Page:Biographical Notice Of The Late George McClellan.djvu/5



It was remarked by a celebrated historian, that a man cannot speak long of himself without vanity; and the maxim may, perhaps, be extended to those who discourse of their friends. On the present occasion, therefore, I shall study to be brief.

was born on the 22d of December, 1796, at Woodstock, in Connecticut. His family, which was highly respectable, was in part of Scotch, in part of English lineage, and afforded several enthusiastic partisans of freedom in the war of Independence.

The subject of these remarks, after receiving the usual academical instruction in his native town, and under the watchful eye of an affectionate father, entered the Sophomore class of Yale College at the age of sixteen years, and in due time received the honors of that venerable institution.

His collegiate life was marked by singular quickness of perception, readiness in the acquisition of knowledge, and an enthusiastic, but immethodical devotion to his studies. His talent particularly displayed itself in mathematics and the languages: in the former, he showed proficiency; in the latter, his attainments were far above mediocrity. He also manifested a fondness for natural history; and his zeal and success in its cultivation, are favourably recorded in the early numbers of the American Journal of Science, then, as now, edited by the distinguished Professor Silliman.