The Northern public despaired. Massachusetts Congressman Henry L. Dawes exclaimed: “Oh the bitterness of the cup we are compelled to drink. With a larger army than the world ever saw before, a more abundant treasury than was ever before poured into the awful maw of war, with a patriotism pervading every soul deep and abiding as his religion, buoyant and enthusiastic as hope, this nation has gone to war with the most infamous and causeless rebellion God ever permitted to exist among a set of men arrogant conceited empty-headed, leading a set of ragged sand-hillers, with no arms they did not steal, no means they did not plunder, no credit they did not have to create, and what has the nation achieved but discomfiture disgrace and ruin. … The Administration seems paralyzed.” Maine Senator William P. Fessenden fretted that “Seward’s vanity & folly & Lincoln’s weakness & obstinacy have not yet quite ruined us, but I fear they will.” One exasperated Ohioan asked: “Is there any hope that Mr. Lincoln will require that there shall be no more unnecessary delays?” The New York Evening Post complained that the president had “trusted too much to his subordinates,” with whom he had “not been sufficiently peremptory,” and that “his whole administration has been marked by a certain tone of languor and want of earnestness which has not corresponded with the wishes of the people.” A consensus emerged that McClellan lacked the talent for his post and that he was a physical and moral coward.
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃