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Radio War Nerd #303 — The US Civil War, Part 4: McClellan, Treason & The Battle of Antietam (Patreon)

Published:
2021-11-13 18:45:49
Edited:
2025-05-31 22:00:45
Imported:
2026-06
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Recorded: November 8, 2021

The War Nerd's US Civil War series resumes. In part 4, the War Nerd makes the case that Union Gen. George McClellan wasn't merely cautious or incompetent, but a conscious traitor directed by his top aide, the mysterious Thomas Marshall Key. We trace McClellan's disastrous reign as top US commander, from his failed Peninsula Campaign through the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest battle in US history, against the backdrop of McClellan's fierce loyalty to the pro-slavery faction of the US elites.

Check out the US Civil War series: 

*EP #295: The US Civil War, Part 1: Count Adam Gurowski*EP #297: The US Civil War, Part 2: Bleeding Kansas*EP #300: The US Civil War, Part 3: First Battle of Bull Run

Maps:

*Peninsula Campaign: McClellan's long roundabout route to Richmond

*Battle of Yorktown (1862)

*Peninsula Campaign disasters

*Antietam overview: Lee's Maryland campaign

*Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg)

*Lincoln and McClellan, October 1862

*Link to William Styple's talk on his book "McClellan's Other Story: The Political Intrigue of Colonel Thomas M. Key, Confidential Aide to General George B. McClellan" 

Buy John Dolan's book "The War Nerd Iliad" & his audiobook "Pleasant Hell".

Check out the Radio War Nerd Merch store here!

Total time: 1:36:35

Direct link to this episode's mp3 here 

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Comments

Ander Pierce

I checked patreon this morning, hoping for a new Radio War Nerd episode to go with my morning coffee. Not seeing one, I went about my tasks to an episode of Das Criminal. Hoping against hope, I came back and low and behold there is a new RWN episode, my euphoria knows no bounds

Ander Pierce

Glad your kid is OK Mark, that's a lot of unnecessary fear for a parent to experience!

Ander Pierce

"Rachel Maddow has x degrees, and therefore..." her delusion is even more damning or embarrassing, depending on how sincerely she believed it in the first place.

CR

Matthew Wood

The OSS manual quote - amazing

a clash of purple

I'm an American who has lived in northern Virginia most of his life, I've visited a lot of museums and Civil War battlefields since childhood, and this podcast series has taught me more about the Civil War in a couple hours than anything you'll get in a lifetime of American schooling or touring historical sites/museums. Honestly it indirectly exposes a huge problem with the American polity: they're hopelessly ignorant and incapable of understanding anything because the education system is ridiculously inadequate. I can't even guess how many times I've heard people say "Oh, it's too complicated to understand foreign countries" and "Oh, it's hopeless to try comprehending whatever country we're at war with today because those people are just animals who kill each other all the time." It's not that hard to get at least a basic idea of what's going on in a country like Afghanistan or Israel (or the United States itself, for that matter) if someone bothers to explain it properly.

Maggie+Al

There a bibliography for this one?

NYCM&AHole

Oh god sorry to hear about hand foot and mouth. That’s awful. Hope he’s feeling better

Connor Francis

I hope the beast will get his due in this series

Mark Ames

Thanks, yeah the bastard *doctor* stole a few nights of sleep from me, must've been fun for the doctor. [updated just in case it seemed by “bastard” I was referring to anyone but that doctor. The bastard.]

Bryan Nicholson

I appreciated this episode because it cuts to the quick, explaining a palpable wariness about Gen Mac that ACW scholars display. McClellan could have invaded Richmond, but… His Peninsular Campaign made no military sense, yet… He was loyal to the Union and its Commander in Chief, although he ran in opposition to Lincoln in ‘64, and his campaign way buoyed by Copperhead Dems and racist mobs.

Ossi Tapio

Hot take: Stonewall Jackson is overrated as a general officer.

radiowarnerd

Thanks very much! I was nervous about these.

radiowarnerd

Yeah, he's a strange figure. We'll definitely talk about him.

radiowarnerd

Exactly. There's such a strange code of silence about the obvious possibility that McC wasn't at all enthusiastic about fighting the Confederacy. It seems to come from the postwar consensus, 'We're all pals now..." But it sure is bad historiography.

Frogposting

Each of the American Civil War episodes has been fascinating. Long may the series continue!

Shad Narcher

Thanks for bringing attention to obscure but powerful figures like Key. Sounds like a prototype of Allan Dulles.

Mac Robertson

One of the things your history is doing, that all the best histories of the era do, is highlighting the consistencies in the American ruling class from 1850 through today. The planter class might not be very recognizable, but you make it very clear that many of the northern elites would fit right in with the Acela crowd, and not in a good way. I can't wait for the next (20+?) episodes.

James A. Gibbs

Found the link thanks for sharing!!!!!

Playdoh

T.M. Key's talks with CSA leadership and other maneuverings remind me so much of the "separate peace" negotiations and operations (Sunrise and Paperclip) that Allen Dulles and Co. were running toward the end of WWII. Especially how the Soviets being informed of the negotiations in Bern - by Averell Harriman himself no less! - caused their trust in US govt. to plummet dramatically and effectively kicked off the "Cold" war. The connected industrial and financial elite within US federal govt. and military assisting their "official" enemies against the clearly stated policy of elected leaders is just astoundingly similar.

PW

McClellan's letter to Lincoln from his peninsula of exile, as ghost written by Satan's Minion Key reminds me of good ole televangelist Jimmy Swaggert: "Dearly Beloved if'n you don't fill the coffers today, right now, I'm afraid the Lord is gonna call me home!" *Cue phony crying* The swindle always seems to be the same, its just the audeince that shifts over time.

Bella DeBall

McClellan was alerted to order 191 on the 13th. He was literally driving the DH Hill out of the South Mountain gaps the very next day, to the point where Lee was going to abandon the campaign once Jackson captured Harper's Ferry. Lee's *own report* cites that the Army of the Potomac moved faster than anticipated. Also there are no troop number dispositions cited in Order 191. Also, Fitz John Porter was ordered to attack a line that did not exist at Second Manassas because Pope believed Jackson to be retreating. He was then swept off the field by Longstreet's entire wing on his flank.

Bella DeBall

"They could have waded the creek easily" is demonstrably false, because the 11th Connecticut literally tried to do this and was shot to hell. The bridge issue was that they didn't know where Snavely's Ford was downstream and it took Rodman's Division time to find it. They were also not entirely sure where the bridge even was, if George Crook was quoted correctly as saying "if they wanted me to take the bridge, they could have at least showed me where it was first." Furthermore, there were enough Confederates sitting on top of a giant bluff and a couple hundred yards of open ground that made just about any direct assault on the bridge impossible for 19th Century troops. They only took the thing when the Georgians covering it ran out of ammunition and the Snavely's Ford force finally got over. "It took two hours for Burnside to cross the Bridge!" - Hooker crossed the upper bridge at 4am and went into battle at 6am. Sumner crossed his bridge at about 730 and went into battle around 930am. It's a 19th Century army.

Steve D

These civil war eps could be 4hrs long and I’d still be disappointed when they end.

online Leftist Archive Project (LARP)

Awesome episode, guys. My takeaway: fuck McClellan!! It's funny, you keep mentioning how the Wikipedia pages on this might be biased. I can read somewhat decently in French, and I noticed that on the French language Wiki page about Jean Bertrand Aristide they talk about NED's role in his overthrow, and in the English language version they do not. Sort of interesting.

Playdoh

Unlike Dulles he seems to have actually gone to lengths to scrub his actions from the official record though. Definitely a difference in ego/personality in general there. 110% agreed that there are insane parallels with late/post-WWII American military/intelligence actions though. The struggle between OSS and "Nazi hunter" US army units to track down their VIPs is one of the most insane aspects of that period.

Andrew miele

Enjoying the episode - is there a link to the lecture mentioned at around 23 minutes (author of McClellan's other story)?

laurem_ipsum

So glad your pod exists. Appreciate the maps.

Doug Cartel

"the thing about the South is, it's not so much what is said, but rather, what is *unsaid* that matters"

Redspin Sports

Love the episode! Antietam was the largest one day battle in U.S. history, but not the largest battle altogether though. If I'm wrong here, definitely let me know, but this has always been my understanding ever since visiting the battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD back in the early 2000's.

Lionel Boyd Johnson

"Best and brightest" always seem to flame out or eff up hardest.

Lionel Boyd Johnson

Those quotes from Lincoln about writing nasty letters to McClellan, then tearing them up, never sending them... so much more infuriating to recall after these fantastic episodes. Why man, why oh why didn't you just fire that fool??? Great work fellas, can't wait for the next ep.

Steve Mathews

Your comments about the failure to free the slaves immediately made me think of something: Does it seem reasonable to you to state this: in a serious war, combatants attack each other's resources. As a commodity trader, I have been repeatedly amazed at the unwillingness of adversaries since 1945 to attack resources: cocoa in Ivory Coast, poppies in Afghanistan etc. Maybe that shows that those aren't real wars...just grift.

Garett Miller

Does anyone have a link to the record of Key's brother drunkenly admitting that McClellan didn't want to win the war?

Lord-Admiral of the Pyrenees

At least in “The Battle Cry of Freedom” book, McPhearson does emphasis Lincoln’s exasperation with McClellan’s Peninsula campaign idea but yes, he also doesn’t go for exposing McClellan as an outright traitor

Bella DeBall

Not seeking immediate emancipation was also...Lincoln Administration policy. Like when John C. Fremont decided to arbitrarily set every slave in Missouri free, they freaked tf out and immediately countermanded it because they did not want to lose the border states. Federal armies literally enforced the Fugitive Slave Act until Benjamin Butler came up with the loophole of "contraband of war" to enable giving shelter to refugee slaves.

Xander Udo

Am I just really cynical or does that OSS manual quote sound exactly like how modern politics works?!? (At least in the Netherlands/Europe)

radiowarnerd

Thanks! Maps are always a pleasure in themselves.

radiowarnerd

He was fired for it, and it's a common anecdote, not disputed AFAIK. But he didn't confess it in writing.

online Leftist Archive Project (LARP)

I was reading the 1619 project and, feeling under qualified to pass judgement on Hannah-Jones' characterization on Lincoln, was thinking it would be awesome to know what biographies of him are any good. Do you guys have recommendations? Also I dunno, might be a cool idea to publish a running list of essential reads that've gone into creating this Civil War Series so we listeners can read them!

Kevin Anderson

Cannot tell you how happy I am that you’re both doing this series, thank you so much!

Josh

Awesome episode. Stonewall Jackson being purposely fragged by his own men is a theory that makes a lot of sense

Adam Koslin

Porter fought well at Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill, but was a massive drama queen and waaaaay too political to work well with anyone he didn't personally approve of (and not even in a moral direction like Butler). The actual cited basis for his courtmartial was horseshit as you say (seriously, Pope had NO idea what he was doing and his orders had no relationship to reality) but Porter had to go to (along with a lot of other leading generals) to make the AoP a useful fighting force. Too bad a lot of good officers like Kearney and Rodman and Richardson had to get killed before it finally happened under Hooker (Chancellorsville was a fluke), Meade and Grant.

Cloven Sunfish

Great episode. Peppering the series with Gurowski's commentary is fantastic and above all his writing reminds me most of Marx and Engels during this period. Would highly recommend The Civil War in the United States which is a collection of Marx and Engels' letters concerning the war, their articles in the NY Tribune and for the Austrian paper Die Presse, etc. Here's some of what they have to say about McClellan as a preview: Marx, March 3 1862: McClellan and most of the officers of the regular army who got their training at West Point are more or less bound by the esprit de corps to their old comrades in the enemy camp. In their view, the war must be waged in a strictly businesslike fashion, with constant regard to the restoration of the Union on its old basis, and therefore must above all be kept free from revolutionary tendencies. Engels, May 1862: Hero McClellan is in a dead fix. I think this will mark the passing of his spurious glory. He has had another division transferred to him from McDowell, but that won't help him much. All that can save him are the ironclads...If they cleared the rivers to right and left and engaged the flanks and rear with their guns, these ships could once again save this jackass or traitor.