General M’Clellan’s Dream.: "Sir, There will be no more Bull Run affairs. God has stretched forth his arms, and the American Union is saved!"

[Civil War]Wesley Bradshaw. General M'Clellan's Dream.This production made its appearance some months ago, and is narrated by Wesley Bradshaw, Esq. We are unable to vouch for the truthfulness of its claim, yet the course pursued by our gallant commander-in-chief since his assumption of the control of the Army of the Potomac is the best argument for its truthfulness. ... : Two o'clock of the third night after General McClellan's arrival in Washington to take command of the United States Army, found that justly celebrated soldier poring over several maps and reports of scouts. ...[[No publication information] [1861?]. Broadside. Introductory remarks signed: The publishers. Apparently published "some months" after General McClellan assumed command of the United States Army and before March of 1862 . Text in two columns; printed area, including ornamental border, measures approximately 22 x 44 cm. Has been folded, some staining.

Rare and ephemeral. Concerns a vision in which George Washington allegedly appeared to McClellan. OCLC lists 7 holdings of various printings, 3 with no publisher listed, none exactly the size of this copy (NY Hist. Soc.; Conn. St. Lib.; A. Lincoln Pres. Lib.; Huntington [2 variants]; U. Mich.; Buff. & Erie Pub. Lib. & Duke). The details of the Duke copy are not given. After the defeat of the Union forces at Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Lincoln summoned McClellan from western Virginia, where McClellan had given the North the only engagements bearing a semblance of victory, and McClellan was appointed commander of the Military Division of the Potomac, the main Union force responsible for the defense of Washington. On August 20, several military units in Virginia were consolidated into his department and he immediately formed the Army of the Potomac, with himself as its first commander. Carl Sandburg wrote, "McClellan was the man of the hour, pointed to by events, and chosen by an overwhelming weight of public and private opinion." McClellan himself wrote:

I find myself in a new and strange position here—Presdt, Cabinet, Genl Scott & all deferring to me—by some strange operation of magic I seem to have become the power of the land. ... I almost think that were I to win some small success now I could become Dictator or anything else that might please me…

— George B. McClellan, letter to Ellen, July 26, 1861.

Therefore it seems likely this paean to the General may have been written before he assumed command of the entire Union army on November 1, 1861, as some have speculated about this piece.