★ ★ McClellan, George B.

George Brinton McClellan​

Born: December 3, 1826

Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Father: Dr. George McClellan 1796 – 1847

(Buried: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)​

Mother: Elizabeth Steinmetz Brinton 1800 – 1889

(Buried: Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)​

Wife: Mary Ellen Marcy 1835 – 1915

(Buried: Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, New Jersey)​

Married: May 22, 1860 at Calvary Church, in New York City, N.Y.

Children:

Mary McClellan Desprez 1861 – 1945​

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George Brinton McClellan Jr. 1865 – 1940​

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

Signature:

Education:

Attended University of Pennsylvania​

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1846: Graduated, West Point Military Academy – (2nd in class)​

Occupation before War:

1846 – 1847: Brevet, 2nd Lt. United States Army Engineers​

1847: Served in the Siege of Veracruz, Mexico​

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1847: Served in the Battle of Cerro Gordo, Mexico​

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1847 – 1853: 2nd Lt. United States Army Engineers​

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1847: Brevetted, 1st Lt for his role at Contreras and Churubusco​

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1847: Declined Brevet as Captain for his role at Molino Del Rey​

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1847: Brevetted Captain for his role at Battle of Chapultepec​

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1851 – 1852: Assistant Engineer for building Fort Delaware​

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1852 – 1853: In charge of survey of Rivers Gulf Coast of Texas​

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1852: Translator of French manual of Bayonet Exercises for Army​

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1853 – 1855: 1st Lt. United States Army Engineers​

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1853 – 1861: Member of many Scientific Associations​

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1854 – 1855: Collector of railroad statistics for U.S. War Dept.​

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1855 – 1857: Captain, United States Army, 1st Cavalry​

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1855 – 1856: Member of military commission in Europe

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1857: Resigned from United States Army on January 16th​

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1857 – 1858: Chief Engineer for Illinois Central Railroad​

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1858 – 1860: Vice President of Illinois Central Railroad​

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1860 – 1861: President of St. Louis and Cincinnati Railroad​

Civil War Career:

1861: Major General of Ohio State Volunteers​

1861: Commander, Department of the Ohio​

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1861 – 1864: Major General of United States Army​

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1861: Served in the Battle of Philippi, West Virginia​

1861: Union Army Commander at Battle of Rich Mountain​

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1861 – 1862: Commanding General of United States Army​

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1861 – 1862: Commander of Army of the Potomac​

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1861 – 1862: Organizer of Union Army of the Potomac​

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1862: Union Army Commander during Peninsula Campaign​

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1862: Commander of Union Army Defenses in Washington, D.C.​

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1862: Commander of Army of the Potomac in Maryland Campaign​

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1862: Removed by President Lincoln as commander on Nov. 9th​

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1862 – 1864: waiting on orders stationed in Trenton, New Jersey​

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1863: Declared his entrance into politics as a Democrat​

1864: Unsuccessful Democratic Party Presidential Candidate​

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1864: Resigned from United States Army on November 8th​

Occupation after War:

1865 – 1868: Lived in Europe not returning until 1868​

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1868 – 1869: Engineer for completion of Stevens Ironclad Floating Battery​

1868: Declined the Presidency of University of California​

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1869: Declined the Presidency of Union College​

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1870 – 1872: Engineer – in – chief NYC Department of Docks​

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1871: Appointed and declined Controller for City of New York City​

1878 – 1881: Governor of New Jersey​

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1881 – 1885: Member board of managers National Disabled Soldiers home​

Author of McClellan's Own Story memoirs printed after his death​

Died: October 29, 1885

Time of Death: 3:00 AM

Place of Death: Orange, New Jersey

Cause of Death: Heart Attack and chest pain

Age at time of Death: 58 years old

Last Words: "I feel easy now. Thank you"

Burial Place: Riverview Cemetery, Trenton, New Jersey

Grave site photos CC by Michael Noirot​

 

[Pollaco]

He was known by his nicknames,"Little Mac"+ "Young Napolean". But later the press added "Mac the Unready" and "The Little Corporal of Unsought Fields"

 

[Dead Parrott]

I pass his gravesite cemetery often on the drive to Trenton Thunder games at Waterfront Park.

 

[KianGaf]

“Little Mac’s” Final Moments: The Death of George B. McClellan - Emerging Civil War

Emerging Civil War is pleased to welcome back guest author William Griffith “The startling announcement was made on Thursday [actually Friday] morning that General McClellan was dead,” read New Jersey’s The Orange Journal on Sunday, October 31, 1885, “…very few knew that General McClellan was in...

emergingcivilwar.com

Article about his final days.

 

[Cavalier]

I found it interesting that he was one of three American officers chosen to go to Europe and observe the armies fighting the Crimean War. Just what knowledge he obtained there and what use he put it to I am not aware. Not sure how much his saddle was influenced by his Europen military observations either.

Thanks gentleman

John

 

[Tennis]

See

Stephen W Sears, George B McClellan: The young Napoleon

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy weekend (December 3rd) Birthday Major General George B. McClellan! Salutes remembering General McClellan on his birthday weekend.

 

[USS ALASKA]

University of Louisville
ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
5-2012

To the mountaintop and back again : the rise and fall of General George B. McClellan.
Carl Pagles
University of Louisville

This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected].

ABSTRACT
This thesis is an examination of the factors that impacted the rise and fall of the military career of General George McClellan during the initial stages of the Civil War. It works almost exclusively with primary sources to gain a better understanding of General McClellan through his personal and professional correspondence. The thesis begins with a historiography of the scholars that have examined McClellan from the early days after the Civil War to those of the twenty-first century. The historiography is used as a framework for the debate about the rise and fall of General McClellan. The next three chapters deal exclusively with the factors themselves; starting with McClellan and the historical moment, then McClellan's disconnection with reality in relation to troop movements and numbers, and finishing with McClellan's arrogance / hubris towards both superiors and subordinates.

https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2088&context=etd

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Interesting paper from 1864...

The University of Maine
DigitalCommons@UMaine
Taken from the Paul W. Bean Collection, Box no. 278, f.42
Manuscripts
Printed by Lemuel Towers
1864

McClellan's Military Career Reviewed and Exposed
Union Congressional Committee

This Book is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Paul W. Bean Civil War Papers by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected].

Description
McClellan's Military Career Reviewed and Exposed: The Military Policy of the Administration Set Forth and Vindicated (1864). This pamphlet is a thirty two page exposé regarding former Union General George B. McClellan's military record and stances during the war used as an attempt to discredit him in his bid for the U.S. Presidency in 1864.

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=paul_bean_papers

File too large to attach, please use above link.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

Anniversary bump

29 Oct 1885

Death

General McClellan and the Politicians Revisited
Ethan S. Rafuse
2012
U.S. Army War College, Parameters,122 Forbes Avenue
Carlisle, PA,17013-5238
DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT Approved for public release; distribution unlimited

Abstract
Along with the Newburgh Conspiracy of 1783 and Harry Truman's tangles with Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War, George B. McClellan's problematic career as a general during the Civil War is frequently held up as one of the great episodes of tension, if not crisis, in the history of American civil military relations. In 1987, British scholar Brian Holden Reid published an essay in this journal titled "General McClellan and the Politicians," in which he provided an insightful and compelling discussion of the events and forces that shaped McClellan's dealings with Washington during his tenure in command. In the decades since the appearance of Reid's essay, though, a rich body of literature has appeared on both the Civil War and the subject of civil-military relations. It seems worthwhile to revisit the subject of Reid's essay and consider what insight the outpouring of recent theoretical literature on civil-military relations may offer on how we think about McClellan's dealings with Washington during his time in command.

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA573760.pdf

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Little Mac]

Not sure how much his saddle was influenced by his Europen military observations either.

Thanks gentleman

John

The McClellan saddle seems to be largely based on a Mexican saddle that was also popular in the US at the time (and in the few decades preceding).
This article is an interesting dig into the Spanish and "Half Spanish" saddles:
It also mentions a similarity between them and a 19th century Turkish saddle used in the Ottoman empire. It may be possible that McClellan saw some Europeans using it while he was over there.

SPANISH, HALF SPANISH AND EAGLE HEAD SADDLES

Generally, saddles made in America did not have horns as we understand them today until about 1820 when they were adopted from the Spanish/Mexican saddle. While few Americans knew of such a saddle …

confederatesaddles.com

 

[Cavalier]

@Little Mac Thanks very much. Like horses, I know from nothing about saddles.

John