Union General John Pope headed the new Army of Virginia and his forces were in trouble in Virginia. General McClellan placed an important question to US President Lincoln. McClellan asked if all available forces should be sent to General Pope or allow Pope to extradite his situation on his own. Lincoln responded that to reinforce Pope was imperative.
Both William Henry Seward, who would be President Lincoln's secretary of state, and General in Chief Winfield Scott sought a moderate and cautious approach to avoid a war with the South.Seward urged General Scott to compose a letter to Lincoln detailing four options available to the new administration. It was completed and given to Lincoln the day before his inauguration. It was Seward who actually handed the letter to Lincoln. Seward also made it clear to his colleagues in and out of the government that he supported the letter of Scott. The options were as follows:
1. Abandon all former political party affiliations and form a new Union Party. Within the new party all measures needed to abort a coming war could be discussed. Scott insisted that unless there would be negotiations, all the slave states would likely secede;
2. Collect all duties from ports it did not control outside of the ports or blockade the ports controlled by the South. This would require an act of Congress;
3. Use an armed conflict by the Union to end the rebellion. Scott estimated that this could take as much as two to three years and require at least 300,000 troops. This action would cause much bloodshed and severely harm the economy of the South. The cost to the Union would be over $250 million dollars and gain nothing but 15 destroyed Southern states. Also, the Union would need to garrison thousands of troops for decades; and
4. Let the states secede. They soon would return on their own.
General George Mcclellan was, by all accounts, an egomaniac. He was bitter over his removal from command by Lincoln. In running for President in 1864 against Lincoln, he sought to "get even" and embarrass Lincoln.
President Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 was a shock to General McClellan. He also was shocked when Lincoln soon after suspended habeas corpus. He was opposed to both of these actions by President Lincoln.
In letters and in telegraph communications with US President Abraham Lincoln, McClellan was very respectful to Lincoln, even though he believed him to be an incompetent president. He used the words of Your Excellency in all communications with Lincoln.
Prodded by President Lincoln, Major General George B. McClellan finally made a move into Virginia. On October 30, 1862, McClellan crossed the Potomac River and moved southwards in the general direction of Gordonsville. There the railroads of the Orange and Alexandria connected with the Virginia Central. McClellan planned to cut Lee's communication lines with Richmond.
As the Union's Peninsula campaign was in its early stages, General McClellan was certain that President Lincoln was hampering McClellan's war operations. Lincoln had stepped in and retained the corps under General McDowell to defend Washington DC. Lincoln believed this was a necessity.
US President Lincoln believed that General George B. McClellan could have easily supported and reinforced Pope's Army of Virginia. Lincoln and members of his cabinet believed that McClellan was trying to purposely allow Pope's troops to face a defeat.
That he failed to pursue Lee after Antietam.
he had refused to lee's retreating army into Virginia
President Lincoln made several battleground visits to speak to his generals after major campaigns. The widespread publicity given to the failed Peninsula campaign gave Lincoln the opportunity to speak directly with General McClellan in Virginia. Lincoln arrived at Harrison's Landing on July 8, 1862. Lincoln, for a president, had traveled a long way to meet with McClellan and urge him to go back on the offensive. McClellan is not responsive to that and gives Lincoln his own ideas on how the war should be conducted from now on. He has plans and they call for having McClellan to regain control of the Union's military operations.
General George Mcclellan was, by all accounts, an egomaniac. He was bitter over his removal from command by Lincoln. In running for President in 1864 against Lincoln, he sought to "get even" and embarrass Lincoln.
President Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 was a shock to General McClellan. He also was shocked when Lincoln soon after suspended habeas corpus. He was opposed to both of these actions by President Lincoln.
On July 8, 1862, President Lincoln arrived at Harrison's Landing to meet with Major General George B. McClellan. Lincoln's purpose was to urge McClellan to renew the offensive against Richmond. However McClellan wanted to do that would be satisfactory, however, Lincoln wanted a firm commitment from McClellan, which was not forthcoming.
Richmond, Virginia
After General McClellan had persuaded President Lincoln to agree to McClellan's Peninsula campaign, he began shipping troops of the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe in April of 1862. By April 3, 1862, President Lincoln was deeply concerned that McClellan had planned on leaving less than 20,000 troops to defend Washington DC as his forces began to occupy Fort Monroe. Lincoln refused to let the Corps led by General McDowell to join the rest of the Army of the Potomac at Fort Monroe. Lincoln ordered McDowell to stay near Washington DC as a defensive measure. This began what would be an ongoing dispute between McClellan and President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton regarding the troop levels McClellan wanted for his campaign to take the Rebel capital of Richmond.
In letters and in telegraph communications with US President Abraham Lincoln, McClellan was very respectful to Lincoln, even though he believed him to be an incompetent president. He used the words of Your Excellency in all communications with Lincoln.
Prodded by President Lincoln, Major General George B. McClellan finally made a move into Virginia. On October 30, 1862, McClellan crossed the Potomac River and moved southwards in the general direction of Gordonsville. There the railroads of the Orange and Alexandria connected with the Virginia Central. McClellan planned to cut Lee's communication lines with Richmond.
On October 13, 1862, President Lincoln sent General McClellan a long letter explaining the plans Lincoln believed were needed to defeat the South. Lincoln was almost sure that an aggressive Union response from McClellan's army would not be forthcoming. With that said, McClellan had every chance to keep his position if he even tried to execute the plans Lincoln sent to him.