At
the time of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, McClellan was president of the
Illinois Central Railroad. He was a close friend and backer of Douglas
and he had done what was practicable with the all-important machinery
of the railroad company to render comfortable the travelling of his
candidate and to insure his success. Returning to the army with the
opening of the War, he had won success in a brief campaign in Virginia
in which he was opposed by a comparatively inexperienced officer and by
a smaller force than his own. Placed in command of the army of the
Potomac shortly after the Bull Run campaign, he had shown exceptional
ability in bringing the troops into a state of organisation. He was
probably the best man in the United States to fit an army for action.
There were few engineer officers in the army who could have rendered
better service in the shaping of fortifications or in the construction
of an entrenched position. He showed later that he was not a bad leader
for a defeated army in the supervision of the retreat. He had, however,
no real capacity for leadership in an aggressive campaign. His
disposition led him to be full of apprehension of what the other fellow
was doing. He suffered literally from nightmares in which he exaggerated
enormously the perils in his paths, making obstacles where none existed,
multiplying by two or by three the troops against him, insisting upon
the necessity of providing not only for probable contingencies but for
very impossible contingencies.
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