Ulysses S. Grant wrote in his memoirs:

“Immediately after the reduction of Arkansas Post and capture of the garrison, McClernand returned with his entire force to Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas River. From here I received messages from Sherman and Admiral Porter urging me to come and take command in person, and expressing their distrust of McClernand’s ability and fitness for so important and intricate an expedition.”

But was McClernand’s eventual removal justified. Edwin Hobart, a veteran of the Civil War under McClernand thought not. He penned this interesting analysis based on letters and war records in 1909.