Booknotes: General George B. McClellan

New Arrival:

• General George B. McClellan: A Study in Controversy by Maurice G. Daoust (Savas Beatie, 2026).

Like many other controversial Civil War generals, George B. McClellan has passionate defenders, but the detractors are still far more numerous. One of the respected scholars who has most persuasively infiltrated aspects of an emerging middle ground is Ethan Rafuse. In more recent times, the most successful revisionism has been applied to issues related to the general's management of the 1862 Maryland Campaign, but that is also where the bulk of the work has been concentrated.

Maurice Daoust's General George B. McClellan: A Study in Controversy revisits the general's entire Civil War resume. From the description: "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."

In reassessing McClellan's actions in the field, chapters address conflicting accounts of the Union victory at Rich Mountain, the general's organizational skills, his much-maligned interpretation of military intelligence, and his planning and conduct of the Peninsula Campaign. Others reexamine blame apportionment for the disastrous outcome at Second Manassas, the Lost Order and the Maryland Campaign, and the circumstances surrounding McClellan's post-Antietam removal from command.

Readers will have to decide for themselves whether this study succeeds in granting McClellan "the balanced appraisal history has long denied him," and I'll be interested to see how it goes about its business.