The council of the slew of generals President Abraham Lincoln had to tread through, was not unlike dangerous waters which were constantly shifting amid the complexity of the Civil War. The events surrounding the Civil War era, the Lincoln presidency with its turmoil of revolving generals, and the hotly debated issue of slavery form the most contested episode in United States’ annals of history. Among the short string of military generals under the auspices of Abraham Lincoln include George B. McClellan, Joseph Hooker, Ulysses S. Grant, and George G. Meade. Whether or not people agree with Abraham Lincoln’s political and military policy decisions, it is no secret that he was a great orator particularly given the factor of his self-education. The intense time of conflict, the Southern whites wishing to preserve their easy economic status born on the back of free slave labor, and the hope of expanding the federal lands westward without slavery, proved a difficult compromise. Abraham Lincoln never blindly agreed with everything of each of his generals’ ideology. This essay shall focus on the two generals George McClellan and George Meade, for the purpose of exploring on the aspects of each of their purpose, issues, assumptions, and perspectives in light of certain concepts. Wherein possible, primary sources of evidence will be introduced into the discussion as appropriate.
In terms of the timeline, the Union Generals most memorably begins with Winfield Scott and George McClellan in 1861. According to Timetoast, the Union general lineup was followed by George Meade commanding the Potomac Army in 1863 and Ulysses S. Grant running a victory over the Confederates at Vicksburg’s Mississippi River in 1864 (“Union Generals Civil War,” 2016). Although General McClellan represents a popular reference among the Civil War Union Generals, we begin the discussion with General Meade’s influence. Known as one of the most important military commanders on the Union side during the Civil War under President Abraham Lincoln, Meade held the purpose of defeating Robert E. Lee from the Northern Virginia situation at Gettysburg (“George G. Meade 1815-1872”). Background information on the circumstance of General Meade is required.
Background: General Meade in the Civil War
Initially, several years earlier Winfield Scott had garnered a reputation for himself during a foiled attempt by America to invade Canada in 1812. According to Arnold (2012) Winfield successfully used French infantry tactics to lead in Mexican War service resulting in “the occupation of Mexico City” earning him a gold star in the minds, and “enormous acclaim” of future American military exploits (p. 1184). However, by 1861 when Scott was to start the war under Abraham Lincoln he was quite an ailing old man of 74-years, with myriad health problems. Meanwhile, several years earlier in 1815 George Meade was born in Madrid, Spain to his father a native Pennsylvanian who had built his vast fortune as a naval merchant agent (Stowe, 2015, p. 365). George Meade’s father Richard was imprisoned a couple of times, due to sticky political situations. As a result, his mother moved them back to the original family home in Philadelphia.
Following Meade’s military elitist education at WestPoint he held assignments in Texas, and eventually operated as an officer at the Battle at Glendale in 1862. Stowe (2015) notes Meade’s observers witnessing him as cool, confident, and tenacious in the throes of battle in the middle of the “tough business” of war marking him as a respected professional by the time of the Civil War (p. 381). Meade was very badly wounded in the skirmish. Nevertheless, as history has shown, if George Meade had explicitly obeyed commands in the Civil War, General Lee’s army would have been destroyed prior to re-crossing the Potomac. Despite Meade’s reputation for stoic bravery, and caution, Meade’s function as a brigadier General reflected admirable performance in his major victory at Gettysburg, but “he was widely criticized for allowing Lee’s weakened force to escape into Virginia” (“History George G. Meade,” 2016). In fact, as a primary source indicates evidence and assumptions of this point of view, the data is clearly reflected in a letter written by President Abraham Lincoln himself.
This fascinating primary source can be viewed in Lincoln’s own handwriting, as he expressed his disappointment in the bloody outcome occurring in the Battle at Gettysburg although it set the Confederate forces back, quite a bit. Famously, Lincoln never actually sent the letter, but parts of it read: “I have just seen your dispatch to Gen. HalleckI am very—very—grateful to you for the magnificent success you gave [at Gettysburg]You fought and beat the enemy at Gettysburg; and of course, to say the least, his loss was as great as yours” (“Abraham Lincoln Papers,” 2016). The letter continued to say that Lincoln felt Meade failed to pursue Lee’s army, that they were rather ‘detained’ by the constraint of a river flood – and that basically, Meade had allowed the flooding to run its course instead of using the strength of his 20,000 troops to stop Lee’s escape, thus missing a ‘golden opportunity.’ Lincoln felt Meade did not appreciate the magnitude of the situation, which is why he was less than pleased with General Meade. Furthermore, a probable reason why Lincoln did not mail the letter was due to his sensitivity to the complex nature of the whole Civil War affair. He may have felt that he might have done the same thing, or performed in similar fashion, if he had been in Meade’s shoes.
Also, it is important to understand that since Meade had relieved General Joseph Hooker, there were still men in the ranks of the Calvary who held strong loyalties to Hooker. According to one historian, Meade went to Commanding Officer Daniel Butterfield, to garner loyal support as a continuum from Hooker’s authority to operate as his Chief of Staff (“1864 Congressional Hearings,” 2014). The historical lecturer presented by GettysburgNPS emphasizes that going through the correspondences, in time-sequential order, helps to reveal and illustrate many of the Calvary leaders’ animosity against Meade had had because their loyalties were still rooted to Hooker. Another reason some Union military resented Meade was he had been ordered to take command in 1863, even though he was deemed a somewhat junior General in status. As an observation, just looking at General Meade’s photograph in uniform, seems to tell the story of a very tired soul – both mentally, and physically. One of the most tragic realities of the Civil War surfaced as the massive casualties occurring at Gettysburg Battle, leaving “50,000 dead, wounded, or missing behind,” and “burial teams were sent in to quickly cover the 8,000 bodies left on the battlefield until an interstate committee could be created” to properly arrange for a “military cemetery” (“Abraham Lincoln Papers,” 2016). To this day, common knowledge has demonstrated many to have experienced many instances of haunting in this geo-physical location. {Photo courtesy of Timetoast}.
Background: General McClellan in the Civil War
As a strange introductory Segway into General McClellan’s involvement in the Civil War era under the auspices of then-President Abraham Lincoln, his photograph in uniform has an uncanny resemblance to the actor Johnny Depp – which is truly weird, if not creepy. In any case, preparation for his military career began in the United States Military Academy (“George B. McClellan,” 2016). McClellan is most often associated with the Army at the Potomac, being of short stature, and with an attitude of Napoleon, thus marking him as being dubbed the so-called ‘Young Napoleon,’ or Little Mac (“George B. McClellan,” 2016). While Meade’s more notable involvement was towards the latter part of the Civil War, McClellan’s purpose was to serve in earlier campaigns at its beginner, whose main job was to prevent the secession of Kentucky from the Union according to the same aforementioned source. {Photo courtesy of Timetoast}.
Part of the personality and mission conflict between General McClellan and Abraham Lincoln most likely had to do with a vast difference in political opinion. According to sources at History, General McClellan was very much pro-slavery. As evidentiary proof of this, the primary source of a letter to President Lincoln seems to posit a position urging him to be kinder-and-gentler to the Southerners in terms of reimbursing them for any confiscated properties, banning military arrests as “not to be tolerated,” and that “territorial organization of states or forcible abolition of slavery” should not be “contemplated for a moment” (“General McClellan to President Lincoln,” 2016). The letter also continues to suggest to President Lincoln that military tactics and actions should not “interfere with” servitude relations – in other words, he felt slavery should remain intact, which went counter-productive to Mr. Lincoln’s difficult task of forging a national future for a unified country. Nevertheless, from the letter, one can easily surmise that McClellan fully recognized his position was not one to make judgments about national policy.
One source claims that McClellan was better at organization skills, rather than brute wartime fighting. Also, to demonstrate just how irritating the rift was between himself and President Lincoln, McClellan famously once kept the President waiting for hours and then refused to see him. Not following Lincoln’s advice and taking Richmond in a timely fashion, resulted in a retreat that “made Lincoln so mad that he suspended McClellan from command of all the armies, leaving him only the Army of the Potomac” (“Biography – George B. McClellan,” 2016). Essentially, any military defeats that McClellan had suffered he blamed on President Lincoln, the War Department, or the Secretary of Defense and when he failed to deal a quicker blow to the Confederates at the Battle of Antietam really angered Lincoln. This entire personality and military-policy conflict can be clearly demonstrated by McClellan’s further criticisms in his own words, towards his superiors. For example, noted from an article in America’s Civil War, McClellan refers to Abraham Lincoln as “the President is an idiot,” and “I am weary of all this. I have no ambition in the present affairs,” and further expresses that all their tactics are “Impossible! Impossible!” because they “sit on the verge of a precipice and cannot realize what they see” (“The President is an idiot,” p. 19). Nevertheless, despite Lincoln’s great patience with McClellan’s animosity and unwillingness to cooperate or even strike an amiable compromise to work with the President, Abe had words of his own in a letter to McClellan.
The letter was sent October 27, 1862. However, in general, it appears that McClellan had a stubborn personality taking everything personally, and allowed his political stance to prompt aggressive opposition to Lincoln’s efforts in trying to find a reasonable outcome to the situation of Civil War – which in itself was a tragedy. In a telegraph responding to complaints by McClellan needing more supplies and such, Lincoln answered by saying, also in October of that year, “I have just received your dispatch about sore tongued and fatigued horses. Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?” (“Abraham Lincoln and George B. McClellan,” 2016). Obviously, it was becoming increasingly apparent that Lincoln’s patience with the man had been wearing thin. Being an extraordinarily well-spoken statesman and attorney, Lincoln’s point should have been made plain.
In conclusion, however, Abraham Lincoln along with any and all of the generals involved in the Civil War struggle, had very difficult decisions to make. It can never be a simple or easy matter to fight against one’s own countrymen, and even watch relatives die while stuck in the middle of decisions aflame with skin-color prejudice, and hateful bigotry against a people who essentially contributed so much to the nation – and yet, were so disregarded and kept from full participation as citizens over the centuries. The Civil War is a grim reminder how history can portray lessons to be learned. Battle and war victories on Union and/or Confederate sides resulted in losses and grief of both in early national times. For further information, the 1864 Congressional Hearings lecture sheds more light on a very complex season in American history.
References
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Stowe, C.S. (2015). George Gordon Meade and the Boundaries of Nineteenth-Century Military Masculinity. Civil War History, 61(4), 362-399.
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