Abraham Lincoln: The Observations of John G. Nicolay and John Hay

8. Lincoln and General George B. McClellan

96  lincoln and general george b. mcclellan !nother striking example of Lincoln’s magnanimity was his treatment of General George B. McClellan, who commanded the Army of the Potomac from August 1861 to November 1862. The Young Napoleon, as he was called, snubbed the president on numerous occasions. To his wife, McClellan described Lincoln as “an idiot,” “the original gorilla,” a “baboon,” and “‘an old stick’—& pretty poor timber at that.” He denounced “the cowardice of the Presdt” and declared that “I can never regard him with feeling other than those of thorough contempt—for his mind, heart & morality.”1 McClellan manifested his contempt for Lincoln in deeds as well as words. Shortly after his elevation to the supreme command of all Union armies in the fall of 1861, the Young Napoleon returned home from a wedding to discover the president, John Hay, and Secretary of State William Henry Seward waiting for him. According to Hay, the general, “without paying any particular attention to the porter who told him the President was waiting to see him, went up stairs, passing the door of the room where the President and Secretary of State were seated. They waited about half-an-hour, and sent once more a servant to tell the General they were there, and the answer came that the General had done to bed.” As they returned to the White House, Hay mentioned “this unparalleled insolence of epaulettes,” but Lincoln “seemed not to have noticed 97 lincoln and general mcclellan it specially, saying it was better at this time not to be making points of etiquette & personal dignity.”2 This snub was not unprecedented. A month earlier, the English journalist William Howard Russell noted in his diary, “Calling on the General [McClellan] the other night at his usual time of return, I was told by the orderly, who was closing the door, ‘The General’s gone to bed tired, and can see no one. He sent the same message to the President, who came inquiring after him ten minutes ago.’”3 Around that same time, Lincoln called at the general’s headquarters, only to be told that “he’s lying down, very much fatigued.”4 On another occasion, McClellan did not deign to interrupt his breakfast when the president called; Lincoln was kept waiting till the general finished eating, much to the surprise of an observer.5 David D. Porter was astounded when a conversation he was having with Little Mac concerning the New Orleans campaign was interrupted by a servant announcing that the president wished to see the general. “Let him wait,” said McClellan. “I am busy.” “Oh,” remarked Porter, “don’t send such a message to the President, he is very much interested in this matter, and it is not respectful to keep him waiting. Remember that he is our Commander-in-chief.” “Well,” said the Young Napoleon, “let the Commander-in-chief wait, he has no business to know what is going on.”6 In 1862, Lincoln once again found the Young Napoleon unwilling to get out of bed to meet with him. According to one of McClellan’s aides, the president called at the general’s house one Sunday morning in September and asked to see him. A short while later, McClellan’s chief of staff, General Randolph Marcy, “came down and with flushed face and confused manner said he was very sorry but McClellan was not yet up. A strange expression came over Lincoln’s face, as he rose and said, ‘Of course he’s very busy now, and no doubt was laboring far into the night.’ He departed hastily.”7 A similar act of rudeness occurred when McClellan failed to keep an appointment with the president, General 98 lincoln and general mcclellan Ormsby M. Mitchel, and Ohio Governor William Dennison. After a long wait, Lincoln said with customary forbearance, “Never mind; I will hold McClellan’s horse if he will only bring us success.”8 William O. Stoddard recalled how mortified he felt when he accompanied Lincoln to the home of McClellan, who kept the president waiting for an unconscionably long time.9 In early 1862, McClellan stood up not only Lincoln but the entire cabinet. As the president told General Ambrose E. Burnside in February , Little Mac “is a good fellow and means well” but he “don’t know so much about etiquette as I do. I asked him to...