In public, he was the model of acceptance. In typical McClellan style, he issued a proclamation to the troops, and he made quite a scene on the day of his departure, but there was no talk of a coup, or rising against the administration.

In private, McClellan also held true to form. He lambasted Lincoln, Stanton, and the rest of the administration in letters to his wife. Their concern for African Americans ran particularly against his grain, and McClellan very likely decided to run for president sometime that autumn. So far as the Army of the Potomac was concerned, he was out, and General Ambrose Burnside was in.