Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/113

 McCLELLAN

McCLELLAN

was familiarly known by the men composing the Army of the Potomac as "Little Mac," and he appears to have had the full confidence of his officers and men. The Peninsula campaign was abandoned by order of General Halleck, who had been made general-in-chief of the Federal army,

McClellan having asked to be relieved of all responsibility of the operations outside the Army of the Potomac. General Halleck gave the order August 3, to which protest was made by Mc- Clellan, August 4, and in this protest he claimed that the Peninsula was the true defence of Wash- ington and that the banks of the James should be the ground on vihich the fate of the Union should be decided. Halleck telegraphed him, August 10, that the enemy had crossed the Rapidan and were fighting the Army of Virginia, commanded by Gen. John Pope. On August 12 McClellan replied that if Washington was in danger his army could liardly arrive in time to save it. On August 31 his headquarters were at that place, on August 24 he was at Acquia Creek, and on August 27 at Alexandria, opposite Washington. On August 30 he telegraphed Halleck that every man of the Army of the Potomac within his reach was at the front, and he asked to join them, if not in command of his o\vn army, then as a volunteer, that he might share their fate on the battle-field. Halleck replied, August 31, that General Pope was in command of the department by order of President Lincoln. McClellan was left in Alex- andria, with orders from the war department de- fining his command and leaving to his control his personal stafif and about 100 men in camp and those left at Fort Monroe. Pope's army was de- feated, Aug. 29, 30, 31 and Sept. 1, 1862, and on Sept. 2, 1862, President Lincoln went to Mc- . Clellan's house in Washington and instructed him to meet the retreating army, take command, and save Washington, and it was under this verbal order from the President, with no instruction from the war department, that the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia were merged as the Army of the Potomac and prepared to meet the Confederate army under General Lee in the Maryland campaign, the last campaign of McClellan. He was in command of the defences of Washington, Sept. 2-8, 1862, and in command of the new Army of the Potomac from Sept. 8 to Nov. 10, 1862, and during this time he fought the battle of South Mountain, Sept. 14, 1862 ; the

battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862 ; transferred his headquarters to Warrenton, Va., where dur- ing October and November he received reinforce- ments and placed the Army of the Potomac in a condition to protect the national capital from further danger. On Nov. 10, 1862, he received notice from tlie war department to report at New York city on waiting orders, and the command of the Army of the Potomac was transferred to Gen. A. E. Burnside. General McClellan visited Boston in the winter of 1862-63, where lie was presented with a sword, and in June, 1864, he delivered the oration at the dedication of the sol- diers' monument at West Point, N.Y. He was nominated as a candidate for President of the United States by the Democratic national con- vention that met in Chicago, Aug. 29, 1864, by a vote of 202i to 23i for Thomas H. Seymour, a peace Democrat. George H. Pendleton of Ohio was nominated for Vice-President, and in the election that followed in November, 1864, the ticket received 1,808,725 popular votes, while the Republican ticket received 2,216,067. At the meeting of the electoral college, McClellan and Pendleton received from New Jersey, Kentucky and Delaware 21 votes, to 212 for Lincoln and Johnson. He resigned from the U.S. army, Nov. 8, 1864, visited Europe, 1865-68, with his family, and on his return took up his residence in Orange, N.J. He declined the presidency of the Uni- versity of California in 1868 and that of Union college, Schenectady, N.Y., in 1869. He had the supervision of the building of the Stevens battery under the terms of the will of Edwin A. Stevens, 1868-71 ; was engineer-in-chief of the department of docks, New York city, 1870-72 ; planned the bridge erected over the Hudson river at Poughkeepsie ; was president of the New York underground railroad, of the U.S. Rolling Stock company, and of the Atlantic and Western rail- road, and in March, 1877, was nominated by Governor Robinson of New York superintendent of public works in New York state, but the sen- ate refused to confirm the appointment. He was nominated by acclamation by the Democratic state convention of New Jersey for governor of New Jersey, Sept. 19, 1877, and he was elected by 12,743 majority, serving as governor, 1878-81. He introduced reforms in the state militia, pre- served the non-partisan character of the judi- ciary, established schools for industrial educa- tion, recommended needed reforms in the prison- labor system, and left the public schools and other institutions of the state in a prosperous condition. He was a member of the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers. 1881-85, and pronounced the oration at the dedication- day ceremony on the battle-field of Antietam in 1885, his last public service. He was married to