George McClellan

McClellan was born in Philadelphia to the family of renowned ophthalmologist George McClellan, founder of the Jefferson Medical College. His mother was Elizabeth Steinmetz Brighton McClelan from a prominent Pennsylvanian family. The family had five children: the daughters of Frederick and Mary, the sons of John, George and Arthur. George's grandfather was the general of the American Revolution, Samuel McClellan of Woodstock ( Connecticut ).

McClellan spent two years as a lawyer, then decided to choose a military career and in 1842 entered the Military Academy at West Point . At the Academy he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, he was interested in the teachings of Denis Maham and the theories of Jomini . His close friends were Southerners — the aristocrats Jeb Stewart , Dabni Mori, Cadmus Wilcox and Ambrose Hill , with whom he lived in the same room. Communication with the Southerners helped him to understand their way of life and all those features of political thinking that later led to secession and civil war. He graduated from West Point in 1846 , the second of the famous class of 59 cadets, and only because of his poor ability to draw, he was forced to give first place to Charles Stewart . McClellan was sent to the Corps of Engineers in the temporary rank of second lieutenant ^[1] .

Mexican War

In October of the same 1846, McClellan arrived at the mouth of the Rio Grande to participate in the Mexican War and was included in the sapper company. He was late for the battle of Monterrey, and then went to the hospital for about a month, suffering from dysentery and malaria. From the north of Mexico, he was transferred to the Scott army, participated in the siege of Veracruz and the attack on Mexico City , and also participated in the battle of Cerro Gordo in April 1847. On April 24, McClellan received the permanent rank of second lieutenant. He participated in a shootout at Amazok in May, and in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, and the assault on Chapultepec in August. On August 20, he received the temporary rank of first lieutenant for Contreras and Churubusco.

He successfully served the entire war, having received the captain for Chapultepec . He often performed reconnaissance tasks for General Winfield Scott, a close friend of his father. The war had a strong influence on his subsequent military and political life. He learned flank attacks and siege warfare, learned how to combine political and military actions, appreciated the ability of General Scott to build relationships with the local population and achieve strict discipline in the army. He began to despise volunteer units that usually did not bother with discipline and training.

Interwar Period

In 1852, McClellan participated in an expedition to find the source of the Red River, as a result of which a small McClellan Creek appeared on the map. In the same year he translated from the French manual on tactics of bayonet combat. In 1853, he began caring for Helen (Nelli) Mary Mercy (1836–1915), the daughter of his former commander. In the same year he became a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 2 in Oregon ^[2] .

Because of his political connections and good French in 1855, McClellan was sent as an observer to the theater of military operations of the Crimean War . There he had to watch the defense of Sevastopol . Returning in 1856 , he presented a detailed report on the state of the European armies, and also wrote a manual on cavalry tactics. However, McClellan did not pay attention to the fact of the appearance of a rifle and the changes it made in infantry tactics.

Returning from the Crimea , he found that Helen Mercy had accepted the offer of Ambrose Hill. Gentleman's McClellan gave way to his old comrade, but the Helen family did not accept Hill: he was denied. In July 1859, Hill married Dolly McClang, and in October of the same year, Helen Mercy accepted McClellan’s offer. They were married on May 22, 1860, in Calvery Church, in New York. Ambrose Hill attended their wedding.

Subsequently, during the war, there was a fairly well-known story of the fact that federal General McClellan and General Confederation Hill in their youth were courting one woman.

When the Civil War began, McClellan's experience in railway engineering and military science knowledge made him a valuable logistics specialist. It turned out to be needed by states that are faced with difficulties of mobilization. The governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, the largest states of the North, insistently asked him to lead their militia. The Ohai governor, William Dennison, showed the greatest perseverance, and as a result, on April 23, 1861, McClellan led the Ohio militia with the rank of major general of volunteers. Unlike many officers who belonged to the families of abolitionists, McClellan was opposed to the intervention of federal authorities in matters of slavery. For this reason, some Southerners invited him to go over to the side of the Confederation, but McClellan was also an opponent of secession ^[3] .

On May 3, 1861, he returned to service in the federal army and headed the Ohio military department. His duties included the defense of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and subsequently of western Pennsylvania, western Virginia and Missouri. On May 14, he was promoted to Major General of the regular army and at the age of 34 he became the second in rank after Commander Winfield Scott. Such a rapid rise was partly a result of McLellan’s good relations with Salmon Chase, the state treasurer and former Ohio Governor ^[4] .

In the new position, McClellan set about forming an army of volunteers and organizing training camps, but also thought about strategy: on April 27 he wrote a letter to Winfield Scott in which he proposed his strategy of warfare (this proposal was the first strategic decision of that war). He proposed two alternatives, and both implied his personal involvement. He offered to gather an army of 80,000 men and launch an offensive on Richmond through the Kanawa Valley, or send the army south to Kentucky and Tennessee. Scott rejected both proposals as logically impracticable, but expressed his approval of this initiative. He replied that it would be more sensible to send such an army to seize the Mississippi River and at the same time to block the southern ports. This plan later became known as the Anaconda Plan ^[5] .

West Virginia campaign

The first task of McClellan was the occupation of the western part of Virginia, which wanted to remain in the Union and which later became the state of West Virginia. Developing plans to invade Virginia, McClellan first displeased the Washington administration when he declared to the Virginians that his army would not touch private property, including slaves. "Whatever the traitors would say, assuring you that problems with slaves will begin with our appearance, you should understand one thing well - we will not only refrain from interfering, but on the contrary, we will break any attempts of rebellion from their side with an iron hand." McClellan quickly realized that he had crossed the line and sent a letter of apology to Lincoln. The problem was not that the proclamation contradicted the policy of the government, but that McClellan had exceeded his powers as a field commander ^[6] .

McClellan's army entered Virginia through Crafton and won a shootout with Phillipie, which is sometimes considered the first battle of the Civil War. For the first time, he commanded the troops on the battlefield in the battle of Rich Mountain, where he also won, but showed a lot of caution and did not dare to enter a reserve into battle, which would become his characteristic feature in the subsequent war years. William Rosecrans, his subordinate, then grieved that his successful attack was not supported. Yet these two small victories made McClellan a national hero. The newspaper The New York Herald called him "Napoleon of this war" ^[7] .

Army creation

Peninsula Campaign

McClellan's army set sail from Alexandria on March 17 . It was an armada that far surpassed all past American expeditions. 121,500 people, 44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, 15,000 horses, as well as tons of equipment and ammunition were loaded onto the ships. But the advance of this army from Fort Monroe up the peninsula was slow. The expectation of a quick seizure of Yorktown was not justified when it turned out that the Southerners had built a strip of fortifications across the peninsula. I had to prepare for a long siege.

McClellan relied on intelligence data, which exaggerated the number of the enemy twice and threefold. In reality, McClellan had a tenfold superiority at the very beginning of the operation. But the Confederate general, Magruder, made a kind of theatrical presentation by imitating the transfer of troops, and this trick was a success. While he led McClellan by the nose, General Johnston managed to transfer reinforcements, which were still not enough. The feds made several attempts to probe the enemy in combat, which went down in history as the battle of Yorktown .

After a month of preparatory work, McClellan was ready to begin the assault, but Johnston unexpectedly threw down the fortifications and retreated to Williamsberg. McClellan organized the persecution, which resulted in the battle of Williamsberg , generally successful for the northerners, although they did not manage to defeat the enemy.

McClellan tried to push the detachment over the water to the rear of the retreating enemy. This led to a small battle, known as the Battle of Eltams Landing , but did not seriously prevent the enemy.

McClellan's army cautiously approached Richmond for another three weeks, eventually reaching 4 miles to the city. McClellan set up a base on the Pemankei River (a navigable tributary of the York River) near White House Landing, and used the railroad, crossing locomotives and wagons by sea.

On May 31, Makkelan prepared for a decisive assault, but suddenly he himself was attacked by the enemy. General Johnston remarked that the federal army was divided by the Chikahomini River, and decided to split it in parts, which led to the battle at Seven-Pines and at Fair Oaks. McClellan could not personally lead the fight because of the attack of malaria, but his subordinates were able to repel all attacks. Nevertheless, Washington was extremely dissatisfied with its passivity - many believed that a decisive counterattack would lead to the fall of Richmond.

In these battles, General Johnston would have been wounded, and General Lee assumed command of the North Virginia Army. McClellan also lost three more weeks, regrouping his troops and waiting for the promised reinforcements. Meanwhile, Lee strengthened the defense of Richmond.

In late June, General Lee launched a series of attacks known as the Seven Day Battle. The first of these battles - under Mechanixville - was poorly coordinated and conducted with a lot of mistakes, which led to heavy losses and small tactical benefits. But this battle greatly influenced McClellan. He was surprised by the appearance of General Jackson, who by all accounts was supposed to be in the Shenandoah Valley. McClellan again decided that the enemy outnumbered him, he reported to Washington that there were 200 thousand people in front of him, although in fact there were 85 thousand.

Lee continued to advance east, and McClellan lost the initiative and passively waited for events. He held two thirds of his forces in reserve, being again deceived by Magruder's false maneuvers. As a result, he decided to withdraw the army to a secure base. Lee assumed that McClellan would go east, but he turned south, which knocked Lee off the track and delayed the persecution for 24 hours.

McClellan was lucky in the sense that the campaign on the peninsula did not lead to large losses in the army. Military historian Stephen Sirs writes: “When he threw his army under Glendale and Malvern Hill during the Seven Day Battle, he actually committed a misdemeanor. If the Army of the Potomac were destroyed in one of these battles (and at Gendale it was quite possible), it could have been tried by a military tribunal ” ^[8] . Indeed, during the battle of Glendale, McClellan was located 8 km from the battlefield and was unable to control the troops. During the battle of Malvern Hill, he is aboard the Galen, 16 km from the battlefield. The whole brunt of battle management fell on FitzDjon Porter's shoulders. Subsequently, during the presidential election of 1864, he was remembered of this story, portraying it in caricatures.

McClellan broke up with the army at Harisson Landing. The question was resolved - to evacuate the army from the peninsula or to renew the attack on Richmond. McClellan continued to annoy Lincoln with the fact that he still needed reinforcements, and wrote extensive letters with strategic and political proposals. As a result, Lincoln appointed Henry Helleck Commander-in-Chief — without even notifying McClellan. Lincoln even offered to transfer command of the Army of the Potomac to Ambrose Burnside , but he rejected the offer.

In Washington, the Virginia Army was formed, under the command of John Pope , who was ordered to attack Richmond from the north-east. McClellan did not respond to the call to strengthen Pope’s army and delayed the transfer of the Potomac Army from the peninsula right up to the start of the North Virginia campaign. Before the battle, he wrote to his wife: “Pope will be crushed ... such a peasant, like him, will kill any business that will be entrusted to him” ^[9] . General Lee realized the indecisive nature of McClellan and decided to transfer his units from the peninsula to attack Pope, who was eventually defeated in the Second Battle of Bul-Run in August.

Maryland Campaign

When the Virginia Army Pope was defeated at Bul-Run, Lincoln was forced to give command to McClellan again. He understood that McClellan is well able to organize and train soldiers, and will be able to reorganize Pope’s army better than others and merge it with the Potomac Army . On September 2, 1862, McClellan received this appointment. In the Lincoln Cabinet, many were against such a decision and even signed a special declaration against him, but Lincoln insisted on it. “We must use what we have,” he told his secretary, “there is no person in the army who is able to hold these fortifications and put the army in order as he is.” If he does not know how to fight himself, then he is perfectly able to make others fight ” ^[10] .

On September 4, General Lee launched the Maryland campaign , hoping for support from the people of Maryland. He was confident that the federal army would still recover from the defeat on the Peninsula and near Bul-Run for about two weeks, so he could not immediately oppose. However, on September 5, McClellan joined six-corps Maryland with a total of 84,000 people. Two corps remained in Washington.

On September 13, the Army of the Potomac entered Frederick, who had been abandoned by the Severovirgin army shortly before. McClellan then recalled:

The reception at Frederick was great. Men, women and children crowded around us, sobbing, screaming and praying. They hugged the neck of old Dan ^[11] and nearly strangled his horse, decorating him with flags. All houses were decorated with flags and everywhere you could see the scene of universal joy. The Secessionist expedition suffered a complete failure in this place; They did not receive recruits or any offers.

Original Text (Eng.)

- Our reception at Frederick was wonderful. Men, women, and children crowded around us, weeping, shouting, and pray-

ing; They are clinging around with their flags. It was a general scene of joy. The secession expedition had been in that quarter;

they received no recruits of any kind.

- McClellan's own story

General Lee was well aware of McClellan’s slowness and indecision, so he ventured to divide his army, sending some of the forces to the Harpers Ferry siege. He hoped that he would have time to break through to Pennsylvania, but his plans were prevented by an accident: on September 13, federal soldiers found the lost order of General Lee and delivered it to McClellan. McClellan immediately realized that he had a chance to destroy the enemy in parts and moved the army forward to the Southern Mountains.

In the Southern Mountains, Lee left a barrier in the amount of Daniel Hill’s division, totaling about 10,000 men, who covered three passes in the mountains. McClellan still lost one day and approached the Southern Mountains only the next morning. September 14, 1862 a battle took place in the Southern Mountains . The federal army managed to capture one of the three gorge, but in the north it was considered a victory. McClellan received greetings from Lincoln and Winfield Scott. “Two more times like that, and everything will be over!”, Wrote Scott.

Lee's army retreated from the Southern Mountains and gathered near the city of Sharpsberg. McClellan again lost almost a day and began the battle on the morning of September 17, when the Severovirdzhinskaya army had already managed to concentrate. But even now, McClellan had almost double the numerical advantage over the enemy. He, however, again overestimated the number of the enemy and began to act too cautiously. The federal army carried out three major attacks, and all of them were repulsed. However, the losses were great, and Lee decided to retreat to Virginia.

McClellan announced victory, although he did not manage to destroy the enemy. He believed that the reason lies in the sluggishness of General Burnside , who failed to attack the right flank of the enemy in time. However, his personal mistakes were obvious: he did not use cavalry for reconnaissance, placed headquarters too far from the battlefield, and did not explain his plans to corps commanders.

After the battle, McClellan failed to organize the pursuit of Lee’s army, which caused Lincoln’s displeasure, which eventually removed him from the army of the Potomac Army on November 5, nominating Ambrose Burnside in his place.

McClellan participated in the presidential elections of 1864, but lost them to Abraham Lincoln . The American politician and lawyer Clement Vallandigam provided support to him from the Democratic Party.

• Bonekemper, Edward H. McClellan and failure. McFarland & Co, 2007 ISBN 978-0-7864-2894-6
• Beatie Russel H. Army of the Potomac: Birth of Command, November 1860 - September 1861. - New York: Da Capo Press, 2002. - 640 p. - ISBN 0-306-81141-3 .
• Beatie Russel H. Army of the Potomac: McClellan's First Campaign, March - May 1862. - New York: Savas Beatie, 2007. - 864 p. - ISBN 978-1-932714-25-8 .
• McClellan George Brinton. It has been a great deal. - CL Webster & Company, 1887. - 678 p.
• Sears, Stephen W. George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon. - New York: Da Capo Press, 1988. - ISBN 0-306-80913-3 .

• Cullums Register
• Diary of the mexican war
• Biography of George McClellan (PDF)
• Marx on McClellan (Fr.)
• One More and All Together: The Army Says Goodbye to General McClellan (Eng.)
• Formerly in the United States, McClellan's own story