Who was George B. McClellan and what is he known for?
George Brinton McClellan was an American military officer, politician, and engineer who served as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 1862 and was the Democratic presidential candidate against Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 election. He is best known for organizing and commanding the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, including leading the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam, and for his contentious relationship with President Lincoln.
What happened at the Battle of Antietam under McClellan's command?
The Battle of Antietam on the 17th of September 1862 was the single bloodiest day in American military history. McClellan's forces outnumbered Lee's by more than two to one, but he launched his assaults separately and sequentially rather than coordinating them, allowing Lee to shift defenders across the field. The battle was a tactical draw but a strategic Union victory; Lee withdrew to Virginia, which enabled Lincoln to issue the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on the 22nd of September 1862.
Why was McClellan removed from command of the Army of the Potomac?
Lincoln ordered McClellan's removal on the 5th of November 1862, primarily because McClellan failed to pursue Lee's retreating army after the Battle of Antietam. Ambrose Burnside assumed command on the 9th of November 1862. McClellan's pattern of extreme caution and repeated refusal to press advantages had frustrated Lincoln and his Cabinet throughout 1861 and 1862.
How did McClellan lose the 1864 presidential election against Lincoln?
Lincoln won the 1864 election with 212 Electoral College votes to McClellan's 21 and received 55 percent of the popular vote. McClellan's campaign was weakened by his repudiation of his own party's peace platform, which called for an immediate cease-fire with the Confederacy. The military vote went to Lincoln nearly three to one, and Lincoln received seventy percent of the vote within the Army of the Potomac itself.
What role did McClellan play in the discovery of Lee's Lost Order before Antietam?
On the 13th of September 1862, Union soldiers found a copy of Confederate Special Order 191 wrapped around a package of cigars in an abandoned camp. The document revealed Lee's widely dispersed troop dispositions. McClellan was elated, telling Brigadier General John Gibbon that he would be willing to go home if he could not defeat Lee with such intelligence. Historians including James M. McPherson and Stephen Sears argue McClellan delayed about eighteen hours before acting on the order, giving Lee time to concentrate his forces at Sharpsburg.
What did McClellan accomplish as governor of New Jersey?
McClellan served as the 24th governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. In his inaugural address he identified relief from the Panic of 1873 as the state's most urgent issue and advocated for a fifty percent cut in state taxes. By the end of his term, the state tax on residents had been abolished entirely.