GDG- "...The Ghost of McClellen..."

[James Cameron]

<< My apologies for posting this a few days after the previous discussion, 
but I found a quote from a New York soldier's letter that was very 
interesting concerning McClellan's influence at Gettysburg: He stated...

  "...it was by mere courage and the ghost of McClellan that we won 
Gettysburg..."

  This letter was from a soldier who fought at Gettysburg and wrote home in 
August.

  R.L. Murray  >>

As with the accounts of the troops cheering rumors that McClellen had been 
returned to command, it does show that many in the army still retained a 
good deal of respect for the man.  For many, it probably never completely 
wore off.

In most cases, especially among the lower ranks, it was probably largely 
sentimentality, by this stage in the game.  Among the more senior officers, 
though, how one felt about McClellen was a sign of the factionalism which 
existed in the officer corps.

Jim Cameron