This Day In History | Civil War September 18, 1862 McClellan Lets Lee Retreat from Antietam

historychannel.com ^ | 9/18/05 | historychannel.com

[billorites]

A story in my wife's family is about how the neighbor, General McClellan, saved her grandmother, a small child then, from a swarm of bees.

I always have doubted the story and fancied the General stood by and watched the child get stung.

[aspiring.hillbilly]

If only our side had won our freedom, if only!

[mainepatsfan]

He probably had troops in reserve that could have helped but he was sure there were more bees just over the next hill.

[yarddog]

My Nephew, (My Niece's husband) is a descendent of General McClellan. At least I think that is right.

Anyway I have always thought he was a much better general than history has portrayed him. The Southern Generals consistently described him as their toughest opponent.

[SquirrelKing]

I always have doubted the story and fancied the General stood by and watched the child get stung.

He was convinced that 500 bees were really 2000 bees and called for reinforcements.

[SSR1]

"If only our side had won our freedom.."

If we had won it would have doomed the slaves to 50 more years of misery before the whole system collapsed and left the South even more of an economic basket than it is now! Do we really think that the South would have been a better place if we had kept the slave system? I don't. Born and raised in the South. I love my homeland, but I'm glad we lost that war. We fought bravely,but our cause was not just. Slavery is wrong. Would you wish it on your children?

[PMCarey]

Anyway I have always thought he was a much better general than history has portrayed him.

He would have been a great defensive general for the south. He had very little talent for the offense - which is what the North required.

[mainepatsfan]

He seemed more worried about not losing a battle than winning one.

[jrg]

Guys.....Guys.....what are you saying?

Don't you realize that this was just the first recorded account of "million man math"?

[SquirrelKing]

Don't you realize that this was just the first recorded account of "million man math"?

LOL

[jrg]

Slavery was an abomination! However, states rights were the issue.
I do agree that if the south had won, it would have been very bleak for the slaves and the South in the long term, but eventually, the entire system of slavery and their agricultural economy would break down .
I am basically a conservative, but it does pain me that it took around a hundred years before the blacks in this country were actually beginning to be treated correctly.
(please don't flame me for any welfare/goobermint giveaway programs....I'm a "Free beans and rice" to everyone.)

[ryan71]

"The Southern Generals consistently described him as their toughest opponent."

Yeah, so Lincoln would keep him where he was.

A competent organizer and administrator, but no soldier.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Your neighbor's grandmother must have been union, right?

[bill1952]

To be fair, he was also struggling under the burden of Pinkerton's analysis, and he must be judged with that in regard.

In the day, Pinkerton was considered a gold standard, at least in the beginning.

It was also his politics, or lack of political savvy that doomed him.

Think what would have happened if Pope or Burnside had commanded the Army of the Potomac at that time.

They might have established the Confederacy right then and there.

Antietam allowed the Emancipation Proclamation to be issued, and that is what ultimately allowed the war to be won.

[Christopher Lincoln]

Joseph Johnston didn't think so. Commanding a Confederate army against McClellan's much stronger force in the Peninsular Campaign, he commented that nobody but McClellan would have hesitated to attack.

[mainepatsfan]

He had the same problems with overestimating Confederate strength during the Peninsula campaign.

[mainepatsfan]

I've often wondered what a McClellan presidency would have looked like.

[johnny7]

Snakes do not fear bee's...

and McClellan was king of the copperheads.

[bill1952]

Absolutely correct. And right there he could have ended the war.

By one of the great ironies of history, a total victory there or at the Antietam would have brought the type of peace that he envisioned, not the one that was finally imposed after years of bloody warfare.

BTW, thanks for the post.