General George B. McClellan

A Study in Controversy

Maurice G. Daoust

• Publisher: Savas Publishing
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781954547827
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

Hesitant commander or misunderstood strategist? History remembers Major General George B. McClellan as the man who had “the slows”—a timid leader who forged the renowned Army of the Potomac only to fail it in the field. In General George B. McClellan: A Study in Controversy, this complex, often-maligned Union general finally receives the balanced appraisal history has long denied him.

Drawing on a deep range of primary sources—letters, reports, diaries, and unpublished archival material—author Maurice G. Daoust presents a meticulous and objective re-evaluation of one of the American Civil War’s most polarizing figures.

Was McClellan an obstinate and vain general, or a disciplined soldier facing difficult political and logistical challenges? Nowhere is this question more crucial than at Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history, where McClellan’s actions arguably preserved the Union cause at a moment of supreme peril. That strategic Union victory gave President Abraham Lincoln what he needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and set the course of the war thereafter.

This study scrutinizes the critical moments that defined McClellan’s career, from his initial success at Rich Mountain to his final dismissal in November 1862. Daoust’s research challenges several long-held assumptions and paints a vivid portrait of a man whose intellect, discipline, and conviction shaped the war’s early years.

Combining military analysis with rich biographical detail, Daoust offers a provocative new perspective on the man and the myths. General George B. McClellan: A Study in Controversy is essential reading for any serious student of the American Civil War.

Table of contents

• Cover
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• LIST OF MAPS
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter One - The Veritable True History Behind the Battle of Rich Mountain
• Chapter Two - Forging an Army
• Chapter Three - One Plus One Equals 200,000
• Chapter Four - The Sordid Ball’s Bluff Affair
• Chapter Five - The Peninsula Campaign: The Best Laid Plans
• Chapter Six - The Peninsula Campaign: From the Siege of Yorktown to Williamsburg
• Chapter Seven - The Peninsula Campaign: To the Gates of Richmond
• Chapter Eight - The Seven Days: Opening Battles
• Chapter Nine - The Seven Days: From the Chickahominy to Glendale
• Chapter Ten - The Seven Days: The Turkey Bridge Engagement
• Chapter Eleven - The Seven Days: From Malvern Hill to Harrison’s Landing
• Chapter Twelve - Interlude at Harrison’s Landing
• Chapter Thirteen - The Race Is On
• Chapter Fourteen - McClellan and Second Bull Run
• Chapter Fifteen - The Maryland Campaign: Opening Movements
• Chapter Sixteen - McClellan and the Finding of the Lost Order
• Chapter Seventeen - The Battle of South Mountain
• Chapter Eighteen - To Antietam Creek
• Chapter Nineteen - Controversy at Rohrbach Bridge
• Chapter Twenty - The Battle of Antietam: A Perspective
• Chapter Twenty one - “Fatal Thursday”
• Chapter Twenty Two - The Writing on the Wall
• Epilogue
• Appendix 1 - Ratio of Union Versus Confederate Forces During McClellan’s and Grant’s Campaigns Against Richmond
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author