now, mcclellan -- you mention george b. mcclellan to almost any student of the american civil war, and the response is as predictable as the sunrise. they know mcclellan is a foil to lincoln, who might be able to organize an army but would not or could not fight an army. as lincoln once said, mcclellan has the slows and has to be removed. to call mcclellan a controversial commander in the 21st century is in several respects, i think, misleading because students of the war have largely made up their mind about george b. mcclellan and not in the general's favor. and they are unlikely to be interested in rethinking their position, hence the title, "mission impossible." when historian mark grimsley recently published a brief piece exploring the origins of mcclellan as a feckless commander and suggested revisions, the response was both immediate and predictable. in the next issue of the publication, "civil war monitor," the letters appeared. dismissive, utterly dismissive of grimsley's efforts and unwilling to consider any other

burns his treatment of mcclellan simply filed in the steps of -- william and mick fearsome. so why is george be mcclellan so despised by almost all of those who hold an opinion on the manta day? in a conference last year, ethan, -- and i told ethan i want to steal this line because i thought it was so good. ethan remarked, and i think only partly in jest that mcclellan was like the guy in high school that we all knew, who was captain of the football team, dated the head cheerleader, who seemed effortlessly successful at everything, and we hated his guts. if >> indeed it seems that george b mcclellan let a very charmed life. he was a man eager to make his mark in his role. in some ways exuded confidence, though at times in a very conscious way. even as a young man, he was wary of what he turned political fools and demagogues. he viewed his own class, that is the class of 1846 of the united states military academy at west point, as a key to national success. not only in a civil war, but eventually, but more broadly. in fact, in an address to his fellow cadets, when he was still a west point, m

earlier in the war, lincoln thought he had found his general, general george mcclellan, a young, very intelligent individual, graduated west point, second in his class in 1846. licking thought mcclellan could bring an end to the war. it turns out there were problems along the way. after the battle of antietam in september of 1862, abraham lincoln is begging general mcclellan to move the army and to pursue the rebels. pursue robert e. lee and maybe bring an end to this horrible war, and time and time again, general mcclellan would have a series of excuses for the president of the united states on why he could not lead his soldiers to deliver a knockout blow to the confederate forces. in this letter, written october 27, 1862, i think you get a sense of mr. lincoln -- he is losing his patience with his general. he writes, "general mcclellan, if i have done any, i deeply regret it, but to be told after more than four weeks total inaction of the army, during which period we have sent to that army every fresh horse we possibly could, amounting in the whole, too, that the calvary horses were

mcclellan project. at such a stupid name. there are so shortsighted. georgeway alone is so wildly disgusting and inappropriate. the way he airs his family's dirty laundry. all these people think, now i need to go away, they may need to go to federal prison! >> on that point to the naming of the project, i saw a pretty funny meme that was telling us that abraham lincoln was distancing himself from the project. [laughter] >> take my word for it. >> i think it was the babylon bee. [laughter] >> take a quick listen here. i'm trying to pull myself together to get your reaction. >> in june the group is told about weaver, about these horrible text messages and messages to young boys promising sex for jobs and they did nothing. >> the money was too good. >> dagen: this is a sickness. these people overlooked and covered up in the name of destroying him and they're trying to use their stance as an excuse for it. this is -- this is like the root of projectile vomiting. i want to add this though, this is the same behavior among the media and the pair fold that led to the

on american history tv, a professor from the university of alabama talks about union general george mcclellanho commanded the union army of the potomac in the early stages of the civil war. we'll hear about mcclellan's reputation for arrogance, as well as his rocky relationships