The National tribune., 1909-07-15

GEN. IRWIN MCDOWELL.
cfusion of his three months service he
was mustered out, and returned to his
dignified social functions in Philadel-
phia and the management of his extern
sive sugar and cotton industries. He
lived for 20 years after.
As rapidly as possible the three
months troops were mustered out and
sent home, and their places taken by
the three-years volunteers.
Mcclellan Appointed to Command.
All eyes now turned to the young
commander whose forces had achieved
such signal successes in West Virginia
Gen. Scott at once telegraphed to Gen.
Mcclellan to come on and take COM
mand, and he arrived in Washington
July 25, four days after the battle of
Bull Run. Hardly outside of the Ara
bian Nights can there be found such
swift transitions of fortune as had come
to the young eX-Captain of Engineers.
Born in Philadelphia, 35 years be-
fore, and the son of a leading physician,
George Brinton Mcclellan had passed
thru his schools and West Point with
the reputation of solid, painstaking,
plodding scholar, of clean life, exem-
plary habits and agreeable disposition.
in the class of 1876, of which Maj.
Chas. S. Stewart was the head and
Stonewall Jackson the 18th. He was
assigned to the Engineers, and made
much reputation in Mexico by his cour-
age, dash and ability to see and do the
right thing at the right time. After
the war he had been employed in ex-
ploring and surveying, and then Secre-
tary Jefferson Davis selected him as one
of three officers to be sent to the Crimea
TO study the war. McCiellan's share OF
the report was a highly respectable per-
formance, but it was noted that it was
mostly made up from other publica-
tions, and contained little OF personal
observation and study.
On his completing this duty he found
himself 80 years old and Captain. He
thought he could do better outside the
army, and in 1857 resigned to become
Engineer of the Illinois Central Rail-
road, where he remained three years,
when he was elected President of the
Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, and re-
moved to Cincinnati.
In his great need of military men
Gov. Dennison, of Ohio, thought OF
Capt. Mcclellan, found him so useful
and able that he commissioned him
Major-General of Ohio Volunteers, and
then backed up Gen. Scott's recommen-
dation that he be appointed a Major
General in the Regular Army to date
from May IA, 1861. This was done,
Captain found himself next to Gen
Scott the ranking man in the army,
outclassing even such veterans as Gems
Wool, Harney. Sumner and Mansfield
A Head-Turning Time.
A far stronger head than that Of the
young eX-Captain of Engineers might
have been pardoned for turning under
such adulation as Mcclellan received in
Washington.
The newspapers, striving to dissipate
the gloom, exaggerated all that related
TO the young Napoteon," the savior
of West Virginia" What he had done
in a few weeks in the mountains was
only foretaste of what he would ac-
complish with any army proportionatt
to his genius.
Worse still, the politicians got holc
of him. The Democratic leaders were
looking forward three years, when the!
would turn the radicals out" and Nc.
Clellan would be the man TO do this. 81
they sang hosannas to Mcclellan louder
than anybody else.
Mcclellan, who had been known a,
q modest, boyish Lieutenant in Mexico
and as a quiet, reserved gentleman latel
in life, could not Withstand this freshe
of dangerous adulation. His daily let
ters 70 his wife-he was a devoted hus
band-are a most interesting psycholog
ting that
"Conceit in weakest bodies stronges
works"
At first he was overcome by the def
erence they ali paid him-the PresI
dent grave Secretaries and Senators
leading Representatives, even the vet
eran Generals of the Regular Army
whom he had looked up to all his life
Then comes a swift transition, a mar
velous imitation into the conviction tina
he is vastly superior to all OF them,
Heaven-born genius, sent to save tn
country from their incompetency, blum
dering and sordid selfishness. At one
he begins a bitter quarrel with Ger
Scott, whose recommendation ha
brought him the startling honor of
Major-Generalcy in the Regular Army
and he trampled ruthlessly over hi
gray-haired seniors, Mansfield, Hunter
Heintzelman, Mcdowell and ether:
From meekly accepting the Presider
and Cabinet as legally his superiors fo
the time being, he gets to where he ca
scarcely tolerate them. Here are fel
extracts from his letters to his Wife, a
published in "McClellan's own Story:
Il find myself in a new and strang
position here, President, Cabinet. Ger
Scott and all deferring TO me. BY som
strange operation of magic / seem I
have become the power of the land"
Refused invitations to dine to-da
from Gen. Scott and four Secretaries
had too many things to attend to-
Il went to the Senate to get 1t thru
and was quite overwhelmed by the con
Eratulations 1 received and the respeC
with which I was treated I suppos
nah dozen OF the Oldest made the rt