Review
McClellan's report is an excellent summary of the events and his plans to save the railroads and secure northwestern Virginia for the Union. The planning and execution of the three-month campaign was his alone without direction or guidance from Washington. As his report shows, it was an unqualified success with negligible loss to either side. --Fritz Haselberger, author of
Yanks From the South: The Battle of Rich MountainThis report is important not only as a military campaign report, but as a brief history of conditions in the western Virginia counties that became West Virginia. McClellan was acutely aware of the advantages to be gained by the North if he could establish a foothold in that area. --Jack Dickinson, author of
Tattered Uniforms and Bright Bayonets: West Virginia's Confederate Soldiers
About the Author
Major-General George Brinton McClellan (1826-1885) organized the Army of the Potomac and served briefly (November 1861 to March 1862) as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. McClellan failed to maintain the trust of President Abraham Lincoln, and proved to be frustratingly insubordinate to the commander-in-chief. After he was relieved of command, McClellan became the unsuccessful Democratic nominee opposing Lincoln in the 1864 presidential election. His party had an anti-war platform, promising to end the war and negotiate with the Confederacy, which McClellan was forced to repudiate, damaging the effectiveness of his campaign. He served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881. He eventually became a writer, defending his actions during the Peninsula Campaign and the Civil War.
