The Civil War Papers Of George B. Mcclellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Series) [Paperback]

Stephen W. Sears (Author)

Book Description

Series: Quality Paperbacks Series | Publication Date: March 22, 1992

General George B. McClellan, the self-styled American Napoleon, is one of the most controversial figures of the American Civil War. General-in-chief of the entire Union army at one point, he led the Army of the Potomac through the disaster at Antietam Creek, was subsequently dismissed by Lincoln, and then ran against him in the 1864 presidential campaign. This collection of McClellan's candid letters about himself, his motivations, and his intentions reveals much fresh information on the military operations and political machinations he was involved with, and sheds new light on his complex personality. Stephen Sears, a Civil War expert, prize-winning author, and biographer of McClellan, here lets this once-removed and now notorious commander speak of himself, providing us with an important first-hand view of what went on behind the scenes of America's greatest and most awful war.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

These military dispatches and candid personal letters of Union general McClellan reveal gross overestimates of Confederate strength and contempt for President Lincoln.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

McClellan biographer ( George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon , LJ 11/1/88) Sears has collected a treasure-trove for serious Civil War scholars: 813 letters, telegrams, memos, and other documents, over half of which are here published in their entirety for the first time. Of special interest are 192 uncensored letters to his wife, which best reveal the character of this complex man. Nothing of importance concerning his military strategies and tactics or the politics, policies, and issues of the war has been omitted. Sears has edited the collection with consummate economy and skill, and his introductory essays to the book's 11 sections weave the disparate facets of McClellan's wartime experiences together. Essential for any serious Civil War collection.
- Thomas E. Schott, Office of History, Engineering Installation Div., Timber Air Force Base, Okla.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 22, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306804719
• ISBN-13: 978-0306804717
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great companion to Sear's biography of McClellan, April 14, 2004

By 

B. Morris (Raytown, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Civil War Papers Of George B. Mcclellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Series) (Paperback)

Stephen Sears's biography of George McClellan is probably the best ever written about the Civil War general. This collection of his writings during the Civil War, collected by Sears makes a wonderful companion to that biography.

This collection of papers is facinating on so many levels. We read not only his official letters to the likes of Lincoln and Halleck but also his personal letters to his wife. It's in these personel letter that we see glimpses into the man's mind and sadly his paranoia. His letter home, especially during the pennisula campaign show a man suffering from a real psychological problem, made worse by the increasingly stressful situation he's in. As the campaign goes on you see his paranoia slowly begin to increase to the point that he feels he can trust nobody. He becomes a man who in his mind is surrounded by enemies.

One word of warning. This isn't a light read. The collection is a whopping 600+ pages. Sears is holding nothing back here. If you are new to the Civil War and McClellan I strongly suggest first reading Sears's biography of McClellan. His books on the the Pennisula campaign and Antietam I would also recommend reading. They're great books and will help you understand what was going on around McClellan as he wrote all these correspondence.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Writing of then and now, July 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Civil War Papers Of George B. Mcclellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Series) (Paperback)

This may be one of the most exceptional pieces of writing of his time as well as of today. You can't find this anywhere I know except here, so snatch it up as quickly as you came

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look into the mind of "Little Mac", not always a pretty picture, but interesting as heck!!, April 17, 2007

By 

S. A. Kuipers (Groningen, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Civil War Papers Of George B. Mcclellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 (Quality Paperbacks Series) (Paperback)

Stephen W. Sears has edited and annotated this remarkable selection of the wartime papers of Major General George W. McClellan.

As the caption says, this book offers a look into McClellan's mind and the picture that emerges is myriad.
On the one hand this was a man who possessed great charm and charisma and enormous ability as a professional soldier. But his soldierly qualities were those of the desk general, the organizer. He was the perfect man to build an army and to make it ready to fight. He created the Army of the Pototmac, and did so superbly. He should get the credit for that, more than he usually does, for it was an impressive achiement.
On the other hand, McClellan was definitely not the right man to lead the army he made into battle. His record as a general in the field is abysmally bad.

McClellan had it all when he came to washington in september 1861. He was eagerly awaited as the man who would save the Union and lead its armies to triumph over the rebel forces. He had the confidence, the friendship, the trust and goodwill of the Lincoln administration, of Congress, of the army and of the people and he lost it all.

He lost it because of his arrogance and boastfulness, his meanness and vindictiveness, his manias of persecution and paranoia, his fear of failure, his constant and overestimating of his adversary's strength, his overblown self-importance, his penchant for naming generals who were as slow and cautious as himself (Sumner, Heintzelmann, Fitz-John Porter, William Franklin).... It is all there in his own words.
His failure, as this book shows, stems from a lack of moral courage, wariness of his reputation, a paralyzing sense of responsability and a genuine reluctance of exposing his men to the possibility of death and wounds. Again: it is all there in his own words.

He could have ended the war on at least two occasions: he could have hurled his army at Richmond in june 1862, by smashing his mighty army through Johnston's defenses and he could have ended the rebellion by destroying Lee's army at Antietam, if he had used his entire army against the Confederates instead of hesitatingly feeding is piece-meal into the fight, and leaving half of them in reserve.

McClellan came out of the war as he came in to it: with a great reputation, admired and revered by many Americans. His ultimate failure as a general, nor his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency in 1864, did much to change that. He went on to become Governor of New Jersey and in the year of his death, 1885, he was the guest of honour and the main speaker at the anniversary reunion on the battlefield of Antietam.
The old soldiers gathered there, both from the North and from the South, saluted and cheered him. I find this hard to understand. They should have hanged him on the spot. Had I been there, I would have cursed him and pelted him with rotten fruit, at the very least. The former Union soldiers had reason enough to hang him because of his shockingly bad generalship, which resulted in prolonging the war and getting so many of their comrades maimed or killed. McClellan's cautiousness cost the South daerly too: his timid and slow campaigns ruined any chance of ending the rebellion soon, which resulted in the war going on till the South was ruined, gutted and utterly defeated. McClellan's way of war, in the end, necessitated Sherman's way of war.

"McClellan is to me............one of the greates mysteries of the war", U. S. Grant noted in his Personal Memoirs. Grant's remark has become one of the most famous quotes on Major General George Brinton McClellan. On Amazon.com I once came across another perfect phrase about McClellan. A fellow reviewer called him "an egotistical crank who would unfailingly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory". These two remarks sum up McClellan's poor reputation. The mystery endures: how could a man of such ability prove such a failure? Read it for yourself. It is all there, in his own words.