McClellan’s position Remains Shaky

March 16, 1862

As the Army of the Potomac continues to prepare to move by sea to start the Peninsular campaign, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair calls on President Lincoln seeking information about pressure to for news about pressure to sack General George B. McClellan from the army’s command. According to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox, Blair’s brother-in-law, Blair gets no clue from President Lincoln, who can be very close-mouthed when he so chooses. Undoubtedly, the president realizes that any further rumors would undermine the success of McClellan’s campaign, which had been so often delayed and on which so much depended. The next day, President Lincoln would hear a rumor that a resolution would be introduced in Congress to remove McClellan.

General McClellan wrote a New York friend: “The President is all right — he is my strongest friend.”