The fighting 45field command, McClellan inflated southern
numbers and devised innumerable excuses for
not advancing. In truth, he lacked the mental
or moral courage to risk his great army in a
major contest with the rebels. He always
hedged his bets, refused to take chances,
sought to have every detail perfect before
engaging in battle, and thus cannot be
counted among the war's leading generals.
Lincoln and McClellan engaged in a
struggle of wills throughout the late summer
and autumn of 1861. Under pressure from
Republican politicians and newspaper editors
to capture Richmond, the President pressed
McClellan to no avail. Months slipped by
with no action. McClellan surrounded himself
with officers who shared his conservative
political beliefs, triggering dark rumours in
Washington that he and his subordinates did
not want to smite the enemy.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
suffered through a similarly trying period
with Joseph Johnston. The two men
quarrelled bitterly after Johnston learned in
September 1861 that he would be the fourth-
ranking full general in the Confederacy.
Johnston insisted that he should be the
Thomas Jonathan Jackson in November i 862, in a
photograph his wife considered an excellent likeness.
During a two-month visit to the Confederacy in 1862,
British traveller W. C. Corsan heard stories about the
Presbyterian Jackson that reminded him of 'Cromwell, or
some old Covenanter. The same silent, brooding self
reliance - the same iron will - the same tenacity of
purpose ... all surrounded and tinged by the same
almost fanatical mingling of incessant devotions with
arduous duties.' (Author's collection)Confederacy's senior commander, engaging
in an acrimonious correspondence that
highlighted pettiness on both his and Davis's
parts. During the ensuing months, Johnston,
like McClellan, constantly requested more
men and sniped at his civilian superiors.
A diplomatic crisis erupted as Lincoln and
Davis labored to manage their principal
commanders in Virginia. On 8 November,
Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto
stopped the British vessel Trent and removed
James Mason and John Slidell, a pair of
Confederate diplomats bound for London
and Paris respectively. The northern public
lauded Wilkes's action, but the British
government issued a strongly worded protest
to the United States, demanded an apology
and took steps to strengthen its military
presence in Canada and the North Atlantic.
After several tense weeks, during which
Lincoln sought to find a graceful way to
defuse the issue, the United States freed
Mason and Slidell to travel to their original
destinations. Anglo-American diplomatic
relations had survived an initial stressful test.
The winter of 1861-62 passed without
significant action in Virginia. McClellan
devised a plan to turn Johnston's flank by
moving his army by ship to the
Rappahannock river and taking
Fredericksburg. That would isolate Johnston
in northern Virginia, forcing him to attack
McClellan in order to reach Richmond.
McClellan tarried, however, and a frustrated
Lincoln finally ordered him to commence
his campaign on 22 February 1862 - George
Washington's birthday. When that date came
and went without a movement and the first
days of March slipped by, Lincoln ended
McClellan's stint as General-in-Chief.