Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-10-29
GENERAL MCCLELLAN.

Mountain, n. J. He was born in Phila.
delphia, December 3, 1926. He studied at
the University of Pennsylvania. but in 1S42
entered the Military Academy at West
Point, where he graduated second in his
class, and was assigned to duty as brevet
second-lieutenant in the Engineer Corps.
In the Mexican war he served
with distinction, and was success
sively brevetted frst-lieutenant and
captain. In 1S51-52 he was the chief
engineer of the Department of Texas. In
1S53-54 he was the chief engineer for the
exploration and survey of the western
division of the proposed Pacific Railroad,
while in 1856 he was on special service
in collecting railroad statistics for the
War Department. He was member OF
the Military Committee to visit the seat
of the war in the Crimea On June 10th,
1857, he resigned his commission in the
army to take the post OF chief engineer OF
the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1860,
he became President OF the St. Louis &
Cincinnati Railroad, and the opening Of
the Civil War found him in this position.
When the Civil War broke out he was
commissioned as Major General of the
Ohio Volunteers, and was placed in COM
mand of the Department of the Ohio,
which embraced the States of Ohio, In.
diana, Illinois, and the western parts Of
Pennsylvania and Virginia. In May,
1861, he was commissioned Major
General in the regular army and was in
several engagements in Western Virginia,
where he succeeded in clearing the region
OF the Confederate forces, and for this he
received the thanks of Congress. Soon
after the defeat of the Union forces at
Bull Run he was summoned to Washing
ton, and was placed in command of the
Division of the Potomac, and soon after
he was given command of the Army OF
the Potomac. Upon the retirement OF
General Scott he was made Commander
in-Chief of the Armies of the United
States, and took the field in March, 1862,
and soon laid siege to Yorktown, which
was abandoned by the Confederates as
soon as Mcclellan was ready to open fire.
The Confederates who had abandoned
Yorktown made stand at Williams
burg under General Joseph E. Johnston,
thereby enabling their trains to escape,
and then they fell back upon Richmond.
Soon after this he was superseded by
General Halleck as General-in-chief. and
on August l4th was ordered by Halle ok
to return with his whole army to Fortress
Monroe and Yorktown. After the defeat
at Bull Run, General Pope, at his own
request, was relieved of the command of
the troops around Washington, and Nc
Clellan was placed in command. Soon
after this came the invasion of Maryland
by the Confederates, which was brought
to close by the battle of Antietam.
Here practically closes the military career
of General Mcclellan, as he was soon
thereafter superseded by General Burn
side, and was ordered to Trenton, N. j.,
there to await further orders.
In 1864 Mcclellan was the Democratic
candidate for President, George II. PEN
dleton being second on the ticket. The
popular vote for him was ,SOS, ,725, while
the popular vote for Lincoln was 2.2l6.-
076. The electoral vote was 212 for Lin
coin, and q for Mcclellan. Mcclellan
resigned his commission in the army
November s, 1864, and took up his resi-
dence in New York, and soon afterwards
went to Europe. In 1868 he changed his
residence to Trenton, N. j., and followed
the profession OF engineering. In 1877
Mcclellan was elected Governor of New
Jersey by majority of 1918 over the
Republican candidate, William Newell.
No man who rose to any eminence in
the Civil War has been SO much dis
cussed, and condemned and praised as
was General George B. Mcclellan. As
an organizer OF armies and disciplin-
arian all acknowledge his great merit,
and the beneficial result of such an Or
ganization as he perfected can scarcely
be overestimated. As an organizer he
was great, but what his abilities in the
field would have been can never
be known, as he was superseded
before he had time to display them.
1t has generally been thought that
his removal was procured through
political influence, and whenever his case
has been discussed, it has been discussed
and decided upon political grounds. That
he had military genius of a high order
cannot be denied, and his slowness in
moving, which is assigned as the reason
for the discomfort that the authorities at
Washington felt at his conduct. was
doubtless due to elaboration of plans
rather than to any other cause. The en-
bers of the Civil War are not all dead.
and to-day it is impossible to discuss the
case of Mcclellan with calmness and
without rancor on the one side or the
other. Mcclellan for many long years at
least will be looked upon as one who was
injured, and from whom the oppor-
tunity of winning great distinction
was unjustly taken. He belonged to
political party that was very unpopular
in the days of the war, and no matter
how great may have been man s patriot
ism and devotion to his country, if he
was not of the dominant political party
his integrity was more or less doubted.
And this We believe was the true cause