george b mcclellan union or confederate

It contained two alternatives, each envisioning a prominent role for himself as commander. For the first time, he revealed his intentions to transport the Army of the Potomac by ship to Urbanna, Virginia, on the Rappahannock River, outflanking the Confederate forces near Washington, and proceeding 50 miles (80km) overland to capture Richmond. I was appointed to the staff of General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War (1846-48). He and his family then embarked on another three-year stay in Europe (187375). [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. I feel some little pride in having, with a beaten & demoralized army, defeated Lee so utterly. About 10 miles away from the capitol of the Confederacy, George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac was within striking distance of ending the year old Civil War. 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! 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. George B. McClellan was a prominent nineteenth-century American military and political leader. McClellan was unable to command the army personally because of a recurrence of malarial fever, but his subordinates were able to repel the attacks. His closest friends were aristocratic southerners including George Pickett, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A. P. Hill. Ellen accepted Hill's proposal in 1856, but her family did not approve and he withdrew. The first major battle, at Mechanicsville, was poorly coordinated by Lee and his subordinates and resulted in heavy casualties for little tactical gain. George Brinton Mcclellan Jr, McClellan, George B. McClellan, George B. The stubborn Confederate defenses gave Lee enough time to concentrate many of his men at Sharpsburg, Maryland. 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. When Ulysses S. Grant became general-in-chief, he discussed returning McClellan to an unspecified position. (1826-1885) George B. McClellan was a major general in the Union army during the American Civil War (1861-1865). He arrived near the mouth of the Rio Grande in October 1846, well prepared for action with a double-barreled shotgun, two pistols, a saber, a dress sword, and a Bowie knife. At age 34, he outranked everyone in the Army except Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, the general-in-chief. 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. "[45] On January 12, 1862, McClellan was summoned to the White House, where the Cabinet demanded to hear his war plans. Lincoln, Stanton, and a group of officers who formed the "War Board" directed the strategic actions of the Union armies that spring. [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. Add an answer. George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelphia on December 3, 1826, the son of a prominent surgeon, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. [90] McClellan's administration was marked by caution and conservatism. Yardley, Penna. This caused him to decide on a siege of the city, which required considerable preparation. Both passed the legislature in 1878 and 1880, respectively. It ruined Lee's plans to invade Pennsylvania and took the initiative away from the Confederate commander. Free shipping for many products! [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. [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. Beauregard. [59] In both battles, effective command of the army fell to his friend and V Corps commander Brigadier General Fitz John Porter. McClellan was thus required to give chase without any benefit of the heavy artillery so carefully amassed in front of Yorktown. George McClellan Library of Congress Quick Facts Significance: General-in-Chief of the Union Army Place Of Birth: Philadelphia, PA Date Of Birth: December 3, 1826 Place Of Death: Orange, NJ Date Of Death: October 29, 1885 Place Of Burial: Trenton, NJ Cemetery Name: Riverview Cemetery I have to fight my way against him. In March 1852, he was ordered to report to Capt. McClellan worked for months on a lengthy report describing his two major campaigns and his successes in organizing the Army, replying to his critics and justifying his actions by accusing the administration of undercutting him and denying him necessary reinforcements. [23], On May 3 McClellan re-entered federal service as commander of the Department of the Ohio, responsible for the defense of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and, later, western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Missouri. The document was verified at McClellan's headquarters in Frederick on September 13. Thank you." [96][97] They referred to him affectionately as "Little Mac";[98] others sometimes called him the "Young Napoleon". [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. As he quickly implemented plans to invade the region, he triggered his first serious political controversy by proclaiming to the citizens there that his forces had no intentions of interfering with personal propertyincluding slaves. [49] The army's advance from Fort Monroe up the Virginia Peninsula proved to be slow. 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. [51], McClellan had also placed hopes on a simultaneous naval approach to Richmond via the James River. in one way or other. [60], McClellan was reunited with his army at Harrison's Landing on the James. He was very popular with his men, despite having a number of serious shortcomings as a commander. Editorial cartoons published in the course of the 1864 presidential campaign lampooned McClellan for having preferred the safety of a ship while a battle was fought in the distance. 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. 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. CIVIL WAR UNION GENERAL GEORGE MEADE ~ J. E. McCLEES-PHILADELPHIA ~ c. - 1863 . George B. McClellan, Ambrose Powell Hill, Darius Nash Couch, George Edward Pickett, Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, and George Stoneman. McClellan's antipathy to emancipation added to the pressure on him, as he received bitter criticism from Radical Republicans in the government. 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. Well, one of these days history will I trust do me justice. With nowhere to go, Joseph Johnston's army struck ou He learned that flanking movements (used by Scott at Cerro Gordo) are often better than frontal assaults, and the value of siege operations (Veracruz). [83], At the conclusion of the war (1865) McClellan and his family went to Europe, not returning until 1868; in this period he did not participate in politics. Upon his return to the United States in 1856, he requested an assignment in Philadelphia to prepare his report, which contained a critical analysis of the siege and a lengthy description of the organization of the European armies. McClellan selected Yakima Pass (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}472011N 1212557W / 47.3365N 121.4324W / 47.3365; -121.4324) without a thorough reconnaissance and refused the governor's order to lead a party through it in winter conditions, relying on faulty intelligence about the depth of snowpack in that area. "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. : Westholme Publishing, 2015. McClellan assessed local defensive capabilities for the secretary. 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. Seen from a longer perspective, General McClellan could be both comfortable and successful performing as executive officer, and also, if somewhat less successfully, as grand strategist; as battlefield commander, however, he was simply in the wrong profession. 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's rapid promotion was partly due to his acquaintance with Salmon P. Chase, Treasury Secretary and former Ohio governor and senator. McClellan's daughter, Mary ("May") (18611945), married a French diplomat and spent much of her life abroad. 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. Relations between the two generals became increasingly strained over the summer and fall. McClellan rejected the tenets of Scott's Anaconda Plan, favoring instead an overwhelming grand battle, in the Napoleonic style. 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. The enemy is driven back into Virginia." If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight."[65]. [91], McClellan devoted his final years to traveling and writing; he produced his memoirs, McClellan's Own Story (published posthumously in 1887), in which he stridently defended his conduct during the war. 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