McClellan’s failure to pursue Lee vigorously finally convinced Lincoln to relieve his arrogant and insubordinate general. McClellan, who had been returning runaway slaves to their masters, vehemently opposed turning the conflict into a war against slavery. It was also enough of a victory to motivate Lincoln to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The bloody engagement did not result in a decisive defeat of the rebels, but it did check Lee’s northern advance. Lee’s plans, he again moved slowly and cautiously. McClellan’s only major battlefield success (albeit a qualified one) was at Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, in 1862. As he was to do repeatedly throughout his Civil War career, “Little Mac” blamed the administration for not yielding to his demands for more soldiers and supplies. His dilatory movement and belief that the numerically inferior Confederate force was larger than his own condemned the operation to failure. In command of the Army of the Potomac, McClellan belatedly mounted the Peninsula Campaign, the object of which was the capture of the Confederate capital at Richmond.
He repaid President Lincoln’s patience with him with disrespect. Otherwise, he proved to be a cautious and indecisive leader. Victories over the Confederate forces in western Virginia, for which he received largely undeserved credit, established his reputation as the “Young Napoleon.” At age thirty-four he briefly replaced the aging Scott as general-in-chief.Īs a commander, McClellan’s chief contribution to the Union cause was his brilliant ability to organize and train troops. Winfield Scott, commander of the Union armies, had been impressed with McClellan’s performance in the Mexican-American War and saw to it that the young officer was appointed a major general in command of the United States Army’s Department of the Ohio. With the advent of the Civil War, McClellan became a major general in the Ohio militia. In 1857 he resigned his commission and went on to hold executive positions in a number of railroads.
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He also published a translation of a French manual on bayonet exercises, wrote a work on cavalry tactics, and designed the famous McClellan saddle. Upon his return he wrote a report on the armies of Europe. In 1854 he became a captain of cavalry, and soon thereafter he traveled to Europe as one of three officers sent to observe the Crimean War. Other engineering activity included overseeing the construction at Fort Delaware.
His principal responsibility was to examine mountain passes. Paul and Puget Sound and between the 47th and 49th parallels. Next he participated in a survey of the Red River and in the Pacific Railroad Survey in the Northwest, which explored the county between St. He distinguished himself in the Mexican-American War, winning brevets to first lieutenant and captain.Īfter the war he served as an instructor at West Point.
Finishing second in the class of 1846, he was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers as a brevet second lieutenant. After two years at the University of Pennsylvania, he entered the U.S. George McClellan was born in Philadelphia, the son of an eminent surgeon.
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