G. S. Hillard...

The purpose of this work is to exhibit General McClellan's title to the gratitude and admiration of his countrymen by simply telling them what he has done. The treatment he has received has made it, indeed, necessary sometimes to take the attitude of controversy, and to assail others in order to do him justice. But this has been done no more than the interests of truth required....

The name of McClellan, common in many parts of the United States, is borne by the descendants of a Scotch family, the head of which was Lord Kirkcudbright. The last nobleman of this name died April 19, 1832, when the title became extinct. Three brothers of the name emigrated to America about the middle of the last century. One went to Maine, One to Pennsylvania, and One to Connecticut: from the last of these the subject of this memoir is descended. George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelph

No minute and detailed account has been given of those military operations in Mexico in which Lieutenant McClellan was engaged,— which, indeed, could not have been done without swelling this part of the memoir to a disproportionate bulk. Our aim has been merely to present a continuous and intelligible narrative of what was done by him. The movements of the campaign, its sieges, assaults, and battles, were planned by others; and he can claim no higher merit— though this is not inconsiderable— tha

In the spring of 1855, while the Crimean War was raging, the Government of the United States determined to send a Military commission to Europe, to observe the warlike operations then in progress, to examine the military systems of the great Powers of Europe, and to report such plans and suggestions for improving the organization and discipline of our own army as they might derive from such observation. The officers selected for this trust were Major— now Colonel— Delafield, of the Engineers, Ma

The guns which opened upon Fort Sumter on the memorable 12th of April, 1861, did not merely crumble the walls of that fortress, but they also shattered all hopes of a peaceful solution of the problems which were then before the country. Civil war was now a sad necessity. The President's proclamation of the 15th called forth the militia for objects entirely lawful and constitutional; and it was responded to with a patriotic fervor which melted down all previously existing party lines. This “Upris

When General McClellan assumed command in Washington, on the 27th of July, the whole number of troops in and around the city was a little over Fifty thousand, of whom less than a Thousand were cavalry, and about Six hundred and fifty were artillery-men, with Nine imperfect field-batteries of Thirty pieces. They were encamped in places selected without regard to purposes of defence or instruction; the roads were not picketed, and there was no attempt at an organization into brigades. The works of

We are now brought to the close of the year 1861 and the opening of 1862. The positions and numbers of the Confederate army in Eastern Virginia were as follows. At Norfolk and Yorktown there was a considerable force,— probably over Thirty thousand men. The army before Washington occupied an extended line running from the southeast to the northwest. The Left wing was at Leesburg and its vicinity, in force about Forty-five hundred; and there were about Thirteen thousand in the Valley of the Shenan

Alexandria was selected as the point of departure, and the embarkation began on the 17th of March. The removal of a large body of troops, including cavalry and artillery, with armaments and supplies, was of necessity a slow work; and more than a fortnight elapsed before the whole force was transported. General McClellan reached Fortress Monroe on the 2d of April. He had in all between Fifty and Sixty thousand men with him; and others were to follow as fast as means of transportation could be sup

For about Three weeks after the Battle of Fair Oaks nothing of moment took place. By the 2d of June our left was advanced considerably beyond the lines it had occupied before the battle. The position at Fair Oaks was strengthened by a line of intrenchments which protected the troops while they were at work upon the bridges, gave security to the trains, liberated a large fighting-force, and afforded a safer retreat in case of disaster. To form these intrenchments was hard work: redoubts and emban

The history of the Army of the Potomac during the months of July and August, 1862, may be told in a few words. During their retrograde movement to the banks of the James, they had been fearfully weakened by losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners; but they were not in the least demoralized. They had conducted themselves in a way to move the admiration and win the gratitude of their commander; and from a full heart, on the 4th of July, he issued to them the following admirable and heartful addre

The campaign of General Pope in Virginia was closed with the disastrous battle of August 30, 1862, fought on the ill-omened field of Bull Run, and with that of Chantilly, Two days after, in which our success was dearly bought by the loss of Two of the best officers in the service, General Stevens and General Kearney. On the 1st of September General McClellan went into Washington, where he had an interview with General Halleck, who instructed him verbally to take command of the defences of the pl

It now became a grave question with General McClellan whether or not he should pursue the retreating enemy into Virginia. Our losses had been heavy; the army was greatly exhausted by hard work, fatiguing marches, hunger, and want of sleep. Many of the troops were new levies; and, though they had fought well, they had not the steadiness and discipline that were needed for an expedition so formidable. The means of transportation at our disposal, on the 19th of September, were not enough to furnish

The reasons for this summary and abrupt dismissal of General McClellan, strange to say, have never been distinctly and officially given to the people of the United States. The President, in his annual message to Congress, only Twenty-six days later than the date of his order of removal, says nothing upon the subject. The General-in-chief, in his Report, addressed to the Secretary of War, says, From the 17th of September till the 26th of October, McClellan's main army remained on the north bank o

The final chapter of the biography of General McClellan can find no more appropriate opening than the concluding pages of his Report, in which he gives a brief abstract of the history and fortunes of the Army of the Potomac, comprising what they did, what they failed to do, and the reasons for both. In this Report I have confined myself to a plain narrative of such facts as are necessary for the purposes of history. Where it was possible, I have preferred to give these facts in the language of d

Oration delivered by General Mcclellan at West Point, June 15, 1864, at the dedication of the site of a monument proposed to be erected in memory of the officers of the regular army who shall have fallen in battle during the present war. All nations have days sacred to the remembrance of joy and of grief. They have thanksgivings for success, fasting and prayers in the hour of humiliation and defeat, triumphs and paeans to greet the living and laurel-crowned victor. They have obsequies and eulogi