George Brinton McLellan was born in Philadelphia, graduated from West Point, was appointed head of the Army of the Potomac, relieved of his command by president Lincoln, reappointed head of the Army of the Potomac, relieved again, ran for the presidency against Lincoln and lost, became governor of New Jersey, and was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Trenton.
He was -- and remains -- a controversial figure. After the first battle of Bull Run, he inherited a disorganized and apathetic rabble who had been routed by the enemy. Many of the Union soldiers had had no training. And he brought them into modern shape. He brought the pup tent with him. The soldiers were properly clothed, fed, and sheltered, drilled to a fine point, trained in contemporary techniques of warfare, and his men loved him for it. The affection was returned by McLellan.
Too much so, and therein lies one source of his failure as a war-time leader. He dislike committing them to battle because they would be maimed and killed. The bloated reports of his "intelligence" unit about Confederate numbers, run by the detective Pinkerton, were taken at face value. And so McLellan held his army back at every opportunity, demanding more and more reenforcements to deal with the imaginary puissance. The initiative was given to Robert E. Lee who took advantage of it.
The other element of his inadequacy was what might be called a paranoid personality. When enough reenforcements were not forthcoming, McLellan began loudly dissing his superiors, calling Lincoln a "gorilla" and claiming that he, McLellan, could be tempted to become dictator. The film describes one incident in which the general deliberately snubbed his Commander-in-Chief but there were many others. In fact, the whole of Washington -- "the suits" -- were plotting against him. After a while, he was probably right.
Poor McLellan. He didn't die in obscurity but in the history books he was a well-meaning splendid organizer and lousy battlefield commander. What would have worked, had such an arrangement been possible, was to put McLellan in charge of training and give combat commands to men who were more ready to take risks. (There wasn't an abundance of such men in the Army of the Potomac.) It's a pretty well-done documentary -- still photos and talking heads with skimpy coverage of battles like Antietam and perhaps too few maps.
He was -- and remains -- a controversial figure. After the first battle of Bull Run, he inherited a disorganized and apathetic rabble who had been routed by the enemy. Many of the Union soldiers had had no training. And he brought them into modern shape. He brought the pup tent with him. The soldiers were properly clothed, fed, and sheltered, drilled to a fine point, trained in contemporary techniques of warfare, and his men loved him for it. The affection was returned by McLellan.
Too much so, and therein lies one source of his failure as a war-time leader. He dislike committing them to battle because they would be maimed and killed. The bloated reports of his "intelligence" unit about Confederate numbers, run by the detective Pinkerton, were taken at face value. And so McLellan held his army back at every opportunity, demanding more and more reenforcements to deal with the imaginary puissance. The initiative was given to Robert E. Lee who took advantage of it.
The other element of his inadequacy was what might be called a paranoid personality. When enough reenforcements were not forthcoming, McLellan began loudly dissing his superiors, calling Lincoln a "gorilla" and claiming that he, McLellan, could be tempted to become dictator. The film describes one incident in which the general deliberately snubbed his Commander-in-Chief but there were many others. In fact, the whole of Washington -- "the suits" -- were plotting against him. After a while, he was probably right.
Poor McLellan. He didn't die in obscurity but in the history books he was a well-meaning splendid organizer and lousy battlefield commander. What would have worked, had such an arrangement been possible, was to put McLellan in charge of training and give combat commands to men who were more ready to take risks. (There wasn't an abundance of such men in the Army of the Potomac.) It's a pretty well-done documentary -- still photos and talking heads with skimpy coverage of battles like Antietam and perhaps too few maps.
