In 1853, he participated in the Pacific Railroad surveys, ordered by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, to select an appropriate route for the planned transcontinental railroad. George McClellan Library of Congress Quick Facts Significance: General-in-Chief of the Union Army Place Of Birth: Philadelphia, PA Date Of Birth: December 3, 1826 Place Of Death: Orange, NJ Date Of Death: October 29, 1885 Place Of Burial: Trenton, NJ Cemetery Name: Riverview Cemetery Military Officer and Politician. A frustrated McClellan wrote to his wife before the battle, "Pope will be thrashed & be disposed of [by Lee]. He reported to Washington that he faced 200,000 Confederates, perhaps due to a false report on the arrival of another Confederate army P.G.T. "Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce you to believe that our advent among you will be signalized by interference with your slaves, understand one thing clearlynot only will we abstain from all such interference but we will on the contrary with an iron hand, crush any attempted insurrection on their part." McClellan's feeling of facing overwhelming odds in subsequent campaigns throughout his tenure as General of the Army of the Potomac were strongly influenced by the overblown enemy strength estimates of his secret service chief, detective Allan Pinkerton, but in August 1861, these estimates were entirely McClellan's own. Known within the family as Max, he too became a politician, serving as a United States Representative (18931903) and as Mayor of New York City from 1904 to 1909. What name was given to the attempt in 1860 to get southern states to stay in the Union. george brinton mcclellan (december 3, 1826 - october 29, 1885) was an american soldier, civil war union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of new jersey.a graduate of west point, mcclellan served with distinction during the mexican-american war (1846- 1848), and later left the army to serve [28] The New York Herald entitled an article about him "Gen. McClellan, the Napoleon of the Present War". McClellan never received another field command and went on to become the unsuccessful Democratic Party nominee in the 1864 presidential election against the Republican Lincoln. In his inaugural address, he said the most urgent matter before the state was relief from the Panic of 1873. There is no man in the Army who can man these fortifications and lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he. Lincoln, Stanton, and a group of officers who formed the "War Board" directed the strategic actions of the Union armies that spring. On November 1, 1861, Winfield Scott retired and McClellan became general-in-chief of all the Union armies. McClellan surveyed the western portion of the northern corridor along the 47th and 49th parallels from St. Paul to the Puget Sound. [86], McClellan was appointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks in 1870. These include Fort McClellan in Alabama, McClellan Butte and McClellan Peak in the state of Washington, where he traveled while conducting the Pacific Railroad Survey in 1853, and a bronze equestrian statue honoring General McClellan in Washington, D.C. Another equestrian statue honors him in front of Philadelphia City Hall, while the McClellan Gate at Arlington National Cemetery is dedicated to him and displays his name. [90], Most likely due to his personal popularity and celebrity, McClellan's inauguration was held outdoors to accommodate the large crowd. The governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, the three largest states of the Union, actively pursued him to command their states' militia. [97] He has been universally praised for his organizational abilities and for his very good relations with his troops. McClellan was well liked by his men, but his reticence to. McClellan's antipathy to emancipation added to the pressure on him, as he received bitter criticism from Radical Republicans in the government. McClellan worked on engineering projects in New York City and was offered the position of president of the newly formed University of California, which he declined. Under the pressure of his ultimate soldier's responsibility, the will to command deserted him. He had received intelligence reports on May 26 that the critical Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridges in that portion of the state were being burned. McClellan was removed from his command of Ohio volunteer armies in less than six months, becoming the Union army's leader. Following the example of Winfield Scott, he ran as a U.S. Army general still on active duty; he did not resign his commission until election day, November 8, 1864. McClellan blamed the story on "a set of scoundrels, who seek to keep up agitation on the frontier in order to get employment from the Govt. I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency. He telegraphed President Lincoln: "I have the whole rebel force in front of me, but I am confident, and no time shall be lost. George B. McClellan. Historian James M. McPherson has pointed out that the two corps McClellan kept in reserve were in fact larger than Lee's entire force. But McClellan was also tacitly acknowledging that he would no longer be able to invest Richmond, the object of his campaign; the heavy siege artillery required would be almost impossible to transport without the railroad connections available from his original supply base on the York River. Rumors traveled through the capital that McClellan might resign, or instigate a military coup, if Scott were not removed. [74], The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, was the single bloodiest day in American military history. Bailey, Ronald H., and the Editors of Time-Life Books. Gen. John Gibbon, and said, "Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home." Lee continued his offensive at Gaines's Mill to the east. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant". When the public heard about the Galena, it was yet another great embarrassment, comparable to the Quaker Guns at Manassas. [107] And fourth, that Lincoln and Stanton deliberately undermined McClellan because of his conciliatory stance towards the South, which might have resulted in a less destructive end to the war had Richmond fallen as a result of the Peninsula Campaign. Unlike some of his fellow Union officers who came from abolitionist families, he was opposed to federal interference with slavery. He wrote a letter to Gen. Scott on April 27, four days after assuming command in Ohio, that presented the first proposal for a strategy for the war. "[67] Lee's assessment proved to be inaccurate as McClellan reacted quickly, with the Confederate leader remarking that McClellan was "advancing more rapidly than was convenient." McClellan's son, George B. McClellan Jr. (18651940), was born in Dresden in the Kingdom of Saxony during the family's first trip to Europe. At age 34, he outranked everyone in the Army except Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, the general-in-chief. Although he complimented McClellan and expressed his "great confidence in your intelligence, zeal, science, and energy", he replied by letter that the 80,000 men would be better used on a river-based expedition to control the Mississippi River and split the Confederacy, accompanied by a strong Union blockade of Southern ports. [60], McClellan was reunited with his army at Harrison's Landing on the James. But Lincoln told his secretary, John Hay, "We must use what tools we have. "[63] Lee had gambled on removing significant units from the Peninsula to attack Pope, who was beaten decisively at Second Bull Run in August. Place Of Burial: Trenton, NJ. The stubborn Confederate defenses gave Lee enough time to concentrate many of his men at Sharpsburg, Maryland. [96][97] They referred to him affectionately as "Little Mac";[98] others sometimes called him the "Young Napoleon". "[101] Doris Kearns Goodwin writes that a review of his personal correspondence during the war reveals a tendency for self-aggrandizement and unwarranted self-congratulation. It ruined Lee's plans to invade Pennsylvania and took the initiative away from the Confederate commander. Free shipping for many products! He later wrote that had it been his place to arrange the terms of peace, he would have insisted on gradual emancipation, guarding the rights of both slaves and masters, as part of any settlement. He and his family then embarked on another three-year stay in Europe (187375). The testing of battle uncovered another McClellan failing - his management of his own generals. He began to write another draft of what would be published posthumously, in 1887, as McClellan's Own Story. Lincoln won the election handily, with 212 Electoral College votes to 21, and a popular vote of 2,218,388 to 1,812,807 or 55% to 45%. [51], McClellan had also placed hopes on a simultaneous naval approach to Richmond via the James River. Both passed the legislature in 1878 and 1880, respectively. As the war progressed, there were various calls to return McClellan to an important command, following the Union defeats at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, as Robert E. Lee moved north at the start of the Gettysburg campaign, and as Jubal Early threatened Washington in 1864. McClellan supported continuation of the war and restoration of the Union, but not the abolition of slavery, although the party platform, written by Copperhead leader Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, was opposed to that position. But he made no secret of his opposition to the Radical Republicans. I feel I have done all that can be asked in twice saving the country. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 58 at Orange, New Jersey, after suffering from chest pains for a few weeks. George B. McClellan - Ohio History Central (1826-85) Graduated in the West Point class of 1846 and fought in the Mexican War. The Army adopted McClellan's cavalry manual and also his design for a saddle, dubbed the McClellan Saddle, which he claimed to have seen used by Hussars in Prussia and Hungary. A sensational story had reached the press that the expedition had been ambushed by 2,000 Comanches and killed to the last man. "[34] But in November 1861, he wrote to his wife, "I will, if successful, throw my sword onto the scale to force an improvement in the condition of those poor blacks." His closest friends were aristocratic southerners including George Pickett, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A. P. Hill. [32] He reveled in his newly acquired power and influence:[30]. Relations between the two generals became increasingly strained over the summer and fall. Upon his return to the United States in 1856, he requested an assignment in Philadelphia to prepare his report, which contained a critical analysis of the siege and a lengthy description of the organization of the European armies. I almost think that were I to win some small success now I could become Dictator or anything else that might please mebut nothing of that kind would please metherefore I won't be Dictator. He realized that McClellan was a strong organizer and a skilled trainer of troops, able to recombine the units of Pope's army with the Army of the Potomac faster than anyone. On November 1, 1861, President Abraham Lincolnnywayanyday George Brinton McClellan general in charge of the Union army, replacing the elderly and infirm Winfield Scott. [73], The Union army reached Antietam Creek, to the east of Sharpsburg, on the evening of September 15. Many classic histories have portrayed McClellan's army as moving lethargically, averaging only 6 miles (9.7km) a day. Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac on November 9, 1862. [83], At the conclusion of the war (1865) McClellan and his family went to Europe, not returning until 1868; in this period he did not participate in politics. However, historians note that Lee's victory was in many ways pyrrhic as he failed to destroy the Army of the Potomac and suffered a bloody repulse at Malvern Hill. [71], Still, historians including James M. McPherson in Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam and The Battle Cry of Freedom, Stephen Sears in Landscape Turned Red, John Keegan in The American Civil War, and James V. Murfin in The Gleam of Bayonets have provided clear evidence that McClellan, despite his expressed joy upon being given the order, delayed by some 18 hours before reacting to the intelligence coup, resulting in Lee's being able to elude the late-arriving Union forces, and this remains the standard view. McClellan was thus required to give chase without any benefit of the heavy artillery so carefully amassed in front of Yorktown. Seven Days' Battles, (June 25-July 1, 1862), series of American Civil War battles in which a Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee drove back General George B. McClellan's Union forces and thwarted the Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. He was buried at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton.[92]. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant." He also was not helped by the party's choice for vice president, George H. Pendleton, a peace candidate from Ohio. [20], Before the outbreak of the Civil War, McClellan became active in politics, supporting the presidential campaign of Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 election. Cemetery Name: Riverview Cemetery. General McClellan and President Abraham Lincoln developed a mutual distrust, and McClellan was privately derisive of Lincoln. McClellan assessed local defensive capabilities for the secretary. The Union defeat at the minor Battle of Ball's Bluff near Leesburg in October added to the frustration and indirectly damaged McClellan. Yet this halting between two opinions had the result that, when he had abandoned the purpose of making the turning movement, it had become too late for him to make a direct attack." The controversy was not that his proclamation was diametrically opposed to the administration's policy at the time, but that he was so bold in stepping beyond his strictly military role. "[31] On July 26, the day he reached the capital, McClellan was appointed commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, the main Union force responsible for the defense of Washington. [31] But this was also a time of tension in the high command, as he continued to quarrel frequently with the government and the general-in-chief, Lt. Gen. Scott, on matters of strategy. [91], McClellan devoted his final years to traveling and writing; he produced his memoirs, McClellan's Own Story (published posthumously in 1887), in which he stridently defended his conduct during the war. The second would use the same force to drive south instead, crossing the Ohio River into Kentucky and Tennessee. George B. McClellan was a prominent nineteenth-century American military and political leader. McClellan, not wishing to abandon his campaign, delayed the return of the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula enough so that the reinforcements arrived while the northern Virginia campaign was already underway. Before that time I hope to be on the Susquehanna. George Brinton Mcclellan Jr, McClellan, George B. McClellan, George B. By June the expedition reached the source of the north fork of the river and Marcy named a small tributary McClellan's Creek. He favored a war that would impose little impact on civilian populations and require no emancipation of slaves. George B. McClellan, Ambrose Powell Hill, Darius Nash Couch, George Edward Pickett, Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox, and George Stoneman. It was an armada that dwarfed all previous American expeditions, transporting 121,500 men, 44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. McClellan's daughter, Mary ("May") (18611945), married a French diplomat and spent much of her life abroad. Basing artillery on a strategic bluff high above a bend in the river, and sinking boats to create an impassable series of obstacles in the river itself, the Confederates effectively blocked this potential approach to Richmond. Ellen accepted Hill's proposal in 1856, but her family did not approve and he withdrew. [1], Because of his political connections and his mastery of French, McClellan received the assignment to be an official observer of the European armies in the Crimean War in 1855. (1826-1885) George B. 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george b mcclellan union or confederate
Publikováno 19.2.2023