McClellan Removed as General in Cheif

Lincoln left, McClellan right

For the last few months McClellan had been planning his attack on the army of Joseph E. Johnston in Virginia. He planned to embark his men on ships and sail them to Fort Monroe, flanking Johnston. However, he was moving much slower than Lincoln liked. Up to this point he was General in Cheif of all the Federal Armies, while retaining personal control over the Army of the Potomac. Although Lincoln said that his removal from overall command was to enable him to focus more carefully on the situation in Virginia, McClellan thought otherwise. He later wrote:

"The intelligence took me entirely by suprise, and the order proved to be one of the steps taken to tie my hands in order to secure the failure of the approaching campaign."¹

1. McClellan's Own Story, p. 225