George McClellan

General George B. McClellan

An Outstanding General and a Christian Gentleman

General McClellan was one of the best generals in the Union army during the Civil War, but you would never know this to read what most history books say about him. This website challenges the main myths about his performance and character.

Michael T. Griffith

ARTICLES

Answering Some Criticisms of General George B. McClellan

The Smearing of General McClellan

Not Wanted: Victory in the East

General McClellan and the Politicians Revisited

Civil War Buff Takes On McClellan's Critics

Mending the McClellan Myth

W.C. Prime's Biography of General McClellan (audio book)

General McClellan and the Conduct of the War (book)

Life, Character, and Public Services of General McClellan (book)

Review of McClellan's Campaigns

Historian Brian Jordan's Review of Thorp and Rossino's Book The Tale Untwisted

"Little Mac" Did Not Dawdle

McClellan and the Battle of Rich Mountain: The True History

Successful and aggressive Union officers such as Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (left) and Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer (right) regarded McClellan as an outstanding commanding general.

However, a powerful faction known as the Radical Republicans tried to undermine McClellan and to mispresent his performance. Understanding the conflict between McClellan and the Radical Republicans is crucial for understanding the Civil War and McClellan's generalship.

The Radical Republicans disliked McClellan because he believed in honorable warfare, because he refused to brutalize the Southern population, because he opposed a significant expansion of the size and power of the federal government, and because he would not use his troops as cannon fodder in senseless frontal assaults, unlike many other Union generals. They also disliked him because he disagreed with their approach to slavery: he viewed slavery as "a great evil," but he opposed the unconstitutional imposition of immediate and uncompensated emancipation on the South, which was the same view that Lincoln held for nearly his entire adult life, The Radical Republicans' distorted portrayal of McClellan is the one still found in most books on the Civil War.

McClellan won nearly every battle he fought and never suffered a major defeat. He may have ended the war by 1863 if Washington authorities, mainly Radical Republicans, had not constrained his operations and had not withheld supplies and troops from his army.

VIDEOS

General McClellan Saved the Union

Historian Dennis Frye Challenges a False Antietam Narrative, Part 1: They Got It Wrong for a Hundred Years about McClellan at Antietam

Historian Dennis Frye Challenges a False Antietam Narrative, Part 2: They Got It Wrong for a Hundred Years about McClellan at Antietam

Timid or Smart? Reconsidering General George B. McClellan

McClellan Wasn't an Idiot

Special Order 191 (Lee's Lost Order) and the Maryland Campaign

McClellan as General-in-Chief

Fake History: The Battle of Antietam Was a Union Victory and Not a Draw

Debunking Myths of the Battle of Antietam

General George B. McClellan and the Finding of Lee's Lost Orders

Lee’s Army in Maryland: A New Perspective on the September 1862 Campaign

Gene Thorp CWRT Congress Presentation on McClellan and Lee's Lost Orders

Allan Pinkerton, Chief of the Union Intelligence Service, with President Lincoln

Here is some of what Pinkerton said about McClellan:

"From the time of his commission to the day when he was relieved, after his splendid victory at Antietam, I followed the fortunes of General McClellan. When secret enemies were endeavoring to prejudice the mind of the President against his chosen commander; when wily politicians were seeking to belittle him in the estimation of the people, and when jealous minded officers were ignorantly criticising his plans of campaign, General McClellan pursued his course with unflinching courage and with a devotion to his country unsurpassed by any who have succeeded him."

General McClellan Meeting with President Abraham Lincoln Shortly after the Battle of Antietam

Lincoln was under constant intense pressure from the Radical Republicans to undermine and fire McClellan. Sadly, Lincoln eventually succumbed to that pressure and relieved McClellan of command in November 1862, even though McClellan had won the crucial Battle of Antietam a month earlier and had just carried out a brilliant maneuver against Robert E. Lee's Confederate army in Virginia. Tragically, Lincoln replaced McClellan with General Ambrose Burnside, even though Burnside warned Lincoln he was not fit to replace McClellan and urged Lincoln to keep McClellan in command. Burnside soon suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg.