About this episode:
It's been written that Helen of Troy possessed "the face that launched a thousand ships." Well, may I introduce to you Ellen Marcy McClellan, the wife of Union MG George Brinton McClellan, who launched thousands of words. Her husband wrote to her daily, and through his letters, we know so much more than, perhaps, he ever intended for us to know.
Excerpts of more than 250 of his letters to her were included by Geroge McClellan's literary executor, William C. Prime, in his biographical work McClellan's Own Story which was published in 1887-two years after the general's death. Prime wanted to honor McClellan-to tell his side of the story. However, the biographer's work reopened old wounds and damaged, forever, McClellan's military reputation. This is the story of the brilliant yet controversial "Young Napoleon"...the Union's "Little Mac."
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Some Characters Mentioned In This Episode:
McClellan's Own Story
Want to learn more about the Civil War? A great place to start is Fred's guide, The Civil War: A History of the War between the States from Workman Publishing. The guide is in its 9th printing.
*Title Image by Mathew Brady Studio
Producer: Dan Irving
054 - ”The River of Death”: The Battle Of Chickamauga
053 - The Hero And The Humorist: The Friendship of U.S. Grant and Mark Twain
052 - ”Let Us Have Peace”: The Post-War Life Of U.S. Grant
051 - ”Beat To Quarters!”: The C.S.S Alabama
050 - Lee’s Finest Hour: Chancellorsville
049 - Concealed Stories: Sex in the American Civil War
048 - The Trent Affair
047 - ”Into the Belly of the Beast” - Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign
046 - Reaping the Whirlwind: Sherman’s March to the Sea - Part 2
045 - Reaping the Whirlwind: Sherman‘s March to the Sea - Part 1
044 - Five Fateful Hours: The Battle of Franklin
043 - The ”Rock”, The ”Sledge”: George Henry Thomas
042 - The Southern Home Front
041 - The Northern Home Front
040 - July 3, 1863 - Climax - The Third Day at Gettysburg
039 - July 2, 1863 - A Rolling Thunder - The Second Day at Gettysburg
038 - July 1, 1863: A Meeting Engagement - The First Day at Gettysburg
037 - The Confederacy's "Greatest" Surrender - The Bennett Place
036 - Avenging Angel - John Brown
035 - Nathan Bedford Forrest - Part 2
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