Civil War Today

Gen. George McClellan is an enigma. I know, most Civil War buffs consider to be a joke as a field commander, but on reflection his record isn’t all that clear. He trained the Army of the Potomac well. He really did do a good job at training, but he was afraid to fight. He didn’t like all of the killing and wounding that went on, but when he did fight he usually won.

McClellan launched the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 and steady moved his army up the peninsula to Beaver Dam Creek, only about ten miles short of Richmond, with relatively little loss of life by Civil War standards. It wouldn’t be until Grant’s bloody Overland Campaign in 1864 before the Union would get back to Beaver Dam Creek. Other Union generals tried to march to Richmond but only Grant and McClellan actually did it.

McClellan started his campaign fighting again Confederate Gen. Magruder and finished the campaign fighting against Lee. He defeated Lee in every battle battle of the Seven Days except Gains Mill, something also not repeated until Antietam when Lee was turned back by, you guessed it, McClellan.

I guess that’s what frustrates me so much about Little Mac, he really could have been a good general tactically speaking, he made good plans and they usually worked. The Peninsula Campaign shows both sides of the general, he maneuvered well but he flinched at enemies that weren’t there. His siege at Yorktown defies understanding, he could have squashed Magruder like bug, but he let the Confederate escape. He stood Lee off at Beaver Dam Creek and then retreated when he could have just stayed dug in and forced Lee to attack him, a situation Lee could not have maintained long. He had Lee in the ropes a Malvern Hill and fled altogether.

Malvern Hill, as you can see from the pictures on the page by that name, was a ready madde fortress for the army of the Potomac deep in Virginia and less than thirty miles from Richmond. The west side of the hill was a cliff, the north side a long slope with an excellent field of fire and a swamp at its base, the east side dives steeply down into a swampy dense wilderness and the south face taperes down to the James River and McClellan's base of supply. The supply road was easly defended from Confederate attack and covered much of the way by the cannon of the Union gunboats. Lee couldn't have wandered off leaving McClellan so close to Richmond, but he couldn't have taken the position either. All McClellan had to do was sit up on the top of the hill in the clear sunshine and let the the swamps bellow chew up Lee's army. I know the Union solders were exausted, but Malvern Hill was a good place to rest.

McClellan's response was to retreat. I know that Lincoln was putting a lot of pressure on the Boy Napoleon to return to Washington, but as Sun Wu pointed out in his Third Maxim, A commander in the field is not always bound by his sovereign’s orders. In this case it was up to McClellan to seize the opportunity the terrain offered him and turn it against his southern enemies.