George B. McClellan (1)

Little Mac was a very good trainer of troops, and his men loved him. I think he created one of the best peace-time armies ever. It was the Army of the Potomac. But it wasn't the army that the USA needed in 1862.
His army defended itself very well in the Peninsula but failed to launch a good offensive at Antietam. Thus Mac and Hooker remain the two biggest disappointments in the War in the East.
This collection of letters is a considerable addition to the scholarship on the Civil War, but the imputation has been made that Sears had already passed his opinion on MacClellan in his book, "The Landscape turned Red." Worth reading, but there's always that suspicion the selection might be a bit skewed to reinforce Sears' other works.… (plus d'informations)