Tuesday, March 22, 2016

George McClellan lost many chances to destroy the Southern army. If you had been Abraham Lincoln, how would you have reacted?

Abraham Lincoln was very frustrated with General George McClellan. General McClellan had many opportunities to defeat the Confederate army. However, he was very cautious and often didn’t advance his troops. This made President Lincoln unhappy.


President Lincoln urged General McClellan to move his troops several times. He even told General McClellan that if McClellan wasn’t going to use his army, then President Lincoln wanted to borrow it. At the Battle of Antietam, General Lee tried unsuccessfully to invade the North. He was forced to retreat to Virginia. When General McClellan failed to pursue General Lee and possibly secure a decisive victory, President Lincoln replaced General McClellan.


While there are many opinions regarding how President Lincoln could have handled this situation, I think President Lincoln made the right choice and acted properly. He gave General McClellan many opportunities by urging General McClellan to take action. When it became clear after several missed opportunities that General McClellan would continue to be slow to act or might not act at all, it was proper for President Lincoln to replace him. I would have followed the same course of action that President Lincoln followed in regards to dealing with the lack of activity of General McClellan.

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