1864 was an election year, and an apprehensive President Lincoln believed he faced certain defeat. Despite victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg the endless lists of casualties had left Northern families weary of war. Two years prior the Democrats gained 27 seats in the House, as critics bashed emancipation and the draft riots in New York. As the President privately despaired, “The bottom is out of the tub.” 

Lincoln’s greatest frustration centered on finding a general who could and would defeat General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. A series of Union generals, all lackluster, had failed the President repeatedly. Irvin McDowell’s troops ran at Bull Run, Ambrose Burnside presided over a bloodbath at Fredericksburg, and “Fighting Joe Hooker” was roundly flanked at Chancellorsville. But the most troublesome of this difficult brood was General George Brinton McClellan.

On paper General McClellan had all the attributes of a winner. Studious, McClellan graduated 2nd in his class at West Point, joined the Army Corps of Engineers, and served in the Mexican War. Following a brief stint in the private sector McClellan returned to service when the war thundered to life at Ft. Sumter. Following a couple of minor victories in western Virginia, President Lincoln brought McClellan to the Capitol appointing him commander of the Army of the Potomac.

In Washington McClellan did whip his army into fine condition, and his men loved him in return. The difficulty the President faced was that McClellan would not fight. Over many months, with growing frustration at the army’s inaction, Lincoln stooped to sarcasm, composing a request to borrow McClellan’s army to go south, since the General wasn’t using them. McClellan returned the rancor referring to Lincoln as a “well meaning baboon,” and rudely rebuffing the President when Lincoln paid a house call. 

Other McClellan gems include:

“By some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land.”

“Who would have thought, when we were married, that I should so soon be called upon to save my country?” (To his wife.)

and, reminiscent of a current blowhard candidate,

“I can do it all.”

During the greatest national emergency since the Revolutionary War, Mr. Lincoln, with so many other demands, had to cope with a difficult, obstinate officer. As the nation watched, the President could not get the man to budge. In one instance McClellan, in Virginia, argued he couldn’t move his forces as the horses were fatigued. Lincoln asked what could the horses have done to be fatigued?

McClellan needed to be replaced, but Lincoln hesitated to do so. Considering the love the Army of the Potomac held for “Little Mac” may have stayed the President’s hand. And there were no other officers suitable to replace him. 

Later, after the Battle of Antietam in 1862, Lincoln fired the reluctant warrior after he permitted General Lee and his army to slip away.

As for the election of 1864, the President fully understood he was growing quite unpopular. He had spoken with General Grant on how to tie up the war before inauguration day when he would surely have to leave the White House. In an unexpected twist of irony Northern Democrats convening in Chicago, nominated their candidate to challenge Mr. Lincoln. They chose George Brinton McClellan.

Defeating the rebels grew even more urgent if that imperative was possible, for McClellan made clear his intention to negotiate a peace with slavery intact. 

It is difficult to imagine the President’s anguish in such an impossible situation.

So it is a remarkable thing that Abraham Lincoln emerged from the contest victorious. Severe Northern opinion hadn’t softened, the press relentlessly criticized Lincoln’s war policies, so how did this miracle happen?

Credit the Army of the Potomac.

Though the men did admire their former commander, they knew President Lincoln remained committed to the cause they shared: freedom and Union. Oceans of blood had been spilled, uncountable hardships endured, and still Union forces and the President stayed the course. These comrades-in-arms kept the faith with their president, in a war for America’s future. 

Lincoln had their backs, and these men fully understood their duty.

Today, as America approaches the election of 2024 Americans of good will must also vote for the President who solidly supports their interests. Mr. Biden’s successes include The American Rescue Plan, a stimulus bill, Build Back Better, an infrastructure spending act, and a bill lowering drug costs, such as capping insulin for diabetics, demonstrates Biden’s priorities. Like 1864, the opposition party has nothing to offer but a self-deluded windbag who has proven himself more ineffectual, and delusional than General McClellan, who at least had a real resume. Nonsense is nonsense.

An advocate for all we hold dear, voters must remain as faithful to our ideals as Joe Biden, our Chief Executive. Today the task of preserving America is as crucial as the crucible of the Civil War

We have an obligation to defend our national laws, and the ideals that shaped them. Americans, yet unborn are counting on us.

Gail Chumbley is the author of the two-part memoir River of January, and River of January: Figure Eight, both available on Kindle. Chumbley has also authored “Clay,” and “Wolf By The Ears,” two historically-set plays.