In defense of McClellan at Antietam: A contrarian view

[Viking]

I, of late, have looked at it as a war that almost had to go as long as it did for the proper outcome.  What would have happened if Little Mac had destroyed Lee's army and effectively ended the war?  This is prior to the Emancipation Proclamation and the idea of a war to end slavery in addition to restoring the Union.  Lincoln was always a lukewarm opponent of slavery and imposing harsh penalties on the states that seceded.  If you take away the Emancipation Proclamation and the North's willingness to punish the South, what are the odds that the slavery question would have been truly decided as it ended up in 1865?  What are the chances of any type of Reconstruction effort by the North or attempts at true reform?  Things still went to shit eventually in the South despite the additional years of war and imposition of the Radical Republicans' plans.  I can only imagine an even earlier start of such backward policies and maintaining of the antebellum status quo with an early victory.  As terrible as the war was, and as long as it lasted, I feel it was a necessary evil.

The big what if there was if burnside had attacked competently and enthusiastically and successfully when he should have and taken "his" bridge and managed to cut Lee off from Botelers ford when the fighting was at the cornfield or the sunken road then, yes, Lees army would have been surrounded Appomattox style. The emancipation declaration would have happened regardless, it had been drafted and ready for months. The least punishment would have been emancipation.

Anything short of Burnside manifesting the unborn spirit of Patton, however, the best possible result for the Union is Gettysburg like. I wouldn't say that this would shorten the war by 9 month since Hood still hadn't suicided the army in the west and vicksburg still hadn't fallen.

The emancipation declaration still happens and the south survives since Grant still hasn't been put in charge. Maybe Lee gets captured? In that case I shudder to think what would happen with Stonewall Jackson in charge of the Army with no reason for a night ride at chancellorsville.

[Lettow77]

 It's flattering to me that so many people still study the war, regardless of their opinions of what should have happened or who was right or wrong. I am glad the memory persists and has such an impression on disparate parts of the world- I was able to convince a pretty Japanese girl to study about Lee and Stonewall, and I was delighted by her earnestness.

It just struck me what a lucky people we are, to have an icelandic person carefully studying the chronicle of our late unpleasantness. The South may not be beautiful, but it has precious memories and an enduring legacy.

[jimmy olsen]

The South may not be beautiful, but it has precious memories and an enduring legacy.

The countryside is beautiful, it's memories not so much.

The memories you speak of are of millions in bondage, more than a quarter million southern men cut down before their time and half the South in ashes and ruins.

[Viking]

It's flattering to me that so many people still study the war, regardless of their opinions of what should have happened or who was right or wrong. I am glad the memory persists and has such an impression on disparate parts of the world- I was able to convince a pretty Japanese girl to study about Lee and Stonewall, and I was delighted by her earnestness.

It just struck me what a lucky people we are, to have an icelandic person carefully studying the chronicle of our late unpleasantness. The South may not be beautiful, but it has precious memories and an enduring legacy.

You do realize that in my view the Confederates and the Confederacy was pure evil on par with Nazi Germany and Kmer Rouge Cambodia? My study of the issue is (when not wargame related) is focused on understanding and identifying the causes and nature of evil and when it comes to the details it is mainly a result of my annoyance and frustration that it took so long and killed so many good union men in the process.

[Habbaku]

I like Mac, too.  As long as he was in charge, we were bound to win.

And who's we?

It's like the "we" you use to describe the Patriots.

[Habbaku]

The South may not be beautiful, but it has precious memories and an enduring legacy.

The countryside is beautiful, it's memories not so much.

But "it's" (sic) grammar lives on in you.  You're worse than Lettow.

[Malthus]

The South may not be beautiful, but it has precious memories and an enduring legacy.

The countryside is beautiful, it's memories not so much.

The memories you speak of are of millions in bondage, more than a quarter million southern men cut down before their time and half the South in ashes and ruins.

Well, half of that *is* beautiful ... though I suspect Lettow would dispute which half. 

[Viking]

The South may not be beautiful, but it has precious memories and an enduring legacy.

The countryside is beautiful, it's memories not so much.

The memories you speak of are of millions in bondage, more than a quarter million southern men cut down before their time and half the South in ashes and ruins.

Well, half of that *is* beautiful ... though I suspect Lettow would dispute which half. 

¨

[CountDeMoney]

 

[Darth Wagtaros]

Aw, now, no need to be like that. You know very well who he means. 

Slavers?

[Habbaku]

Squee.

[PDH]

No matter how one twists things, it is still a tragedy that the V Corps never was sent in at Antietam.  Had Porter gone in after the Bloody Lane was cleared things would have been different.

[garbon]

We need this person on Languish:

http://www.dailystatesman.com/blogs/1781/entry/49364/

The Bloody Lane-Battle of Antietam

Serene. Morning's twilight gently transformed the blackness into a new day. A choir of birds slowly broke the silence, and the chill of night ebbed away. I stood on a low road among perfectly manicured grounds and pristine statues. Everything was exactly as it should be: peaceful.

...

As I walked the lane I heard the gun fire, the barking of orders, the cannon, and the screams. I began to recall the names of some of those who perished in and around that road. I had studied these men and read some of their diaries and letters. I had seen some of their faces in photographs. In the cool morning breeze, standing where they took their last breath, tears welled up in my eyes then ran down my cheeks for men I had never met.

As I lingered, a couple, in their early forties I guessed, parked their car and began walking toward The Bloody Lane. I immediately admired them for having the zeal and devotion to the history of our nation to be at the battlefield, at sunrise, where every imaginable horror of war became reality. Hand in hand they approached the hallowed ground where thousands had sacrificed. At the top of the stairs leading down to the lane they stopped.

"It's just a big ditch" the woman proclaimed. Her husband matched her reverence, "Yeah. This was a waste of time."

[derspiess]

My beef with McClellan was never with what he did or didn't do before the battle, but with what he failed to do after the battle.  No way he should have let Lee stage an orderly withdrawal.

I also disapprove with how he attacked the rebel lines piecemeal rather than simultaneously, but a sloppy win is still a win.  He just should have followed up on it.

[Drakken]

I do like McClellan though.

The best secret weapon the South ever had, even in 1864.