The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865
633
The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865
633eBook
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Overview
No one played as many major roles during the Civil War as Gen. George B. McClellan, nor did any other figure write such candid letters about himself, his motivations, and his intentions. For Civil War buffs, this collection is a gold mine, revealing nuggets of fresh information on military operations and political machinations, from the battle of Antietam through McClellan’s 1864 race for the presidency—as well as the uninhibited correspondence McClellan wrote to his wife—selected and introduced by the prize-winning author Stephen W. Sears, “a first-class writer and splendid historian” (The Wall Street Journal).
“A treasure-trove . . . Nothing of importance concerning [McClellan’s] military strategies and tactics or the politics, policies, and issues of the war has been omitted. Sears has edited the collection with consummate economy and skill, and his introductory essays to the book’s eleven sections weave the disparate facts of McClellan’s wartime experience together.” —Library Journal
“The letters are most valuable as a revelation of McClellan’s personality, which lay at the root of his military failure. They make clear that his initial success and fame went to his head.” —James M. McPherson, The New York Review of Books
“Introduced with insightful essays . . . [McClellan] emerges as the Captain Queeg of the Civil War.” —Harold Holzer, Chicago Tribune
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780547971179 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2018 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 633 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Command in the Western Theater
DECEMBER 27, 1860–JULY 22, 1861
At the outbreak of war in April 1861, George McClellan was living in Cincinnati and serving as preside ;t of the eastern division of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. He had resigned from the army in 1857 to enter the railroad business, first with the Illinois Central and then, in August 1860, with the Ohio and Mississippi. As the first letters here suggest, he had followed the course of the secession crisis closely and hoped that compromise might settle the sectional conflict, but he was not optimistic. The decision for war did not surprise him.
At the time of his resignation, Captain McClellan had been considered one of the most promising young officers in the service. Graduating from West Point second in class in 18–16, he was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and served capably in the Mexican War. A wide range of increasingly important peacetime assignments followed. He was best known for his year-long service as an observer in the Crimean War and an analyst of the organization of European armies. When President Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion, the North's three most populous states all sought the thirty-four-year-old McClellan to command their forces.
The offers from Ohio and Pennsylvania may be traced here; New York's bid, not mentioned in McClellan's correspondence, reached him (like Pennsylvania's) after he had taken the position of major general of Ohio's volunteer troops. It is clear that his first preference had been for a high command with the Pennsylvania forces, and that it was more by chance — a misdirected telegram — than by any other cause that he went to war in the western theater. There is every likelihood that had he headed the Pennsylvania Reserves in the eastern army rather than the Department of the Ohio the course of his Civil War career — or at least the early phases of it — would have been very different.
McClellan's letter of April 27 to Winfield Scott, composed just four days after he took up his military duties, is noteworthy for being the first strategic plan by a Union general for carrying on the war on a large scale. It was a seriously flawed plan, as General Scott pointed out, but it inspired Scott in his reply to formulate a strategy of his own, the Anaconda Plan, which featured a blockade of Southern ports and an advance on the line of the Mississippi River. The correspondence here with and about Scott, some of it previously unpublished, reveals the roots of McClellan's conflict with the general-in-chief, which would grow and worsen in the coming months.
When McClellan was named to head the Department of the Ohio on May 3, his command initially consisted of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois; subsequently it included western Pennsylvania and western Virginia and (on June 6) the state of Missouri. He would play only a minor role in operations in the Mississippi Valley before a new Western Department was formed on July 3. He made his headquarters in Cincinnati and for the most part focused his attention as department commander on the Ohio River line, and specifically on Kentucky and western Virginia.
In dealing with Kentucky's proclaimed neutrality and with the threat of a Confederate occupation of strategically important western Virginia, McClellan first displayed the combining of military and political objectives that would mark the entire course of his wartime service. In his proclamation to the people of western Virginia (May 26) and in his letter to General Scott on Union policy toward Kentucky (June 5), for example, he made clear his belief that slavery must not become an issue in the war. He emphasized as well a benevolent attitude toward Southern civilians in the war zone. "All private property whether of secessionists or others must be strictly respected," he ordered (July 14), "and no one is to be molested merely because of political opinions."
From June 21 onward, General McClellan was in the field in a monthlong campaign in western Virginia that involved him in a single action, at Rich Mountain on July 12. This first experience of field command is described in revealing detail in his dispatches to his subordinates and to Washington, and in his letters to his wife. In operations marked more by maneuver than by pitched battle, the Union forces in the region were everywhere victorious. " Our success is complete & secession is killed in this country," McClellan telegraphed Washington on July 14.
It was the first important Northern success of the war, and McClellan's role in it, as both military administrator and field commander, took on added significance when the Federal army in the eastern theater was defeated a week later at Bull Run. On July 22, 1861, General McClellan was ordered to Washington to take command of what he was to christen the Army of the Potomac.
To Samuel L. M. Barlow
Cincinnati Dec 27 [1860]
Private
My dear S L M
We arrived here two or three days ago & found our house desolate — my wife's mother & sister having been suddenly called off to St Jo by the serious illness of Maj Marcy1 — to day we hear that he is out of danger, so we are merry again after our sad Christmas.
I find very little excitement here, but a great deal of quiet determination. In a conversation with a very intelligent Republican, from Indiana, this morning I put to him the direct question whether he & his friends are willing to run the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific & to repeal the Personal Liberty Bills — he replied that they would gladly do the first & more than the second — that they were perfectly willing that when a fugitive slave was rescued, or impediments thrown in the way of his arrest & return, that the county should pay his full value. I am sure that this is the feeling of the Republican party in the West. More than this — the feeling of all people here is that the North West will do justice to the South if they will give us time — but that if they go off half cocked & listen to nothing but the Republican politicians at Washington (who, from the nature of the case, cannot represent the present feeling of the North) we will meet the consequences unitedly, let it be war or peace — but the general opinion is that it will be war.
Most men here acknowledge that the South has much to ask that the North ought to & would grant — at the same time we think that in many things the South is in the wrong. Great Scott! I did not intend to preach politics — of which you must be sick enough — so I will ask pardon & change the subject. Some little affairs have turned up here which make it important that I should know confidentially what Bacon's movements will probably be. Does he intend leaving the road, &, if so, when? I have been told here that he was about to engage in some business which would take him away from St Louis. Please let the question & answer be between ourselves.
My wife desires her kindest remembrances to Mrs B & yourself, not forgetting Miss Carrie — we were very sorry not to see Mrs B again — on the whole I don't know that I regret it, for I really began to be jealous of her — my better half was so much fascinated by her.
It is becoming so dark that I must close.
Your sincere friend Geo B McClellan
S L M B Esq
ALS, Barlow Papers, Huntington Library. Barlow was a New York lawyer, railroad executive, and Democratic party leader.
To Thomas C. English
Cincinnati Feb. 7 1861
My dear Thomas
You will probably be surprised to hear from me, & in truth I have not a great deal to say — but it struck me that I would write before the mails are entirely stopped. I presume that you are in the midst of a great deal of excitement — there is little or none here in the cold blood of the North. I have yet strong hopes that the existing difficulties will be satisfactorily arranged. The feeling among the people in this vicinity is strongly in favor of doing justice to the South & leaving out the ultra men in certain limited districts, I think that feeling is prevalent in the North. I do believe that the border states will be satisfied, & that being accomplished, I think the further steps of satisfying all the other slave states save South Carolina will not be difficult.
I was very, very sorry to miss you in Phila. — had I had the slightest idea that you were coming on so soon I would have strained a point & waited for you. Nelly was very anxious to see you, & she begs me to say that when you next come north you must pass through Cincinnati if it is a possible thing for you to do it. We have taken a house here for three years. I hope the disturbances in the country may not make it necessary for me to change my plans as to living here. I suppose you will make no change in regard to the children — no state of affairs between the sections can make it unpleasant for them to be in Phila. while going to school — tho there may be considerations at home which would affect it.
Nelly sends her love.
Yours affectionately Geo B McClellan
Mr. T. C. English
Copy, McClellan Papers (A-ll:5), Library of Congress. English, GBM's brother-in-law, lived in Mt. Pleasant, Ala.
To Fitz John Porter
Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company, Eastern Division President's Office Cincinnati, April 18, 1861
My dear old Fitz
Your welcome note has just reached me.
I have already received an intimation that I have been proposed as the Comdr of the Penna Reserves, & asked if I would accept — replied yes! If Geni Scott would say a word to Gov Curtin in my behalf I think the matter could be easily arranged.
Say to the Geni that I am ready as ever to serve under his command; I trust I need not assure him that he can count on my loyalty to him & the dear old flag he has so long upheld.
I throw to one side now all questions as to the past — political parties etc — the Govt is in danger, our flag insulted & we must stand by it. Tho' I am told I can have a position with the Ohio troops I much prefer the Penna service — I hope to hear something definite from them today & will let you know at once. Help me as far as you can.
Ever yours McC
My wife is on a trip to Fort Randolph with her father & mother. Very pressing business here requires my presence for a few days. ALS, Nicholson Collection, Huntington Library. Maj. Porter was stationed in the Adjutant General's Office in Washington.
To Robert Patterson
Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company, Eastern Division President's Office Cincinnati, April 18 1861
Maj Geni Patterson General
Your telegram of today is received. I at once replied "what rank & when do you want me." I have some very important business on hand here that will necessarily detain me a few days — it is not private business, but that of my employers, so that I feel bound to attend to it. One cannot in a day break off from such a business as that entrusted to me.
On every account — yours, mine, & the good of the service — I think the rank of Chf Engineer ought to be that of a Brig Geni — I could be of much more use to you in that than in a lower grade. I hope to hear from you by letter tomorrow, when I can at once determine.
I expect two of the principal owners of the Road here tonight — & feel that it is only proper to inform them before taking so decided a step.
Trusting that you will understand the nature of my delay, & that I shall have the pleasure of serving once more under your orders
I am, General, your sincere friend Geo B McClellan
The reason for my enquiring about the rank is that before receiving your telegram I have received intimations that a high command would be tendered me.
ALS, Miscellaneous Collections, Huntington Library. Maj. Gen. Patterson commanded Pennsylvania's three-month volunteers.
To William Dennison
Cincinnati April 18/61
Private
His Excellency W Dennison My dear Sir
Your telegram of yesterday is received. In mine to Gen Bates I had reference to the policy of retaining in Cincinnati, for its defence, a large portion of the organized Volunteer Companies belonging here.
It is clear that Cincinnati is the most important strategical point in the valley of the Ohio, both from its position & the resources it will furnish to the party holding it.
Should the Confederate States operate west of the Alleghenies, Cincinnati will doubtless be their objective point.
If it is left defenceless it would afford too great a temptation to lawless men, who by a sudden incursion might do a great deal of mischief.
I suggest that immediate steps should be taken to guard effectually against the latter evil & that means should secretly be proposed to pave the way for meeting the more formidable attempt first alluded to.
It appears to me that no time should be lost in arming & rendering efficient several regiments of Volunteers in this city for home service — I would send no men away from here until a sufficient well armed & organized force is raised to protect the city fully from insult. I would offer inducements & all facilities for gaining this end.
I think the " Home Guard" movement now in progress here is an ill advised one, tho' prompted by good motives; they will prove to be inefficient from the fact that they have no common head. It would be far better to organize regiments under the Militia Law, with the distinct understanding, if necessary, that they are not liable to be drafted for foreign service. The entire armed forces of all kinds in Cine, should be in every respect under the orders of the militia officer comdg the District.
I understand that there is not a single powder magazine on this side of the River! Of arms there are next to none, especially of heavy guns. Both of these fatal defects should be remedied at once with regard to the first mentioned contingency. I think that the ground around Cincinnati should be carefully studied (especially on the south bank of the river), so that a plan of defence could be drawn up, all ready to be acted upon when the necessity for it arises. The most important thing to be done, in this connection, is to select the points on the Covington side to be occupied by field works, should it become necessary to do so, in order to cover the city on that side; the plans of the works should be carefully studied & arranged, the necessary form fixed upon, intrenching tools, & artillery provided so that no time would be lost when the emergency arises. It may well be that the necessity for all this will not occur, but there is only one safe rule in war — i.e. to decide what is the very worst thing that can happen to you, & prepare to meet it.
By proper precautions I think that this city can be rendered secure, & the available power of the state left free to act in other quarters.
Should my views strike you as correct I will gladly communicate with you more in detail if you care about my doing so. I hope that you will regard this letter as strictly confidential.
AL retained copy, McClellan Papers (A-11:5), Library of Congress. Dennison was governor of Ohio.
To Winfield Scott
Head Quarters Ohio Volunteers Columbus Ohio April 23 1861
Lt Geni Winfield Scott Comdg U.S. Army General:
I have the honor to inform you that I have been appointed by the Governor of Ohio as the Major General Commanding all the Ohio troops called into the service of the Genl Govt, & to report for duty accordingly.
I wish to lay before you as full a statement as is now in my power of the condition of my command & its necessities.
There are four full Regts at Cincinnati, ready to be mustered into the service, some 3500 men encamped near this city, and about 600 at Cleveland ; large numbers are now en route here, more than enough to complete the requisition — this state will supply 50,000 if desired. I have seen the men at Cincinnati & this city — I have never seen so fine a body of men collected together — the material is superb, but has no organization or discipline.
Capt Granger has probably mustered into service the Cleveland detachment today; Gov Dennison has telegraphed him to proceed at once to Cincinnati to muster in four Regts tomorrow; Major Burbank will commence mustering in the troops at this place tomorrow.
Of the troops at Cincinnati two Regts have been encamped for four days, a third Regt goes into camp tomorrow. The Legislature will to-morrow authorize the Gov. to accept the services of eight Regts in addition to the 13 already called for.
None of these troops have any camp equipage, except some 100 state tents here, & about 20 at Cincinnati; we will probably be able to hut them.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan"
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Copyright © 1989 Stephen W. Sears.
Excerpted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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Table of Contents
Title Page,
Contents,
Photo of McClellan,
Copyright,
Introduction,
One: Command in the Western Theater,
Two: The Army of the Potomac,
Three: General-in-Chief,
Four: The Peninsula Campaign,
Five: The Battle for Richmond,
Six: Harrison's Landing,
Seven: Second Bull Run,
Eight: The Maryland Campaign and Antietam,
Nine: An End to Active Service,
Ten: The Call to Politics,
Eleven: Candidate for President,
Acknowledgments,
Index of Addressees,
General Index,
Connect with HMH,
Footnotes,