General McClellan and his Ego

The unmitigated gaul of General George McClellan never ceases to amazing me.  This entire letter is one HUGE lecture to President Lincoln instructing him on how to do the job of President, when any student of history knows that McClellan is the one who needs a lesson in how to do his job.  Contained within the paragraphs are several criticisms are Lincoln's policies.

1)  McClellan, on one hand, says that "The Constitution and the Union must be preserved, whatever may be the cost in time, treasure and blood."  Yet he later on puts conditions on how Lincoln should be executing the war.  "It should not be a War looking to the subjugation of the people of any state, in any event.  It should not be, at all, a War upon population; but against armed forces and political organizations."  How exactly does McClellan expect to win the war?  The "high principles of Christian Civilization" just aren't going to cut it. 

2)  With his comments against the military confiscation of property, McClellan shows himself to be trying to live in the storybook days of "chivalry".  In the American Revolution, the colonial government freely took possession of the property of the Tories (those colonists who chose to stay loyal to British rule) and never compensated them for it.  War is made by a whole civilization on another whole civilization.  This means that ALL members of the society are involved in either fighting, supporting or governing the waring countries, thus ALL members of society have to face the consequences of living in a state of war. 

3)  McClellan is also rather pro-slavery.  He goes to great lengths to stress that slavery is protected by the government, even detailing how the dealings between the Union government and slaveholders should go, with the government compensating the slave owners when they need to make use of slave labor.  McClellan even charges that a "declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present Armies".  In fact, as the Democrats learned to their dismay in the election of 1864, the soldiers overwhelmingly supported Lincoln, which included is issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.  McClellan consistently, and throughout his entire military career, managed to completely, and totally overestimate everything!

However, it is worth questioning whether he would have moved beyond those politically expedient beliefs (necessary for a Democrat to have) after being elected and realizing what was needed to secure victory is open for interpretation.  Personally, I say, oblivious in battle......oblivious in the Presidency. 

McClellan goes down in my personal record book as the most over-rated General the Union ever had.  I know that the Union had quite a few BAD generals:  Hooker and Burnside spring to mind, but none of them had such systematic delusions that McClellan had.  He had delusions of grandeur over-estimating his own ability as well as delusions of fear, over-estimating the strength of the enemy.  Putting up with him in command for as long as Lincoln did is one of the few faults I can find with our President.  I would have given him the sack at least after the Peninsula Campaign.  Then again, U.S. Grant is one of my heroes, so I am probably more than a tad biased.

*** Side note, if this essay is a bit chaotic and not as well put-together as my previous ones, I apologize.  I am sick and perhaps not in possession of my full faculties.  But I still have more of them, even in my weakened state than McClellan did! ***