I can't seem to comprehend how McCllean could be such an incompetent leader. During the demonstration of the battle of Antietam, I was astounded that he was so oblivious to the correct decisions that he should have been making, such as when he left a number of troops on one side of the river that had a clear path through the middle of the battlefield to the center where General Lee was camped. He lost an opportunity that could possibly have ended the war far sooner and saved many Federal and Confederate lives. His incompetency boggles me.
On a lighter note, three cheers for Mr. Wilson and Mr. Lonze for catching the person who stole the money and other stuff from our room. Bully for them.
Well that's my thoughts on what we have been discussing this week.
Khris
7 comments:
Bashar: I agree with what Khris said. McClellen is incompetent. Like Khris said, at Antietam Mac left many troops unused. At the end of the battle when Lee’s army was retreating with its back’s to the Potamic, Mac could have ordered 20,000 fresh troops that he had to attack and finish off Lee but he didn’t because he was too hesistant. The thing that amazes me most about Mac was that not only was he reluctant but when his army won, he was delusional and believed he had been the reason they won. He often took credit for victories and thought of himself to be destined to save the Union. He also did the same thing in the Peninsula campaign when he waited for a month for attacking an army that he greatly out numbered. He was a mama’s boy and had too much of his mothers protective instinct. Khris said, “His incompetency boggles me”, and it boggles me too.
Bashar.
Bashar on Journal: Lincoln wrote the EP to declare the Northern goal of this war. Although he was under pressure by Republicans to free the slaves, I don’t think this played a role in his decision. He did believe slavery was wrong but he didn’t care about the slaves as long as the Union was saved. He was willing to do anything to save the Union weather that meant freeing the slaves or freeing no slaves. The EP made it clear that the North was a free nation and the South was a slave nation, which made it hard for Britain and France to recognize the Confederacy because they were both free nations. Also, the EP came right after Antietam, which was a Confederate defeat so these two things combined took away any chance of Britain and France helping the Confederacy. Lincoln was once quoted saying “I don’t believe this nation can endure half slave and half free, it must become either entirely slave or entirely free”. With the EP, Lincoln did what he believed was necessary to save the Union. He declared the beginning of the end for slavery because he knew that this conflict would rise again had he let slavery continue after the war. Eventually, the 13th Amendment was passed which put an end to slavery and united our nation.
Bashar
McClellan came up with some very good strategies but whatever reason, he seemed to have the inability to execute his plans. I guess he just wasn't much of a risk taker, because he could have been a lot more successful if he would have just executed his plans. I guess no one will know why McClellan was such an incompetent leader.
Mitesh
Elisabeth:
I don't think Mac was completely incompetent as Kris says. I think a better word is overly-catious or he was just a pansy. He was too worried with his reputation and wanted to go down in history as a great general. He might have been able to end the war early if he made better decisions, but no one knows that for sure.
However, I am not defending him, I think that he was a terrible general and he cracked under pressure of the war.
Jeff: I agree completely with Khris on his views of McClellan. He made these mistakes because he was too afraid to lose. He had been a winner his whole life and he had a possible presidential campaign coming up, so he was afraid to a lose a battle and look foolish. He was also a pansy. He overestimated his enemy... this may have been due to his pansyness. Good thinking Khris keep up the good work......................................dysentary.
I agree with what Khris is saying. I also believe that McCllean was an incompetent leader. It seemed that he had a hard time figuring out how he was going to finalize the his plans for battle. Towards the end of Antietam he left many of the troops. I think if he was a little less cautious and had a little more fight in him, we would have a change of subject.
I agree with all of you. However I also believe that Mac was politically motivated. He had plans to run for the presidency in the upcoming election. This motivated him to be over cautious and make poor decisions. He was thinking in a more selfish matter not in the North’s best interest.....
Alex
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