It appears from the statement of General McClellan, made shortly before his death, that on the morning of his reinstatement (before the Cabinet meeting just described) the President visited him at his headquarters, near Washington, to ask if he would again assume command.  “While at breakfast, at an early hour,” says McClellan, “I received a call from the President, accompanied by General Halleck.  The President informed me that Colonel Kelton had returned and represented the condition of affairs as much worse than I had stated to Halleck on the previous day; that there were 30,000 stragglers on the roads; that the army was entirely defeated and falling back to Washington in confusion.  He then said that he regarded Washington as lost, and asked me if I would, under the circumstances, consent to accept command of all the forces.  Without a moment’s hesitation, and without making any conditions whatever, I at once said that I would accept the command, and would stake my life that I would save the city.  Both the President and Halleck again asserted their belief that it was impossible to save the city, and I repeated my firm conviction that I could and would save it.  They then left, the President verbally placing me in entire command of the city and of the troops falling back upon it from the front.”

The result of the reappointment of McClellan soon vindicated the wisdom of the step.  He possessed the confidence of the army beyond any other general at that time, and was able to inspire it with renewed hope and courage.  Leaving Washington on the 7th of September, in command of Pope’s beaten and disintegrated forces which he had to reorganize on the march, he within two weeks met the flushed and lately victorious troops of Lee and Jackson and fought the bloody but successful battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862), which compelled Lee to retreat to the southern side of the Potomac, and relieved Washington of any immediate danger.

After the Antietam campaign, the Army of the Potomac rested awhile from its exhausting and disorganizing labors.  Supplies and reinforcements were necessary before resuming active operations.  This delay gave rise to no little dissatisfaction in Washington, where a clamor arose that McClellan should have followed up his successes at Antietam by immediately pursuing Lee into Virginia.  In this dissatisfaction the President shared to some extent.  He made a personal visit to the army for the purpose of satisfying himself of its condition.  Of this occasion McClellan says:  “On the first day of October, his Excellency the President honored the Army of the Potomac with a visit, and remained several days, during which he went through the different encampments, reviewed the troops, and went over the battle-field of South Mountain and Antietam.  I had the opportunity, during this visit, to describe to him the operations of the army since it left Washington, and gave him my reasons for not following the enemy after he recrossed the Potomac.”