General George B. McClellan: Shield of the Union (review)

Book Reviews355 The colorful incidents in this record of the march include such diverse materials as the unauthorized exploits of the "bummers," whose foraging and stealing were not soon forgotten in the South; the process of "corduroying" the marshy roads with logs; the sedate courtship of Yankee General Atkins with a Southern belle; the adventures of the amorous General known as "Little Ku," whose escape from the bed of his mistress was so precipitous that the Confederate surprise attack was known as "Küpatrick's Shirt-Tail Skedaddle"; incidents illustrative of Sherman's humanitarian sentiments interspersed with his defense of pillaging and burning civilian property; and Sherman's endeavors in late April, 1865 to include friendly political considerations in the terms of surrender offered to General Johnston, a proposal which brought forth charges from the North that Sherman was either insane or disloyal. In certain places, the style of this book is awkward or overstrained. One readily admits that such a sensational event as the burning of a city poses a difficult challenge to the recorder, but such passages as the following (p. 81) leave much to be desired: Thereafter, periodic word came from Logan and Woods that the maximum effort was being exerted to curb the blazes. But man in this instance was no match for nature. The high winds were turning Columbia into a raging inferno. Around eleven o'clock, with the entire heavens lurid from the glow of dancing flames, Sherman went out himseU to aid in stemming the conflagration. In spite of stylistic lapses, the chapter on the burning of Columbia is one of the best in this study. The treatments of Sherman's character, particularly the passages dealing with his prewar sympathy for the South and his forthright defense of his müitary strategy, offer helpful supplements to the events which occurred on the march. The complete bibliography and index will contribute to the volume's usefulness. WILLIAM P. FmLER Washington, D.C. General George B. McClellan: Shield ofthe Union. By Warren W. Hassler, Jr. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1957. Pp. xvi, 350. $6.00.) GEORGE ERINTON MCCLELLAN, AS SEEN BY WAHREN HASSLER, Was a high-minded, capable müitary leader who fought hard and weU for the American Union, made few mistakes in the field, and was the victim not of slowness or lack of fight, but of poUtical intrigue in Washington. This is a fairly generous estimate of Little Mac, but Mr. Hassler backs it up by a detaüed, thoroughly researched analysis of his müitary operations. He depicts McClellan before Richmond as the victim of a misguided administration in Washington which progressively weakens the troop strength of the Army of the Potomac, yet even so battling Lee on even terms and dealing out more punishment than his own army absorbs. He shows him as savior of the 356CIVIL W AR HISTORY Union at Antietam, rallying a disorganized Union army after Second Manassas to smash Lee's invasion of Maryland. Like Bruce Carton and James G. RandaU , he sees Antietam as the high tide of the Confederacy, and McClellan's victory there as the act that made it impossible for the Confederacy to win die war. Strategically, Mr. Hassler's McClellan also shines. His Peninsula invasion enabled him to place his army close to Richmond in 1862, with a minimum of casualties, when two years later it would take Grant a fuU summer of costly and bloody fighting to reach exactiy the same spot. His idea of attacking Richmond from the South proved to be the only way to take the Confederate capital, and had Lincoln permitted it, might have won die war many months earher. Mr. Hassler also points out that McClellan battled Lee when the Army of Northern Virginia was at its peak, when Confederate strength was highest, and when Confederate command was at its best. He notes, too, that as both Grant and Swinton have said, McClellan was a victim of the country's newness to war, and he had everything to do at the outset. As Grant himseU declared , if McClellan "had gone into the war as Sherman, Thomas or Meade, had fought his way along...