But he had been six months in command of the Army of the Potomac and had done nothing in the field.

The autumn had passed in inaction, the winter had worn away, and the spring had come without finding him ready to move.

Whatever might be the justification for delay, it was his misfortune to become the subject of controversy.

There was a McClellan party and an anti-McClellan party, in the press, among the people, in Congress, and in the army.

How far this may have impaired the efficiency of his command cannot be known, but it no doubt seriously undermined him in the confidence of the War Department.