Sold – In the Flush of Perceived Victory on the Peninsula
McClellan Cables His Wife "I know that I will win;" Perhaps the only letter of McClellan to his wife not in the Library of Congress.
The Union grand strategy for the spring of 1862 provided for Gen. George B. McClellan to attack Richmond with the bulk of the Army of the Potomac by coming up the peninsula which extends to the city’s east. Banks’ Corps in the Shenandoah Valley was to head east and cover Washington, D.C....
The Union grand strategy for the spring of 1862 provided for Gen. George B. McClellan to attack Richmond with the bulk of the Army of the Potomac by coming up the peninsula which extends to the city’s east. Banks’ Corps in the Shenandoah Valley was to head east and cover Washington, D.C. while he did so, and other troops in the Valley were to reinforce McClellan to give him an overwhelming numerical advantage. This was a viable plan, probably McClellan’s best of the war, and he was filled with confidence.
His advance up the peninsula began on April 4, 1862. Confederate forces evacuated Yorktown on May 3 and fell back to their defenses near Richmond. McClellan’s army continued to advance after the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5. By May 14, it was nearer yet to Richmond; but this was as far as it got. On May 15, just miles from Richmond and at the very apex of his success, he sent two telegrams.
One was a confident Autograph Telegram Signed to Mrs. McClellan at the 5th Avenue Hotel in New York City, in pencil, one page, May 15, 1862. “Your letter and photographs received this morning. All are splendid – the best I have had. My troops are in motion, all in splendid spirits. We may have a severe battle to fight, but I know that I will win it and we’ll be together again. God knows that it is what I most desire. Send me a picture of Mary and my album will be complete. G. B. McClellan, Major General.” The other was to Secretary of War Stanton, saying that he was continually advancing.
We offer both letters together. The one to his wife is an original autograph; the one to Stanton is a letterpress copy (similar to a mimeograph). McClellan’s grand army suffered its first of numerous setbacks the very afternoon of the 15th, so his joy was short-lived. By late summer his troops were withdrawn from the peninsula with nothing tangible to show for their effort. Interestingly, McClellan’s plan might well have succeeded except for Stonewall Jackson who pinned down the Union troops in the Shenandoah Valley and prevented their moving to McClellan’s support. Thus McClellan received none of the extra men from the Valley that he had been counting on, just promises that some would be dispatched. The letter proves that McClellan had a huge ego, saying of the upcoming battle, “I will win” rather than “We will win.” McClellan’s war date letters to his wife are of great significance, and are presently with his personal papers in the Library of Congress.
The only examples on the market would be telegrams such as this, sent by wire and retained by a telegrapher as a souvenir. Yet we have never seen another.
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