 McClellan was also fortunate that the failure of the campaign left his army mostly intact , because he was generally absent from the fighting and neglected to name any second @-@ in @-@ command who might direct his retreat . Military historian Stephen W. Sears wrote , " When he deserted his army on the Glendale and Malvern Hill battlefields during the Seven Days , he was guilty of dereliction of duty . Had the Army of the Potomac been wrecked on either of these fields ( at Glendale the possibility had been real ) , that charge under the Articles of War would likely have been brought against him . " In the battle of Glendale , McClellan was five miles ( 8 km ) away behind Malvern Hill , without telegraph communications and too distant to command his army . In the battle of Malvern Hill , he was on a gunboat , the U.S.S. Galena , which at one point was ten miles ( 16 km ) away , down the James River . In both battles , effective command of the army fell to his friend and V Corps commander Brigadier General Fitz John Porter . When the public heard about the Galena , it was yet another great embarrassment , comparable to the Quaker Guns at Manassas . Editorial cartoons published in the course of the 1864 presidential campaign lampooned McClellan for having preferred the safety of a ship while a battle was fought in the distance . 
