McClellan General with biggest ego?

[Western Reserve Volunteer]

McClellan is definitely up there for having an ego larger than his abilities. His actions in the West show to me he was always more interested in politics than battle, and I wonder if his political ambitions aren't partly responsible for the "organizational skill" he's often credited with: perhaps he was just better at greasing the wheels?

Lee had a decently sized ego, too, he came to believe he was responsible for every success and defeat of the CSA, which was partly true since he'd become essentially a propaganda war hero in the South was given a lot of command responsibility. But his generalship was only ever mediocre at best (it's just he didn't have much in the way of serious opponents) and in believing himself indispensable he kind of banker on his cult of peronality to run things and make them work... and that's no way to run an Army. Also, it seems like he felt his failures rather deeply and that probably hurt his performance a bit in a way it wouldn't hurt someone like Grant, for example.

 

[Cornpone and Molasses]

Alex I'll take Who is McClellan for a $100

 

[ErnieMac]

I think ego comes with the territory of high command. "There's nothing so much like a god on earth as a General on a battlefield." ― Michael Shaara, quote from The Killer Angels.

 

[67th Tigers]

Ego in this context is simply self-confidence. All officers should exhibit a large amount of self-confidence, because that's a large part of leading men. It only becomes an issue when there is a disconnect between self-confidence and ability.

One of the worst cases of an inflated ego I know of is Phil Kearny. In his writing he literally proclaimed himself to be the best general in the army, and showed very little self-awareness of his flaws. What made things worse was that Kearny was simply incompetent.

 

[67th Tigers]

Based on reading what this thread has become (as opposed to the OP's original question), would it be out of place to suggest that perhaps an XL-sized ego is not the province solely of dead generals?

Back on the mainline, both McClellan and Sheridan are prime examples of the grain of truth at the bottom of the stereotype that short guys have big egos.

McClellan was above average height for the time. The average U.S. soldier was 5 ft 7, and McClellan was 5 ft 8 (the same height as Grant). At 5 ft 5, Sheridan was shorter than average.