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- Oct 10, 2012
- Location
- Mt. Jackson, Va
The American Civil War was triggered by slavery. As the West opened up, a growing abolitionist movement in the North refused to allow the spread of slavery to new states like Kansas. When the mildly abolitionist Republican Party candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, 11 southern states, their economies largely dependent on cotton harvested by enslaved African Americans, seceded from the Union and formed a Confederacy.
Lincoln began the war without a large army. Many of its Southern-born officers put loyalty to their native states first and resigned their US commissions to serve the Confederacy.
Lincoln appealed for 75,000 volunteers to preserve the Union. But the first major clash between North and South at Bull Run/Manassas in July 1861 was a disaster for the Union. The inexperienced Northern army was routed, its commander Irvin McDowell was sidelined, and with Washington itself threatened, the search was on for a competent general to save the Union and its capital.
The chosen saviour was General George B McClellan, a charismatic, conceited, diminutive, and dapper 34-year-old, who had won two minor skirmishes against the Confederates in West Virginia, and had unbounded confidence that he could do the job. He modelled himself on Napoleon, posing for the camera Bonaparte-style with his hand thrust into his jacket; he even had French officers on his staff.
continue reading:https://the-past.com/feature/firing-the-generals-lincoln-v-mcclellan/
Lincoln began the war without a large army. Many of its Southern-born officers put loyalty to their native states first and resigned their US commissions to serve the Confederacy.
Lincoln appealed for 75,000 volunteers to preserve the Union. But the first major clash between North and South at Bull Run/Manassas in July 1861 was a disaster for the Union. The inexperienced Northern army was routed, its commander Irvin McDowell was sidelined, and with Washington itself threatened, the search was on for a competent general to save the Union and its capital.
The chosen saviour was General George B McClellan, a charismatic, conceited, diminutive, and dapper 34-year-old, who had won two minor skirmishes against the Confederates in West Virginia, and had unbounded confidence that he could do the job. He modelled himself on Napoleon, posing for the camera Bonaparte-style with his hand thrust into his jacket; he even had French officers on his staff.
continue reading:https://the-past.com/feature/firing-the-generals-lincoln-v-mcclellan/
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