McClernand - Brave or Selfish?

John Alexander McClernand 

When I was reading Civil War Chapter 8, Stalemate East and West, I found Major General McClernand's story very interesting. He was a prominent War Democrat from Illinois before the war, he was favored by the administration when Lincoln and Stanton heard his plan of attack for a victory in the Misissippi. While he had top secret orders for this plan, Lincoln made an escape clause which allowed Halleck and Grant to take command of the entire operation, including his troops, if they wished to.

With early successes in battles like Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh, McClernand found himself praised by the press and others began to despise his self-promotion and envious nature. One example of this, was William Sherman, who felt that Mclernand cared too much about the glory of battle than dealing a blow to the Confederates, and another example is Mclernand's clash with the West Pointers due to his dislike of graduates from the U.S. Military Academy.

The issues between McClernand and Grant started when McClernand was instructed to send the troops he was raising in Illinois down to Vicksburg, where they were being brought into Grant's forces without McClernand knowing. When he came down to join the fighting in Vicksburg as well, he was surprised to find out he would no longer be independently commanding the troops he worked so hard to gather, but he would be under the command of Grant. These tensions continued throughout the attack on Vicksburg.

When the frontal assault on Vicksburg failed, McClernand once again praised himself and his own troops on the front lines, but when Grant send for reinforcements, the disaster grew. With Grant feeling that McClernand was "entirely unfit", McClernand wrote to the newspapers with praises for his men and criticisms for Grant, which was a brech of military protocol. After this, Grant relieved him of command. A few months later, due to his favor in Washington, McClernand was restored to his old command, but he was forced to resign eventually due to illness.




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