B12 Vitamin’s Chemical Functions
The B12 vitamin has an extremely intricate relationship with the body’s chemical balances and thus its healthy function. There are a number of ways in which it protects and supports a variety of chemical interactions necessary for a normal quality of living and even survival. This short guide will introduce you to the basics of [...]
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Helen Burden McDowell
Wife of Union General Irvin McDowell
Helen Burden, born June 27, 1826, was the daughter of Henry and Helen McOuat Burden, who came to America from Scotland via Quebec. The family settled first in Albany, NY, then Troy, NY, where Helen's father owned the Burden Iron Works, which made horseshoes.
Irvin McDowell, born 1818 near Columbus, Ohio, entered the West Point Military Academy in 1834, when he was 16 years old. He graduated from West Point in 1838, and served on the Northern frontier during the Canada border disturbances, on the Maine frontier pending the disputed Territory controversy, and in the Mexican war under General John Ellis Wool. Helen met McDowell through General Wool, who was also from Troy, NY.
Helen Burden married Captain Irvin McDowell at the Second Presbyterian Church in Troy on November 13, 1844. He hailed from Ohio and was assistant adjutant general in Washington in April 1861. They had four children: Irvin, Helen, Elsie, and Henry Burden McDowell.
General Irvin McDowell
When the Civil War began, Irvin McDowell was a brevet major, a man of physical energy, wide interests, and strong opinions. He was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army on May 14, 1861, and given command of the Army of Northeastern Virginia, never having commanded troops in combat. The promotion was partly because of the influence of his mentor, Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase.
On May 29, 1861, McDowell was given command of the Army of the Potomac, which consisted of about 30, 000 men, who were almost entirely raw recruits. In response to the demand for some immediate action, on July 16 he was ordered to march against the Confederate army that was posted at Manassas Junction under General P.G.T. Beauregard, McDowell's classmate at West Point.
McDowell's plan of campaign had been carefully studied, and its principal feature was to turn the enemy's left flank while threatening the front, which was well posted behind Bull Run on an elevation that overlooked the entire plateau. His strategy during the First Battle of Bull Run was imaginative, but his troops were not experienced enough to carry it out effectively. His plans were admittedly excellent, but nothing could check the demoralization of the green troops.
On the morning of the July 21, 1861, the Federal army crossed the run and succeeded in throwing the enemy's left into such confusion that the presence of Generals Beauregard and Johnston was necessary to rally their troops, who then re-formed in a line on the crest of the hill. A severe struggle for this position ensued, and it was lost and won three times, and about three o'clock in the afternoon it remained in the control of the National forces. But soon after that hour, fresh Confederate reinforcements arrived and completely turned the tide of battle. The judgment of time attributes the defeat less to General McDowell's lack of ability than to the operation of forces that no man of his inexperience could have overcome.
McDowell's men, who had been on their feet since two o'clock in the morning, who had marched twelve miles to the field and been engaged in heavy fighting since ten o'clock, were now exhausted by fatigue and want of food and water. Unable to withstand the fierce attack of fresh troops, they broke and retired in confusion down the hillside and made a disorderly retreat to Washington. Thus the first great battle of the Civil War was fought and lost.
Soon thereafter, General George B. McClellan was given command of the Army of the Potomac, and McDowell was retained at the head of one of its divisions. In March 1862, he was promoted to major general and placed in command of the First Corps, which became the Army of the Rappahannock, stationed to guard Washington.
In the summer of 1862, there were four independent Union commands in Virginia, and in quick succession they were attacked with such force that concentration became necessary, and the Army of Virginia was formed under General John Pope and the command of the Third Corps was given to General McDowell. The campaign of northern Virginia followed, and with his command he participated in the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the action of Rappahannock Station, and the Second Battle of Bull Run in late August 1862.
Criticized for his performance at Second Bull Run, McDowell was relieved of his command, and removed from duty in the field on September 6, 1862. Regarding this action of the War Department a direct reflection upon his military service, he asked for an investigation, the result of which was favorable to him. A court of inquiry reported "that the interests of the public service do not require any further investigation into the conduct of Major General McDowell." No further field command was entrusted to him during the Civil War.
McDowell was probably unfortunate in the roles that fell to him. His first ever independent command was the Army of the Potomac. His only major failing before First Bull Run was the slowness of his movements, hardly a unique failing amongst Union commanders at that time. The disaster at Second Bull Run was largely due to Pope's misreading of the situation. McDowell was simply one of many commanders to be promoted above their capacity early in the war.
McDowell remained in active service in the army, but not in the field. He was an able staff officer and a brilliant desk general, but like most of the early Union command choices, he was not suited for the battlefield because of his limited experience.
In 1863-64, he was President of the Court for investigating cotton frauds and of the board for retiring disabled officers. From July, 1864, to June, 1865, McDowell was in command of the Department of the Pacific, with headquarters in San Francisco, and held that office until July 27, 1865.
After the war, McDowell remained in the army, and had command of the Department of California until March 31, 1868. He was mustered out of the volunteer service September 1, 1866. In July 1868, he was assigned to the command of the Department of the East.
In November 1872, he was promoted to Major General in the regular United States Army. Soon after, he succeeded General George G. Meade as commander of the Division of the South, and remained until June 30, 1876, after which he returned to San Francisco in charge of the Division of the Pacific until his retirement from the army on October 15, 1882.
General McDowell had great fondness for landscape gardening, and during the last years of his life was Park Commissioner of San Francisco, in which capacity he constructed a park out of the neglected Presidio and laid out drives that command fine views of the Golden Gate. The last years of his life were spent in California.
General McDowell was not popular as a public man, but in private life he made a great many friends. He was hospitable and greatly enjoyed music, painting, and entertaining his friends. His family relations were pleasant, and his private life was beyond reproach. He bore his misfortunes with dignity and composure.
General Irvin McDowell died of a heart attack at San Francisco May 4, 1885, at age 67. He had been in failing health for some time. He was buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio with full military honors by the Local Grand Army of the Republic.
Major General Irvin McDowell Gravestone
Helen Burden McDowell died December 7, 1891, in New York City.
SOURCES
History of War
Irvin McDowell
Civil War Bookshelf
Ohio History Central
Civil War Encyclopedia
General Irvin McDowell
Wikipedia: Irvin McDowell
Irvin McDowell (1818-1885)
Biography of Irvin McDowell
Virtual American Biographies
First Manassas - First Bull Run
Report of Brigadier General Irvin McDowell Regarding First Bull Run
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Almira Russell Hancock
Wife of Union General Winfield Scott Hancock
Almira Russell was the daughter of a prominent merchant in St. Louis. Winfield Scott Hancock was born on February 14, 1824, in Montgomery Square, Pennsylvania – a small hamlet northwest of Philadelphia – the son of Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth Hoxworth Hancock. Descended from a long line of American soldiers, he was christened with the name of America's greatest living soldier – General Winfield Scott, the hero of the War of 1812.
Winfield had a twin brother, Hilary, who showed some talent in his early years as a geologist, artist and cartoonist, but later became an alcoholic and skid row bum. After teaching school, Benjamin moved his family to Norristown, PA, where he practiced law. Winfield attended Norristown Academy, later transferring to a public school.
Almira Russell Hancock
In 1840, young Hancock received a coveted appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Hancock was then barely sixteen, short and weak; four years later, he was 6' 2" and strong. Hancock was popular and respected by his friends and peers at West Point, who included future Civil War generals: Stonewall Jackson, George B. McClellan, James Longstreet, Ulysses S. Grant, Ambrose Burnside, George Pickett, Don Carlos Buell, and Dana Harvey Hill. Hancock graduated on June 30, 1844, 18th in a class of 44, probably one of the youngest graduates of that year.
Hancock's first years in the army were spent along the Red River in Texas, and on the frontier fighting Indians. The Indian fighting years were spent hunting more wild game than Indians. When war broke out with Mexico in 1846, Hancock requested an assignment in a fighting unit, but he had few achievements to recommend him. Finally, on July 13, 1847, the young officer was transferred to Vera Cruz to serve under his namesake, General Winfield Scott, in the fight against the forces of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He was there long enough to get commendations for bravery in four different battles. On August 20, 1847, Winfield Scott Hancock was breveted First Lieutenant.
Regimental headquarters returned to St. Louis, and West Point classmate Don Carlos Buell introduced Hancock to Almira (Allie) Russell, the daughter of a prominent St. Louis merchant. After a short courtship, they were married on January 24, 1850. The couple had two children, Russell (1850-84) born in St. Louis, and Ada Elizabeth (1857-75) born in Fort Myers, Florida.
On November 5, 1855, Lieutenant Hancock was appointed Assistant Quartermaster with the rank of captain, and ordered to Fort Myers, Florida, during the Seminole Wars of 1856-7. Hancock's young family accompanied him to his new posting, where Allie was the only woman on the post. It was difficult and arduous service, but Hancock performed his quartermaster duties with apparent ease and competence. He was quickly becoming indispensible in that capacity although, according to Allie, "he very much disliked quartermaster duties."
In 1857, Hancock served at Fort Leavenworth during the violence of Bleeding Kansas, observing firsthand the bitterness and enflamed feelings that the twin issues of slavery and States' Rights had brought to that frontier. Of his own loyalties, he would say: "I shall not fight on the principle of State-rights, but for the union, whole and undivided. I do not belong to a country formed of principalities."
Hancock was stationed in southern California in November 1858, and remained there, joined by Allie and the children, serving as a captain under future Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston. In California, Hancock became friends with several officers from the South. He became especially close to Lewis Armistead from Virginia.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Armistead and the other Southerners were , while Hancock remained in the service of the United States. On June 15, 1861, Hancock and Allie hosted a party for their friends – who were scattering because of the war. No one knew when – or if – they would see each other again. Lewis Armistead gave his Bible and personal effects to Allie for safekeeping – to be opened only if he died in battle. Allie said later that Hancock's men at the Battle of Gettysburg killed three of the six future Confederates who attended that party.
Winfield Scott Hancock headed East to offer his services in the defense of the Union. Arriving in the City of Washington in September, Hancock was summoned to the Headquarters of Major General George B. McClellan, who appointed Hancock, Brigadier General Of Volunteers on September 23, 1861, and an infantry brigade to command in the division of Brigadier General William F. Smith, Army of the Potomac.
Hancock's first action was during the Peninsula Campaign, where he commanded a brigade at the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862. McClellan telegraphed to Washington that "Hancock was superb today, " and Hancock the Superb was born.
General Winfield Scott Hancock
At the Battle of Antietam, Hancock took command of the First Division in the II Corps, after the mortal wounding of Major General Israel B. Richardson in the horrific fighting at Bloody Lane. Hancock made a dramatic entrance onto the battlefield, galloping between his troops and the enemy, parallel to the Sunken Road. His men assumed that Hancock would order counterattacks against the exhausted Confederates, but he carried orders from McClellan to hold his position.
General McClellan was replaced with General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac about that time, and he was replaced by Hooker in the spring of 1863. Hancock was promoted to major general of volunteers on November 29, 1862, and led his division in the disastrous attack on Marye's Heights in the Battle of Fredericksburg the following month, and he was wounded in the abdomen.
In May 1863, Hancock's division was instrumental in covering the withdrawal of Federal forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville – another terrible Union defeat – and he was wounded again. When General Darius Couch asked to be transferred out of the Army of the Potomac in protest of the actions General Hooker took in the battle, Hancock assumed command of II Corps, which he would lead until shortly before the war's end.
The Battle of Gettysburg
Hancock would provide his most important service at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After hearing that General John Reynolds was killed early on July 1, Major General George Gordon Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent Hancock ahead to take command of the units on the field and assess the situation. Hancock thus was in temporary command of the left wing of the army, consisting of the I, II, III, and XI Corps.
At 3:30 PM, on July 1, 1863, Hancock arrived at Gettysburg, and found the commander of the Union XI Corps, Major General Oliver Otis Howard, attempting to establish a defensive position. Federal positions had collapsed both north and west of town, and General Howard had ordered a retreat to the high ground south of town at Cemetery Hill.
General Hancock offered to show General Howard the orders from Meade giving him command of the field, but Howard did not wish to see them and told Hancock to "go ahead." Hancock then went to work establishing the Union battle line that would be known as the Fish Hook, and placed Union forces in a strong defensive position on Cemetery Ridge. Hancock's determination had a morale-boosting effect on the retreating Union soldiers, but he played no direct tactical role on the first day.
The Town of Gettysburg in 1863
On the second day of the battle, General Robert E. Lee attacked both Yankee flanks simultaneously, when US Major General Dan Sickles attempted to move his III Corps forward into the Peach Orchard. Sickles' action exposed the Federal left flank just as CSA General James Longstreet launched his attack toward the Round Tops.
Seeing the trouble, Hancock sent his First Division under Brigadier General John Caldwell to aide Sickles. The second brigade of that division was the famed Irish Brigade. Prior to marching to the relief of Sickles, Father William Corby, the chaplain of the Irish Brigade, gave the soldiers general absolution for their sins.
An officer described the scene as surreal:
The brigade stood in a column of regiments, closed in mass. Father Corby, addressing the men, said that each one would receive the benefit of absolution by making a sincere Act of Contrition, and firmly resolving to embrace the first opportunity of confessing his sins, and reminded them of the high and sacred nature of their trust as soldiers. Then, stretching his right hand toward the brigade, Father Corby pronounced the words of absolution. The service was more than impressive, it was awe-inspiring.
As General Longstreet's divisions slammed into the Union III Corps, it was virtually destroyed as a combat unit, and Sickles' leg was amputated after it was shattered by a cannonball. Caldwell's division was decimated in the Wheatfield. In the evening, the Confederates reached the crest of Cemetery Ridge, but couldn't hold the position in the face of counterattacks from the II Corps, including an almost suicidal counterattack by the First Minnesota against a Confederate brigade, ordered in desperation by Hancock.
Day Three
On the third day at Gettysburg, General Meade placed Hancock in command of the I and III Corps, along with his own II Corps. Hancock was then commanding three-fifths of the Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.
CSA General Robert E. Lee had not succeeded in his flank attacks, and believed that the Federals might have weakened their center to strengthen their flanks. Therefore, Lee planned to have Longstreet command Pickett's Virginia division plus six brigades from A. P. Hill's Corps in an infantry attack on General Hancock's II Corps position at the right center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge. Prior to the attack, Confederate artillery would try to weaken the Union line.
Hancock's Ride
General Hancock rides the Federal line on Cemetery Ridge, preceding Pickett's Charge.
By artist, Dale Gallon
Around 1 PM, between 150 to 170 Confederate guns began an artillery bombardment that was probably the largest of the war. After waiting about 15 minutes, about 80 Federal cannons added to the din. During the artillery attack, Hancock rode along his line encouraging his men to hold their ground. A soldier who witnessed Hancock that day stated, "His daring heroism and splendid presence gave the men new courage."
During the massive Confederate artillery bombardment that preceded the infantry assault, Hancock was prominent on horseback encouraging his troops. When one of his subordinates protested, "General, the corps commander ought not to risk his life that way." Hancock is said to have replied, "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count."
At about 3 PM, the cannon fire subsided, and 12, 500 Southern soldiers stepped from the ridgeline and began to cross three-quarters of a mile of open ground, under intense fire from Union artillery massed on Cemetery Ridge, in what would be forever known as Pickett’s Charge.
In addition to the musketry and canister fire from Hancock's II Corps, the Confederates suffered fierce flanking artillery fire from Union positions north of Little Round Top. The II Corps stymied the attack on their position, with only a few Confederate soldiers breaking through their line.
Although the Federal line wavered and broke temporarily at a jog called the Angle, at a low stone fence just north of a patch of vegetation called the Copse of Trees, reinforcements rushed into the breach, and the Confederate attack was repulsed.
Hancock was not idle during the attack; he seemed to be everywhere on the battlefield, directing regiments and brigades into the fight. As he approached the Vermont Brigade commanded by Brigadier General George Stannard, Hancock suddenly reeled in his saddle and began to fall to the ground. Two of Stannard's officers sprang forward and caught Hancock as he fell.
It was discovered that Hancock had suffered a severe injury, when a bullet struck the pommel of his saddle and penetrated eight inches into his right groin, carrying with it some wood fragments and a large bent nail from the saddle. His aides applied a tourniquet to stanch the bleeding; Hancock removed the nail himself, and is said to have remarked wryly, "They must be hard up for ammunition when they throw such shot as that."
During the infantry assault, General Hancock's old friend, now Confederate General, Lewis Armistead was leading his brigade of Pickett's division, waving his hat from the tip of his saber. He and his men reached the stone wall near the Copse of Trees, which was the charge's objective. Armistead's brigade got farther in the charge than any other, but they were quickly overwhelmed by a Union counterattack. This event has been called the High Watermark of the Confederacy – the closest they ever came to winning Southern independence. Nearly half of the attackers did not return to their own lines.
General Armistead was shot three times just after crossing the stone wall. When he went down, he gave a Masonic sign asking for assistance. A fellow Mason, Captain Henry Bingham, a member of Hancock's staff and later a very influential Congressman, rushed to Armistead and offered to help. Bingham told Armistead that his old friend Hancock had just been wounded a few yards away. This scene is featured in Michael Shaara's novel, The Killer Angels, in which Armistead is a principal character.
Captain Bingham took the news of Armistead's wounding to Hancock, but Hancock couldn't go the aid of his friend because of his own wound, and they would not be reunited. Armistead's wounds weren't believed to be fatal, because he had been shot in the fleshy part of the arm and below the knee. According to the surgeon that tended him, none of the wounds caused bone, artery, or nerve damage.
Armistead was taken to a Union field hospital at the Spangler Farm, where he died two days later. Armistead's biographer, Wayne Motts, believes that Armistead died most likely from a pulmonary embolism, while others have argued that it was a combination of septic shock and heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
General Hancock refused to leave the field until his troops had repulsed the Confederate attack. Though in much pain, he continued to direct and encourage his men. He had been with his soldiers throughout the three-day battle, and he refused to leave them now. The Union victory was largely the result of the leadership of Major General Winfield Scott Hancock. Gettysburg marked the zenith of Hancock's military career.
Recovery and Recruitment
After the repulse of the Confederate attack, Hancock was taken to a field hospital, and eventually to his father's home in Norristown, Pennsylvania to recover. He was received at Norristown by his fellow citizens, and borne to his home on a stretcher, on the shoulders of soldiers of the Invalid Corps. His recovery was gradual but sure. Hancock's Norristown friends gave him a service of nine pieces of gold and silver plate ornamented with the trefoil badge of the Second Corps, and valued at $1600.
When Hancock had recovered enough to travel to West Point, he was honored with public receptions there, in New York, and at St. Louis, where he went to see his family, and where he also received from the Western Sanitary Fair a superb sword. The US Congress would vote a letter of thanks, to Hancock, "…for his gallant, meritorious and conspicuous share in that great and decisive victory."
Ordered to Washington, December 15th, 1863, Hancock promptly obeyed, although his wound was not yet healed, and was detailed to recruit new soldiers for the army. He soon raised 50, 000 men for his corps (headquartered at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) with good success — the great cities of New York, Albany, and Boston, offered him every public and private facility for his use.
At Philadelphia, a public reception was given him; resolutions were offered by the city government, and Independence Hall was thrown open to his use, and on the February 22, he reviewed the volunteer troops of the city. In New York City, the Governor's Room in the City Hall was placed at his disposal. At Albany, the Legislature tendered an official testimonial of respect, as did the Legislature of Massachusetts and the merchants of Boston.
In March, 1864, Hancock was again ordered to the front, and he led his old corps through General Ulysses S. Grant's spring 1864 Overland Campaign, from the Rapidan to Petersburg. Grant was committed to a war of attrition, in which the superior Union forces would bleed Lee's army dry. Union casualties would be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers and equipment.
Hancock served with distinction in the strenuous and bloody series of battles that began in the Wilderness in early May, and continued through Yellow Tavern, North Anna, Old Church, Cold Harbor, Trevilian Station, and finally to the ten-month siege at Petersburg, Virginia.
At Spotsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864, Hancock led a magnificent pre-dawn charge at the head of his whole corps of 20, 000 men. The target was the Mule Shoe – a salient in the Confederate trenches. In less than an hour, the II Corps broke through the Rebel lines, thanks in part to the absence of Confederate artillery support and wet powder caused by the rainfall the night before. Hancock took close to 4, 000 prisoners, destroying a whole division of the Confederate Second Corps.
General Winfield Scott Hancock
Seated, surrounded by Generals Francis Barlow, David Birney, and John Gibbon
At Spotsylvania Court House
Hancock sent a brief despatch to General Grant: "General, I have captured from thirty to forty guns. I have finished up Johnson, and am now going into Early, " (Confederate Generals Edward "Allegheny" Johnson and Jubal Early). For those heroic efforts, Hancock earned the rank of major general, but in June, his Gettysburg wound reopened, but he soon resumed command, sometimes traveling by ambulance.
Second Battle of Reams Station
Hancock's only significant defeat occurred during the Siege of Petersburg. Soon after the Union success at the Battle of Weldon Railroad, Hancock's II Corps was ordered to move south along that rail line, destroying track as it went. The intent was to stretch even farther the distance by which General Lee had to move his supplies. By late August 24, 1864, the II Corps was three miles south of Reams Station, when Hancock was informed that CSA General A.P. Hill's infantry and General Wade Hampton's cavalry were moving out of Petersburg's defenses to meet this threat.
During the morning of August 25, Hampton started driving Hancock's troops back up the Halifax Road toward Reams Station. Hill's attacks in the early afternoon only took some outlying trenches from the Union. Hill determined that a large frontal assault was needed to drive the Union forces off the railroad. It was 5:00 pm before the Confederates were ready for their second assault, and it began with a heavy barrage from the artillery.
By 6:00 pm, the assault had lost its momentum, and in return Hancock reminded the Confederates why he was a worthy adversary. Regrouping the II Corps, Hancock sent his men back down the lost trenches and across the field to Oak Grove Church. Initially successful, the counterattack soon failed. In the midst of this, Hancock told a staff officer, "Colonel, I do not care to die, but I pray to God I may never leave this field!"
Hampton and Hill were finally able to coordinate an attack upon the Union position, and under this pressure, overran the Union position, capturing 9 guns, 12 colors, and many prisoners. The II Corps was shattered, and swept from the field by 7:00 pm. Hancock withdrew to the main Union line near the Jerusalem Plank Road, bemoaning the declining combat effectiveness of his troops. Hancock realized his greatest defeat as a corps commander, losing nearly 3, 000 soldiers as casualties or as prisoners.
Hancock had some measure of success at Burgess Mill on October 27, 1864, when the II Corps stood their ground and beat off each attack, though they paid a heavy price for doing so. When night fell, Hancock decided to withdraw, but because of a lack of ambulances, he had to leave many of the most seriously injured soldiers behind.
For his corps' participation in the assaults at Deep Bottom in August 1864, General Hancock was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, but it didn't make him feel any better. He never quite recovered from Reams Station, where he had lost so many of his men, his friends.
Farewell to the II Corps
In Grant's campaign against Lee, Hancock and his famed II Corps had been repeatedly called upon to plunge into the very worst of the fighting, and the casualties had been terrible. At the beginning of May 1864, the II Corps numbered 30, 000 officers and men. Casualties since then had topped 26, 000 killed, wounded or missing. These were men he had become fond of, had interacted with on a daily basis, had fought with for months, even years. He felt their losses deeply.
Reinforcements had flowed in regularly, but the damage to the II Corps could not be measured by numbers alone. The new men in the ranks were for the most part inexperienced, and many were bounty men or draftees, distrusted by the surviving combat veterans. Though he but had achieved many significant military victories, the II Corps wasn't Hancock's corps anymore.
General Winfield Scott Hancock asked to be relieved of command of the II Corps on November 25, 1864. With his old wound constantly troubling him – he had never regained full mobility and his youthful energy – and the loss of so many of his men contributed to his decision to give up field duty.
Hancock's farewell message to his soldiers, November 26, 1864:
Conscious that whatever military honor has fallen to me during my association with the Second Corps has been won by the gallantry of the officers and soldiers I have commanded… in parting from them, I am severing the strongest ties of my military life.
Hancock's first assignment after leaving field duty was to command the ceremonial First Veterans Corps, a largely ceremonial post. For the next three months, Hancock was at Washington organizing wounded veterans for service – as much as his health would permit. He did more recruiting, commanded the Middle Department, and relieved General Philip Sheridan in command of forces in the now-quiet Shenandoah Valley.
By spring 1865, the war had ended at Appomattox Court House, and General Hancock - who for three years had been one of the most conspicuous figures in the Army of the Potomac - was not there to take part in the final triumph.
Execution of Lincoln Assassination Conspirators
In April 1865, General Hancock was summoned to Washington to take charge of carrying out the execution of the Lincoln Conspirators. Lincoln had been assassinated on April 14, 1865, and by May 9, a military commission had been convened to try the accused. The actual assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was already dead, but the trial of his co-conspirators proceeded quickly, resulting in convictions. President Andrew Johnson ordered the executions to be carried out on July 7.
Although Hancock was reluctant to execute some of the less-culpable conspirators, especially Mary Surratt. He wrote to Judge Clampitt, Surratt's legal counsel:
I have been on many a battle and have seen death, and mixed with it in disaster and in victory. I have been in a living hell of fire, and shell and grapeshot, and, by God, I’d sooner be there ten thousand times over than to give the order this day for the execution of that poor woman. But I am a soldier, sworn to obey, and obey I must.
Hancock hoped that Mary Surratt would receive a pardon from President Johnson, so hopeful that as commander of the Middle Military District, he posted messengers all the way from the Arsenal to the White House, ready to relay the news to him at a moment's notice, should the pardon be granted. It wasn't.
Hancock remained in the postwar army as brigadier general. In 1866, U.S. Grant had him promoted major general in the regular army, and he served at that rank for the rest of his life. He was sent west, to command the Military Department of Missouri, based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, but his time there was brief.
On November 29, 1868, President Andrew Johnson named him to replace Philip Sheridan as military governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction. It was in this position, that he would issue General Order Number 40, that would essentially allow the civilian government to quickly replace the military government. Hancock's refusal to use military authority to assist Republican radicals strengthened his ties to Democrats and angered Grant.
With the death of General George Gordon Meade, in 1872, Hancock became the senior major general in the US Army, and was assigned to take Meade's place as commander of the Division of the Atlantic, and moved to Governor's Island. The fine living there made Hancock grow fat. He eventually weighed over 250 pounds.
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock
In old age
Winfield and Almira Hancock were devastated by the deaths of their children and grandchildren – their 18-year-old daughter Ada died of typhoid fever in 1875 in New York City. She was buried in Norristown in the same tomb her father would be buried in years later. On July 13, 1880, their four-month-old grandson, also named Winfield Scott Hancock, died. Son Russell, who was always weakly, was married and had three children – Ada, Gwyn, and Almira – when he died on December 30, 1884, in Mississippi.
Presidential Candidate
Democratic strategists had considered Hancock a potential presidential nominee as early as 1864, and his name resurfaced during subsequent presidential campaigns as the military hero who might best challenge Republican claims to a monopoly on patriotism. When Grant entered the White House in 1869, Hancock was ordered to the Department of Dakota, an assignment he regarded as punishment for political disagreement.
Hancock finally received the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 1880. He stayed on active duty at Governor's Island in New York harbor. He and Almira found the constant flow of political visitors maddening. The Republicans nominated James A. Garfield, a longtime Ohio congressman, and attacked Hancock's complete lack of political experience.
Neither candidate for the 1880 Presidential Election inspired voters to shift political allegiance, and the outcome hinged upon Republican organization overwhelming Democratic disharmony. Garfield's majority was less than ten thousand votes; the electoral vote (214-155) would have gone the other way had New York's Tammany Democrats not betrayed Hancock at a cost of thirty-five electoral votes. But Hancock was the first Northerner to carry the Southern states in a Presidential election , since the war.
After Ulysses S. Grant died on July 23, 1885, President Grover Cleveland ordered Hancock to oversee the funeral of the former President and General of the United States Army. He organized and led the enormous New York City funeral procession for Grant on August 8, 1885.
In November 1885, Hancock visited Gettysburg and enjoyed reliving the experience with younger soldiers. In January 1886, he went to Washington and was bothered by a boil on the back of his neck. He went home earlier than planned, and by February the boil had turned into a carbuncle – a painful localized bacterial infection of the skin and subcutaneous tissue.
Hancock had refused to be examined by his doctor, despite the illnesses that plagued him late in life, maybe because the field surgeons at Gettysburg had caused horrible suffering in trying to remove the bullet and bone fragments from his wound. For several days, his doctors didn't realize that he had severe diabetes, which made the situation deadly. He became delirious on the evening of February 5.
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock died on February 9, 1886, at 2:35 PM, five days before his sixty-second birthday, at Governor's Island, still in command of the Military Division of the Atlantic. After a brief funeral service at Trinity Church in New York City February 12, 1886, General Hancock's remains were taken to his boyhood home of Norristown, PA, and placed in a mausoleum that he had designed alongside his daughter, Ada.
When General Hancock died, he left his wife, Almira, almost no money. She didn't even have her own home. Granted, there were many financial burdens on him [his brother Hilary, and the constant (and necessary) expense of entertaining guests] – but given his contacts and his intelligence, he should have made arrangements for her to be taken care of during her declining years.
Almira Russell Hancock received many requests to write about her husband and his military experiences and his correspondence. She wrote her memoirs, Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock, which was published in 1887 by Mark Twain's publishing firm, Webster & Company. Afterward, she burned Hancock's letters.
New York Times Article, April 20, 1893:
Mrs. Almira Russell Hancock, widow of General Winfield Scott Hancock, is seriously ill at her home, The Gramercy, 34 Gramercy Park. She is suffering from a complication of diseases, but with her splendid constitution has made a brave fight, and it is hoped that she will safely pass through the crisis which will come within the next twenty-four hours.
Almira Russell Hancock died in April 1893, and was buried near her family in St. Louis, Missouri. Although she outlived both of her children, she was survived by the three grandchildren fathered by her son, Russell.
New York Times Article, April 23, 1893:
The funeral of Mrs. Almira Russell Hancock, widow of General Winfield Scott Hancock, who died at her home, the Gramercy, 34 Gramercy Park Thursday afternoon, took place yesterday at noon at the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration on East Twenty-ninth Street.
Equestrian Statue of General Winfield Scott Hancock
Bronze by Sculptor Frank Edwin Ewell
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Winfield S. Hancock was a very able military commander. He successfully commanded the II Corps, Army of the Potomac, during some of the most critical battles of the Civil War. He cared about his men, and would most often be seen, leading from the front, such as when he was wounded at Gettysburg.
To the North, he was known as Hancock The Superb. To the South – The Thunderbolt of the Army of the Potomac. The Sioux and the Cheyenne called him Old Man of the Thunder. A man of great charisma and a commanding physical presence, he was a soldier's soldier, something of an artist, amateur scientist, botanist, and he even wrote some verse.
From Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs:
Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very conspicuous personal appearance... His genial disposition made him friends, and his personal courage and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight, won for him the confidence of troops serving under him. No matter how hard the fight, the II Corps always felt that their commander was looking after them.
SOURCES
Reams Station
Battle of Gettysburg
Winfield S. Hancock
Hancock the Superb
Biography of a Soldier
Winfield Scott Hancock
The Hero of Gettysburg
Battle of Boydton Plank Road
Wikipedia: Winfield Scott Hancock
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock
Winfield Scott Hancock, Major General, USA
Winfield Scott Hancock – U.S. Major General
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Margaret Buell
Wife of Union General Don Carlos Buell
I could find no information about Buell's wife, except that her name was Margaret. Don Carlos Buell, named for an uncle, was born on March 23, 1818, near Marietta, Ohio. He was the first son of Salmon D. Buell and Eliza Buell, born on the farm of his grandfather, Judge Salmon Buell. He was named after his uncle, Don Carlos Buell, who was a lawyer in Ithaca, New York. His father died in 1825, and Buell grew up with his uncle in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, where he attended public schools, and proved himself a fair student.
In 1837, Buell received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and graduated in 1841, ranking 32 in a class of 52 graduates. Buell served in the military, and participated in both the Seminole War and the Mexican War. In the Mexican War, he was wounded at the Battle of Churubusco. Buell moved slowly up the ranks, finally attaining the rank of brevet major.
In December, 1860, Secretary of War John Floyd sent Major Buell to visit Robert Anderson, then in command of the US garrison at Charleston, South Carolina. Buell carried a message to Anderson that was too sensitive to go over the telegraph wires: "You may occupy any fort within Charleston Harbor." Anderson had wired Washington that at Fort Moultrie his position was threatened. With Washington's approval, Anderson could move to a much more formidable structure, Fort Sumter.
General Don Carlos Buell
When the American Civil War began, Buell was serving as an assistant adjutant general. With his military experience, he quickly was promoted to brigadier general. Buell reported to Washington, DC, in September 1861, where he served as a division commander in the Army of the Potomac under his friend, General George B. McClellan. In November of that same year, Buell succeeded William Tecumseh Sherman as commander of the Department of the Ohio. He helped organize the thousands of volunteers reporting for duty from Ohio and surrounding states, and prepared Ohio's defenses for a Confederate attack.
As commander of the Department of the Ohio, Buell was also the leader of the Army of the Ohio. During 1862, Buell played an important role in securing Kentucky and Tennessee for the Union. As General Ulysses S. Grant advanced on Confederate Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862, the Army of the Ohio moved cautiously from Bowling Green, Kentucky toward Nashville, Tennessee.
Buell's hesitation gave CSA Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and William Hardee time to remove manufacturing equipment and goods south by train. Buell's command succeeded in capturing Nashville in central Tennessee, but President Abraham Lincoln and General Henry Halleck had wanted Buell to secure eastern Tennessee for the Union. And instead of pursuing the Rebels, Buell stopped when he ran into CSA General Nathan Bedford Forest's rearguard forces.
Sidney Johnston left Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on March 5 and arrived at Corinth, Mississippi on March 25. Buell decided to argue with Henry Halleck about his orders, and Halleck appealed to Washington. The next day, Lincoln combined his three Western Armies into the Department of the Mississippi, and put Halleck in command. On March 13, 1862, Buell left Nashville and developed a case of the slows.
Johnston moved a similar size body of troops further in less time to attack Grant at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862. On the first day, the Union soldiers were surprised, outnumbered, and almost defeated. That evening, forward division of the Army of the Ohio under Brigadier General William "Bull" Nelson arrived, and the combined forces of Buell and Grant drove the Confederates from the battlefield the following day.
General Buell praises his army for their victory at Shiloh:
GENERAL ORDERS No. 6.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO,
Field of Shiloh, Tenn., April 8, 1862.
The general congratulates the army under his command on the imperishable honor which they won yesterday on the battle-field of Shiloh, near Pittsburg Landing. The alacrity and zeal with which they pressed forward by forced marches to the succor of their comrades of a sister army imperiled by the attack of an overwhelming force; the gallantry with which they assaulted the enemy, and the persevering courage with which they maintained an incessant conflict against superior numbers from 6 o'clock in the morning until evening, when the enemy was driven from the field, are incidents which point to a great service nobly performed.
The general reminds his troops again that such results are not attained by individual prowess alone; that subordination and careful training are essential to the efficiency of every army, and that the success which has given them a brilliant page in history is greatly due to the readiness with which they have seconded the labors of their division, brigade, and regimental commanders, who first disciplined them in camp and then led them judiciously and gallantly in battle.
By command of Major-General Buell:
JAMES B. FRY,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff.
General Henry Halleck ordered Buell to proceed to the important railroad center of Chattanooga, Tennessee, on June 10, 1862. In three weeks, Buell had only moved ninety miles toward that city. On July 8, 1862, Henry Halleck wrote Buell: "The President says your progress is not satisfactory and you should move more rapidly."
Before the Army of the Ohio could capture that city, Buell fell back into Kentucky, because a Confederate army under CSA General Braxton Bragg had invaded the state. Bragg, in command of the Army of Mississippi, was about to completely fool Buell. On July 21, Bragg ordered a 770-mile flanking movement via railroad and ship. A week later, Bragg's men began arriving in force at Chattanooga. He had beaten the Union commander to that city. As a consolation, Buell took the railhead at Stevenson, Alabama, and reoccupied Nashville.
Buell intended to hold a 400-mile line stretching across the entire state of Tennessee. CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest severed the connection from Stevenson to Nashville with a raid on Murfreesboro. As the railroad was close to being fixed, Forrest again attacked, burning three bridges south of Nashville.
Abraham Lincoln had more derisive things to say about the commander of the Army of the Ohio. Then CSA General John Hunt Morgan began his raids into Kentucky. Morgan sent word to E. Kirby Smith in Knoxville, encouraging him to move into Kentucky. As Smith moved north, Buell (extending a non-existent line another 100 miles) dispatched 'Bull' Nelson to Kentucky to organize the recruits, but kept his division in Murfreesboro.
Smith took Richmond, Lexington, and Frankfurt, Kentucky, as Bragg screened Buell, who continued to fear an attack on Nashville. Before he knew it, Buell had the Army of Tennessee between himself and Louisville, Kentucky, the major communications and transportation hub for the Union armies in the West. When it finally dawned on Buell that Bragg was not going to attack Nashville but was heading due north towards Louisville, he had to scramble to defend his supply line. Buell regrouped when he arrived at Louisville on September 25 and 26.
Meanwhile the exhortations from the administration continued unabated, as the following message to Buell from General Henry Halleck demonstrates:
It is the wish of the Government that your army proceed to and occupy East Tennessee with all possible dispatch. It leaves to you the selection of the roads upon which to move to that object; but it urges that this selection be so made as to cover Nashville and at the same time prevent the enemy's return into Kentucky. To now withdraw your army to Nashville would have a most disastrous effect upon the country, already wearied with so many delays in our operations... Neither the Government nor the country can endure these repeated delays. Both require a prompt and immediate movement toward the accomplishment of the great object in view--the holding of East Tennessee.
On October 8, 1862, Braxton Bragg and Don Carlos Buell met at the Battle of Perryville (Kentucky), the largest battle fought on Kentucky soil. Buell attacked an army of 16, 000 Confederates with almost 60, 000 men (although only 30, 000 were engaged in combat), and came close to losing. While Buell claimed victory, the battle is generally regarded as a draw. When Buell failed to pursue the retreating Confederates as ordered, claiming that he lacked the necessary supplies to carry out an offensive.
Buell was even so disliked by his senior officers that they had petitioned Abraham Lincoln and requested Buell be replaced. President Lincoln finally bowed to the pressure and relieved Buell of command on October 24, 1862, and replaced him with William S. Rosecrans.
For the next six months, a military commission, chaired by General Lew Wallace, investigated Buell's inaction. Buell remained on inactive duty in Cincinnati for the entire time that the committee met. The commission drafted a report of its findings but did not release it to the public. Buell was eventually offered new battlefield commands, but he refused to serve under officers he had once outranked. In his memoirs, General Ulysses S. Grant called this "the worst excuse a soldier can make for declining service. Buell resigned his commission on June 1, 1864, and returned to civilian life.
The fact that Don Carlos Buell was a former slave owner (he had inherited eight slaves when he married the widow of a fellow officer in 1851) left him open to charges that he was a Southern sympathizer. Buell did not help his cause when he strictly enforced a policy of noninterference with Southern civilians while campaigning in Alabama and Tennessee in mid-1862. His own soldiers murmured among themselves that their commanding general was "either a weak imbecile man, or a secession sympathizer."
Many Northerners have refused to honor Buell for his military service during the Civil War, accusing him of being sympathetic with the Confederates. He also supported George McClellan in the presidential election of 1864 against Abraham Lincoln, openly attacking the Union high command for its actions and high loss of life.
Following the war Buell lived again in Indiana, and then in Kentucky, employed in the iron and coal industry as president of the Green River Iron Company. From 1885 to 1889, he was a government pension agent.
Don Carlos Buell Gravesite
Don Carlos Buell died on November 19, 1898, at his home in Rockport, Kentucky, at the age of 80, and was buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri
SOURCES
Don C. Buell
Don Carlos Buell
Don Carlos Buell Biography
Wikipedia: Don Carlos Buell
Don Carlos Buell Source Page
Don Carlos Buell: Most Promising of All
Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant
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B12, Weight Loss and Energy Levels
Currently a new hype is taking over the nutrition community, and it is all about whether B12 supplementation can help you lose weight. Some companies are already focusing on bringing B12 rich dietary formulas to their consumers, but can this vitamin truly help you lose weight? And if so, how would it work. Healthy B12 levels [...]
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Ellen Mary Marcy McClellan
Wife of Union General George B. McClellan
Ellen Mary Marcy was born in 1836 in Philadelphia. She was the blonde, blue-eyed daughter of Major Randolph Marcy – explorer of the famous Red River and Federal chief-of-staff in the first years of the war – an army officer who gained a good deal of fame in the decade just before the Civil War, as an explorer of the unsettled West. He was a strictly-business regular who blazed trails across the prairies and paved the way for the opening of the plains country.
Ellen Mary Marcy McClellan
George Brinton McClellan, the son of a surgeon, was born in Philadelphia December 3, 1826. He attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1840 at age 13, resigning himself to the study of law. After two years, he changed his goal to military service. With the assistance of his father's letter to President John Tyler, young George was accepted at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1842. The academy had waived its normal minimum age of 16, and George graduated second in the class in 1846.
McClellan was appointed to the staff of General Winfield Scott during the Mexican War (1846-48), and won three brevets for gallant conduct. He taught military engineering at West Point (1848-51), and in 1855 was sent to observe the Crimean War in order to obtain the latest information on European warfare.
Due to his intimate knowledge of Texas and Indian Territory geography, Major Randolph Marcy was selected for the Red River Expedition of 1852. Along with several troops and a young army lieutenant he liked very much – George B. McClellan – Marcy set out to discover the source of the Red River. Unlike his predecessors, he didn't use a boat, but explored mainly on horseback. He kept a meticulous diary, made friends with the Indians, and wrote a dictionary of the Wichita language.
In 1854 when McClellan was 27 years old, he met 18-year-old Ellen Mary Marcy, the daughter of his former commander, and it was love at first sight for him. He wrote to Ellen's mother: "I have not seen a very great deal of the little lady mentioned above, still that little has been sufficient to make me determined to win her if I can." Her father did everything he could to persuade the girl to accept him. He had no luck; Ellen simply didn't love McClellan.
She loved Lieutenant Ambrose Powell Hill (future general in the Army of Northern Virginia). She wrote to her father, telling him that she was going to marry Hill, and Marcy promptly blew his stack. Any woman, he told his daughter, who married an army officer was simply asking for trouble; pay was low, absences from home were frequent and extended, and military life offered no particular future. McClellan was also a soldier, but he was planning to leave the army and enter private industry, and his family had money.
Ellen was to abandon all communication with Lieutenant Hill, and "if you do not comply with my wishes in this respect, " her father wrote, "I cannot tell what my feelings toward you will become. I fear that my ardent affections will turn to hate..." Ellen was stubborn, but she listened to her father, and let the matter rest for nearly a year. In the end, Marcy had his way, and Lieutenant Hill at last faded out of the picture. General Ambrose Powell Hill was killed in battle one week before the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.
In June, McClellan proposed and Ellen promptly rejected him. It probably didn't help that she was two or three inches taller than McClellan. Leaving Washington, McClellan continued to keep in touch with Ellen and the family. Life for Ellen was going quickly as George continued his quest by mail. Before she reached the age of 25, she had received and rejected nine proposals of marriage.
McClellan left the United States Army in 1857 to become chief of engineering and vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad, where he became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln, the company's attorney. He became president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1860. He performed well in both jobs, but despite his successes and lucrative salary ($10, 000 per year), he was frustrated with civilian employment and continued to study classical military strategy.
In 1859, Major Marcy was ordered west, and the family visited McClellan in Chicago. On October 20, George again proposed marriage, and this time Ellen accepted. Ellen and George were married at Calvary Church, New York City, on May 22, 1860. McClellan was 33 and Ellen was 25.
They had a son and a daughter: George Brinton McClellan, Jr. who was born in Dresden, Germany, during the family's first trip to Europe. Known to the family as Max, he served as a US Representative from New York State and as Mayor of New York City from 1904 to 1909. Their daughter, Mary ("May"), married a French diplomat and spent much of her life abroad. Neither Max nor May gave the McClellans any grandchildren.
The two would remain married for 25 years and were devoted to each other, writing daily when separated. "My whole existence is wrapped up in you, " he wrote in one such letter. McClellan's personal life was without blemish. If Ellen Marcy ever regretted the turn of events, she left no record of it, coming down in history as a pretty, rather sad young woman looking out of the Brady photographs.
According to legend, Hill nourished a grudge against McClellan, and fought against him during the Civil War with more than ordinary vigor. Whenever the Confederates attacked the Army of the Potomac (which happened fairly often during the summer of 1862), the Union soldiers ascribed it to A. P. Hill and his personal feud with McClellan.
The story was told that McClellan was aroused from sleep early one morning by the crackling musketry from the picket line where Hill's division was opening another assault. McClellan detached himself grumpily from his blankets, and screamed these words: "My God, Ellen! Why didn't you marry him?"
McClellan offered his services to President Abraham Lincoln on the outbreak of the American Civil War. On May 3, 1861, he was named commander of the Department of the Ohio, responsible for the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and, later, western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Missouri. On May 14, he was commissioned a major general in the regular army, and at age 34 outranked everyone in the Army except Lt. General Winfield Scott, the general in chief.
General George Brinton McClellan
By Alexander Lawrie
Date unknown
On July 26, 1861, the day he reached the capital, McClellan was appointed commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, the main Union force responsible for the defense of Washington. On August 20, several military units in Virginia were consolidated into his department, and he immediately formed the Army of the Potomac, with himself as its first commander. He reveled in his newly acquired power and fame.
He grasped the magnitude of his new assignment, telling Ellen:
I find myself in a new and strange position here — President, Cabinet, General Scott & all deferring to me — by some strange operation of magic, I seem to have become the power of the land... I almost think that were I to win some small success now, I could become Dictator or anything else that might please me — but nothing of that kind would please me — therefore I won't be Dictator. Admirable self-denial!
–George B. McClellan, letter to Ellen, July 26, 1861
During the summer and fall, McClellan brought a high degree of organization to his new army, and greatly improved its morale by his frequent trips to review and encourage his units. It was a remarkable achievement, in which he came to personify the Army of the Potomac and reaped the adulation of his men.
He created defenses for Washington that were almost impregnable, consisting of 48 forts and strong points, with 480 guns manned by 7, 200 artillerists. But this was also a time of tension in the high command, as he continued to quarrel frequently with the government and the general-in-chief, Lt. General Winfield Scott, on matters of strategy.
McClellan's antipathy to emancipation added to the pressure on him, as he received bitter criticism from Radical Republicans in the government. He viewed slavery as an institution recognized in the Constitution, and entitled to federal protection wherever it existed.
The dispute with Scott would become very personal. Scott (along with many in the War Department) was outraged that McClellan refused to divulge any details about his strategic planning, or even mundane details such as troop strengths and dispositions. McClellan claimed not to trust anyone in the administration to keep his plans secret from the press, and thus the enemy.
On November 1, 1861, General Winfield Scott retired, and McClellan became general in chief of all the Union armies. The president expressed his concern about the "vast labor" involved in the dual role of army commander and general-in-chief, but McClellan responded, "I can do it all." But Lincoln, as well as many other leaders and citizens of the northern states, became increasingly impatient with McClellan's slowness to attack the Confederate forces still massed near Washington.
McClellan further damaged his reputation by his insulting insubordination to his commander-in-chief. He privately referred to Lincoln, whom he had known before the war, as "nothing more than a well-meaning baboon", a "gorilla", and "ever unworthy of... his high position." On November 13, the president visited McClellan at his house, he made him wait for 30 minutes, only to be told that the general had gone to bed and could not see him.
McClellan insisted that his army should not undertake any new offensives until his new troops were fully trained. He developed a strategy to defeat the Confederate Army by invading Virginia from the sea, and to seize Richmond, and then other major cities in the South. McClellan believed that to keep resistance to a minimum, it should be made clear that the Union forces would not interfere with slavery and would help put down any slave insurrections.
Ellen Mary Marcy and Major General George B. McClellan
McClellan appointed Allan Pinkerton to employ his agents to spy on the Confederate Army. His reports exaggerated the size of the enemy, and McClellan was unwilling to launch an attack until he had more soldiers available. Under pressure from Radical Republicans in Congress, Abraham Lincoln decided in January, 1862, to appoint Edwin M. Stanton as his new Secretary of War.
Soon after this appointment, President Abraham Lincoln ordered McClellan to appear before a committee investigating the way the war was being fought. On January 15, 1862, he had to face the hostile questioning of Benjamin Wade and Zachariah Chandler. Wade asked McClellan why he was refusing to attack the Confederate Army. He replied that he had to prepare the proper routes of retreat.
Chandler then said: "General McClellan, if I understand you correctly, before you strike at the rebels you want to be sure of plenty of room, so that you can run in case they strike back." Wade added, "Or in case you get scared." After McClellan left the room, Wade and Chandler came to the conclusion that McClellan was guilty of "infernal, unmitigated cowardice."
As a result of this meeting, Abraham Lincoln decided he must find a way to force McClellan to attack. On January 31, he issued General War Order Number One, which ordered McClellan to begin the offensive against the enemy before February 22. Lincoln also insisted on being consulted about McClellan's military plans.
On March 11, 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan as general in chief, leaving him in command of only the Army of the Potomac, so that McClellan could devote all his attention to the capture Richmond, the Confederate capital. Lincoln's order was ambiguous as to whether McClellan might be restored following a successful campaign.
Lincoln, Stanton, and a group of officers, called the War Board, directed the strategic actions of the Union armies that spring. Although McClellan was assuaged by supportive comments from Lincoln, in time he saw the change of command very differently, describing it as a part of an intrigue "to secure the failure of the approaching campaign."
The Peninsula Campaign
McClellan and the Army of the Potomac took part in what became known as the Peninsula Campaign, a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. Lincoln disagreed with McClellan's desire to attack Richmond from the east, and only gave in when the division commanders voted eight to four in favor of McClellan's strategy. The main objective was to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital.
In March 1862, McClellan moved his troops into the Shenandoah Valley, and along with John C. Fremont, Irvin McDowell, and Nathaniel Banks surrounded Thomas Stonewall Jackson and his 17, 000 man army. Jackson won victories in the valley at McDowell, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic before withdrawing to help in the defense of Richmond.
Abraham Lincoln, frustrated by McClellan's lack of success, sent in Major General John Pope, but he was easily beaten back by Jackson. McClellan wrote to Abraham Lincoln, complaining that a lack of resources was making it impossible to defeat the Confederate forces. He also made it clear that he was unwilling to employ tactics that would result in heavy casualties. He claimed that "every poor fellow that is killed or wounded almost haunts me!"
On April 2, 1862, McClellan arrived with 100, 000 men at the southeastern tip of the peninsula. He took Yorktown after a month's siege but let its defenders escape. McClellan encountered the Confederate Army at Williamsburg on May 5. He was initially successful against the equally cautious General Joseph E. Johnston.
On May 31, Johnston's 41, 800 men counterattacked McClellan's slightly larger army at Fair Oaks, only 6 miles from Richmond. Johnston was badly wounded during the Battle of Fair Oaks, and the aggressive General Robert E. Lee replaced him as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. The Union Army lost 5, 031 men, and the Confederate Army 6, 134.
McClellan had been unable to command the army personally because of a recurrence of malarial fever, but his subordinates were able to repel the attacks. Nevertheless, he received criticism from Washington for not counterattacking, which some believed could have opened the city of Richmond to capture. McClellan spent the next three weeks repositioning his troops and waiting for promised reinforcements, losing valuable time as Lee continued to strengthen Richmond's defenses.
McClellan maintained his estrangement from Abraham Lincoln by continuously calling for reinforcements. He also wrote a lengthy letter in which he proposed strategic and political guidance for the war, continuing his opposition to abolition as a tactic. He concluded by implying he should be restored as general in chief, but Lincoln named Major General Henry W. Halleck to that post without even informing McClellan.
A series of engagements known as the Seven Days' Battle took place, lasting from June 25 through July 1, 1862. On the second day, Union General Fitz-John Porter drove back a Confederate attack at Mechanicsville, 5 miles northeast of Richmond. Joined by Thomas Stonewall Jackson, the Confederate troops constantly attacked McClellan.
As Lee continued his offensive, McClellan played a passive role, taking no initiative and waiting for events to unfold. In a telegram to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, reporting on these events, McClellan blamed the Lincoln administration for his reversals. "If I save this army now, I tell you plainly I owe no thanks to you or to any other persons in Washington. You have done your best to sacrifice this army."
On June 27, a Confederate charge led by General John Bell Hood broke through the Union center at Gaines Mill. McClellan ordered the army to fall back toward the James River, where he would have the cover of Union gunboats. On July 2, after sharp rear guard actions at Savage's Station, Frayser's Farm, and Malvern Hill, the last engagement in the Seven Days' Battle, McClellan's troops reached Harrison's Landing and safety.
On July 1, 1862, McClellan and Lincoln met at Harrison's Landing, and McClellan once again insisted that the war should be waged against the Confederate Army and not slavery. Salmon P. Chase (Secretary of the Treasury), Edwin M. Stanton (Secretary of War) and vice president Hannibal Hamlin, who were all strong opponents of slavery, led the campaign to have McClellan sacked, but Lincoln decided to put McClellan in charge of all forces in the Washington area.
After General John Pope's defeat at Second Bull Run in August 1862, President Lincoln reluctantly returned to the man who had mended a broken army before. He realized that McClellan was a strong organizer and a skilled trainer of troops, able to recombine the units of Pope's army with the Army of the Potomac faster than anyone.
On September 2, 1862, Lincoln named McClellan to command "the fortifications of Washington, and all the troops for the defense of the capital." The appointment was controversial in the Cabinet, a majority of whom signed a petition declaring to the president "our deliberate opinion that, at this time, it is not safe to entrust to Major General McClellan the command of any Army of the United States."
The president admitted that it was like "curing the bite with the hair of the dog." But Lincoln told his secretary, John Hay, "We must use what tools we have. There is no man in the Army who can man these fortifications and lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he. If he can't fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight."
The Maryland Campaign
Northern fears of a continued offensive by General Robert E. Lee were realized when he launched his Maryland Campaign on September 4, 1862, hoping to arouse pro-Southern sympathy in the slave state of Maryland. McClellan's pursuit began on September 5. He marched toward Maryland with six of his reorganized corps, about 84, 000 men, leaving two corps behind to defend Washington.
Lee divided his forces into multiple columns, spread apart widely as he moved into Maryland. On September 10, 1862, he sent Stonewall Jackson to capture the Union Army garrison at Harper's Ferry,
and moved the rest of his troops toward Antietam Creek. This was a risky move for a smaller army, but Lee was counting on his knowledge of McClellan's temperament.
However, Little Mac soon received a miraculous stroke of luck. Union soldiers accidentally found a copy of Lee's orders, and delivered them to McClellan's headquarters in Frederick, Maryland, on September 13. Upon realizing the value of this discovery, McClellan threw up his arms and exclaimed, "Now I know what to do!" He waved the order at his old Army friend, Brigadier General John Gibbon, and said, "Here is a paper with which if I cannot whip Bobbie Lee, I will be willing to go home."
He telegraphed President Lincoln:
I have the whole rebel force in front of me, but I am confident, and no time shall be lost. I think Lee has made a gross mistake, and that he will be severely punished for it. I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap if my men are equal to the emergency... Will send you trophies.
Despite this show of bravado, McClellan continued his cautious line. After telegraphing the president at noon on September 13, he ordered his units to set out for the South Mountain passes the following morning. The 18-hour of delay allowed Lee time to react, because he received intelligence from a Confederate sympathizer that McClellan knew of his plans.
The Union army reached Antietam Creek, to the east of Sharpsburg, on the evening of September 15. A planned attack on September 16 was put off because of early morning fog, allowing Lee to prepare his defenses with an army less than half the size of McClellan's.
On the morning of September 17, 1862, McClellan and Major General Ambrose Burnside attacked Lee at the Battle of Antietam. The Union Army had 75, 000 troops against 37, 000 Confederate soldiers. Although outnumbered, Lee committed his entire force, and held out until Ambrose Powell Hill arrived from Harper's Ferry with reinforcements.
Burnside's Bridge at Antietam
McClellan sent in less than three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill. During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. McClellan did not renew the assaults. In spite of crippling casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout the 18th, while removing his wounded. After dark, Lee ordered the battered Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw into the Shenandoah Valley, and crossed the Potomac River, unhindered.
McClellan wired to Washington, "Our victory was complete. The enemy is driven back into Virginia." Yet there was obvious disappointment that McClellan had not crushed Lee, who was fighting with a smaller army with its back to the Potomac River. Lincoln was angry at McClellan because his superior forces had not pursued Lee across the Potomac.
The Beginning of the End
The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest day in American military history. Despite significant advantages in manpower, McClellan had been unable to concentrate his forces effectively, which meant that Lee was able to shift his defenders to parry each of three Union thrusts, launched separately and sequentially against the Confederate left, center, and finally the right.
Historian James M. McPherson has pointed out that the two corps McClellan kept in reserve were in fact larger than Lee's entire force. The reason for McClellan's reluctance was that, as in previous battles, he was convinced he was outnumbered. The battle was tactically inconclusive, although Lee technically was defeated because he withdrew first from the battlefield.
As with the decisive battles in the Seven Days, McClellan's headquarters were too far to the rear to allow him personal control over the battle. He made no use of his cavalry forces for reconnaissance, and didn't share his overall battle plans with his corps commanders. And he was far too willing to accept cautious advice about saving his reserves, such as when a significant breakthrough in the center of the Confederate line could have been exploited.
It was the most costly day of the war with the Union Army having 2, 108 killed, 9, 549 wounded and 753 missing. The Confederate Army had 2, 700 killed, 9, 024 wounded and 2, 000 missing. As a result of being unable to achieve a decisive victory at Antietam, Abraham Lincoln postponed the attempt to capture Richmond.
Lincoln and McClellan After Antietam
Here the gaunt figure of the Great Emancipator confronted General McClellan in his headquarters two weeks after Antietam. Brady's camera has preserved this remarkable occasion, the last time these two men met each other. "We spent some time on the battlefield and conversed fully on the state of affairs. He told me that he was satisfied with all that I had done, that he would stand by me. He parted from me with the utmost cordiality, " said General McClellan.
A few days later came the order from Washington to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him South." However, McClellan refused to move, complaining that he needed fresh horses. Radical Republicans now began to openly question McClellan's loyalty.
Frustrated by McClellan's unwillingness to attack, Abraham Lincoln recalled him to Washington with the words: "My dear McClellan: If you don't want to use the Army I should like to borrow it for a while." On November 7, 1862, Lincoln removed McClellan from all commands and replaced him with Ambrose Burnside.
McClellan wrote to Ellen:
Those in whose judgment I rely tell me that I fought the battle splendidly, and that it was a masterpiece of art... I feel I have done all that can be asked in twice saving the country... I feel some little pride in having, with a beaten & demoralized army, defeated Lee so utterly... Well, one of these days history will, I trust, do me justice.
In October 1863, George B. McClellan openly declared his entrance into the political arena as a Democrat, and was nominated by the Democratic Party to run against Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 US presidential election. Following the example of Winfield Scott, he ran as a U.S. Army general still on active duty; he did not resign his commission until election day, November 8, 1864. In an attempt to obtain unity, Lincoln named a Southern Democrat, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, as his running mate.
During the campaign, McClellan declared the war a failure and urged immediate efforts for a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ultimate convention of the states, or other peaceable means, to the end that peace may be restored on the basis of the federal Union of the States. McClellan made it clear that he disliked slavery because it weakened the country but he opposed forcible abolition as an object of the war or a necessary condition of peace and reunion.
The deep division in the party, the unity of the Republicans, and the military successes by Union forces in the fall of 1864 doomed McClellan's candidacy. Lincoln won the election handily, with 212 Electoral College votes to 21 for McClellan, and a popular vote of 403, 000, or 55%. While McClellan was highly popular among the troops when he was commander, they voted for Lincoln over him by margins of 3-1 or higher. Lincoln's share of the vote in the Army of the Potomac was 70%.
After the 1864 election, McClellan set sail for Europe, and wrote to President Lincoln:
It would have been gratifying to me to have retired from the service with the knowledge that I still retained the approbation of your Excellency — as it is, I thank you for the confidence and kind feeling you once entertained for me, and which I am conscious of having justly forfeited...
In severing my official connection with your Excellency, I pray that God may bless you, and so direct your counsels that you may succeed in restoring to this distracted land the inestimable boon of peace, founded on the preservation of our Union and the mutual respect and sympathy of the now discordant and contending sections of our once happy country.
McClellan spent three years in Europe, returning to the US in 1867 to head the construction of a newly designed warship called the Stevens battery, a floating ironclad battery intended for harbor defense. McClellan, who lived with his family in Manhattan, rented an apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. In 1869, the project ran out of money, McClellan resigned, and the ship was eventually sold for scrap metal.
In 1870, McClellan became chief engineer for the New York City Department of Docks, and built a second home on Orange Mountain, New Jersey. Evidently the position did not demand his full-time attention because, starting in 1872, he also served as the president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad.
After resigning this position in the spring of 1873, McClellan established Geo. B. McClellan & Co., Consulting Engineers & Accountants, and then left for a two-year trip through Europe, from 1873 to 1875. His essays on Europe were published in Scribner's, and his analyses of contemporary military issues in Harper's Monthly and The North American Review.
In 1877, the Democratic Party in New Jersey was divided into several contentious factions, producing a deadlock in the race for the gubernatorial nomination. At the state convention in early September, a delegate surprised many in the assembly by suggesting George McClellan. The response was enthusiastic, and he was nominated on the first ballot.
The general, who was attending dedication ceremonies for a Civil War memorial in Boston, had apparently expected his name to be presented, but had not anticipated receiving the nomination. He accepted the call and, still only 50 years of age, hoped that it would return him to public service. McClellan drew large, adoring crowds as he campaigned across the state, and won in November by almost 13, 000 votes. He served as governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881.
In late 1880, McClellan moved his family to Gramercy Park in Manhattan, two months before the expiration of his gubernatorial term, and commuted to Trenton to attend to the duties of office. Over the next few years, McClellan and his wife spent winters in New York City, Augusts at a resort in New Hampshire's White Mountains or Maine's Mount Desert Island, and the rest of each year in New Jersey.
McClellan's final years were devoted to traveling and writing. He justified his military career in McClellan's Own Story, published posthumously in 1887.
In 1884, George campaigned for Grover Cleveland, the Democratic presidential nominee. In early 1885, McClellan was expected to be named secretary of war in the Cleveland administration, but his candidacy was torpedoed by Senator John McPherson of New Jersey, a member of a Democratic faction that begrudged the general's gubernatorial nomination in 1877.
General George B. McClellan died unexpectedly at age 58 at Orange, New Jersey, after having suffered from chest pains for a few weeks. His final words, at 3 am were, "I feel easy now. Thank you." He is buried at Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, New Jersey.
Ellen Mary Marcy McClellan, although in poor health, outlived George. She died in 1915 in Nice, France, while visiting May at her home.
General George B. McClellan Statue
In front of Philadelphia City Hall
When this sad war is over we will all return to our homes, and feel that we can ask no higher honor than the proud consciousness that we belonged to the Army of the Potomac.
-General George B. McClellan
Abraham Lincoln, in a discussion with journalists about General George McClellan (March, 1863):
I do not, as some do, regard McClellan either as a traitor or an officer without capacity. He sometimes has bad counselors, but he is loyal, and he has some fine military qualities. I adhered to him after nearly all my constitutional advisers lost faith in him. But do you want to know when I gave him up? It was after the Battle of Antietam.
The Blue Ridge was then between our army and Lee's. I directed McClellan peremptorily to move on Richmond. It was eleven days before he crossed his first man over the Potomac; it was eleven days after that before he crossed the last man. Thus he was twenty-two days in passing the river at a much easier and more practicable ford than that where Lee crossed his entire army between dark one night and daylight the next morning. That was the last grain of sand which broke the camel's back. I relieved McClellan at once.
SOURCES
George McClellan
George B. McClellan
Ohio History Central
Peninsular Campaign
National Park Service
Heavy Victorian Father
All Quiet on the Hudson
1864: Lincoln v. McClellan
George Brinton McClellan
Mr. Lincoln and New York
General George B. McClellan
Enter George McClellan – Hero
Wikipedia: George B. McClellan
George B. McClellan (1826-1885)
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