Mcclernand and Command in the East?

[SSVilla]

Imagine my surprise when I am listening to this book on Kindle and in an essay about McClernand I read this:

"Accompanying the president to the battlefield near Sharpsburg, Maryland, he played a subversive role in the army, seeking to supplant Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan in the East and criticizing Grant's operations in the West for his failure to pursue the enemy after Shiloh. Such criticism only worked to widen the rift between McClernand and Grant. 13 Although he failed to gain command in the East, McClernand did receive authorization from the president and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to raise and command a force for operations on the Mississippi River aimed at Vicksburg."

— Grant's Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg (Modern War Studies) by Steven E. Woodworth

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The essay is written by Terrence J. Winschel, and although note 13 doesn't have much substance I admit that's the first I time I have seen this proposition.

Note 13 reads:
"The reader may recall the famous photographs of Lincoln and McClellan taken at the Grove farm during the president's visit to the battlefield near Sharpsburg. A lesser known photograph of the same group shows McClernand standing next to the president, and another photograph taken on the same occasion shows McClernand with President Lincoln and Alan Pinkerton. McClernand was no doubt telling Lincoln, "Give me command, Mr. President, and I'll whip those rebs." This may be personal conjecture, but McClernand could have done as well as Ambrose Burnside, whom Lincoln selected to replace McClellan."

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

After the disaster of Pope, putting McClernand in charge of the AOTP seems dangerous to morale. He's a bombastic Western too, but hadn't even done anything to justify promotion to army command.

 

[SSVilla]

After the disaster of Pope, putting McClernand in charge of the AOTP seems dangerous to morale. He's a bombastic Western too, but hadn't even done anything to justify promotion to army command.

Omg I had forgotten the bombastic nature of Pope preceding this meeting. McClernand had a definite gift for a self aggrandizing. The potential for implosion was huge in that highly politicized army, and certainly the west pointers that were there would reject this. I suppose Lincoln saved himself from that nightmare.

Halleck too would have known McClernand quite well.

 

[Stryker65]

Removing McClernand from the west could change Grant's fortunes, though. Arkansas Post, Champion Hill could have gone differently.

 

[tony_gunter]

Removing McClernand from the west could change Grant's fortunes, though. Arkansas Post, Champion Hill could have gone differently.

Actually, McClernand inadvertently resurrected Grant's career. Halleck and Stanton so distrusted McClernand that Halleck went from casting about for a way to replace Grant to wiring Grant unsolicited asking what he could do to help Grant succeed.

 

[tony_gunter]

Imagine my surprise when I am listening to this book on Kindle and in an essay about McClernand I read this:

"Accompanying the president to the battlefield near Sharpsburg, Maryland, he played a subversive role in the army, seeking to supplant Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan in the East and criticizing Grant's operations in the West for his failure to pursue the enemy after Shiloh. Such criticism only worked to widen the rift between McClernand and Grant. 13 Although he failed to gain command in the East, McClernand did receive authorization from the president and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to raise and command a force for operations on the Mississippi River aimed at Vicksburg."

— Grant's Lieutenants: From Cairo to Vicksburg (Modern War Studies) by Steven E. Woodworth

Amazon Sign-In

The essay is written by Terrence J. Winschel, and although note 13 doesn't have much substance I admit that's the first I time I have seen this proposition.

Note 13 reads:
"The reader may recall the famous photographs of Lincoln and McClellan taken at the Grove farm during the president's visit to the battlefield near Sharpsburg. A lesser known photograph of the same group shows McClernand standing next to the president, and another photograph taken on the same occasion shows McClernand with President Lincoln and Alan Pinkerton. McClernand was no doubt telling Lincoln, "Give me command, Mr. President, and I'll whip those rebs." This may be personal conjecture, but McClernand could have done as well as Ambrose Burnside, whom Lincoln selected to replace McClellan."

I consider all these guys to be "the Ed Bearss school of Vicksburg history." And I think they haven't fully grasped the depths of McClernand's incompetence because they haven't nailed down the narrative of Port Gibson, the one major engagement fully managed by McClernand.

If it weren't for Grant sending McPherson over to the left flank, McClernand would still be in Port Gibson today, trying to figure out how to beat a force 1/3 his size.

 

[Stryker65]

I consider all these guys to be "the Ed Bearss school of Vicksburg history." And I think they haven't fully grasped the depths of McClernand's incompetence because they haven't nailed down the narrative of Port Gibson, the one major engagement fully managed by McClernand.

He managed Arkansas Post, too -- took four and a half divisions to take down a fort that numbered about the size of the half-division.