Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-09-27
lCommunicated.l
GEO. II. m

west OF Ninth, corner OF Strawberry
alley, stands an old. time brick man.
sion, three stories high, with broad
marble steps and iron balustsrs. A
basement below the entresol, with two
large windows opening upon a paved
area, surrounded by an iron railing,
and reached by a half-dozen granite
steps, was, somewhere away in the
thirties, the office of DIR. George Me-
Clellan, the NEST eminent surgeon Of
his day. The house has been for many
years the residence of DIR. T.. b. Gar
dette, and was the scene of m of WIN.
Wheatley's somnambulislic feats,
when he walked deliberately from a
second-story window, followed closely
by the Doctor with a horse pistol, and
leaving all his clothes behind. Mrs.
q. was so alarmed that she went to
Europe, and has never since returned
to the haunted house. In that old
house were born George b. Mcclellan,
and his brother, DIR. John ii. Il. Me-
Clellan, who died suddenly in Scot
land a few years ago.
Somewhere about 1885, George Nc
Clellsn. John Mcclellan, Chas. j. Bid
die, Edward Biddie, Elisha Kent Kane,
and a few Others of less note, were pu-
pills in DIR. Williams classical school,
on Clinton street. We were recently
from a school in the old country, and
lived Just one block south of DIR. Will
liams' academy. The open lots in the
vicinity, since built up, gave u iiue
field for athletic sports, and We became
acquainted very soon with most of
these young men, nearly all of whom
we have met since in other scene and
under different circumstances. We
have met Geo. Mcclellan in Mexico;
have known 'Lish Kane as the arctic
navigator, and have seen him come
back at the age OF thirty-eigbt a gray.
haired man. Edward Blddle, married
a rich widow, and died at his fathers
country seat, ''Andalusia." Chas. j.
Biddle entered the army in the rebel
lion, but resigned in three months on
account of the slavery question, and be-
caine All obscure lawyer, he and Ed
ward were sons Of the celebrated Mich
olas Biddle, President of the United
States Bank. George b. Mcclellan
became the pet of the Army
of the Potomac, and undertook
the campaign on the PENN
sula, in command of the best ap.
pointed army that ever started on a
campaign. His personal qualities
made him popular, and his military
talents and education CAV him a
status which should have made him a
Napoleon. His experience in active,
personal service, and his observations
in the Crimea, where he was sent with
Major Mordecai, were of immense
weight and prestige As commander,
but it required the ruds experience,
and dogged perseverance, of Grant to
consumInate the great work. George
Mcclellan is, and was, "A tender heart
ed gentleman, and that element was
not the stuff from which great war
riors are made. He was not i'm full
sympathy with the Government in
the questions underlying the rebellion,
and he failed. 1t was necessary at that
critical period that every department
of the Government should be in per-
feet accord, and when Mcclellan was
relieved at Antietain. his army shed
tears over his deposition, but there
was no mutiny. a Captain in the reg
nlar army, who had fought in many
fields, told us that the most affecting
scene he over witnessed was when
Mcclellan rode along the ranks of
that bronZed and SCARED army, and
waived them farewell. Burnside and
a. Fighting Joe" were next tried.
Hooker could fight a brigade, not All
army; and Burnside could not build
he Ruby Hill railroad. We boarded
aIterward at the same shanty with
him at Pithole City, in the oil regions
of Pennsylvania, where he built a rail-
road, over which it required two en-.
gines to draw one freight car. The lot
fell at last on General Meade, of the
Pennsylvania reserves.
We can recall a quiet gentleman,
with dropping m~u>taciie, Roman nose.
English, long-slinging walk, and wear
ing eyeglasses, b was never seen
on the street without a fair haired girl
in each hand. W. knew him we'll, for
as a connoisseur of art he was almost
a daily visitor at our Office. No one, to
have looked at the man, would have
guessed for "A moment that he would
become finally the Hero of Gettys-
burg"-George g.. Meade-any more
than any one would have said of the
light-haired boy, i'm blue jacket, who
played ''town ball" in DR.. Williams
lot, that he would afterward command
the grand Army OF the Potomac.
When he was appointed to that com
mand it required sierner stuff than his
TO be successful. Stonewall Jackson in
his place, and he in S%tonewall Jack.
sons, would have told a different tale.
Not that Stonewall Jackson was half
AS good a soldier, theoretically, but he
believed in his cause, was fully in
earnest, and never put the suopiter in
mod0 forward. George B. Mcclellan,
connected with some of the best fami
lies in the East, all more or less in
VOWED in the qualifications of slavery,
could not at once adopt the idea that
slavery was involved in the struggle,
or that a war between political and
blood relations could DO pushed to
such a bitter end. and he became
involved in some disputes with
the Goverernment, and history
tells the result. 1t is not neces-
sary to trace his subsequent career.
Every m knows it. His nomination
to the Presidency and his subsequent
unobtrusive life are before the public.
VA h,ln uva l,ty.r fr.., Gan A.Dloi