Showing results for "McClellan"

Book Review: Conflict of Command: George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, and the Politics of War

Conflict of Command: George McClellan, Abraham Lincoln, and the Politics of War. By George Rable. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2023.  Hardcover, 496 pp. $49.95. Reviewed by John Hennessy It is easy to dislike George B. McClellan. He gives us much to work with: his self-interested, self-aggrandizing musings to his wife; his occasional disrespect […]

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Civil War Surprises: McClellan’s Surprises

George McClellan had a plan. Having taken command of the remnants of the Federal army after its defeat at Bull Run, he fashioned it into a powerful, well-organized and supplied force. President Lincoln and his administration witnessed this and consistently hammered the general with demands to take the massive army to the field, face Confederate […]

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McClellan Misses An Opportunity: The Peninsula and Combined Arms

In the spring of 1862 Major General George McClellan landed his massive Federal force on the Virginia Peninsula with plans to advance on Richmond. His original concept had been to land at Urbanna, on the Rappahannock River… at the time, General Joseph’s Johnston’s Confederate army was stationed near Manassas. From Urbanna, McClellan could cut Johnston […]

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Southerners Have Fun with McClellan’s “Change of Base”

At the end of the day, June 27, 1862, George McClellan knew he had been whipped. Fitz John Porter’s V Corps had been fiercely attacked. Its center had broken and Porter’s troops retreated, leaving behind twenty-two guns.1 Porter was north of the Chickahominy; the rest of the army lay encamped to its south.2 Mac, in […]

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McClellan Addresses the 5th Wisconsin

On May 7, 1862, General George B. McClellan reviewed and spoke to the men of the 5th Wisconsin, who two days before had helped win the Battle of Williamsburg. Since the 2d Wisconsin fought at First Manassas, this was the most prominent Badger action in Virginia, and would not be passed until August 1862. McClellan’s […]

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America’s First Air Force: Union Aeronauts and McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, Part Four – Davis, Lee, and Longstreet Were Standing in a Field

ECW welcomes back guest author Jeff Ballard Read Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. Serving as an airborne sentry was the first, and perhaps the most obvious role of the balloon on the battlefield and Lowe’s balloons gave McClellan unparalleled visibility. At an altitude of 1000 feet, and with good weather, observers could see […]

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America’s First Air Force: Union Aeronauts and McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign, Part Three – Gaines’ Farm Station

ECW welcomes back guest author Jeff Ballard Read Part One and Part Two. The final week of May 1862 denoted the high-water mark of McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign as five corps of the Army of the Potomac partially encircled Richmond. By the 23rd, both the Gaines’ Farm and the Mechanicsville stations, nine and six miles north-northeast […]

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America’s First Air Force: Union Aeronauts and McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign Part Two – A Novel Contraption

ECW welcomes back guest author Jeff Ballard Read Part One. With the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, “numerous balloon enthusiasts hurried to Washington D.C. and besieged the War Department with various proposals for achieving victory by use of the air.”[1] Wise was present, as were John Allen with two balloons and Lowe […]

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America’s First Air Force: Union Aeronauts and McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign Part One – Maker of Water

ECW welcomes guest author Jeff Ballard On the last day of May 1862, Lieutenant E. Walter West, U.S. Army, peered through his field glasses and noted Confederate infantry preparing to attack the Union position straddling the Richmond & York Railroad at Fair Oaks Station. West was uniquely positioned to observe the action, being suspended 1,000 […]

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