Major General George B. McClellan was the second ranking officer in the Army after the retiring general-in-chief Winfield Scott and was duly appointed as his successor. Scott had requested retirement the day before for health reasons after fifty-three years of service, twenty of them in the Army's highest post. McClellan was charged with the training, planning, and offensive operations of the Union Army but met with only limited success. President Lincoln replaced him after a single year in November 1862. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc. (New York: G.P.Putnam, 1861), III: 268.
Record Data
Date Certainty
Exact
Type
Battles/Soldiers
