Mclellan needed a good punch

[peteanddelmar]

In the nose!
Sometimes getting the **** knocked out of an arrogant personality will cure them. It is just egotistical social bullying that he was getting by with when he took over in the east.

Somebody will have to point me to a book that tells his good points because I have never read one.
Or just good opinions that seems sparse.

Philip

 

[MRB1863]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I guess we can expect not to see your avatar change to McClellan anytime soon.

 

[Elennsar]

I'm fairly sure I can dig up an old discussion thread in which 67th Tigers makes him out to be the only Union figure in the eastern theater with a clue, but I don't see the point.

McClellan was fighting the kind of war you'd expect of someone who took "War is like chess" to mean slow, calculated decisions, more concerned with not being checkmated than taking out enemy pieces.

 

[kholland]

The man has been discussed in a few threads over the last few years. This is my short, simplistic take. Good organizer (especially after restoring morale post 2'd Manassas) but very tentative as a field commander. Did he love his men too much, was he afraid of failure, I am sure this has been covered somewhere.

 

[Lost Cause]

The man has been discussed in a few threads over the last few years. This is my short, simplistic take. Good organizer (especially after restoring morale post 2'd Manassas) but very tentative as a field commander. Did he love his men too much, was he afraid of failure, I am sure this has been covered somewhere.

Also afraid of losing his men in battle and over-inflating the number of Confederate soldiers before him.

 

[diane]

McClellan had the AoP around his little finger - they just loved him. That wasn't ideal for using them to fight. Grant never had their love like McClellan did but he used them. McClellan's problem, though, was he somehow got a messiah complex! The salvation of the Union was solely on his shoulders, no help with the load, everybody around him was a nincompoop, especially his commander-in-chief. That's a pretty hefty stumbling block to place before yourself.

 

[Elennsar]

McClellan had the AoP around his little finger - they just loved him. That wasn't ideal for using them to fight. Grant never had their love like McClellan did but he used them. McClellan's problem, though, was he somehow got a messiah complex! The salvation of the Union was solely on his shoulders, no help with the load, everybody around him was a nincompoop, especially his commander-in-chief. That's a pretty hefty stumbling block to place before yourself.

And if you were a noncompoop, buttering you up wasn't worth the trouble, or something.

McClellan did not have the ability we see in several of Lee's letters to maintain a good relationship with the boss for the sake of the army. Too much "If you really cared about the army, you'd just do it my way."

 

[Freddy]

Little Mac had his boot in the butt when he got sacked after the Peninsular Campaign and that failed to bring about significant change.