Product Description

In this second volume of a multi-volume work, Russel Beatie continues his detailed study of the generals who commanded the Union's victorious Army of the Potomac. When the first volume appeared, Civil War News commended Beatie's monumental study, noting that "readers will find its thoroughness and extensive detail useful to their efforts to better understand the Union war effort." This new survey of the war's first six months of fighting places the command decisions of the army's senior officers in the social, political, military, and economic context of their day.

Thought-provoking and original (the book is based entirely on manuscript sources, many of which have never before been examined), Beatie's account and his conclusions about the actions of the Union's high command differ-often significantly-from traditional historical thinking. What emerges is a fresh understanding of these men and how their personalities influenced their command decisions, and the political atmosphere that influenced their military actions. The Army of the Potomac is about leaders as men-their successes and failures commanding the Union's largest army.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #774494 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-09
• Released on: 2004-11-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 672 pages

Review
"Impressive beyond words...[A] superb contribution...to Civil War literature." -- Civil War News 2/24/05

"Offers the most accurate and unbiased account to date of McClellan...[The] definitive history." -- Midwest Book Review 12/6/04

About the Author
Russel H. Beatie, a former army lieutenant, is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School. He has been a trial lawyer in New York City for almost four decades. He is the author of many articles about the Civil War and the book Road to Manassas.

Customer Reviews

Classic Series
Russell H. Beatie is writing what should become the classic series on The Army of the Potomac. This is the second volume in the series dealing with the time from the defeat at Bull Run to the preparations for the Peninsula Campaign, September 1861 to February 1862. Readers of Civil War history will find few books on this six-month period and for good reason. This is NOT a battle book. This is NOT a campaign history. This is a history of preparation, problems, misconceptions and politics.

Central to the story is George B. McClellan, fresh from victories in Western Virginia and given command of a defeated army. He determines not allow the army to be pushed into another battle. The priority is training, organization and more training. McClellan's severest critics admit that he excelled in this job and built a very professional army from the raw volunteers. His struggle to do this is the heart of this story.

To enjoy this book, you must rethink the American Civil War returning to a time before the total war when many still felt that peace without victory was possible. The newspaper's lists of the dead and limbless men on city streets are not yet common. The war is still a great adventure to many. Acceptance of the theory that the history of North America could depend on one great battle that would establish the Confederacy or save the Union is common. Many Newspapers preach this idea, Politicians endorse it and Generals accept it. Preparation for this battle is McClellan's goal and he works at it with a single-minded purpose day and night.

The book deals with the small upsets, the friendly fire incidents, poor leadership, failed logistics and miscommunications that kept McClellan from achieving his goal. While he feels unready, the public is demand action and expenses are mounting. The major military battle is Ball's Bluff; the major battles are the removal of General Scott and the establishment of the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, the first a victory and the other a defeat for McClellan. How events and personalities interact and react is the heart of this book. McClellan, Lincoln, the Radicals, the War Democrats, the press, political generals, West Point graduates all march across the pages making demands on each other and seeking advantage.

The discussion on the selection of general officers; the interaction between the states and the Federal Government is worth the price of the book. It is something that you seldom see in a history but builds a real understanding in the serious student. How the War Democrats expect the war to be fought and their feelings toward the South get full treatment too. Not the standard quick dismissal but an intelligent walkthrough with "logical" reasons that supported their ideas, most of these reasons will be disproved in the coming months but for now they are "logical". The reaction of the Radical Republicans meshes with the expectations of the people, feed by the press, to produce an overheated atmosphere of doubt. McClellan's personality causes him to make a series of bad choices that creates an opposition movement. Unable to build a real relationship with the Republicans he is isolated, surrounded by enemies in a trap of his own making.

In December 1861, McClellan is ill for three weeks. In the history of the war, this is a small event but a major one on the road to his dismissal. A helpless McClellan showed Lincoln how little he knew and how dependent fighting the war was on one person. This was not a good experience for Lincoln, who moved to correct the problem.

This is not a fun read nor do we have sympathy for many for the principles and several are despicable. However, we gain an invaluable understanding of the foundation of an army and a government learning to wage war.

A core addition for any Civil War History collectiom
The commanding officer of the Army of the Potomac, General George B. McClellan is one of the most disputable and often denigrated figures of the Civil War. His personal character and his military performance were constantly under scrutiny during his lifetime, and down to the present day continues to be a subject of controversy among Civil War historians. In The Army Of The Potomac: McClellan Takes Command, September 1861-February 1862, civil war historian Russel H. Beatie offers the most accurate and unbiased account to date of McClellan and his fellow commanding officers in the Union Army. Beaties spent years of research piecing together the details of McClellan's command from original documents spread all over the world (many of which had never been dealt with previously) to humanize the leaders of the Union Army and illustrate how their personalities influenced their command decisions. The second volume in Beaties' superbly written "The Army Of The Potomac" series, The Army Of The Potomac: McClellan Takes Command, September 1861-February 1862 cogently addresses such issues as why McClellan deserves a great deal more credit than his is traditionally accorded for building the Union army; how McClellan tried to improve his communication difficulties and accede to the wishes of President Lincoln; why the inter of 1861-1862 (the worst in forty years) and his nearly lethal case of typhoid fever had such a profound impact on McClellan's actions. This definitive history is a core addition for any Civil War History reference collection or Civil War Studies reading list. Also very highly recommended is the first volume in this outstanding series from Da Capo Press, The Army Of The Potomac: McClellan Takes Command.

Essential history of the Army of the Potomac
Lawyer-historian Russel H. Beatie's second volume on the history of the Army of the Potomac is a welcome addition to my
vast Civil War Library. Like most Civil War buffs my shelves
teem with big volumes on the Army of Northern Virginia but lack
good histories of the Army of the Potomac!
Beatie's series is sure to be come the sine qua non for anyone wanting an in depth study of this much maligned but eventually magnificent sword of Lincoln.
Beatie's is a writer more interested in the political and
strategical thinking of war leaders in Washington than he is in
blow by blow descriptions of battle. In this second volumen in the series he does discuss in depth the battle of Ball's Bluff
fought on on Oct. 21, 1861 in which Lincoln's old law partner
the inept Edward Baker died. Beatie explores the impact of this
small battle on the competency of Union leaders; how it helpedfoment the call for a Committee on the Conduct of the War led
by Radical Republicans such as Benjamin Franklin Wade to control the strategy of the War.
Beatie explores how the pool of military commanders was drawn from professional soldiers who graduated from West Point; political generals and those who came from the ranks of volunteer
companies mustered in by individaul state governors. He also
explores how foreign born leaders came to leadership roles in the
army.
Beatie's pen is adept at drawing incisive portraits of Northern leaders such as Winfield Scott; Fitzjohn Porter; Joe
Hooker and the star of this book William McClellan. McClellan
took the commanding position of union forces following the retirement of old, crusty Winfield Scott.
McClellan could train and equip an army to fight but was slow
in launching an assault agains the rebels. His thoughts about
launching the Urbanna water assault on Richmond, the Occoquan
plan and the Penisular Campaign strategy are explored in depth!
Beatie writes in an adequate style but he lacks the skill of
writers such as Foote, Freeman and Catton to entrance the reader
with the magic of words.
Maps are adequate.
In addition to the military leaders the author sketches such
luminaries as Edwin Stanton (whom he dislikes) and of course the
Commander in Chief Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had to steer the war effort handling with deft genius the Radical Republicans, conservative forces in the army and government, abolitionists
and others who disdained his leadership.
The book is dry to read but contains invaluable information on the Army of the Potomac. Well recommended for the serious student of the Civil War in the Eastern Theatre.