As a member of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Julian investigated military as well as civil conduct. The committee had no policy-making function; however, it made recommendations for prosecution of the war and served an avenue for the radical Republicans to force their policies on the Abraham Lincoln administration. He investigated Confederate atrocities and the mistreatment of prisoners of war, hectored generals who showed insufficient zeal in pressing on the fight, and pursued committee's most important objective, securing the dismissal of Union Army general George B. McClellan, whose slowness in advancing on the enemy Julian saw as nearly treasonable.