George B. McClellan

<p><span class="deck"> Suspected but not convicted, this General went to prison</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"> Upon the clash of arms near a little Maryland creek hung the slave’s freedom and the survival of the Union</span> </p>

<p><span class="deck"> AN AMERICAN HERITAGE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT<br />
Edited and with an introduction </span></p>

<p><span class="deck">The Civil War ignited the basic conflict between a free press and the need for military security. By war’s end, the hard-won compromises between soldiers and journalists may not have provided all the answers, but they had raised all the modern questions.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">In the republic’s direst hour, he took command. In the black days after Bull Run, he won West Virginia for the Union. He raised a magnificent army and led it forth to meet his “cautious &amp; weak” opponent, Robert E. Lee. Why hasn’t history been kinder to George B. McClellan?</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">The bloodiest day’s fighting in our nation’s history took place on ground that has hardly changed since 1862. Antietam today offers a unique chance to grasp what a great Civil War battle was actually like.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck">He told President Lincoln that he was better than any other officer on the field at Bull Run, and he got the Army’s top job. He built a beaten force into a proud one, and stole a march on Robert E. Lee with it. He was 24 hours away from winning the Civil War. Then, he fell apart.</span></p>

<p><span class="deck"> A southern writer analyzes the handicaps unwittingly laid on the general by President Davis</span> </p>

<p><span class="body"><span class="body">Lincoln painstakingly evolved a plan for harmonious reconstruction of the Union, which Radical Republicans moved to sabotage</span></span></p>

<p>Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war.</p>

<p>A largely accidental battle, pitting Robert E. Lee against George B. McClellan, became the single deadliest day in America's history and changed the course of the Civil War.</p>

<p>In September 1862, the South hoped to end the war by invading Maryland just before the mid-term elections. But its hopes were dashed after the bloodiest day in American history.</p>