On McClelland

In reading Joshua Chamberlain’s great civil war treatise titled “Passing of the Armies…” I took pause at his description of General McClellan, Lincolns choice as Commander of the Army of the Potomac before Grant. “Something in the nature of the man and something in his environment caused his failure. With great organizing power, he failed in practical application. The realities of war seemed to daze him. He lacked dash, resolution; he hesitated to see the golden moment, to profit by his own openings, to press his advantage, to solve doubt by daring.” The Passing of the Armies; an Account of the Final Campaign of the Army of the Potomac, Based upon Personal Reminiscences of the Fifth Army Corps. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Commanding