McClernand: Politician in Uniform

Military Review, March-April, 2004 by Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr.

Lieutenant Colonel Richard L. Kiper, U.S. Army, Retired, has won two prestigious awards for his book Major General John Alexander McClernand: Politician in Uniform (Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 1999). He received the 1999 Fletcher Pratt Literary Award for the best nonfiction book about the Civil War and the 1999-2000 Alexander McClurg Award for the best publication about Illinois in the Civil War.

Kiper's book fills an important gap in the history of the Civil War, and the Fletcher Pratt award is certainly well deserved. The book, which is informative and well researched, chronicles and analyzes McClernand's war service.

Voted by war scholars as one of the 10 ugliest (in appearance) Union generals, McClernand succeeded remarkably well for a politician cum soldier, who disproved the maxim that "war is too serious an endeavor for amateurs." McClernand did extremely well for an amateur. He secured his commission as a senior leader solely through political connections in Illinois. He had no prior military training as a leader and had seen only minimal service during the Black Hawk war.

McClernand reputably organized and led his brigade, division, and finally, corps in skirmishes and battles of the Western Theater. Within 5 months of the beginning of hostilities, McClernand had achieved the rank of brigadier general. In light of the times and the rapid growth of the U.S. Army, this was not unusual, but his penchant for political mannerisms irritated his peers and senior officers, who resented McClernand's Illinois connections to President Abraham Lincoln.

A seemingly "fast study," McClernand quickly picked up the science of war. However, his inability to master the art of military customs and traditions caused him to make enemies outside his immediate command and precipitated massive problems with his commander, General Ulysses S. Grant, who held McClernand in low esteem.

McClernand believed a West Point cabal was responsible for many of his difficulties. Kiper, a West Point graduate himself, provides a balanced and fair view of how West Pointers obviously did much to stifle and ruin McClernand's career. Using strong circumstantial evidence, Kiper shows that, for not so thinly veiled military reasons, Grant and Generals William Tecumseh Sherman and James Birdseye McPherson were out to rid the Army of McClernand.

The book's strength is its insightful analyses and its extensive bibliography. Kiper offers perspectives that only seasoned soldiers can have. His insight into tactical and operational decisions is rather unique in bibliographical works of Civil War generals. Kiper aptly shows that McClernand, even though he was largely successful on the battlefield, made some bad decisions off the battlefield. His constant correspondence to Washington, D.C., aggravated Lincoln and Secretary of War Henry Stanton, who often did not respond to McClernand's messages, and produced the opposite reactions than McClernand had intended. McClernand's bitter recriminations about how he was treated garnered little support from Stanton or Lincoln who, in true political form, "hung McClernand out to dry."

Kiper's in-depth coverage of McClernand's corps during the Vicksburg Campaign, which became McClernand's undoing, is the highlight of the book. McClernand's inability to practice humility and hold his tongue precipitated his relief. Grant made no apology for removing McClernand and promptly replaced him with a West Pointer, which only bolstered McClernand's sense of paranoia. With his reputation tarnished, McClernand eventually regained command of his corps, leading it during minor actions in Louisiana and Texas before he became so seriously ill that he had to be replaced.

Had McClernand been able to muzzle his ego, he might have become one of the war's more outstanding Union generals. McClernand's unbridled ambition is no different from that displayed by some senior officers today. Yet, his lack of humility and over-zealous desire to be his own best advocate provides excellent lessons to those who wish to advance their careers through self-aggrandizement. His downfall came when he violated chain-of-command prerogatives once too often. Grant became his lifelong adversary, and like Grant's other nemesis, General William Starke Rosecrans, a fellow West Pointer, McClernand's wartime service is not remembered for its successes as much as for its failures.

The U.S. Army has changed substantially since the Civil War, and full-time professional soldiers continue to be the foundation of a professional military. However, Kiper's book shows that McClernand's citizen-soldier traits of volunteerism and patriotism are also important to the success of the nation's military.

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin L. Kennedy, Jr.

U.S. Army, Retired, Leavenworth, Kansas