us 6283.18 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY BEQUEST OF GEORGE AUGUSTINE THAYER COPYRIGHT, 1901, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. All rights reserved. September, 1901. PREFACE. THE accomplished author of this volume completed the work, with the exception of the preface and index, in December last. In the following February the reading of the proof was interrupted by an illness, terminating in his untimely death on the 16th of that month, so that the labor of proof reading devolved upon his friend and assistant professor, Captain Cornélis De W. Willcox, of the Artillery Corps. Dr. Otto Plate, librarian of the Academy, prepared the elaborate index, and, under the supervision of Professor Michie, the maps were made by First Lieutenant William Ruthven Smith, of the Artillery Corps, an instructor in the Department of Philosophy. Peter Smith Michie was born March 24, 1839, at Brechin, Forfarshire, Scotland, and was appointed to the United States Military Academy from Ohio, graduating second in the class of 1863. He at once sought active service in the field, receiving the commission of first lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, and before the close of the civil war he was chief engineer of the Army of the James. For his services. as an engineer during the civil war he received three brevets, and for meritorious services in the Virginia campaign, terminating at Appomattox Court House, he was brevetted a brigadier general of volunteers. In April, 1867, he was ordered to the West Point Academy as Assistant Professor of Civil and Military Engineering, and four years later was appointed Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, performing his duties as such for almost thirty years. It may be questioned if any instructor at the Academy was ever more beloved and respected than General Michie, or if any member of the educational staff ever exercised equal influence in aiding and guiding the affairs of the Military Academy. His latest thoughts were on the successful continuation of his duties there, and his dying wish as to his successor was happily gratified. Few men had more friends than the warm-hearted Michie. He desired to live, but was ready to go, although he had not nearly rounded out the allotted threescore years and ten, and had much literary work in view that he wished to complete after his approaching retirement from the Academy. 66 Not yet sixty-two when he was called away, but how full and complete was Michie's career! There was no break in his record of service during thirty and eight years, from the time he hastened to the field to defend his country's flag and then returned to devote his life to the best interests of his loved alma mater. He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one," in all that related to his profession; and not having been connected with the Army of the Potomac during the period when it was commanded by General McClellan, it was believed that no better person than Professor Michie could be found to write an unprejudiced biography. He was by nature both honest and independent, and it would seem that he was eminently successful in preparing this volume with what Edmund Burke describes as "the cold neutrality of an impartial judge." This opinion was shared by McClellan's able corps commander, General Fitz-John Porter, who, in a letter to the writer, dated from his dying bed, May 5, 1901, says: "So far as I have been able to judge, I think it is the best work on the subject that has been written." Another accomplished army officer who also saw the proof sheets, writes: "In my humble opinion, this Life of McClellan is altogether the best piece of work done by the author, and, more than this, it is absolutely so impartial and just as to possess almost the quality of finality, so far as McClellan's qualities as a commander are concerned." JAS. GRANT WILSON. NEW YORK, June, 1901. CONTENTS. VI.-PLANS OF CAMPAIGNS.-BALL'S BLUFF VII. INACTIVITY OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.-PLAN OF PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN EVOLVED IX.-MANASSAS EVACUATED.-DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON X.-EMBARKATION FOR FORT MONROE.-OPENING OF PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.-SIEGE OF YORKTOWN.- |