Did George McClellan Save The Union? 

Did George McClellan Save The Union?
Because of a political narrative shoehorned into American history, General George B. McClellan has been portrayed as a bumbling, fumbling idiot, who was a complete failure as a General in the cause of preserving the Union against secession and Civil War. These reports are not facts, but are opinions based on accounts given by the political opponents of George B. McClellan. They are accounts that have been given inappropriate weight in the vast majority of the historical accounts and narratives of the American Civil War. And while George McClellan was by no means a perfect man or General by any stretch of the imagination, he was far from the caricatures he is most often portrayed as.
In late August of 1862, after the Union Army had been routed and sent streaming in chaos back to Washington DC after the Second Battle of Bull Run, the nation faced a crisis that had never been experienced before nor would ever again be repeated. In fact, the Union was on the brink of losing the war, with the Confederacy on the verge of gaining both diplomatic recognition as a sovereign nation, and military assistance from Europe, which most certainly would have led to their final and conclusive separation from the United States.
As events cascaded out of control, the prospects looked bleak. If the Confederates win a battle on northern soil, this triggers the first domino of events that are cataclysmic for the Union. With a victorious southern Army on northern soil during the upcoming election season, chaos would reign in the American Republic. And with France and England on the brink of recognizing the Confederacy and wanting to provide the south with much needed military assistance in exchange for cotton, the north absolutely had to reverse the situation. The stakes had never been higher, or the margin of error allowed slimmer. With the south on the verge of winning the war, the invasion must be repulsed!
To meet the crisis, Abraham Lincoln, against the wishes of his cabinet, and with the reluctant acquiescence of his high command, puts General George B. McClellan back in charge of the army with several charges. Rebuild the army, restore it's morale and fighting ability, and save the Union from Confederate invasion and occupation!
After a chaotic and tense three weeks, the culminating battle that took place, the battle of Antietam, occurred near Sharpsburg Maryland on September 17, 1862, where General McClellan's Army of the Potomac slammed into Robert E. Lee's invading Army of Northern Virginia, nearly destroying it and forcing Robert E. Lee to end his invasion and pull back into Virginia. But in the process of nearly destroying Robert E. Lee's army, George McClellan's Army of the Potomac had also nearly been destroyed, on a day that is universally considered the bloodiest day in American history. The carnage experienced that day, added to the previous months of near continuous combat between the two adversaries, was such that both armies were put out of action and unable to mount major operations for several months.
With the crisis averted and the Confederate Army expelled from northern soil, never again would the Union be in such peril and close proximity to losing the war, and the dissolution that would surely have caused. The Union victory allowed President Abraham Lincoln to announce his historic emancipation proclamation, freeing the slaves held in bondage in the south forevermore and never again would the south be so close to gaining the international recognition it so needed for victory, or would the Union Army be so disorganized or demoralized that it could not defend the nation.
General George B. McClellan and his beloved Army of the Potomac, did indeed save the Union.