George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon [Paperback]

Stephen W. Sears (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 1999

By age 35, General George B. McClellan (1826–1885), designated the "Young Napoleon," was the commander of all the Northern armies. He forged the Army of the Potomac into a formidable battlefield foe, and fought the longest and largest campaign of the time as well as the single bloodiest battle in the nation's history. Yet, he also wasted two supreme opportunities to bring the Civil War to a decisive conclusion. In 1864 he challenged Abraham Lincoln as the Democratic candidate for the presidency. Neither an indictment nor an apologia, this biography draws entirely on primary sources to create a splendidly incisive portrait of this charismatic, controversial general who, for the first eighteen months of the conflict, held the fate of the union in his unsteady hands.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Controversial commander of the Northern army in the Civil War, Gen. George McClellan saw himself as God's chosen instrument for saving the Union. Self-aggrandizing, with a streak of arrogant stubbornness, he set himself above President Lincoln, whom he privately called "the Gorilla." To "the young Napoleon," as McClellan's troops dubbed him, abolition was an "accursed doctrine." Fond of conspiracy plots, he insisted that the Lincoln administration had traitorously conspired to set him up for military defeat. Although he constantly anticipated one big, decisive battle that would crush the South, he squandered one military opportunity after another, and, if Sears ( Landscape Turned Red ) is correct, he was the worst strategist the Army of the Potomac ever had. Based on primary sourcesletters, dispatch books, diaries, newspapersthis masterly biography is an astonishing portrait of an egotistical crank who could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Sears is editor of McClellan's Selected Letters.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Sears finds serious faults with McClellan's generalship in each of the Civil War campaigns, especially in 1862 in Virginia and at Antietam, Maryland, perhaps the turning point battle of the war. He concludes that the general's personality problems, poor leadership, and failure to realistically evaluate Confederate forces should have precluded him from holding the Union's top commands. Sears's views sharply contrast with Warren Hassler's more favorable evaluations in General George B. McClellan: Shield of the Union (1957; Greenwood, 1974. reprint). Engagingly written and thoroughly researched, Sears's persuasive critique is the best and most complete biography of this controversial general. Joseph G. Dawson III, Texas A&M Univ., College Station
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 510 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (May 7, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306809133
• ISBN-13: 978-0306809132
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #81 in Books > History > Military > Napoleonic Wars

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Puzzling Man., March 20, 2004

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: George B McClellan: The Young Napoleon (Paperback)

George B. McClellan has always been something of an enigma, both during his lifetime and since. Stephen W. Sears who is a well know author to Civil War readers decided to take on the task of doing a biography of this puzzling man in 1988 and he has, as usual, done an outstanding job. Just be aware that this is not a true biography as much as it is a military biography. There is little written record of McClellan's childhood so Sears has little to work with there but most of the General's early life is dealt with in a few chapters. His life after he leaves active duty with the army also gets little attention. Large books are written just about one campaign while Sears gives McClellan's entire presidential campaign less than fifty pages. His life after the election of 1864 gets even less attention and his time as Governor of New Jersey gets only a few pages.

Still, most readers who pick up a book about McClellan are interested mostly in his wartime service and that is exactly what they get here. Sears does an excellent job of describing various engagements without going into so much detail that he looses the reader. He also gives a very good account of how the General became the favorite of his troops. Basically, McClellan took care of his men and looked out for their welfare. So much so that his desire to avoid casualties became one of his downfalls and Sears is quick to point out McClellan's faults, of which there were many. Overall though, Sears seems to be a little hard on his subject and gives him little credit even when it is due. For example, in dealing with how quickly McClellan got his army reorganized and back in fighting form after 2nd Manassas Sears only points out that it was accomplished. In fact, I really can't see any other general on either side putting an army back together after a devastating defeat and having it on the move in such a short time.

On the other hand, as Sears points out McClellan seemed to be absolutely incapable of committing his army to battle. Of course the intelligence he was getting from Allan Pinkerton didn't help as the famous detective always over estimated Confederate strength by at least fifty percent. McClellan took these reports to heart as he did reports from officers who had obviously interviewed Confederate plants who fed them false information. Clearly these problems didn't help but some of the figures of enemy strength were just downright silly and the General should have been able to sense that. Instead he always seems to have taken the worst scenario to heart and he wasted chance after chance to inflict major defeats on the Confederates. McClellan was indeed his own worst enemy. Although John B. Magruder does get some long overdue credit in this book for his theatrical tactics that kept McClellan frozen in place several times on the peninsula. Hopefully someday, someone will do a good biography on Magruder.

Sears also deals with the General's relationship with the Lincoln Administration and he does so in an excellent manner. Both McClellan and Lincoln seem to have been a little over sensitive about each other on occasion but McClellan was much worse than Lincoln. On the other hand the General wasn't just paranoid about Secretary Stanton. Stanton was indeed out to get him, as were radical members of Congress.

The author as stated before is a little hard on McClellan but overall this is an excellent book. Sears has grown as a historian since he wrote this volume but this is still probably the definitive work on Little Mac, and probably always will be. To understand the war in the east one must try to come to grips with McClellan and his personality. This book will go a long way in helping you do just that.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More biography than military history, August 23, 2003

By 

chefdevergue (Spokane, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon (Paperback)

This is a very good examination of George McClellan the man. It is not, strictly speaking, a Civil War history and this should be kept in mind while reading it. Readers will find this book particularly useful keeping it in the larger context of Sears' subsequent works, "Landscape Turned Red" and "To the Gates of Richmond."

What I find particularly interesting is that the more Sears studied his subject, the more he came to dislike McClellan. "Landscape Turned Red" is the first of the three books, and while Sears was fairly harsh in his judgement of McClellan, he still was prepared to give McClellan the benefit of the doubt. By the time he wrote the biography, Sears' respect for McClellan was clearly slipping away; when he came to write "To the Gates of Richmond," his contempt for McClellan knew no bounds.

If you want a good biographical treatment of McClellan, then this book will serve you well. Sears' other books will give you more in-depth analysis of McClellan's military campaigns.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No one Knows McClellan Bettter than Sears, January 30, 2005

By 

Daniel Hurley (Chesapeake, VA.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: George B. Mcclellan: The Young Napoleon (Paperback)

Perhaps no one was a better organizer of an Army during both sides of the Civil War than George McCellan. He took a dispirited army after the defeat of the First Bull Run and equipped it, drilled it and raised its morale to an effective unit. Unfortunately, McClellan could not mobilize into battle or effectively command when in battle. During the Seven days battles, McClellan left his army disorganized at Glendale and hugged a ship in the James letting his army fight for it's life without a commander. McClellan's initial movements outside the gates of Washington were so sloth like that Joseph Johnson's Confederates moved out of their forward positions unchallenged with the aid of their "Quaker Guns" (fake cannons). Sears captures the tremendous ego of McClellan through McClellan's letters, orders and first hand accounts. McClellan, who was so disrespectful to Lincoln personally and among his generals, is given a second chance at Antietam where he had captured Lee's
strategic dispatch only to squander his great opportunity on uncoordinated attacks allowing Lee to defend with limited resources. The popularity among his generals and his troops was a great concern to the Lincoln administration due to McClellan's
references to marching on Washington and his leniancy toward the Confederates. Fed by incompetent spys and paranoia, McClellan imagined that the Confederates had a huge numerical adventage over hhis armies when the reverse was true. Sears has made virtually a career of understanding McClellan and his command. A fascinating book and time, the fear of McClellan's military politics contributed to General John Porter's courtmartial and the oppressive Congressional Conduct on the War Committee. A great book on an extremely capable, egotistical yet limited personality. Sears captures the man and all the conspiracies in the Army of the Potomac. After reading this book, you will understand why Lincoln took a shot at having a Western Commander come east, General Pope, after dealing with McClellan.