George Mclellan Failure

Fifteen months of tense relations between President Abraham Lincoln and General George McClellan resulted in the dismissal of the Union Army’s once promising leader of the Eastern theater. While McClellan believed that he did not have the support of the President, and therefore resisted orders, what were the underlying factors that led to this decision? Why did the general all but ensure the end of his military careen with months of ignoring orders and bantered correspondence with his Commander-in-Chief? This research discusses the army that McClellan built in the early stages of the war, but failed to use as the President commanded, as well as, provides insight into the final reasons for his removal. In the early years of the Civil War,

McClellan snubbed the President and did not attend the meeting. Lincoln summoned McClellan to the White House, where the cabinet demanded his war report. Here he divulged his plan to protect Washington and take Richmond, called the Urbana Plan. Later that month Lincoln sent orders to the Army of the Potomac to begin an overland attack at Manassas Junction and Centreville. To this order McClellan replied with a 22-page objection citing that his Urbana Plan would be more effective. Reluctantly Lincoln agreed to allow this plan to proceed, expressing his approval at the fact that the General-in-Chief was actually going to move

Once again, he doubted the Generals resolve by calling a council of war to assess the generals plan. The Urbana Plan was nullified however when Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston withdrew from his position south of Washington and moved south of the Rappahannock. With this move McClellan revised his strategy and had his troops come ashore at Fort Monroe in order to advance up the Virginia Peninsula enroute to Richmond, this became known as the Peninsula Campaign. The savior general once again came under severe criticism when Congress learned that General Johnston had used Quaker guns to ward off attacks by the Army of the Potomac. These painted trees to replicate cannons kept the Union Army at bay for longer than the President liked. Added to this a Confederate ironclad, the CSS Virginia, emerged and caused a panic in Washington. As a response to this Congress’s introduced a resolution to dismiss McClellan from his position as General-in-Chief of the Union Army, and was barely