McClellan would have the opportunity to do what McDowell had not been able to do, which was build a real army. The aged Winfield Scott, at last accepting that his time had ended, submitted his resignation from the Army on November 3 and it was readily accepted--the War Department had long been trying to goad the old general into retiring voluntarily rather than firing him. Scott and McClellan stood together at a train station in Washington, waiting for the ride that would take the former off to retirement at West Point. McClellan wrote to his wife "Perhaps someday it may come to pass that I am an old, broken-down soldier standing at a railroad station as my young successor bids me farewell."That day would be exactly one year away. For now, however, as commander of the nation's armies, McClellan had a lot to do. Aside from the three major areas of operation in Missouri-the Mississippi Valley, Kentucky, and Virginia, there were coastal operations and he was determined to not move out before everything was ready.In Virginia, he had burdened himself unnecessarily with the addition of Allen Pinkerton as the army's chief of intelligence. The famous detective, while skilled at hunting down outlaws, bank robbers, and train bandits, was in over his head trying to handle military intelligence. He assured McClellan that the Confederate army at Bull Run numbered at least 90,000 men, all well-armed, well-drilled, and thirsting for Yankee blood. In truth, Johnson had only about 40,000 men, much worse-equipped, and with similar problems of trying to mold raw recruits into a functioning army, maybe even a little moreso given the individualistic nature of the average Confederate private.
Despite repeated pressure from the White House and War Department to do something before the year was out, McClellan wouldn't budge. Aside from his innate caution, he believed the Confederate army outnumbered him and the slightest mistake would lead to his destruction. It was unfortunate that his principle subordinates in the West were almost as bad as himself.After being dropped from command in Missouri, John Fremont was briefly succeeded by David Hunter before Henry Halleck assumed command of the department. Halleck, known as Old Brains, had graduated West Point in 1837 and resigned from the Army in the 1850s to become a wealthy, successful lawyer. He had written books on strategy and translated French military texts into English and was considered one of the most intellectual minds in the Army. A catty, gossipy man, he was a born bureaucrat, built to shuffle papers around and excellent at passing the buck on--at times he might make a mistake or poor strategic decision but he never left anything in the official records to suggest it was the fault of anyone but an incompetent subordinate. But Halleck himself knew only of war from books; his experience with the battlefield was limited to witnessing a naval bombardment of a Mexican port city in 1846, and when it came time to wage war he would do it by the book.His capacity as a soldier was yet to be demonstrated, but in command in St. Louis, Halleck presaged Ben Butler's brutal rule in New Orleans. The women of St. Louis were wearing red ribbons on their breast to indicate secessionist sympathies, so Halleck had a batch of red ribbons made up and the city's prostitutes were ordered to wear them. He then had a notice put in a newspaper announcing that the ladies of the night in St. Louis had lately taken to wearing red ribbons.
>>18125224By god boys, we must win this war and free those innocent black people so they can one day rape your great-great-great-granddaughters.
God damn, I love that man something fierce.There's just something about a clean and disease free, disciplined camp that gives me the shivers.Best union general by far.It's not even close.If the radical Republicans hadn't sabotaged him the war would have been over in two years.But those bloodthirsty monsters were more interested in depopulation and increasing their control over capital.
>>18125224McDowell was a Baptist right?
>>18125230Tbf McClellan didn't want to free them, and when they were freed, he wanted to deport them---but actually do it, unlike Lincoln.
>>18125593being a Mick I just assumed he was Catholic
