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'''George Brinton McClellan''' (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer
A [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] graduate, McClellan served with distinction during the [[Mexican–American War]] before leaving the [[United States Army]] to serve as a railway executive and engineer until the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] in 1861. Early in the conflict, McClellan was appointed to the rank of [[Major general (United States)|major general]] and played an important role in raising the [[Army of the Potomac]], which served in the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]].
McClellan organized and led the [[Union Army]] in the [[Peninsula campaign]] in southeastern [[Virginia]] from March through July 1862. It was the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. Making an amphibious clockwise turning movement around the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] in northern Virginia, McClellan's forces turned west to move up the Virginia Peninsula, between the [[James River]] and [[York River (Virginia)|York River]], landing from [[Chesapeake Bay]], with the Confederate capital, [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], as their objective. Initially, McClellan was somewhat successful against General [[Joseph E. Johnston]], but the emergence of General [[Robert E. Lee]] to command the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] turned the subsequent [[Seven Days Battles]] into a Union defeat. However, historians note that Lee's victory was in many ways [[Pyrrhic victory|pyrrhic]] as he failed to destroy the Army of the Potomac and suffered a bloody repulse at [[Battle of Malvern Hill|Malvern Hill]]. McClellan and President [[Abraham Lincoln]] developed a mutual distrust, and McClellan was privately derisive of Lincoln. He was removed from command in November, in the aftermath of the [[1862 United States elections|1862 midterm elections]]. A major contributing factor in this decision was McClellan's failure to pursue Lee's army following the tactically inconclusive but strategic Union victory at the [[Battle of Antietam]] outside [[Sharpsburg, Maryland]]. He never received another field command and went on to become the unsuccessful [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] nominee in the [[1864 United States presidential election|1864 presidential election]] against the Republican Lincoln. The effectiveness of his campaign was damaged when McClellan repudiated his party's platform, which promised an end to the war and negotiations with the Confederacy. He served as the governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881; in McClellan's later writings, he vigorously defended his Civil War conduct.
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==Civil War==
===Ohio===
At the start of the Civil War in 1861, McClellan's knowledge of what was called "big war science" and his railroad experience suggested he might excel at military logistics. His old report from his tour in the Crimean war was quickly rushed for publication. This placed him in great demand as the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] mobilized its militia and its armies. The governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, the three largest states of the Union, actively pursued him to command their states' militia. McClellan expressed desire to command the state militia of his home state of Pennsylvania, but when the despatch did not arrive to him as early as he expected it, he departed Illinois for Pennsylvania with the intent of commanding its state militia. On his way there, he stopped at Columbus to discuss the military situation in the Ohio valley with Ohio governor [[William Dennison Jr.|William Dennison]]. Dennison was impressed with McClellan and offered him command of the state militia on the spot, which he accepted. [[Andrew Gregg Curtin|Pennsylvania's governor]] had in fact already sent a wire to McClellan offering him command of the Pennsylvania state militia, but he did not receive this until the next day. McClellan was commissioned a major general of volunteers and took command of the Ohio militia on April 23, 1861. Unlike some of his fellow Union officers who came from [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] families, he was opposed to federal interference with slavery. For this reason, some of his Southern colleagues approached him informally about siding with the Confederacy, but he could not accept the concept of [[secession]].<ref name="GB5P3" />
On May 3 McClellan re-entered federal service as commander of the [[Department of the Ohio]], responsible for the defense of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and, later, western Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Missouri. On May 14, he was commissioned a major general in the regular army. At age 34, he outranked everyone in the Army except Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, the general-in-chief. McClellan's rapid promotion was partly due to his acquaintance with [[Salmon P. Chase]], [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]] and former Ohio governor and senator.<ref name="MGy5D" />
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Governor Dennison encouraged and pressured McClellan to conduct offensive operations in Northwestern Virginia, where unionist sentiment was strong and West Virginians were clamoring for secession from east Virginia. Dennison's office was barraged by many letters from northwestern Virginians requesting military occupation of Northwestern Virginia to protect from potential reprisals from secessionists. McClellan's first military operations were to occupy the area of western Virginia that wanted to remain in the Union and subsequently became the state of [[West Virginia]]. He had received intelligence reports on May 26 that the critical [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] bridges in that portion of the state were being burned. He quickly implemented plans to invade the region. Confederate general [[George A. Porterfield]] was in charge of defending western Virginia with most of the rebel forces based at [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]]. McClellan triggered his first serious political controversy by proclaiming to the citizens there that his forces had no intentions of interfering with personal property—including slaves. "Notwithstanding all that has been said by the traitors to induce you to believe that our advent among you will be signalized by interference with your slaves, understand one thing clearly—not only will we abstain from all such interference but we will on the contrary with an iron hand, crush any attempted insurrection on their part." He quickly realized that he had overstepped his bounds and apologized by letter to President Lincoln. The controversy was not that his proclamation was diametrically opposed to the administration's policy at the time, but that he was so bold in stepping beyond his strictly military role.<ref name="73OsU" />
As his forces moved rapidly into West Virginia across the Beverly-Fairmont turnpike towards [[Grafton, West Virginia|Grafton]], Confederate forces under the command of General Porterfield retreated quickly before McClellan's superior forces towards [[Philippi, West Virginia|Philippi]], where Porterfield ordered his forces into a momentary rest before continuing the retreat. McClellan planned to encircle Porterfield's command at Philippi through a complex plan that required coordination between three separate forces. This coordination failed, and the bombardment of the village commenced with a false signal. [[Battle of Philippi (1861)|The
After a long time without receiving news from Rosecrans, McClellan grew nervous and dispatched an order to call off this attack, but the orders never reached Rosecrans. Finally, after an exhausting march, Rosecrans took up positions south of the Hart home and launched a vigorous attack up the hill to the Hart farm. Confederate troops, who were under the overall command of general [[John Pegram (general)|John Pegram]], attempted a defense and moved two guns to the road to repulse this attack, which was well east of the main
McClellan was obliged to absorb all credit for the victory at Rich Mountain, and lent no credit to Rosecrans' performance during the battle. These victories propelled McClellan to the status of national hero.<ref name="fSfGg" /> The ''[[New York Herald]]'' entitled an article about him "Gen. McClellan, the Napoleon of the Present War".<ref name="Z7uIL" /> After the defeat of
=== Building an army ===
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McClellan was appointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks in 1870. Beginning in 1872, he also served as the president of the [[Atlantic and Great Western Railroad]]. He and his family then embarked on another three-year stay in Europe (1873–75).<ref name="xtfcA" />
In March 1877, the Governor of New York, [[Lucius Robinson]], nominated McClellan to serve as the first state [[New York State Department of Public Works|Superintendent of Public Works]],<ref name="59Zc2" /> but the [[New York State Senate]] rejected him as "incompetent
==Governor of New Jersey==
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[[File:McClellan Memorial.JPG|thumb|''[[Major General George B. McClellan]]'' on [[Connecticut Avenue]] in Washington, D.C.]]
[[File:Gen George B McClellan.JPG|thumb|McClellan statue in front of [[Philadelphia City Hall]]]]
The New York [[New York Post|''Evening Post'']] commented in McClellan's obituary, "Probably no soldier who did so little fighting has ever had his qualities as a commander so minutely, and we may add, so fiercely discussed."<ref name="2mkwm" /> This fierce discussion has continued for over a century. McClellan is usually ranked in the lowest tier of Civil War
{{blockquote|It has always been my opinion that the true course in conducting military operations, is to make no movement until the preparations are as complete as circumstances permit, & never to fight a battle without some definite object worth the probable loss.<ref name="b7IzB" />}}
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Stephen Sears notes that {{blockquote|There is indeed ample evidence that the terrible stresses of commanding men in battle, especially the beloved men of his beloved Army of the Potomac, left his moral courage in tatters. Under the pressure of his ultimate soldier's responsibility, the will to command deserted him. Glendale and Malvern Hill found him at the peak of his anguish during the Seven Days, and he fled those fields to escape the responsibility. At Antietam, where there was nowhere for him to flee to, he fell into a paralysis of indecision. Seen from a longer perspective, General McClellan could be both comfortable and successful performing as executive officer, and also, if somewhat less successfully, as grand strategist; as battlefield commander, however, he was simply in the wrong profession.<ref name="fvXEP" />}}
One of the reasons that McClellan's reputation has suffered is his own memoirs. Historian [[Allan Nevins]] wrote, "Students of history must always be grateful McClellan so frankly exposed his own weaknesses in this posthumous book."<ref name="dtQ2L" /> [[Doris Kearns Goodwin]] writes that a review of his personal correspondence during the war reveals a tendency for self-aggrandizement and unwarranted self-congratulation.<ref name="SPMJ0" /> His original draft was completed in 1881, but the only copy was destroyed by fire. He began to write another draft of what would be published posthumously, in 1887, as ''McClellan's Own Story''. However, he died before it was half completed and his literary executor, William C. Prime, editor of the pro-McClellan ''New York
Robert E. Lee, on being asked (by his cousin, and recorded by his son) who was the ablest general on the Union side during the late war, replied emphatically: "McClellan, by all odds!"<ref name="i8sYo" />
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==Electoral history==
'''[[1864 Democratic National Convention]]''':<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holland |first=Keating |title=All The Votes...Really |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/san.diego/facts/weird.facts/votes.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000930224301/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/san.diego/facts/weird.facts/votes.shtml |archive-date=2000-09-30 |website=CNN}}</ref>
* George B. McClellan –
* [[Thomas H. Seymour]] – 38 (
* [[Horatio Seymour]] – 12 (5.3%)
* [[Charles O'Conor (American politician)|Charles O'Conor]] – 1 (0.4%)
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* George B. McClellan/[[George H. Pendleton]] (Democratic) – 1,812,807 (45.0%) and 21 electoral votes (3 states carried)
'''[[New Jersey]] [[Governor of New Jersey|gubernatorial]] election, 1877''':<ref>{{Cite
* George B. McClellan (D) – 97,837 (51.7%)
* [[William Augustus Newell]] (R) – 85,094 (44.9%)
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|[[File:Union army 1st lt rank insignia.jpg|75px|class=noviewer]] || [[First lieutenant|1st Lieutenant]] || [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] || July 1, 1853
|-
|[[File:Union army cpt rank insignia.jpg|75px|class=noviewer]] || [[Captain (United States O-3)|Captain]] || [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] (resigned January 16, 1857) || March 4, 1855
|-
|[[File:Union army maj gen rank insignia.jpg|75px|class=noviewer]] || [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] || [[Volunteer military|Volunteers]] || April 23, 1861
|-
|[[File:Union army maj gen rank insignia.jpg|75px|class=noviewer]] || [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] || [[Regular Army (United States)|Regular Army]] (resigned November 8, 1864) || May 14, 1861
|}
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<ref name="dyukk">{{cite web|url=http://www.milbridgehistoricalsociety.org/previous/mcclellan.html|title=Milbridge Historical Society Presentation|work=milbridgehistoricalsociety.org|access-date=September 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025142/http://www.milbridgehistoricalsociety.org/previous/mcclellan.html|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
<ref name="Jp9CS">{{cite web|url=http://new.jbleforcesupport.com/fort-eustis-mcclellan-fitness-center|title=Joint Base Langley-Eustis McClellan Fitness Center|work=jbleforcesupport.com|date=March 17, 2014|access-date=December 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817213712/http://new.jbleforcesupport.com/fort-eustis-mcclellan-fitness-center/|archive-date=August 17, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
}}
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