He actually won several of the battles which lead him to retreat.
The entire campaign was - and Lincoln pointed this out - in effect an evasion, since it strained resources to move all those troops to the Peninsula - when the direct route, the route ultimately taken by Grant up until the James River Crossing at least, offered less strain on resources.
Lincoln frequently badgered McClellan by asking why he couldn't do what the enemy was constantly doing, but stood by McClellan longer than he should have done.
I would say that the focus on the putative strength of the enemy, as opposed to focusing on his own strengths, is a definition of cowardice.
When Grant took command of the Army, he berated the officers of it in a rare outburst, famously, "“Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both of our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do.”
With that remark, the Army of the Potomac was de-McClellanized.
The Army of the Potomac was filled with courage, which it showed at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and on many other occasions. And while it is true that McClellan built it, he grotesquely mislead it, even at Antietam, which allegedly he "won." Until Grant and Sheridan showed up, it was poorly led mostly, although Meade was arguably the best leader other than Grant, under whom he served until the end.
McClellan is, by the way, buried near here; one can see his grave from the road in Trenton; he was elected Governor of New Jersey, not that we're very good at picking Governors in this State. Arguably we're terrible at it.
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