In this order issued on November 5, 1862, one day after the congressional mid-term elections, U.S. president Abraham Lincoln relieved Union general George B. McClellan, a potential political rival, of command of the Army of the Potomac. Lincoln believed that McClellan should have pursued the Confederates more aggressively after his victory at the Battle of Antietam on September 17. Lincoln replaced McClellan with Ambrose E. Burnside, and Fitz-John Porter—who would soon be court-martialed for his actions at the Second Battle of Manassas—with Joseph Hooker.
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