The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1861-07-27
ADJ. GEN. McCLELLAN,. U. s. 4.

| ADJ. GEN. MCCLELLAN. y. 6. 4.
| Aside from such general interest in the
| success of Northern arms, as all patriotic
people must feel, We confess a special and
unusual interest in the officer appointed TO
the command of ''the Department of the
Ohio" because we consider him particu
larlv our General, in that he first took prom
inent position in the campaign, which may
be said to be already inauguFated, as Cen
eral of the Ohio forces. ''The Department
of the Ohio" is splendid military domain,
in both extent and importance, and the rap
i'd line of promotion into which this young
officer has so suddenly sprung, impressed
US at first with the idea that it was one OF
those cases where greatness is thrust upon
man. We have been at some pains to
look over his record, however, and we find
the whole training of his life seems to have
tended, with singular unity of action, to-
ward fitting him for such service as he is
now called upon 20 render, aud the '.busi-
ness he has helmeds affords ample warrant
for a reasonable expectation of his future
success.
George B. Mcclellan was born in the
city of Philadelphia, December Sd, 1895.
He entered West Point as Cadet at six
teen, and at twenty we find him graduated
as brevet second Lieutenant in military
Engineers" which corps took the creme
de Ia creme of the Academy. His first &C
tive service was in the war with Mexico,
with a company of sappers and miners.
He was breveted first Lieutenant for Con-
treras. and Captain for the City of Mexico
and Chepultepec.
After the war he remained on duty with
the sappers and miners at West Point, until
| T.. IL. Ill,
| bayonet exercise into the United States army,
and translated and adapted a manual for the
same, which has since become Text Book
in the service. He next served as Engi-
neer in the construction of Fort Delaware.
In the spring of 1852 he was assigned to
the duty under Major R. B. Marcy in the
Expedition for the exploration of Red Riv
err Thence he was ordered direct to Tex
as as the Senior Engineer on the staff of
General Persifer F. Smith, and was engaged
on the coast of Texas on surveys of Riv-
ers and Harbors.
In 1853 he was ordered to the Pacific
| Coast in command Of the Western Divi-
sion of the survey of the North Pacific Rail-
road route. He returned to the East in
1858, on duty concerned with the Pacific
survey, and was engaged also in secret SER
vice to the West Indies.
The following year he received COM
mission in the 1st Regiment of Cavalry,
and was sent to Europe as a member of the
Military Commission 70 the seat of war in
the Crimea and in Northern Russia. The
other members of the Company, it will be
remembered, were Col. Richard Delafield
at one time Military Superintendent at
West Point, and Maj. Alfred Mordecai,
now of the Secession army.
McClellan's Report, made on his return,
of the Organization of European armies
and the operations of War;" contributed
! greatly to his already well established repu-
tation as a scientific soldier, and, as mill
tary treatise, has been highly valued.
He resigned January, 1857, to take the
position of Vice President and Chief En-
gineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, which
he held about three years, and relinquished
for the Presidency of the Ohio and Miss.
Railroad Company, of which he acted as
General Superintendent He maintained in
his new field of operations the same pre-
eminence that attended his career in the
military service, and we regard his Rail
road experience as not by any means the
the least valuable part of his education for
his present high Office. Celebrity of action,
and quickness of computation, are invalua-
Ole 10 the SOiuler1 ana Inc fLalirOaQer s pro-
fession, which, OF all others, attaches the
most value to a minute, and imposes an in
slant penalty of ruinou9 disaster upon eve
ry fault of judgment, must furnish an in
valuable auxiliary training to the man of
war.
i Mcclellan was appointed Major General
of the Ohio Volunteer Militia forces mus
tered into the United States service, April
Esd of the present year, and on the 18th of
the following month received commission
as Major General of the United States Ar
my. He ranks now next to Lieutenant
General Scott, but it is not, consequently,
a matter of course that he would succeed
to that Office, IN case the Office of Com
mander-in- Chief should become vacant, as
in our army place is bestowed by special
! sppointment-mere seniority having weight
only in the absence of other reasons.
The Department of the Ohio which
is assigned to his command, comprises all
of the States of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio,
and that part of Virginia lying north of the
Great Kanawha river west of the Green
Brier river and the Maryland line, with SO
much of Pennsylvania as lies west of lire
drawn from the Maryland Iins> to the north
west corner of McKeen coun>S.-CEev.
Plain Dealer.