McClellan manifested his contempt for Lincoln in deeds as well as words. Less than two weeks after his elevation to the supreme command, he returned home from a wedding to discover the president, John Hay, and Seward waiting for him. According to Hay, the general “without paying any particular attention to the porter who told him the President was waiting to see him, went up stairs, passing the door of the room where the President and Secretary of State were seated. They waited about half-an-hour, and sent once more a servant to tell the General they were there, and the answer cooly came that the General had gone to bed.” As they returned to the White House, Hay bemoaned “this unparrallelled insolence of epaulettes,” but Lincoln “seemed not to have noticed it specially, saying it was better at this time not to be making points of etiquette & personal dignity.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃