Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/101

Rh in the marine corps on 3 March, 1847 ; became 1st lieutenant, 2 Jan., 1855 ; captain, 26 July, 18G1 ; major, 10 June, 1864 ; and lieutenant-colonel, 5 Dec, 1867. He served with the army in Mexico, being present at the storming of Chapultepec and the capture of the city of Mexico, for gallantry in which actions he was brevetted 1st lieutenant", 13 Sept., 1847. In May, 1862, he was sent to reoccupy the Norfolk navy-yard with a force of 200 men, and hoisted the National flag on behalf of the navy. In July, 1863, he was ordered to join a battalion of marines for service in the Soutli Atlantic squadron, and was present on Morris island during the bom- bardment and destruction of Fort Sumter and the capture of Forts Wagner and Gregg. In the boat at- tack on Fort Sumter, 8 Sept., 1863, he led a detach- ment of 100 men and officers, and received a brevet as major for his bravery on that occasion. After 1876 he was in command of the marine corps with rank of colonel, and headquarters at Washington.

McCLEERY, James, soldier, b. in Ohio about 1840 : d. in New York city, 5 Nov., 1871. He was commissioned 2d lieutenant in the 41st Ohio in- fantry on 21 Aug., 1861, and made 1st lieutenant, 9 Jan., 1862; captain, 3 May, 1863; and major, 23 Nov., 1865. He lost his right arm at Shiloh, and was wounded at Stone River, 31 Dec, 1862. On 28 July, 1866, he entered the regular army as captain of the 45th infantry, and was retired, 15 Dec, 1870. He had received the brevets of major, 2 March, 1867, for gallantry at Mission Ridge, and brigadier- general of volunteers, 13 March, 1865. After his re- tirement he settled in St. Mary's parish. La., where he purchased a plantation, practised law, and was connected with the Freedmen's bureau. He was elected to congress as a Republican in 1870, but was unable to serve, owing to impaired health.

McCLELAN, Abner Reid, Canadian senator, b. in Hopewell, New Brunswick, 4 Jan., 1831. He was educated at Mount Allison academy, afterward engaged in business, and became a merchant. He has been one of the governors of Mount Allison Wesleyan college, Sackville, N. B., commissioner of the civil court and auditor of the municipality of Albert, and represented that town in the New Brunswick assembly from 1854 till the union. He was chief commissioner of public works from April, 1866, till 1867, and became a member of the Do- minion senate in May, 1867.

McCLELLAN, Grcorge Brinton, soldier, b. in Philadelphia, Pa.. 3 Dec, 1826 ; d. in Orange, N. J., 29 Oct., 1885. His father was Dr. George McClel- lan {q. v.), who married Miss Elizabeth Brinton, and George was their second son. The three noble elms to be seen at Woodstock, Conn., were planted by Mrs. McClellan, the general's great-grandmoth- er, in honor and remembrance of her husband, Capt. McClellan, on hearing he had passed safely through the battle of Bunker Hill. The general saw them for the first time in the summer of 1884. He was educated by private tutors, and spent two years, 1840-'2, in the University of Pennsylvania, where he acquired a love of polite literature, which was never lost in his later life. He was always an industrious student, and shared the first honors of his class in the university. At the age of fifteen years and six months (the minimum age being six- teen, and the exceptions rare) he entered the U. S. military academy 1 July, 1842. In his class were " Stonewall " Jackson, Jesse L. Reno, and others who subsequently became distinguished. He led his class in mathematics. He was graduated 1 July, 1846, appointed brevet 2d lieutenant in the corps of engineers, and assigned to a company of engineer troops (the only one then in service) raised for the Mexican war. With it he was at Malan, Camargo, Tampico, and Vera Cruz. After the fall of Vera Cruz they took an active part in the battle of Cerro Gordo, 17 and 18 April, 1847, and McClellan led the unsuccessful attack on the left against the triple batteries that swept the road. A second attack was rendered unnecessary by the fall of the Cerro de Telegrafe. He was promoted to a 2d lieutenancy on 24 April, -and afterward took part in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, 18 and 19 Aug., in the former of which his horse was shot. After the rupture of the armistice by the Mexicans in September, he was engaged with his company in constructing bat- teries against Chapultepec, and shared in the as- sault and capture of the city of Mexico, 13 and 14 Sept., 1847. He received the brevet of 1st lieuten- ant " for gallant and meritorious conduct at Con- treras and Churubusco," and that of captain for his part in the assault of Chapultepec. In 1848, after the war was ended, he served at West Point as assistant instructor of practical engineering. In 1852 he was with Capt. Marcy (later his father- in-law) on an exploration of the upper Red river, between Texas and the Indian territory; and afterward he was engineer-in-charge of explora- tions and svirveys in Texas. In 1853 he was on engineer duty in Oregon and Washington terri- tories, and later was employed as engineer on the western division of the Northern Pacific railroad. On 3 March, 1855, he was appointed a captain in the 1st cavalry, and in the same year was sent to Europe, as a member of a military commission, to report on the condition of the armies of Europe, and to observe the operations of both sides in the Crimean war. His colleagues were Col. Richard Delafield, of the engineers, and Major Alfred Mordecai, of the ordnance. The commission received facilities from the British government, but not from the French and Russian. The separate reports of these officers were published by congress. Capt. McClellan's was a model of fullness, accuracy, and system, and was republished in 1861, with the title " The Armies of Europe." The details of the organization and equipment of European armies he put to good use in organizing the Army of the Potomac, soon after the beginning of the civil war.

On 16 Jan., 1857, Capt. McClellan resigned his commission to accept the place of chief engineer of the Illinois Central railroad. He became its vice-president in 1858, and in 1859 was elected president of the eastern division of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, residing in Cincinnati. In 1860 he was made president of the St. Louis, Missouri, and Cincinnati railroad, which office he held until the beginning of the civil war in 1861. While engaged in railroad work, he was able to help his classmate, Ambrose E. Burnside, who, having resigned from the service, was in need of assistance. On 23 April, 1861, McClellan was appointed major-general of Ohio volunteers, and placed in command of the Department of the Ohio, including the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, with portions of Virginia and Pennsylvania. In a month he was in the field, and on 26 May he crossed the Ohio into Virginia, and occupied Parkersburg. This advance into West Virgmia, he says, was made " without orders, and entirely of his own volition." The plain bordering the Ohio was occupied by McClellan's forces ; the mountains by the Confederates under Gen. Garnett, who looked down upon the plain and the Great Kanawha river from two spurs separating the Monongahela from Tygart Valley river and Cheat river. The southern portion was called Rich mountain.