George B. McClellan

[diddyriddick]

While Halleck was in Washington being Haughty
Lil' Mac ran from Lee, Oh, how naughty!
In spite of the fun
The Union still won
And our very own 5fish is thoughty

[timewalker]

Brilliant, Diddy! (I especially like the use of ole's "thoughty").

[whitworth]

to get the Confederate army in a bad place in 1862; he lacked the ability to finish them off.

[ole]

And there, in 25 words or less, is the winning essay. You get a year's supply of chitlins.

ole

[cw1865]

Originally Posted by Stephen Poleskie

T. S. C. Lowe had his observation balloon aloft quite frequently while The Army of the Potomac waited across the river from Richmond, and saw clearly that the city was being defended by an inadaquate force. Lowe conveyed this information to McClellan and urged him to attack immediately. The general chose to ignore Lowe's advice and believe his Pinkerton spies who kept telling him the city was well defended. McClellan decided to wait for the arrival of additional troops, a delay which led, as we know, to a disasterous outcome. Had the general followed Lowe's recommendation the war probably would have ended then and there. You can read more about this in my book, The Balloonist, The Story of T. S. C. Lowe, Inventor, Scientist, Magician, and Father of the U. S. Airforce, Frederic C. Beil, Publisher, Savannah, 2007, available at most libraries or from Amazon.com.
Stephen Poleskie

Thank you for the post. I think its safe to say that Patton would've been up in that balloon?

[Hanny]

Originally Posted by cw1865

Thank you for the post. I think its safe to say that Patton would've been up in that balloon?

Not likly Patton ( or rather Patton ancestor) was an officer in Pickets Div, which kind precludes him from ballon duty.

[cw1865]

I meant if McClellan had Patton's mindset McClellan himself would've gone up in the balloon.....

[Nytram01]

Originally Posted by Blockaderunner

Timewalker, I think thats a fair comparison with Monty. They both moved with caution. In Montys case this probably came from his service during World War One. Monty would only move when he was certain everything was in his favour. They were also both loved by their armies.

I want to go back to this for a moment. Word of warning, you might not agree with everything I say here.

I feel the comparison between Montgomery and McClellan is quite unfair.

What McClellan and Monty had in common was the devotion that their troops gave them and their somewhat over the top planning.

Montgomery, as opposed to McClellan, never showed any hesitance in throwing the full bulk of his army at his enemy. His accused of being cautious and slow because he made sure his logistics were well and truely in place and that his men were fully prepared both physically and mentally before moving but when he lauched his offence he was one of the quickest moving commanders of the entire war. He also only ever failed to achieve overall victory in Operation Market Garden, which actually makes him one of the most sucessful Generals of WW2.

McClellan, on the other hand, appeared to have an army that had its logistics firmly in place and men that were prepared to fight, given the proper direction to do so, but constantly hesitated and refused to throw the full bulk of his army into an attack. McClellan is accused of being slow and cautious because he was second guessing himself and was worrying about his enemy as he moved, not because he was waiting until his logistic were properly in place and his men were thoroughly prepared before moving. Also, with the possible exception of West Virginia, I dont believe McClellan every achieve overall victory in his campaign and as such is one of the least sucessful general of the Civil War.

So I dont think they compare well. If I had to choose any general of the American Civil War to compare Bernard Law Montgomery to then I think it would be George Henry Thomas...but I doubt whether many would agree with me.

[cw1865]

Actually Market Garden didn't work, but it was imaginative in an attempt to get over the Rhine. And you're correct, Montgomery does win battles and important ones too (Alamein). McClellan did ok, he was at the gates of Richmond and then Lee takes over and its as if the man just lost his nerve or something. He winds up checking Lee at Antietam, but....he's just a frustrating figure....when Lee was asked after the war who his toughest opponent was he answered McClellan.

[ole]

I want to go back to this for a moment. Word of warning, you might not agree with everything I say here.

It is not a requirement that anyone agree with you. In fact, the disagreement and opinions are what makes a board survive. This one requires only that you make disagreeable statements nicely (which you have done), and that those who disagree do it nicely (which, so far, has also been observed).

We are accustomed on this side of the pond to view Montgomery as somewhat of a clown. I'm sure that your side has another view. Eventually, we'll come to agree on a fairly accurate view of what actually happened. I grew up believing Montgomery to be a t***** problem to be solved by Ike and Bradley. Posts like yours make me rethink that assumption. Do keep it up.

ole

The bleeped word was t h o r n y. I suppose I could have said p r i c k l y, but the result would have been the same.