560 



McCLELLAN, GEORGE B. 



here, and the military strength of the rebellion 

 is crushed. It matters not what partial re- 

 verses we may meet elsewhere ; here is the 

 true defense of Washington; it is here on 

 the banks of the James that the fate of the 

 Union should be decided." On Aug. 10 Hal- 

 leek telegraphed, urging rapidity of movement, 

 saying : " The enemy is crossing the Rapidan 

 in large force. They are fighting Gen. Pope 

 to-day." And on Aug. 12 McClellan replied 

 that, if Washington was then in danger, his 

 army could hardly arrive in time to save it. 

 On Aug. 16 the whole Army of the Potomac 

 was in motion on its return ; and two days 

 Liter McClellan telegraphed to Halleck, "Please 

 sny a kind word to my army that I can repeat 

 to them in general orders," adding : " No one 

 has ever said anything to cheer them but my- 

 self. Say nothing about ue." No attention 

 was paid to the request. 



On Aug. 21 his headquarters were at For- 

 tress Monroe ; Aug. 24 he reported at Acquia 

 creek, and Aug. 27 at Alexandria. He was 

 afterward censured for not pushing forward 

 troops from that place with sufficient prompt- 

 ness to succor Pope, who, during the four suc- 

 ceeding days, was in contact with Jackson and 

 Lee ; but he was there virtually without au- 

 thority or responsibility, all of which Halleck 

 had, and he could only act on the weak and 

 testy dispatches which that officer was in the 

 habit of sending, instead of orders. On the 

 afternoon of Aug. 30 McClellan telegraphed to 

 Halleck, " You now have every man of the 

 Army of the Potomac within my reach." The 

 same night he asked for permission to go to 

 the front as a volunteer, that he might be 

 with his own men. ' k If it is not deemed best," 

 he said, " to intrust me with the command even 

 of my own array, I simply ask to be permitted 

 to share their fate on the battle-field." The 

 request was put aside. The same day the War 

 Department issued an order so defining his 

 command as to leave him control of nothing 

 but his own staff, a hundred men in camp at 

 Alexandria, and a few at Fortress Monroe. 

 He reminded Halleck of this fact, Aug. 31, in 

 answer to some of that officer's directions 

 about handling troops, and he wns then told 

 to take command of all the forces in the vicin- 

 ity of the capital. Halleck added: "I beg of 

 you to assist me in this crisis with your ability 

 and experience. I am entirely tired out." 



On Aug. 28, 29, and 30, and Sept. 1, oc- 

 curred the battles of Gaiusville, Groveton, Ma- 

 nassas, and Chantilly. On the day of the last 

 action, McClellan was put in command of the 

 defenses of Washington, and at the request of 

 the President sent to Fitz-John Porter, under 

 protest, the dispatch asking him to give " the 

 fullest and most cordial co-operation to Gen. 

 Pope," which was afterward used to discredit 

 the loyalty of both sender and receiver. On 

 Sept. 2 the President came to him at his house 

 in Washington and instructed him to go out 

 to meet the retreating army and take command 



of it, committing everything to his hands. Un- 

 der this indefinite verbal order the Army of Vir- 

 ginia was merged in the Array of the Potomac, 

 probably reversing the design with which the 

 latter was withdrawn from James river; and 

 it was without further formal authority that 

 McClellan made his last campaign. 



On the afternoon of Sept. 2 he rode to the 

 front, and was received with enthusiasm by the 

 beaten and weary but undisheartened soldiers. 

 On Sept. 3 the enemy disappeared from the 

 neighborhood of the capital, with the design 

 of crossing the upper Potomac into Maryland ; 

 and the' same day McClellan began his counter- 

 movement, and by Sept. 7, when he left Wash- 

 ington for Rockville, the whole army, with the 

 exception of a heavy force left under command 

 of Banks to guard the capital, was on the march. 

 By that time Lee had crossed the Potomac at 

 Leesburg, and was concentrating at Frederick, 

 Md., threatening Washington and Baltimore, 

 but intending eventually to withdraw through 

 the Blue Ridge into western Maryland, and 

 threaten Pennsylvania while preserving a base 

 in the Shenandoah Valley. He took it for 

 granted that Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry 

 would be evacuated, as a consequence of his 

 movement, and when he found they were not, 

 he issued orders, Sept. 9, sending Jackson 

 back across the Potomac to attack Harper's 

 Ferry from the southern side, and McLaws to 

 attack it from the northern side, while the rest 

 of the army was to concentrate at Boones- 

 boro or Hagerstown. Jackson crossed into 

 Virginia above Martinsburg, the garrison of 

 which fell back to Harper's Ferry. McLaws 

 moved through Pleasant Valley against Mary- 

 land Heights. On Sept. 13, while these gen- 

 erals were getting into position at Harper's 

 Ferry, Lee's order of the 9th came into Mc- 

 Clellan's hands, and he determined to advance 

 rapidly through the mountains at Crampton's 

 Gap and Turner's Gap, relieve Harper's Ferry, 

 cut Lee's army in two, and beat it in detail. 

 The conception was brilliant, and the scheme 

 failed mainly through lack of an able or even 

 stubborn resistance on the part of the gar- 

 rison at Harper's Ferry. McClellan carried 

 Crampton's Gap and Turner's Gap, Sept. 14, 

 by one of the most spirited combats of the war, 

 the battle of South Mountain ; but on the morn- 

 ing of Sept. 15 the garrison at Harper's Ferry 

 surrendered, and Lee moved to Sharpsburg, 

 taking up a line with his left on the bend of 

 the Potomac at Mercersville, and his right on 

 Antietam creek. Jackson made a night march, 

 crossed the Potomac once more, and joined him 

 next day. McLaws crossed to the south of the 

 river at Harper's Fejry and followed Jackson, 

 reaching the main army Sept. 17. That day 

 McClellan attacked Lee and won the^ great 

 battle of Antietam; and on the night of Sept, 

 18 the enemy retreated across the Potomac. 



McClellan was blamed for the loss of Har- 

 per's Ferry, but he had urged the abandonment 

 of that place before he left Washington and 



