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Q: Was licolns decision to fire McClellan was a good one?
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Was Lincoln decision to fire mcclellan a good one?

Yes. Try reading some of McClellan's letters to Lincoln. They reveal a lot. McClellan was all talk, no action.


Why was mcclellan fired during the civil war?

He was fired after the Battle of Antietam. Lincoln decided McClellan was too slow to attack the enemy and he let General Lee slip away after the big battle. McClellan did prove to be a great organizer of the army and established some good principal on training.


What army won the US Civil War battles in the Peninsula Campaign?

Although both the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia suffered heavy casualties, the Peninsula Campaign is considered to be a victory for the Confederacy. The reason for this idea was because McClellan had failed to achieve his primary objective and had to retreat. George McClellan, commanding general of the federal Army of the Potomac, invaded Virginia with the design of capturing Richmond and ending the war. The able manuevering by Robert E. Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia caused McClellan to withdraw, thus easing the pressure on the Confederacy's capital. McClellan's withdraw caused elation in the South and foreboding throughout the North. It cause of great concern to US President Lincoln and he asked General Halleck to assess McClellan's position as he rested his army before finally retreating back to Fort Monroe. Additionally, Halleck came to the conclusion that McClellan had lost of whatever good military judgment he had. Halleck also lost any credibility he may have had regarding McClellan's ability to access the strength of the Confederate army. The Peninsula campaign was nearly a success as at one point Union forces were only six miles from Richmond.


Why was grant more effective than McClellan?

Grant was very different from McClellan. They were both excellent in different fields, but Grant was more effective...McClellan was an excellent planner and had much experience on the battlefield, the problem was that he wasn't a very good leader. He wasn't good at making decisions in a fast-paced battlefield, and often kept many soldiers to doing nothing at very important points of the war. Although McClellan had kept the Union's morale in tip-top shape, they hadn't been doing to good in the war, especially a huge failed attack to seize Richmond, Virginia. Lincoln did not approve of McClellan, and he was out of the major general position after a brief term (November 1861 to March 1862).Now lets move on to Ulysses S. Grant (18th President of the United States)...As many people know, Grant was the last general Lincoln hired and won the Civil War against Robert E. Lee's stellar South. Unlike McClellan, Grant was an aggressive general and seized key points like Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Mississippi River. Grant was a fast-paced general that was definitely needed for the Civil War. The battle that won it all was when Grant's Union army captured Richmond (the Confederacy capital) in April 1865... the final blow for the Confederate army...So yes, Grant was a very effective general. After a series of different generals, Lincoln had found the perfect one!


How did burnside's tactics differ from mcClellan's?

McClellan was a wimp, and probably a coward, who thought he could delay the war, until the election of 1864, when he would be elected President and let the South win the war and leave from the Union, forming a new country, with slavery intact. Burnside was a brave fighter, unfortunately, he was not a very good general and some of his tactics were terrible, and got people killed. He would charge headlong into battle and his soldiers would be shot down in massive numbers.