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Chapter Two: Into the Fray—Antietam, Sharpsburg Area, September–October 1862
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17 Chapter T wo Into the Fray Antietam, Sharpsburg Area, September—October 1862 The Army of the Potomac The President informed me . . . that there were thirty thousand stragglers on the roads; that the army was entirely defeated and falling back to Washington in confusion. He then said that he regarded Washington as lost, and asked me if I would, under the circumstances, consent to accept command of all the forces. —General George McClellan, September 2, 1862 The opening days of September 1862 were times of rampant uncertainty in the Northern states and bickering in the high command of the Union army. The Army of the Potomac was removed from George McClellan’s command in late August by general in chief Henry Halleck because of McClellan’s lack of cooperation—some said insubordination—in not supporting General John Pope at the second battle of Bull Run. The president found McClellan’s behavior “unpardonable.” Yet, within forty-eight hours, McClellan was back in command of the Army of the Potomac with orders to defend Washington. The threat of Robert E. Lee, accompanied by the much-feared and nearly mythical Stonewall Jackson , invading the capital was sufficient reason to overlook McClellan’s past transgressions. General Halleck had doubts about McClellan, but President 18 Your Brother in Arms Lincoln saw McClellan as a glass half-full.“There is no man in the Army who can lick these troops of ours into shape half as well as he,” Lincoln reasoned. “If he can’t fight himself, he excels in making others ready to fight.”1 “Little Mac” was back. By September 3, it was clear to the freshly reinstated McClellan, based on reports from reliable sources in the field, that Confederate forces were on the move with the intention of invading Maryland and perhaps continuing on into Pennsylvania. McClellan ordered three of his corps to the Maryland side of the Potomac River. He sent each of them on a separate route in order to maintain flexibility to thwart Lee’s advancement and used the rationale—at least for the record—that the troop movements were being made in defense of Washington . McClellan stretched his narrow mandate of defending Washington much to General Halleck’s displeasure. In Halleck’s mind McClellan’s command was defensive in objective; he was not to take any offensive steps with the troops under his command. Halleck and McClellan also had widely different opinions on the Federal troops stationed at Harper’s Ferry. Halleck saw the old arsenal town as critical and wanted it held. McClellan made the case both to Halleck and Secretary of State William H. Steward that Harper’s Ferry should be abandoned and the troops assigned to more effective use elsewhere. General in chief Halleck prevailed , and Union troops remained in Harper’s Ferry (until Stonewall Jackson captured the garrison and turned all twelve thousand of its defenders into prisoners of war.) . . . I leave in a couple of hours to take command of the army in the field. I shall go to Rockville tonight & start out after the rebels tomorrow . . . I think we shall win for the men are now in good spirits—confident in their General & all united in sentiment . . . if I defeat the rebels I shall be master of the situation. —George B. McClellan, to his wife, Mary Ellen, September 7, 1862 By September 7, the three corps on the Maryland side of the Potomac had been joined by two additional corps and two divisions. Meanwhile, no decision had been made as to who would command the“active army.”McClellan’s orders remained:“command of the fortifications of Washington and of all the troops for the defense of the Capital.” Ambitious generals abhor a vacuum, and one of the Civil War’s most ambitious generals, George B. McClellan, stepped into the command vacuum with the Army of the Potomac. McClellan reasoned that the time to move that army was at hand.“As the time had now arrived for the army to advance, and I had received no orders to [54.227.136.157] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 06:22 GMT) Antietam, Sharpsburg Area, September-October 1862 19 take command of it, but had been told that the assignment of a commander had not been decided, I determined to solve the question for myself. . . .”2 To his wife, Mary Ellen, he wrote from his camp in Rockville, Maryland, fifteen miles outside Washington, “I expect to fight a great battle and to do my best at it.”3...