In actual fact, McClellan had between 85,000 and 100,000 effectives, while Joseph E. Johnston at Centreville and Manassas had only 30,000 to 35,000. The Young Napoleon could have assaulted Johnston, or Confederate positions on the south bank of the Potomac, or Winchester, or Leesburg, or Norfolk, all of which were vulnerable to a force as large as the Army of the Potomac. There was no excuse for the inactivity, which demoralized the North and encouraged the Confederates, whose contemptuous leaders began to refer sarcastically to McClellan as “the redoubtable McC.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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