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Originally Posted by Urbannaja
He was a cautious guy who was all about saving his soldier's lives and didn't realize the strength of his enemy. In this case, hindsight is 20/20 but at the time, all he knew was that he was facing Lincoln's first pick for commander of all the NORTH's armies (Lee) with an unknown amount of soldiers at his command, who were already dug-in. It probably seemed like suicide for him to go in without knowing. Intelligence wins wars, and McLellan didn't feel he had enough.
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You are right of course,
By all accounts, his men loved him. In a time when human life seemed so cheap and expendable, it is no wonder that his consideration for the well-being of his men earned him the respect of his soldiers.
It also appears that McClellan held on to the hope that the South would somehow 'come to its senses' if the North could just give them a bloody nose, without the need to utterly destroy them. Hence his reluctance to fully engage the enemy, even when he obviously had the upper hand.
However, his tendency to be overcautious, to 'play it safe', to be underambitious, to overestimate the enemy, and to disbelieve the facts laid before him, undoubtedly caused the war to be prolonged. Thus, he may have inadvertantly contributed to a much greater loss of life and limb on both sides.
He had the military genius, the support of his men, the equipment, the supplies, and the manpower necessary to possibly hasten an earlier end to the bloody war. But he chose not to take advantage of his upper hand, at great cost!
For his compassion and concern for human life, he is to be commended. For his repeated tactical and strategic failures as a military general, he was undoubtedly a liability and, therefore, should probably have been relieved of his command much earlier than he actually was.
Had I been Lincoln, I don't know what I would have done with McClellan.