McClellan: one perspective Unlike President Lincoln, McClellan was consumed by self-importance. Braggadocio was not in Mr. Lincoln's vocabulary but it was in McClellan's.
George B. McClellan from Mr. Lincoln's White House
Timeline of McClellan's life and times
A brilliant engineer and highly capable organizer, George B. McClellan wasn't just an army commander. In that position he proved the weakness of West Point in its early years; the academy was simply geared to the production of engineers and company officers for a small, pre-Civil War regular army.
His defense of Ohio
Major General George B. McClellan, the commander of the Army of the Potomac, was at loggerheads with President Abraham Lincoln for nearly a year leading up to his dismissal in November 1862. The main source of their disagreement was their difference of opinion over the way the war would be fought.(http://knol.google.com/k/civil-military-relations-in-the-united-states)
According to Military History (website), McClellan was not bold enough, and cost the Union Army some key battles, which might have ended the war earlier. You be the judge
McClellan as New Jerseys Governor: his accomplishments
Fitzgeral's legislative manual: a biography of GB McClellan, govenor of NJ.
Abraham Lincoln : his speeches and writings edited with critical and analytical notes by Roy P. Basler ; preface by Carl Sandburg. Available at this library. Call number: E457.92 2001. Contains several letters to McClellan, from Mr. Lincoln.