Description:

GEORGE MCCLELLAN
IMPORTANT: THIS LOT IS MISIDENTIFIED AS LOT 42 IN THE PRINTED CATALOG. IT WILL BE CALLED AS LOT 40 AT AUCTION Extremely fine content A.L.S. 2pp. 4to. on "Head-Quarters Army of the Potomac" letterhead, Berkeley, July 19, 1862 to New York financier William H. Aspinwall (1807-1875). Marked "Confidential," Already relieved from his post as General in Chief of the Union Army in March 1862 , McClellan writes to Aspinwall concerning the possibility of losing his command of the Army of the Potomac and inquiring about possible employment in New York should he resign his commission. After failing to capture Richmond and battered by the Seven Days, McClellan pulled his froces back to Harrison's Landing on the James River. that Lincoln, Stanton and the officer on the "War Board" were setting him up for failure, he writes, in most part: "...I have reason to believe that Genl Halleck is to be made Commander in Chief of the Army [he had been already appointed on July 11], and, if I am not mistaken, I think I detect the premitory symptoms of still further changes. I can get no reply from Washington to any of my dispatches -- Burnside and his troops are taken out of my hands -- I receive no reinforcements, & no hope of them is held out to me. The grave effrontery is to deprive me of the means of moving, & then to cut my head off for not advancing -- in other words it is my opinion that I will be removed from the command of this Army in a short time. The present policy is, I think, mainly a contravention of the of the inveterate persecution that has pursued me since I landed on the Peninsula -- making my command so as to render it inadequate to accomplish the end in view, & then to hold me responsible for the results -- I am quite wary of this. If I am suspended in the command of the Army of the Potomac I shall resign my commission in the service -- feeling that I can no longer be of use, on the contrary only in the way. Looking forward to that event, my main object in writing to you is to ask you to be kind enough to cast your eyes about you to see whether there is anything I can do in New York to earn a respectable support for my family -- I have no extravagant ideas or expectations, all I wish is some comparatively quiet pursuit - for I really need rest. Pretty much everything I had has been sacrificed in consequence of my returning the service, & when I have it I must commence anew & work for my support - that I am quite willing to do... " Lincoln would finally relieve McClellan of command in November 1862 after failing to pursue Lee after Antietam. Ex. collection of Harold C. Brooks. Partial separation at center horizontal fold, else very good condition.

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December 16, 2010 11:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

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