CROSS POSTED FROM: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/nelly-mcclellan-after-the-war-was-over.175592/
General George McClellan
Frank Leslie’s Illustrated - Maryland - September 12, 1862
(Public Domain)
For Nelly McClellan it began when she received the following correspondence dated November 7, 1862. What was she thinking as she read the letter that starts out as a normal missive but takes a turn when General McClellan is interrupted in his writing by a visitor at 11:30 pm?
“Another interruption - this time more important. It was in the shape of dear old Burnside accompanied by Genl Buckingham, the Secy’s Adjt Genl - they brought with them the order relieving me from the command of the Army of the Potomac, & assigning Burnside to the command. No cause is given. I am ordered to turn over the command immediately & repair to Trenton N.J. & on my arrival there to report by telegraph for future orders. . . .
Do not be at all worried - I am not. I have done the best I could for my country - to the last I have done my duty as I understand it. That I must have made many mistakes I cannot deny - I do not see any great blunders - but no one can judge himself. Our consolation must be that we have tried to do what was right - if we have failed it was not our fault.” {1}
On that November day Mary Ellen (Nelly) Marcy McClellan was twenty-seven years old and the mother of a year-old daughter Mary. Although she had known George McClellan for many years they had only been married since May 22, 1860. McClellan was always the preferred husband for Nelly’s parents and that was the man she wed. When McClellan left the battlefield Nelly was young and the rest of her life was ahead of her.
*
General McClellan took a few of his remaining staff members and headed to Trenton, New Jersey but he did not wait there long. He soon headed to New York and there with his wife and daughter they stayed at a Fifth Avenue Hotel to determine what their next move should be. In between their thinking they were being entertained by some of the most influential Democrats. The newspapers took notice of their activities. The McClellan’s stayed in New York until February 1863 until George was asked to head to Washington to face a grilling with the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. It was a tough time for him for he missed his wife. He wrote at midnight on the 28th of February:
“I am very sorry that I did not bring you on, for I find that I have no chance in Wash without you! I sincerely believe, you little scamp that you are far more popular in Wash today than your husband is.” {1}
We don’t really know what Nelly did until she emerges in April 1864 when she appeared at the New York Sanitary Fair. At this event she was joined by Jessie Fremont and Julia Grant as the three faced off to see who would take home the Tiffany sword that was being awarded to whomever of the ladies sold enough ticket. Despite the efforts of the Democrats to purchase the most tickets (at $1.00) Julia Grant ended up getting the most votes and the sword.
George McClellan was the democratic choice for the top spot on the presidential ticket in 1864. The McClellan's had built a home in Orange, New Jersey which they named “Maywood”. He was a relatively “quiet” candidate. Some believe he took the attitude that if God wanted him to be president, he would be president. Well I guess God didn’t want him as president for he lost.
Nelly was with her husband on Election Day and was by his side when he learned that his former beloved Army of the Potomac only managed to cast fewer than 30 percent of their vote for their “beloved Little Mac”. So after the bitter defeat what does the McClellan family do? - they leave the country. In January of 1865 the Cunard steamer China sets sail for Europe carrying George, Nelly now twenty-nine and their daughter. On November 23rd of that year they welcomed a son whom they named for his father but called Max. The young family stayed abroad for the next three years learning the death of Abraham Lincoln in May of 1865 when McClellan wrote home to a friend from Sorrentom Italy:
“while we have been enjoying ourselves among these magnificent scenes, you at home have passed through the most wonderful transition of which history bears record. How strange it is that the military death of the rebellion should have been followed with such tragic quickness by the atrocious murder of Mr. Lincoln! Now I cannot but forget all that has been unpleasant between us, & remember only the brighter parts of our intercourse.” {1}
*
Upon their arrival back in New York in 1868, Nelly, now thirty-three years old was once again dealing with the possibility of another presidential run. This election cycles her her husband had no desire to run against the popular Republican Ulysses Grant so he looked for work in the private market. It was about this time that the University of California was established and the Regents of the University touched off a major debate when they asked George McClellan to be the new president. The fiercest editorial flew off the desk of The San Francisco Examiner” a supporter of McClellan in his 1864 presidential run had turned their opinion when they printed:
“We want no narrow-brained fanatical sectionalist of New England optimism and puritanism or preside over our cosmopolitan University.” {2}
Once again Nelly has to live with criticism of her husband as McClellan turned down the offer and by 1870 McClellan was pointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks. By 1872 was was president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad.
In 1873 the McClellan’s embarked on another three-year visit to Europe. They were back in the states by 1877 Nelly now in her early forties with children in their teen but yet again there were more disappointments and criticism. In March of 1877 McClellan was nominated to serve as the first New York State Superintendent of Public Works by the governor Lucius Robinson. Nelly would have to hear her husband was rejected by the State Senate due to the fact he was
“incompetent for the position”.
Family’s life improved when George was nominated and elected as the Governor of New Jersey. He served from 1878 to 1881. Even in this position Nelly could not escape criticism regarding her beloved. As history will write out his tenure:
“Some consider him a giant as the state’s chief executive—a principled, visionary leader who advanced ideas and achieved things that ordinary men just could not fathom at that time. Others, however, consider him a lightweight as governor—an indifferent, dilatory and headstrong leader whose greatest problem was progress.
The similarities between Little Mac’s tenure as New Jersey’s governor and his tenures as the commanding general of the Army of the Potomac (as well as his brief service as commander in chief) are remarkably similar. The only thing that can be said with certainty about his term as New Jersey’s governor is that, like his time with the Union Army, George McClellan was an able administrator.” {3}
*
George and Nelly maintained a close relationship through all the years. During the war they exchanged many thoughts in their letters neither holding anything back from one another. We will never know what she really thought of George and how difficult it must have been for her at times to hear the criticism but as a wife she was dutiful and willing to support him in his endeavors. It must have been heartbreaking when October 29, 1885 he suffered a major heart attack that killed him at fifty-eight leaving behind his Nelly now fifty years old with at twenty-four year old daughter and a twenty year old son. At 3 a.m. he spoke his final words:
"I feel easy now. Thank you."
I wonder if in some way - these words were echoed from Nelly - the criticism is over - his life is done - he is now left to history. And for the woman who had been engaged to another future civil war general yet bent to her father’s wishes - did she ever find happiness? Some have commented that in all her pictures with General McClellan her eyes hold a sadness? If she could speak what would she say?
Sources
1. The Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan, edited by Stephen W. Sears
2. A Brief History of the University of California, by Patricia A. Pelfrey, Margaret Cheney
3. https://www.historynet.com/governor-mcclellan-deja-vu-all-over-again.htm
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8215496/mary-ellen-mcclellan