McClellan's War The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union [Paperback]

Bold, brash, and full of ambition, George Brinton McClellan seemed destined for greatness when he assumed command of all the Union armies before he was 35. It was not to be. Ultimately deemed a failure on the battlefield by Abraham Lincoln, he was finally dismissed from command following the bloody battle of Antietam. To better understand this fascinating, however flawed, character, Ethan S. Rafuse considers the broad and complicated political climate of the earlier 19th century. Rather than blaming McClellan for the Unions military losses, Rafuse attempts to understand his political thinking as it affected his wartime strategy. As a result, Rafuse sheds light not only on McClellans conduct on the battlefields of 1861-62 but also on United States politics and culture in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Rafuse's book . . . offers the most comprehensive account of McClellan's prewar life and military career available, buttressed with a convincing analysis, and is sure to alter current perceptions and future assessments of the general's role in Civil War history.

List of Maps
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Traditions and Associations... Were All on the Side of the Old Whig Party
2. I Can Do As Well As Anyone in Both My Studies and My Military Duties
3. Political Realignment
4. A Strong Democrat of the Stephen A. Douglas School
5. To Kill Secession
6. A New and Strange Position
7. Supreme Command
8. You Have No Idea of the Pressure Brought to Bear Here
9. What Do You Think of the Science of Generalship?
10. The Peninsula Campaign
11. I Do Not Like the... Turn That Affairs Are Taking
12. He Has Acted Badly
13. To Meet the Necessities of the Moment
14. The Most Terrible Battle
15. It Is My Duty to Submit to the Presdt's Proclamation & Quietly Continue Doing My Duty
16. The Last Campaign
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

An important book that rescues George B. McClelÓÎ