Heritage Auction Galleries Image, From The Cary & Cheryl Porter Collection, sold for $25,300 on 05/09/07. Following the Second Battle of Bull Run, McClellan commanded Union forces protecting Washington. He repeated his success with whipping the soldiers into fighting shape and was able to stop the army of General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam. However, McClellan failed to take the initiative and pursue Lee's forces Lincoln was again dismayed and in November 1862 removed the general from his command. [FONT=Verdana, geneva, helvetica]Major General George B. McClellan and his wife, Ellen Mary Marcy. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, geneva, helvetica]Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-B8172-1765 DLC.[/FONT] McClellan waited for another military appointment, but none was forthcoming. Meanwhile, he emerged as a political figure. His sympathies lay with the states’ rights positions of the Democrats, but he was dedicated fully to preserving the Union. In 1864 McClellan received the party's nomination and, early on, appeared to be in excellent position to defeat Lincoln in the Election of 1864. Improving reports from the front, however, enabled Lincoln to win handily in the fall. McClellan resigned from the army and took his family on an extended tour of Europe. McClellan returned to the United States in 1868 and was later appointed chief engineer of the New York Department of Docks. In 1872 he was named the president of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad. Remaining active in politics, McClellan was elected governor of New Jersey in 1877. His final years were devoted to traveling and writing. He justified his military career in McClellan’s Own Story (1877). "Proposed Monument to General George B. McClellan" Designed by Frederick MacMonnies, 1907 Ink, pencil, and wash on paper 39" x 25 1/2" National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Public Buildings Service. In 1902 sculptor Frederick MacMonnies beat 27 other artists to win the competition to design a monument to Union Civil War General George B. McClellan. MacMonnies's design included an impressive pedestal with bronze eagles and a coat of arms that listed McClellan's victories as commander of the Army of the Potomac, as well as cannon, flags, and other weaponry. After being exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1906, the 9-foot-tall bronze sculpture was installed the next year and still stands at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Columbia Road NW, in Washington, DC. (Information posted here gleaned from www.u-s-history.com)
That's interesting, but I must say that the battle of Antietam was only a Union success if you consider that the confederates broke rank first. The Union lost more men in that battle, which is not tactically sound. Additionally, if the President of the United States tells you to chase an army in retreat because there is a good chance you can catch and destroy a large section of the main force and you instead sit on your butt in place and say it is not my forte, you deserve to be removed from command.
I suppose that George McClellan was not the best general of Civil War. Robert Edward Lee was the best, I think. I agree that McClellan was a good military administrator: he made a 100000-soldiers army. But he was too slow. And his good military devices turn out is not good in real life. I can tell about his devices of military companies: "Plan was very good on the paper, but author forgot about the ravines" (it"s old kind russian proverb).
History has not been kind to McClellan, which is almost necessary because of the glorification of Lincoln (most of it deserved, IMHO). Someone had to be blamed for the inability of the Union to secure an early and easy victory and McClellan has always been the main target. The coin posted in the OP is almost staggering in its beauty. Wish it were mine!
That's a spectacular coin, and a superb example of "tab toning" on the reverse. Considering that he knew from captured orders that Lee had divided his Army into 3 parts, and that he had superior numbers, arms, and well-fed troops, his failure to secure a victory at Antietam, when Lee had the Potomac at his back, was a huge, war-prolonging mistake. Anyway, that's history.
