In the Civil War there where many Generals that lead on both sides. None of them had as much controversy surrounding them than General George B. McClellan. He was in command of the army of the Potomac and his only mission was to capture Richmond. McClellan took the army over from the old General, General McDowell. McClellan quickly transformed the group of poorly trained men into a group of well trained troops. HE was a very popular ;eader amongst the troops but his popularity would soon fall. The set of orders he was given where very good. They stated that he and his 125,000 troops would be dropped off at the peninsula in Virginia by boat. They then where supposed to immediately start their march towards Richmond and fight their way there. …show more content…
General McClellan doesn’t follow many of these but the first one is the fourth principle. This states that “Use speed and preparation to swiftly overcome the competition.” General McClellan did a horrible job following this principle. On April 4th 1862 the Union march was halted by a 13,000 troop force led by General Magruder. McClellan out numbered his force by almost 100,000 men but Magruder made his force seem so much bigger. However, McClellan still should have been able to run right through this force even if it was as big as he though. This made him pause his entire campaign. The point of this campaign was for him to use his massive force and swiftly move through the confederate defenses and take Richmond. Not only did he not move swiftly but General McClellan kept asking for more forces. When President Lincoln kept General Irwin McDowell from helping McClellan he halted his troops. Although eh had a massive force to command he felt like he needed more. He could never have enough troops even though it was one of the largest forces in the civil war. Sun Tzu clearly states that you should attack swiftly and prepare well. While McClellan prepared his troops extremely well and had them organized perfectly his ability to attack and to attack swiftly was flawed. He hesitated and that was crucial in his defeat at the hands of the …show more content…
While McClellan does follow a few of these rules the majority of them he ignores. His hesitation to advance and march towards Richmond allowed the Confederates to get more troops down to the Peninsula and prepare for them. Sun Tzu states that speed helps you overcome a lack of recourses and gives you the element of shock. McClellan had the resources and the surprise until he paused and ruined his surprise element. Secondly, when his troops did fight they embodied him, a scared and hesitant person. His troops did not perform how they should have because they embodied him and he is not a good leader. These two relate because his poor leadership and little courage seen when he stays far away from battles this causes him to wait because he is afraid of losing but in reality his pause caused him to lose the battle. The one that effected this campaign the most is McClellan pausing. It costed hundreds of thousands of lives in that campaign and in the whole battle. He had the ability to end the war by taking Richmond. Lincoln made a mistake by putting him in charge of this campaign. It was the most important campaign of the war and a struggling weak leader was out in charge of