 McClellan 's first military operations were to occupy the area of western Virginia that wanted to remain in the Union and subsequently became the state of West Virginia . He had received intelligence reports on May 26 that the critical Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridges in that portion of the state were being burned . As he quickly implemented plans to invade the region , he triggered his first serious political controversy by proclaiming to the citizens there that his forces had no intentions of interfering with personal property — including slaves . " Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce you to believe that our advent among you will be signalized by interference with your slaves , understand one thing clearly — not only will we abstain from all such interference but we will on the contrary with an iron hand , crush any attempted insurrection on their part . " He quickly realized that he had overstepped his bounds and apologized by letter to President Lincoln . The controversy was not that his proclamation was diametrically opposed to the administration 's policy at the time , but that he was so bold in stepping beyond his strictly military role . 
