857) || March 4, 1855

|[[File:Union army maj gen rank insignia.jpg|75px|class=noviewer]] || [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] || [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] (resigned November 8, 1864) || May 14, 1861