McClellan's Own Story - The Maryland Campaign and Antietam

McClellan’s Own Story is the memoirs of Civil War General, Major General, George Brinton McClellan, and was published after his death in 1887.

This memoirs includes George McClellan’s written account of the events he was involved in during the Civil War, as well as letters and messages to and from key figures.

This is Chapter Thirty Two to Chapter Thirty Seven

The entire memoirs can be found at LibriVox through the below link.

https://librivox.org/mcclellans-own-story-by-george-brinton-mcclellan/

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About the author:

George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey.

A graduate of West Point, McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), and later left the Army to work on railroads until the outbreak of the American Civil War (1861–1865).

Early in the conflict, McClellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army, which would become the Army of the Potomac in the Eastern Theater; he served a brief period (November 1861 to March 1862) as general-in-chief of the Union Army.

McClellan organized and led the Union army in the Peninsula Campaign in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862. It was the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater.

During the Maryland Campaign in September 1862, McClellan pursued Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army into Maryland and launched an attack against his army, which would result in the Battle of Antietam, universally considered the bloodiest day in American history.

Within the Congress, the popular press, in the Army, and even within the Lincoln Administration itself, McClellan’s opponents and enemies, many for political reasons, viciously attacked the General’s abilities and loyalties, often misrepresenting or exaggerating facts and even inventing fictions later proven false, in order to have him removed from Command of the Army of the Potomac. It was in this atmosphere that McClellan was removed from command the day after the 1862 midterm elections secured Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress.

While the majority of historians have judged McClellan a poor battlefield general, this is beginning to change. In recent decades this view has been challenged by some historians, who claim that many of the narratives attached to McClellan were politically motivated and designed to unjustly tarnish his reputation. Their claim is that many of those narratives have proven to lack historical merit when the original sources and facts are examined closely.

With this new examination ongoing, there is a re-evaluation of General McClellan as a battlefield General, and his role in the American Civil War underway.