Why was mcclellan called the young napoleon

Following the outbreak of hostilities in , McClellan reentered the service and was given command of federal forces in western Virginia. Following the First Battle of Bull Run , McClellan was given command of the eastern federal forces, soldiers that would become the Army of the Potomac. He failed, however, to engage the enemy, pleading instead for more soldiers, time and supplies.

Lincoln grew tired of the delays and issued an order for the army to advance. McClellan balked and was able to convince the President that further delay was necessary. The objectives of taking Richmond and destroying the northern Confederate army were not achieved. Lincoln was displeased; McClellan responded by publicly criticizing the president and the War Department. He repeated his success with whipping the soldiers into fighting shape and was able to stop the army of Robert E.

Lee at the Battle of Antietam. The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day of combat in the Civil War, and while it was presented as a Union victory in the Northern press, it was in effect a tactical draw. His campaign was marred by a schism that split the Democratic vote along pro- and anti-war lines.

Following his presidential defeat, McClellan resigned from the army and spent several years in Europe. He would return to the railroad business in as president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad.

From to , he served one term as the governor of New Jersey. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. George Meade was a U. Army general and civil engineer who served as commander of the Union Army of the Potomac during the Civil War Meade entered the Civil War as a brigadier general and first served during the Peninsula Campaign in He was badly George Pickett was a U.

George Armstrong Custer was a U. He gained further fame for his post-war exploits against Native Americans in the West.

George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and served two terms as the first U. The son of a prosperous planter, Washington was raised in colonial Virginia. As a young Educated at West Point, George S.

Patton began his military career leading cavalry troops against Mexican forces and became the first officer assigned to the new U. Promoted through the ranks over the next several decades, he Waring Jr. James Longstreet was a U. Army officer, government official and most famously a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War As a politician, McClellan fared no better. Half an hour later the President sent a messenger, who found that McClellan had gone to sleep. And yet while Sears is a responsible, unusually thorough historian, his conviction that McClellan was the worst strategist the Army of the Potomac had ever seen does color this text at times.

Consequently, why McClellan became such a success remains somewhat of a mystery throughout this book. I fear now but one thing--that you will not find foeman worthy of your steel.

I know that I can rely on you.