What was George McClellans biggest contribution to winning the Civil War?
McClellan was a great organizer and extremely popular with his troops. He took what was essentially a disorganized and demoralized rabble and turned it into a first class fighting unit in the Army of the Potomac. He was a terrible fighting general though, obsessed with his own image and terrified of failure. He routinely over estimated the opposition (happily helped along by Bobby Lee’s misinformation campaigns) and held back to avoid defeat when a more aggressive course might have led to victory. Even the fights he won (like Antietam, or Sharpsburg for you rednecks) weren’t prosecuted effectively or exploited to their potential. Lincoln eventually got tired of his foot dragging and replaced him with more aggressive commanders, notably George Meade and Sam Grant who used the army that McClellan created to more effective purpose.
