McCLELLAN'S OWN STORY. The War for the Union, The Soldiers Who Fought It, The Civilians Who Directed It,and His Relations to It and to Them

First edition. With 14 illustrations including a steel engraved portrait frontispiece. 8vo, publisher’s original green cloth gilt lettered on the spine above the gilt and black "Should Star" emblem, the front cover gilt lettered and decorated with emblem in gilt and red. ix, 678 pp. An essentially pristine copy, very fine and unusually well preserved for a book rarely found in acceptable condition, the text is completely free of the common foxing and is very clean with just a bit of minor toning, the green cloth is rich and dark with bright gilt and decoration.

Edizione: a bright and beautifully preserved copy of this scarce title in the great war "shoulder strap" series, which also includes the personal memoirs of ulysses s. grant. collectable copies of these books are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.<br> in the earliest days of the war mcclellan was assigned to command the division of the potomac and established the defenses of washington. much of the early direction of the union force was established by him. he was one of the first to recognize that the confederacy was an effective and organized power, not just a mob of rabble-rousers.<br> commanding general of the united states army from november 1861 to march 1862. mcclellan served with distinction during the mexican–american war. he was a railway executive and engineer until the outbreak of the american civil war in 1861. early in the conflict, mcclellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role in raising the army of the potomac, which served in the eastern theater.<br> mcclellan organized and led the union army in the peninsula campaign in southeastern virginia from march through july 1862. it was the first large-scale offensive in the eastern theater. making an amphibious clockwise turning movement around the confederate army in northern virginia, mcclellan's forces turned west to move up the virginia peninsula, between the james river and york river, landing from chesapeake bay, with the confederate capital, richmond, as their objective. initially, mcclellan was somewhat successful against general joseph e. johnston, but the emergence of general robert e. lee to command the army of northern virginia turned the subsequent seven days battles into a union defeat. however, historians note that lee's victory was in many ways pyrrhic as he failed to destroy the army of the potomac and suffered a bloody repulse at malvern hill.<br> “this volume includes a biographical sketch of the author by w.c. prime, a treatise on the causes of the war, a discussion of the early months of chaotic activity, a selection of letters to his wife, and a narrative of mcclellan’s part in the war from the summer of 1861 through his removal after antietam.”