July 26, 1861---The Young Napoleon

JULY 26, 1861:   

 General George B. McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) is appointed Commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Irvin McDowell.

At the outset, McClellan is told of the great task he faces of not only reorganizing the army, but of leading it into battle. “I can do it all,” he tells President Lincoln.

McClellan, known as “The Young Napoleon” (he is only 35) or “Little Mac” (he is relatively short) is a native Pennsylvanian, but has close relationships with the Southern officers’ corps dating back to his West Point days. He despises Blacks, and wants to spare the Southern population from any disruption while winning the war for the North. 

A military logistician, he excels at reorganizing, resupplying and training the Union Army, shattered by its ignominious defeat at Bull Run. His men love him with a fierce affection, and he manages to instill a deep esprit de corps in his troopers. Under his command, the army mushrooms from 50,000 men to nearly 200,000. He develops an impregnable ring of battlements around the capital to spare it from attack; it bristles with 480 guns in 48 separate forts. McClellan eventually rises to be General-in-Chief of the entire Union Army.

His relationship with President Lincoln is difficult. He dislikes Lincoln intensely, referring to the President as “the original gorilla” and once leaving the President waiting in his sitting room while he retires to bed. Lincoln tolerates his rudeness, saying, “I would hold the General’s horse if only he would bring us victories.” 

But George B. McClellan is a failure as a combat General. 

As Michael Shaara, author of The Killer Angels wrote, "To be a good soldier you must love the army. But to be a good officer you must be willing to order the death of the thing you love. This is...a very hard thing to do.”  

McClellan is unable to do it. In the later Peninsula Campaign he advances his men at a snail’s pace, withdrawing after every Southern feint. At Antietam, he holds back his forces even though he has a copy of General Robert E. Lee’s battle plan. He consistently (and wildly) exaggerates the number of Lee’s men, consistently (and disparagingly) speaks of his own men as being “unmotivated” to fight, and consistently (and vindictively) blames everyone from subalterns to politicians for frustrating his approach to battle.

His correspondence and quoted remarks reflect a messianic belief in his own sense of mission, and he will not own his failures. In November 1862, a thoroughly disgusted Lincoln finally relieves McClellan, who runs against him as the Democratic nominee for President in 1864.