ith this habit of mind, it was certain that he
would never suffer a great defeat; but it was also probable that he
would never win a great victory, and a great victory was just what the
North hungered for to wipe out the disgrace of Bull Run. Not for eight
months was he ready to begin the campaign against Richmond, and it ended
in heavy loss and final retreat, partly because of McClellan's
incapacity and partly because of ignorant interference with his plans on
the part of politicians at Washington. For it must be remembered that
McClellan was a Democrat, and soon became the natural leader of that
party at the North--a fact which seemed little less than treason to many
of the political managers at the Capital.

One great and successful battle he fought, however, at Antietam,
checking Lee's attempt to invade the North and sending him in full
retreat back to Virginia, but his failure to pursue the retreating army
exasperated the President, and he was removed from command of the army
on November 7, 1862. This closed his career as a soldier. In the light
of succeeding events, it cannot be doubted that his removal was a
serious mistake. All in all, he was the ablest commander the Army of the
Potomac ever had; he was a growing man; a little more experience in the
field would probably have cured him of over-timidity, and made him a
great soldier. General Grant summed the matter up admirably when he
said, "The test applied to him would be terrible to any man, being made
a major-general at the beginning of the war. If he did not succeed, it
was because the conditions of success were so trying. If he had fought
his way along and up, I have no reason to suppose that he would not have
won as high distinction as any of us." In 1864, McClellan was the
nominee of the Democratic party for the presidency, but received only
twenty-one electoral votes.

The command of the Army of the Potomac passed to Ambrose E. Burnside,
who had won some successes early in the war, but who had protested his
unfitness for a great command, and who was soon to prove it. He led the
army after Lee, found him entrenched on the heights back of
Fredericksburg, and hurled division after division against an
impregnable position, until twelve thousand men lay dead and wounded on
the field. Burnside, half-crazed with anguish at his fatal mistake,
offered his resignation, which was at once accepted.

"Fighting Joe" Hooker succeeded him, and was soon to demonstrate