Remember the U.S. Marine General who testified “I like brawlin’.”?
It’s kind of what Mr. Lincoln was looking for, and not finding, in McClellan.
Abraham Lincoln: “My dear McClellan: If you don’t want to use the Army I should like to borrow it for a while”
The Federal Army had a string of inept and incompetent senior commanders (McDowell; McClellan; Burnside; just to name three). Lincoln’s smartest war move was to elevate Grant to senior command.