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The Civil War Papers Of George B. Mcclellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Series)
written by Stephen W. Sears
Studio : Da Capo Press
by Da Capo Press
Publisher : Da Capo Press
Released : 1992-03-21
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9780306804717
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 4 reviews)
List Price : $26.00
Our Price : $17.25
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Product Description |
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General George B. McClellan, the self-styled American Napoleon, is one of the most controversial figures of the American Civil War. General-in-chief of the entire Union army at one point, he led the Army of the Potomac through the disaster at Antietam Creek, was subsequently dismissed by Lincoln, and then ran against him in the 1864 presidential campaign. This collection of McClellan's candid letters about himself, his motivations, and his intentions reveals much fresh information on the military operations and political machinations he was involved with, and sheds new light on his complex personality. Stephen Sears, a Civil War expert, prize-winning author, and biographer of McClellan, here lets this once-removed and now notorious commander speak of himself, providing us with an important first-hand view of what went on behind the scenes of America's greatest and most awful war. |
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Look into the mind of "Little Mac", not always a pretty picture, but interesting as heck!! |
Stephen W. Sears has edited and annotated this remarkable selection of the wartime papers of Major General George W. McClellan.
As the caption says, this book offers a look into McClellan's mind and the picture that emerges is myriad.
On the one hand this was a man who possessed great charm and charisma and enormous ability as a professional soldier. But his soldierly qualities were those of the desk general, the organizer. He was the perfect man to build an army and to make it ready to fight. He created the Army of the Pototmac, and did so superbly. He should get the credit for that, more than he usually does, for it was an impressive achiement.
On the other hand, McClellan was definitely not the right man to lead the army he made into battle. His record as a general in the field is abysmally bad.
McClellan had it all when he came to washington in september 1861. He was eagerly awaited as the man who would save the Union and lead its armies to triumph over the rebel forces. He had the confidence, the friendship, the trust and goodwill of the Lincoln administration, of Congress, of the army and of the people and he lost it all.
He lost it because of his arrogance and boastfulness, his meanness and vindictiveness, his manias of persecution and paranoia, his fear of failure, his constant and overestimating of his adversary's strength, his overblown self-importance, his penchant for naming generals who were as slow and cautious as himself (Sumner, Heintzelmann, Fitz-John Porter, William Franklin).... It is all there in his own words.
His failure, as this book shows, stems from a lack of moral courage, wariness of his reputation, a paralyzing sense of responsability and a genuine reluctance of exposing his men to the possibility of death and wounds. Again: it is all there in his own words.
He could have ended the war on at least two occasions: he could have hurled his army at Richmond in june 1862, by smashing his mighty army through Johnston's defenses and he could have ended the rebellion by destroying Lee's army at Antietam, if he had used his entire army against the Confederates instead of hesitatingly feeding is piece-meal into the fight, and leaving half of them in reserve.
McClellan came out of the war as he came in to it: with a great reputation, admired and revered by many Americans. His ultimate failure as a general, nor his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in 1864, did much to change that. He went on to become Governor of New Jersey and in the year of his death, 1885, he was the guest of honour and the main speaker at the anniversary reunion on the battlefield of Antietam.
The old soldiers gathered there, both from the North and from the South, saluted and cheered him. I find this hard to understand. They should have hanged him on the spot. Had I been there, I would have cursed him and pelted him with rotten fruit, at the very least. The former Union soldiers had reason enough to hang him because of his shockingly bad generalship, which resulted in prolonging the war and getting so many of their comrades maimed or killed. McClellan's cautiousness cost the South daerly too: his timid and slow campaigns ruined any chance of ending the rebellion soon, which resulted in the war going on till the South was ruined, gutted and utterly defeated. McClellan's way of war, in the end, necessitated Sherman's way of war.
"McClellan is to me............one of the greates mysteries of the war", U. S. Grant noted in his Personal Memoirs. How could a man of such ability prove such a failure? Read it for yourself. It is all there, in his own words.
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A great companion to Sear's biography of McClellan |
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Stephen Sears's biography of George McClellan is probably the best ever written about the Civil War general. This collection of his writings during the Civil War, collected by Sears makes a wonderful companion to that biography. This collection of papers is facinating on so many levels. We read not only his official letters to the likes of Lincoln and Halleck but also his personal letters to his wife. It's in these personel letter that we see glimpses into the man's mind and sadly his paranoia. His letter home, especially during the pennisula campaign show a man suffering from a real psychological problem, made worse by the increasingly stressful situation he's in. As the campaign goes on you see his paranoia slowly begin to increase to the point that he feels he can trust nobody. He becomes a man who in his mind is surrounded by enemies. One word of warning. This isn't a light read. The collection is a whopping 600+ pages. Sears is holding nothing back here. If you are new to the Civil War and McClellan I strongly suggest first reading Sears's biography of McClellan. His books on the the Pennisula campaign and Antietam I would also recommend reading. They're great books and will help you understand what was going on around McClellan as he wrote all these correspondence. |
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Exceptional Writing of then and now |
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This may be one of the most exceptional pieces of writing of his time as well as of today. You can't find this anywhere I know except here, so snatch it up as quickly as you came |
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revisionist historian collects GBMcC papers to suit his purp |
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I feel that Mr. Sears book is just another example of what historians can do with selected facts.
In brief, to write, in his comments between chapters, such rubish, shows whatkind of a historian he is.
The bottom line is that either McClellan was right,(the only General R.E. Lee's daughter said he ever feared, and R.E. Lee when asked who was the greatest Union General, he said McClellan by a longshot,) and he could have ended the Civil War in its first year (with some well deserved help from Lincoln) or else Lincoln the subject of so many myths was right.
But then, how many remember that he did the same to the General who won at Gettysburgh, fired him. Yet Gettysburgh is part of our heritage.
I am hoping to write a book to set the record straight, not depending on todays' revisionist historiaans but original texts, books articles written by those who survived to tell it as it was. |
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