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
