Goe. McClellan

[30th_il]

Does anyone know what became of Little Mac after he lost the election to Lincoln and the post civil war years? Seems to me he would have had to "eat a lot of crow" about his ideas and actions (or lack of action) with the historians and public as well. Or, did they wait until after his death to reveal the truths about his failures and egotistical manners?

[hoosier]

McClellan was elected governor of New Jersey in the late 1870's, so it doesn't appear that the electorate held too harsh an opinion of him.

McClellan did, after all, take a vast number of untrained recruits and organize them into an army. Though he wasn't the "new Napoleon" military genius he thought of himself as being, he should be given credit for being an able administrator.

[samgrant]

From Wikipedia:

After the war, McClellan and his family departed for a lengthy trip to Europe (from 1865 to 1868), during which he did not participate in politics. When he returned, the Democratic Party expressed some interest in nominating him for president again, but when it became clear that Ulysses S. Grant would be the Republican candidate, this interest died. McClellan worked on engineering projects in New York City and was offered the position as president of the newly formed University of California.[67]
McClellan was appointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks in 1870, a position that did not demand his full-time attention because, starting in 1872, he also served as the president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. He and his family returned to Europe from 1873 to 1875.[68] In 1877, McClellan was nominated by the Democrats for Governor of New Jersey, an action that took him by surprise because he had not expressed an interest in the position. He was elected and served a single term from 1878 to 1881, a tenure marked by careful, conservative executive management and minimal political rancor. The concluding chapter of his political career was his strong support in 1884 for the election of Grover Cleveland. He hoped to be named secretary of war in Cleveland's cabinet, a position for which he was well suited, but political rivals of his from New Jersey were able to block his nomination.[69]
McClellan's final years were devoted to traveling and writing. He justified his military career in McClellan’s Own Story, published posthumously in 1887. He died unexpectedly at age 58 at Orange, New Jersey, having suffered from chest pains for a few weeks. His final words, at 3 a.m., October 29, 1885, were, "I feel easy now. Thank you." He is buried at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton.[70]

He wrote his own version in a book titled McClellans Own Story. Much of his thinking and frame of mine can be gleaned from his many letters to his wife, many of which can be found in The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan: Selected Correspondence, 1860-1865 edited by Stephan W. Sears. Sears also wrote a biography of the general, George B. McClellan: The Young Napoleon.

McClellan fans may like to visit this Mac friendly website:

http://www.georgebmcclellan.org/

[ole]

Wasn't it New Jersey who agitated for Lincoln to return McClellan to his generalship? Like sending a small delegation or something?
Ole

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by ole

Wasn't it New Jersey who agitated for Lincoln to return McClellan to his generalship? Like sending a small delegation or something?
Ole

"Like other mid-Atlantic governors, Governor Parker was alarmed by the invasion of Pennsylvania by Confederate forces at the end of June 1863 even though he engaged in the usual gubernatorial complaints about conscription and the state’s draft quota. He telegraphed President Lincoln on June 29: “The people of New Jersey are apprehensive that the invasion of the enemy may extend to her soil. We think that the enemy should be driven from Pennsylvania. There is now certainly great apathy under such fearful circumstances. That apathy should be removed. The people of New jersey want McClellan at the head of the Army of the Potomac. If that cannot be done, then we ask that he may be put at the head of the New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania troops now in Pennsylvania, defending these Middle States from invasion. If either appointment be made, the people would rise en masse.”37

President Lincoln responded: “Your dispatch of yesterday received. I really think the attitude of the enemies' army in Pennsylvania, presents us the best opportunity we have had since the war began. I think you will not see the foe in New-Jersey. I beg you to be assured that no one out of my position can know so well as if he were in it, the difficulties and involvements of replacing Gen. McClellan in command – and this aside from any imputations upon him.”38"

-from:

http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Library/newsletter.asp?ID=42&CRLI=122

[ole]

Thanks, Sam, I knew there was something out there like that.
Ole