george mcclellan was a soldier soldier, and worked his networks to encourage other soldiers to support him. mcclellan's status also heard him. many soldiers thought it was inappropriate for a general, still with rank and pay to run against a commander in chief that he served. the democrats peace plank alienated many soldiers who saw their only ka pit tu lace the democratic platform expressed sympathy for the soldiers as if they had been duped. soldiers knew the democrats in one state after another had voted to deny them the right to vote in the absentee ballots. they were only temporary soldiers in the case, volunteers with their loyalty still firmly attached to the low caltys and states. what they did not know was weather it would be enough to overcome close home votes in pennsylvania and new york one reason they furloughed thousands of soldiers to go back home to vote. after months of campaigning, building on the years of constantly shifting sands of public opinion, the votes came in. maybe i can show the map i have. this is the election of 1864, i think it's amazing lincoln would wi

if you don't believe in that you have no business supporting anyone other than george mcclellan. in 1864re a republican you will do everything to deflect the emphasis on race. you cannot win the election defined in terms of racial equality. if you're going to win it at all, he must find the issue in terms of the union. they are going to link the democratic party with the south, and the size their support for a cease-fire according to its platform. you have other emphasis. particular republican cartoon that shows the democratic party. we have studied 1832. they should resonate to some degree. the nullification crisis. according to this artist, you have andrew jackson promising the staunch advocate of the union, forcing the south ultimately to submit to federal authority. in 1864 what to they look like? thunderingeral not that the you must be preserved but cowering before the president of the confederacy. this is how far they have declined. it is quivering in its boots against the threat of the confederacy. a couple of more images. .his is a campaign drawing davis, theferson presid

this is george mcclellan, the commander of the army of the potomac early in the war. gary prominent and famous union general. it represented a faction known as war democrats. war democrats or members of --thern credit party that northern democratic party that the report aggressively. they wanted to continue the war to preserve the union but always opposed emancipation. runningng man -- his mate is amending george pendleton. he was a congress and from ohio. he represents a faction of the party called p7 kratz -- peace democrats, or sometimes he recalled copperheads. peace democrats have arrived at the conclusion the war is a failure and continuing the war was a tragic mistake. the democratic party will put these two men together on the same ticket. peacemocrats and democrats. we talked about this before. earlier in the war he state that his position with regard abraham lincoln. although he favored a war to i amrve the union he said not looking for the subjugation of the people, the confiscation of their property, whether forcible abolition of slavery. absolutely repudi

grant was no closer this summer than george mcclellan had been two years earlier. while northern republicans made excuses, northern democrats again searching for an 1864 presidential candidates. in midsummer, president lincoln admitted publicly that he expended -- expected to lose. offensen davis's of-defense of strategy was working. the union army was held back at every corner. if the two southern armies could hold their own until the november elections, northern public opinion would and the civil war and the confederate dream would be accomplished. high water mark of the war. , the timethree months it took for northern military might to effect a complete turnaround. headlinesot the first . a change of commanders in the confederate army in atlanta proved disastrous. soundly defeated in each engagements. grant, put a stranglehold on leave. grant kept widening the length of his lines. 'sis in turn stretched lee smaller defenses. grant'sortantly, strategy took away from the only effective weapon the southern journal had, mobility. as long as lee could maneuver, if he

this is george mcclellan, the commander of the army of the potomac early in the war. a very prominent, very famous and well known union general. mcclellan represented a faction known as war democrats. war democrats were members of northern democratic party that favor the prosecution of war aggressively. they wanted to continue the war to preserve the union but always opposed emancipation. his running mate is a man named george pendleton. you have never heard of him, you never will again. he is a congressman from ohio. he represents a faction of the party called peace democrats. sometimes a nickname was copperheads. they basically arrived at the conclusion the war is a failure and continuing the war was a tragic mistake. the democratic party will put these two men together on the same ticket. mcclellan, even earlier in the war he staked out his position with regard to abraham lincoln. he says i do not favor a war with the subjugation of the people, the confiscation of their property or the forceful interference with slavery. the democratic party is closely enough divid

one of my first columns was on the relationship of abraham lincoln and george b. mcclellan. i'm sure most of you know something about the relationship. it is passed into our culture to such an extent that during the iraq war period, there were over 100 references in american newspapers op-ed columns and so forth to the len con mcclellan relationship, usually to condemn a general that wasn't doing well or extolling a general that was doing well and so on. in my column i told it in american iliad way. what i said in the final paragraph is that mcclellan wasn't all that bad of a general. i just said he doesn't deserve the excoriation that he gets. that one paragraph got any number of letters to the editor sent. and i got two letters myself from aggrieved readers type script single space pages explaining how mcclellan was the worst general in the civil war. not up with of the worst, but the absolute worst. i so i zrnt a hard time explaining why we hate mcclellan that much. now, moving to my topic today, one of the things i was thinking about is this american iliad, does it half

george mcclellan went from a man failing in command of the army of the potomac to a presidential nominee in 1864. he failed at that as well. there was some like burnside and lawrence chamberlain made successful career and then there were those like dance circles and kilpatrick and benjamin franklin butler who were embarrassing in american politics, writing their wartime reputations any highly negatively. but for change political parties i think, no, nathaniel banks who changed parties seven times. is age showed how flexible he was in dealing with politics. then five of these men who were officers become president of the united states, five of them. two of them are assassinated. you and i know a whole lot about kennedy and lincoln but i suspect we know very little about garfield and mckinley. indeed, bill mckinley, william mckinley was probably the most popular president of his day of any later effect in the white house. everybody loves a big bill mckinley. he was a loving father, a wonderful husband. his wife suffered from epilepsy, and at state dinners he had her sitting next to them so