Another ACW idea: McClellan dies at Rich Mountain

[Fearless Leader]

Researching my Bayonet Jackson TL gave me this idea.

POD July 1861: During the Battle of Rich Mountain, General George B. McClellan is shot and killed by a Confederate Partisan who somehow managed to infiltrate the Union lines (plausible enough IMO, if you disagree pretend he fell off his horse or something...)

-Little actually changes at Rich Mountain, Rosecran's attack still occurs and he ends up getting the credit for the success of the battle and probably succeeding McClellan as head of the armies in West Virginia. But given all the situations I doubt he'd be able to change too much from this position...Thoughts?

-Without Mac, the position of General in Chief is obviously Halleck's. Scott gets his way and "Old Brains" gets his wish. Will he, like McClellan try to do it all? Or will he take a more limited view of his responsibilities? Will Rosecrans be selected to take control of the Army of the Potomac?

-Without Halleck to coordinate things in the West, how does that all work out? Better, Worse?

-Will Halleck/Rosecrans/Whomever still go for the Peninsula in TTL? Or will they move against the Confederates at Manassas like Lincoln wanted them to?

-Overall effects on the ACW and Beyond?

 

[Johnrankins]

A great boon for the Union. Without Little Mac's cowardly ineptitude the war is shorter by a year or more.

 

[Cymraeg]

Hark! I hear the sound of galloping hooves and the sound of a banner flapping in the wind.... yes, 67 Tigers must be on the way here to defend the reputation of Little Mac!

 

[67th Tigers]

Although McClellan is much derided for various things, few wouldn't agree that he did a hell of a lot of good as Commanding General.

You're right, Halleck would be placed in command, and going by his later performance he would be a "first rate clerk" but simply out of his depth (as he was later on). He's likely to be far more mutable to political pressures than McClellan was, so the Virginia theatre will be fairly quiesent and the Union main effort will be in Tennessee.

 

[Fearless Leader]

Ah, interesting to see this on the first page again.

Perhaps some discussion can occur now...

Here are some thoughts that I've had about the matter since I posted it a while back...

-Seeing as Halleck was also a capable organizer, I doubt the Union will suffer too much from the absence of McClellan in the short term. TTL's Army of the Potomac will probably be reorganized and retrained much along the lines of what happened in OTL.

-In OTL Rosecrans proposed an offensive to seize Winchester Virginia while he was commander the Union army in West Virginia. In TTL he's commander longer and probably makes the same proposal earlier. With Halleck in overall command I could see him giving it the go ahead because it fits very well with his Jominian philosophy of warfare. Also, even though evidence suggests Halleck desired to have overwhelming numerical superiority I think he is more inclined to accept less of a numerical edge than McClellan demanded in OTL and therefore allocate the troops.

-Another possibility might be that Halleck commits fully to Rosecrans' offensive in the Shenandoah. In OTL the months of September, October, and Early November were excellent campaigning weather and McClellan received a great deal of criticism for not utilizing the Army of the Potomac. I don't see Halleck resisting this pressure as well and he might very well launch a campaign before the year is out. One possibility could be outflanking Johnston, keeping part of the army near Manassas to tie him down and seizing the vital Shenandoah Valley with the bulk before advancing on Richmond from the Northwest. Likely Joe Johnson sees this coming and retreats from Manassas to positions closer to Richmond where he digs in.

-Then again, Halleck could choose instead to go the route he went at Corinth in OTL and turn the AoTP into a "massive army of doom" and try to bludgeon Johnston to death at Manassas. Not sure how this would turn out.

-In the West, I think Halleck would still exercise some modicum of control, but he will certainly be less of an overbearing influence. I don't see a whole lot of changes happening immediately on the Union side. However in TTL Beauregard might stay in the east, meaning that Polk stays entrenched at Columbus KY resulting in him being cut off from the rest of A.S. Johnson's forces and being besieged before ultimately surrendering resulting in a massive disaster for the CSA on the Mississippi.