FREE ESSAY ON COMMANDERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

COMMANDERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

In his civil war book Commanders of the Army of the Potomac Warren Hassler Jr.
fantastically recounts the events that transpired between 1861 to 1865 during which seven
men were given the reigns of the North's Army of the Potomac and asked to lead the Union
to victory. However, one of the greatest commanders in history stood in their way; Robert
E. Lee, and each was pitted against this great general one by one and given the chance to
make history. The first, Irvin McDowell was regarded in this book as a great soldier in
his own right but a terrible leader who displayed visible gaps in his preparedness, in
his tactics, and in his strategy. He was the first to take control of the northern army.
Not much later towards the end of May of 1861 General Lee established a defensive hold
along the small stream of Bull Run located in Manassas. During the Battle of Bull Run
McDowell was crushed by Confederate generals Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre Beauregard due
to weak planning and it became apparent that this in fact would not be a short-lived war.
Next up was the most popular and perhaps the greatest of the commanders, George B.
McClellan. After the embarrassing defeats at Bull Run he masterfully regrouped and
disciplined the AOP as he himself showed outstanding military presence and was constantly
increasing his knowledge of offensive tactics. From spring of 1862 till July of that year
General McClellan was successful in driving the Confederates out of West Virginia and he
was inching toward the southern capitol of Richmond when General Jeb Stuart under Lee
encircled and outmaneuvered McClellan's forces who were driven back and finally held at
Malvern Hill during the Seven Days Battle. During this time period there was some
shifting of control and the AOP was put into the arms of General John Pope. This book
regards Pope as one of the most pathetic leaders of the Civil War as he screwed up and
changed his ways during the second battle at Bull Run and sacrificed his men uselessly.
Meanwhile, McClellan blew an opportunity to catch the Confederates off balance after he
learned of Lee's plans but stalled and hesitated for a day giving the southern
reinforcements plenty of time to arrive and group together and the north escaped with a
slight victory only after Lee decided it would be wise to withdraw his forces. This
victory gave President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation
Proclamation on September 22, 1862. The next commander to take the helm was Ambrose E.
Burnside whose troubles lied in his stubbornness coupled with his poor judgement and lack
of ingenuity. He lacked the ability to think at moment's notice and get things done
immediately when faced with a problem. He suffered a disastrous defeat at Fredericksburg,
Virginia in December of 1862 and after was man enough to admit his faults and
acknowledged his removal as commander. Superceding Burnside was Joseph Hooker, who was
very passionate but like Burnside did not have the ability to improvise under changing
conditions. He was great at grouping armies and preparing battle plans beforehand but on
the field he could fall apart. During his battle of Chancellorsville the South took a
mighty blow with the death of Stonewall Jackson. He was totally outmatched against the
superior skills and techniques of Robert E. Lee. Replacing Hooker was George C. Meade, a
brave, sound, and conscientious man who was able to outshine Lee during the battle of
Gettysburg in 1863. He was able to work well with top generals as a team and as a result
held his post in Gettysburg as Lee drew back his forces to Virginia, signaling the
victory of the battle for the North. Unfortunately, many people criticized Meade for not
following the Confederates while they were broken. He retained nominal leadership till
the end of the war as Ulysses S. Grant took over as commander of the AOP in March of 1864
and was fortunate enough to take control of the army as the tide was turning favorably
for the Union. After successful campaigns in 1863, as chief of all federal armies Grant
was relentless and often forced inconclusive battles, which were very hazardous to the
North's position. Although he was average in handling artillery and cavalry he had no
grasp on commanding and strategies. Mr. Hassler end his book with a conclusion
summarizing the main points of his descriptions of the commanders of the AOP and there
effects on the Civil War.
In this book, Mr. Hassler has a very convincing style and method to his writings of the
commanders. One of these would be his inclusion of maps and pictures throughout the book.
The maps are very helpful as they enable the reader to actually see what the author is
talking about, as sometimes it can become a bit confusing with the way all the different
armies are advancing. It also creates some variety and interest among the 200 some pages
which creates a nice change once in a while. The pictures of the commanders are also used
this way and are very interesting as the reader can see who Mr. Hassler is talking about
and helps you to put a face with a name. Another inclusion that the author uses many
times is excerpts from many other different readings, from newspapers to journals. By
quoting these authorities Mr. Hassler can strengthen his ideas and create more of a
diversified work which makes the reader feel more comfortable with what he is saying and
that in fact it is all with truth. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter, such as
for example Whoever makes the first aggressive move will be beaten. by Sylvanus Thayer,
are a nice relation to the situation and his writings and can be applied to everything
that he conveys in his book. A very interesting thing that Mr. Hassler did at the
beginning of each chapter was first give a physical description of the commander and what
he was like and regarded as. For instance he calls George McClellan a handsome blue-eyed
man, broad-shouldered and muscular, with very dark auburn hair, mustache, and touch of a
goatee. He says that Little Mac, as his soldiers called him, carried himself well, and
was a magnificent horsemen. Immediately after he begins to talk a little bit about the
early life of each leader but only general details as this is only a fraction of each
chapter. This includes remarks such as born in, attended, appointed, etc... and is
approximately only a paragraph. Then it begins to go into detailed information about each
commander's positions right before, during, and right after his appointment as leader of
the Union armies. This part is the bulk of his descriptions in each chapter and focus
mostly though on the commanding period, sticking with the title and theme of the book
which is how these men fared individually against the armies of one of the mightiest
generals of all time, Robert E. Lee. Mr. Hassler does a good job of staying on task as
information not pertinent to the men's command was not mentioned. Mr. Hassler also does a
good job of keeping his personal feelings and opinions out of the book so that his views
are not biased. By doing this he can stick straight to the facts as he does the whole
time and does not lighten up or take pity on some as he refers to a few as pathetic,
incompetent, unfit for command, etc... By giving it to us in this manner he can there by
succeeding in bringing his purpose across to us so that we could learn more about the
great things these men did and did not do and how their actions impacted the future of
the United States of America.
Why did I select this book? After factoring in our preset guidelines of a non-fiction
book with at least 250 pages and constraining that to the period of exploration through
reconstruction I decided that what I would find the most interesting would be something
from the Civil War. When visiting my public Library I came across the book Commanders of
the Army of the Potomac, written by Warren W. Hassler Jr. When I had finished reading the
basic summary of the book on its cover I decided that this was the book for me for a
number of reasons. First of all, it would cover almost all of the Civil War from the
angle of the commanders, spanning through the leadership of seven different men. Secondly
it seemed like an interesting topic with different strategies and tactics mentioned for
each commander and how they fared. Lastly, the author didn't draw this book out into a
600 page book like some do but kept it short and sweet within its 275 pages. Reading this
book I hoped to gain a lot more knowledge of the Civil War and also some of it from a
different angle. I found in-depth discussions on commanders' decisions and how they
presented themselves during the war. It was very interesting to know I would be learning
about exactly what was happening not just above the battlefield, win or lose, but what
was taking place behind the scenes and how it connected with the outcomes of the numerous
battles and ultimately the Civil War.
In conclusion, Commanders of the Army of the Potomac was a very interesting historical
book which accurately and descriptively explains the events the transpired between 1861
to 1865 as seven men took control of the Union army and did their best to lead the North
to victory in the Civil War of the United States of America. Warren W. Hassler Jr. does a
tremendous job of amassing information from a variety of sources and condensing them into
an understandable and well-written book which would be beneficial to anyone wishing to
learn more about the military procedures during the Civil War or even the war itself in
general. Hopefully we will see more works by Mr. Hassler in the future which have the
same spirit and understanding as this book.
Bibliography
Hassler, Warren W. Jr. Commanders of the Army of the Potomac. Baton Rouge: Louisiana
State University Press, 1962.