You are right. If that is the way he spelled it, then that is the right way. I was fooled because my Niece married one of his descendants and he spells it my way.
Oddly enough he told me that he wasn’t a very good general but the Confederates thought differently. Just about all of them said McClellen was the best they went up against.
I can understand why the South liked him. All he did was sit on his duff and whine to Lincoln for MORE troops. He got 2 bites at the apple and pretty much marked time in both cases. I think Pres. Lincoln’s opinion should hold sway, and until Grant came along, Lincoln endured one embarassment and disappointment after another. About the only thing that can be said for McClellen is that he cut a dashing figure in a uniform....IMHO.
I’ve read that too. I think McClellen was highly intelligent and was superb at creating an army out of a mob, which is what the Army of the Potomac was before he was given command.
His strategy and plan of attack were well thought out, he was a master of logistics, and used sound military tactics in his planning. His problem was in the field. If something happened he didn’t plan on he just stopped rather than adapt to it. He also tended to way-over estimate the enemy numerically.
As one critic said, he was more worried about not losing a battle than winning it.
Lee counted on McClellen’s hesitancy in the field to off-set McClellen’s numerical superiority.
At Antietam, McClellen did initially take advantage of Lee’s documents that fell into his lap. He knew when and where Lee’s forces were supposed to be, and he knew approximately how many men Lee had. That was a huge advantage in favor of McClellen. He had Lee on the ropes, but unfortunately for him (and the Union), he didn’t press on to finish Lee off.
Antietam, as you know, was a horrendous battle in regard to the loss of life and casualties - second only to Gettysburg. I just feel that McClellen did not have ths stomache for the kind of fighting it was going to take to subdue the Confederacy. Grant didn’t have McClellen’s finess, but he knew he had the numbers and that if he just kept grinding down on Lee that sooner or later something would have to give.
I haven’t been to Antietam battlefield, but I’m sure it is a somber reminder of the bravery shown on both sides. I have been to Manassas battlefield, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg (as well as a little known battlefield that took place in Glorieta, New Mexico).
I think I liked Manassas battlefied the best as it seems the most preserved. I remember walking across the very same field that Stonewall Jackson and his men charged to help win the day. As I crossed that place that I had read so much about, I experienced such mixed emotions of awe and melancholy for what happened there.
That is very interesting about your niece and her being married to one of McClellen’s descendants. I bet there are some really good stories passed down in the family.
That's because he never went into battle without being fully staffed, fully prepared, fully... The man was brilliant, but unsure. And this was a good trait for a Union General to have if you were part of the Confederacy.
As Lincoln once said "If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight." And Grant: "McClellan is to me one of the mysteries of the war."
He ran against Lincoln in the 1864 election and lost. But much of that had to do with the war taking a decidedly favorable turn just before the election. What outlasted his battlefield accomplishments was the saddle named after him, that was used for decades by the cavalry.
McClellan got to within 10 miles of Richmond before the Confederate General was wounded and Lee was put in. Lee took advantage of McClellan’s analytical nature, and gave him much to analyze, nearly all of it force.