IRB Media Summary of Stephen W. Sears's Landscape Turned Red

Annotation

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 George McClellan was the commander of the Union forces during the Civil War. He was chosen to lead the army because he was believed to be a divinely appointed instrument to save the country. He had climbed life's ladder with ease and without pause.#2 McClellan was a great general, but he was also very successful in forging the Army of the Potomac into a fighting machine. However, he was not so successful in sustaining the admiration of official Washington.#3 McClellan's early months as commander of the Army of the Potomac were marked by his arrogance and his thin-skinnedness. He believed that the government was not giving him the resources he needed, and he didn't want to risk losing the war by taking an offensive.#4 The report that McClellan received from Pinkerton, the well-known Chicago private detective, estimated that the Confederate army had about 60,000 soldiers. However, his own officers in the field painted a different picture. They estimated that the Confederate army had only 50,000 soldiers.