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. [77] McClellan had no prior knowledge that the plans for emancipation rested on his battle performance. First, McClellan proponents say that because the general was a conservative Democrat with great personal charisma, radical Republicans fearing his political potential deliberately undermined his field operations. McClellan resigned his commission January 16, 1857, 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 1860. Cemetery Name: Riverview Cemetery. [110] Camp McClellan, in Davenport, IA, is a former Union Army camp established in August 1861 after the outbreak of the Civil War. [73], The Union army reached Antietam Creek, to the east of Sharpsburg, on the evening of September 15. Seven Days' Battles, (June 25-July 1, 1862), series of American Civil War battles in which a Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee drove back General George B. McClellan's Union forces and thwarted the Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. On September 2, 1862, Lincoln named McClellan to command "the fortifications of Washington, and all the troops for the defense of the capital". He quickly realized that he had overstepped his bounds and apologized by letter to President Lincoln. Beauregard. The armies struggled to a . Ellen, or Nelly, refused McClellan's first proposal of marriage, one of nine that she received from a variety of suitors, including his West Point friend, A. P. Hill. He organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly (November 1861 to March 1862) as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Ellen accepted Hill's proposal in 1856, but her family did not approve and he withdrew. On May 14, he was commissioned a major general in the regular army. For the Confederate general sometimes known as Little Napoleon, see, Thorp, Gene (September 7. He did not share his overall battle plans with his corps commanders, which prevented them from using initiative outside of their sectors. Lee continued his offensive at Gaines's Mill to the east. His nomination was largely an effort by key party members to prevent the leading candidate, Leon Abbett, from gaining the nomination. On November 1, 1861, Winfield Scott retired and McClellan became general-in-chief of all the Union armies. "[15] 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 his high position". The camp was the training grounds for recruits and a hospital for the wounded. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for CIVIL WAR GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN & WIFE ~ c. - 1863 at the best online prices at eBay! The governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, the three largest states of the Union, actively pursued him to command their states' militia. Nicknamed "Young Napoleon," "Little Mac" was immensely popular with the men who served under his command. "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. McClellan's rapid promotion was partly due to his acquaintance with Salmon P. Chase, Treasury Secretary and former Ohio governor and senator. The document was verified at McClellan's headquarters in Frederick on September 13. McClellan also developed a disdain for volunteer soldiers and officers, particularly politicians who cared nothing for discipline and training.[14]. George B. McClellan. During the Utah War against the Mormons, he considered rejoining the Army. Johnston was wounded in the battle, and General Robert E. Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia. He attended the University of Pennsylvania but . Civil War CDV General McClellan and Wife . 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. [31] But this was also a time of tension in the high command, as he continued to quarrel frequently with the government and the general-in-chief, Lt. Gen. Scott, on matters of strategy. His final words, at 3 a.m., October 29, 1885, were, "I feel easy now. Steven R. Stotelmyer in Too Useful to Sacrifice places it at about 60,000 men, noting that the 87,000 number includes non-combat soldiers and units not immediately available. 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. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant". McClellan's antipathy to emancipation added to the pressure on him, as he received bitter criticism from Radical Republicans in the government. Yardley, Penna. He also wrote a manual on cavalry tactics that was based on Russian cavalry regulations. In, Rowland, Thomas J. Despite being a tactical draw, Antietam is considered a turning point of the war and a victory for the Union because it ended Lee's strategic campaign (his first invasion of the North) and it allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, taking effect on January 1, 1863. 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 McClellan Birth of the USA American Constitution American Independence War Causes of the American Revolution Democratic Republican Party General Thomas Gage biography Intolerable Acts Loyalists Powers of the President Quebec Act Seven Years' War Stamp Act Tea Party Cold War Battle of Dien Bin Phu Brezhnev Doctrine Brezhnev Era It ruined Lee's plans to invade Pennsylvania and took the initiative away from the Confederate commander. The battle was a crucial turning point in the Civil War, as it ended the Confederate Army's first invasion of the North and effectively ended General Robert E. Lee's campaign in Maryland. 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. I think Lee has made a gross mistake, and that he will be severely punished for it. [30], 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. [54] Ethan Rafuse notes "McClellan's change of base to the James, however, thwarted Lee's attempt to do this. However, Gene Thorp in a 2012 article in The Washington Post cited evidence that the vanguard of Army of the Potomac was in motion all day on the 13th due to orders McClellan had issued the previous day. 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. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 58 at Orange, New Jersey, after suffering from chest pains for a few weeks. [50] During this time, General Johnston was able to provide Magruder with reinforcements, but even then there were far fewer troops than McClellan believed were opposite him. George B. McClellan forced the Confederates in northwestern Virginia to retreat into the Alleghenies in 1861. [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. Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. [36] McClellan's writings after the war were typical of many Northerners: "I confess to a prejudice in favor of my own race, & can't learn to like the odor of either Billy goats or niggers. This placed him in great demand as the Union mobilized. He proposed that his army should be expanded to 273,000 men and 600 guns and "crush the rebels in one campaign". 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. He realized that McClellan was a strong organizer and a skilled trainer of troops, able to recombine the units of Pope's army with the Army of the Potomac faster than anyone. Even as they served their country, Black soldiers were subject to a number of discriminations. [61] Lincoln and Stanton also offered command of the Army of the Potomac to Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, who refused the appointment.[62]. [84] Prior to his return in September 1868, the Democratic Party had expressed some interest in nominating him for president again, but Ulysses S. Grant became the Republican candidate in May 1868, and this interest died. [22], At the start of the Civil War, McClellan's knowledge of what was called "big war science" and his railroad experience suggested he might excel at military logistics. Under the pressure of his ultimate soldier's responsibility, the will to command deserted him. [80], McClellan was nominated by the Democrats to run against Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 U.S. presidential election. Gen. John Gibbon, and said, "Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home." The second would use the same force to drive south instead, crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky and Tennessee. I attended the University of Pennsylvania and then went on to study at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. [106] Third, that historians eager to jump on the bandwagon of Lincoln as America's greatest political icon worked to outdo one another in shifting blame for early military failures from Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to McClellan. George B. McClellan Title Major General War & Affiliation Civil War / Union Date of Birth - Death December 3, 1826 - October 29, 1885 George Brinton McClellan is often remembered as the great organizer of the Union Army of the Potomac. As Swinton notes "It is possible, howeverand there is a considerable volume of evidence bearing upon this pointthat General McClellan, during all the earlier portion 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. 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 .. (1826-1885) George B. McClellan was a major general in the Union army during the American Civil War (1861-1865). [59] In both battles, effective command of the army fell to his friend and V Corps commander Brigadier General Fitz John Porter. A brilliant engineer and a great organizer, McClellan created the Army of the Potomac, the Union's . 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. CIVIL WAR UNION GENERAL GEORGE MEADE ~ J. E. McCLEES-PHILADELPHIA ~ c. - 1863 . McClellan continued to believe intelligence reports that credited the Confederates with two or three times the men they actually had. 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. [109], Several geographic features and establishments have been named for George B. McClellan. [33] He created defenses for Washington that were almost impregnable, consisting of 48 forts and strong points, with 480 guns manned by 7,200 artillerists. I feel some little pride in having, with a beaten & demoralized army, defeated Lee so utterly. 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