A man who, as an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency of the United States against this now so greatly revered President, polled 1,835,985 votes out of a total of 4,166,537, although many of his supporters had no opportunity to vote. One whose military exploits enabled a new state to be carved from one of our oldest states and enter the Union. A statesman-soldier who was primarily responsible for preventing one great state below the Mason-Dixon line from seceding from the Union and in maintaining at least a partly neutral attitude during our Country's colossal inner conflict. An Army officer of great ability, who received the thanks of Congress and became 15th Commander of the United States Army, commanded the Union forces in the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, and forced Robert E. Lee at the pinnacle of his powers to retire with his Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac.

A man who at 33 years of age was eminently successful in civil life being the President of a large western railroad, and who near the end of his life was the 24th Governor of New Jersey; one always recognized as possessing organizational abilities of the highest order, twice utilized in bringing order out of chaos in the Union Armies of the Eastern Theatre; and also known from an early age as a writer of military treatises of great distinction and an engineer of outstanding ability.

But first and foremost, probably the greatest enigma of his time, vainglorious, boasting, arrogant and self-confident at one moment; abject, deprecating, timid and self-abased, the next; alternating from the peak of optimism in his usual exalted and cocky state to the sloughs of despair when his inferiority complex took over. One who loved to comment upon the talk prevalent at one time of his being made the dictator of the Federal Government, and yet when finally relieved of his command, accepting the order gracefully, and telling his devoted soldiers to carry on for their country under their new commander. Fundamentally a good man, but with queer quirks. Yet, withal a man who died in 1885 in relative - and whose name now is in practically complete - obscurity.

This man lived a short part of his early successful life in Cincinnati. Here he enjoyed prominence and a large salary as a railroad President. Here he was the friend of several of our best known citizens of that time. From here was launched the roaring rocket of the career that carried him into the stratosphere of fame, but alas in a parabolic course in which from its greatest height it descended in smoking spirals to the earth. Like a Vanguard - great in promise - poor in performance. But he was a great man. A man of whom Cincinnati should be proud!

George B. McClellan

Let's go back ninety-six years. President Lincoln is worried about the war. No action has been taken by the Union Armies in the East for months. Legend has it that then, together with Secretary Seward and John Hay, Lincoln has taken the unusual course of going to call upon the Commanding General of the Union Armies, Major General George B. McClellan, at his home. The General is out - he, with his glittering staff, composed in part of foreign princes, is attending a military wedding - but the President is informed that the General is expected back shortly. So the President waits, sitting in a room off the hall. An hour or more passes, the General returns and is told President Lincoln is there waiting to see him. Notwithstanding - McClellan goes directly to the second floor. More time elapses and the President, having been apprised of his return, calls a house servant to see what is delaying the General. Poor unfortunate servant, his the task of returning to Lincoln and advising him that General McClellan had gone to bed! The President gets up quietly and leaves. What Lincoln thought one can only surmise. He never stated.

Only a man as broad-minded and as single-purposed as Abraham Lincoln would have taken such an affront, not only to himself personally, but to the exalted office which he held.

It appears McClellan liked to give orders, not take them, and in Lincoln's case it apparently was particularly distasteful for McClellan to do. Shortly before, in January, 1857, he had resigned his commission as a Captain in the regular army and been appointed Chief Engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and soon thereafter been promoted to its Vice-Presidency. As such he had come into contact with Abraham Lincoln as an attorney representing his Company in a law suit. The relationship evidently gave him a poor opinion of Mr. Lincoln, particularly the latter's penchant for telling anecdotes, which opinion - like that of McClellan's later arch enemy, Secretary Stanton, who also insulted Lincoln in connection with a law case heard in this City-McClellan carried with him to Washington. Further, McClellan's politics were Democratic, and he had traveled with Stephen A. Douglas during some of the Senator's debates with Lincoln, and had voted for Douglas. But, of course, none of this was any excuse for such rudeness to the President. And strangely enough McClellan was always referred to as personally being very charming.

George B. McClellan, after resigning from the Army, made rapid strides in railroading, so much so that in 1860 he was elected President of the Eastern Division of the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, with his headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. This railroad was the third line completed into Cincinnati, being built by three companies, the Indiana Company being chartered in 1848, the Ohio Company in 1849 and the Illinois Company in 1851. The main line was completed and opened in May 1857 from Cincinnati to East St. Louis, and it was from the beginning an important railroad, later in the 1880's becoming a part of the Baltimore & Ohio-Railroad system.

McClellan now had a well-paying position, $10,000.00 a year, a princely sum for those days, and so could realize his greatest wish. On May 22, 1860, after a courtship of some eight years, he married Ellen B. Marcy, one of the belles of Washington, and a daughter of Captain Randolph B. Marcy, under whose command he had served in an exploration in the West. An interesting note to his marriage is that one of Ellen's moat ardent wooers had been D.H. Hill, [this should be A.P. Hill - ed.] then a regular U.S. Army officer. D. H. Hill later became one of Lee's Corps Commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia and it was reputed never forgave McClellan for winning Ellen Marcy and like nothing better than to fight against him, as witnessed by the gallant charge of Hill's Division of Malvern Hill.

With his young bride - to whom he was devoted and later unburdened his innermost thoughts in letters to her during his campaigns - many of which, unfortunately for him, were later published - McClellan established his residence in Cincinnati. However, he was so certain that a war between the states was inevitable that he insisted upon having a clause in the lease of his residence which provided for a right of cancellation thereof in such event.

John Pope

In any event, they were acquainted and John Pope in 1860 became a member of the Literary Club of Cincinnati, and shortly thereafter introduced McClellan to that Club as his guest. Of Pope at this time - 1860-61 - Henry Howe, the eminent historian, writes in his Historical Collections of Ohio as part of his description of the attitude of the people of Cincinnati, upon the receipt of the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter, on April 12, 1861, as follows:

We remember meeting on the street a valued acquaintance, in a Captain of the Topographical Corps of Engineer, on the reception of the news of the fall of Sumter. He greeted us with sadness and in tones of anguish exclaimed: 'It is terrible - it is terrible; there is great suffering in store for us all; it is to be a long and bloody struggle. God only knows how it will end'. With that he drew in his breath between his closed teeth in his agony of emotion and walked away. This officer was a member of the Cincinnati Literary Club. In a paper read before the Club in the preceding fall on the subject of Fortifications", he criticised the policy of President Buchanan in unsparing terms; for this he was arrested to be tried by court-martial. His strong Union sentiments and his boldness of denunciation early made for him implacable enemies. He did excellent service in the war and is known in history as General John Pope. He was a rather short man, then in hie prime, very handsome too, with full chest, sparkling black eyes, pearly teeth, dainty hands and feet, his figure just beginning to round into that fullness which at a certain time of life often overtakes both sexes, and when reached by some specimens of the gentler sex is sometimes happily expressed by the agreeable sentence, 'fair, fat, and forty.'"

Another interesting sidelight is that the incident of, the Literary Club paper of Pope's which caused such a furor this was because Pope therein made some reflections upon the conduct of President Buchanan in regard to the Charleston affairs. A newspaperman states he asked Pope's leave to publish the paper in the Gazette, to which Pope agreed provided any references to President Buchanan, his Commander-in-Chief, were omitted. But the newsman was called out of town and the article appeared without such deletions. Pope, as a result, was ordered before a Court martial, but even so was very gracious to the newsman about his unfortunate part in the matter and told him not to worry, nothing would come of it, and sure enough shortly thereafter the order for a court-martial was countermanded.

In any event in early 1861 Ex-Captain George B. McClellan and Captain John Pope were both in Cincinnati. Abraham Lincoln had stopped in the city on February 12, 1861, on his way to Washington, at which time a large public reception and parade was held for him and he appeared on a balcony of the Burnet House and made a speech. It should be noted that McClellan's name was not among those upon the welcoming Committee.

Then, as indicated by the earlier quotation from Howe, with the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter of April 12, 1861, all of Cincinnati became extremely alarmed. Kentucky, it was thought, would secede and go with the South, leaving only the Ohio River separating the Queen City from the Confederates. All agreed that steps for defense, and organization of military forces for the Union, must be commenced at once. Union meetings were held and Rutherford B. Hayes (who only recently had been defeated by the Democrats for City Solicitor), drew resolutions in favor of fighting the rebels, which were adopted on April 15th.

With the fall of Sumter on the l5th came the call of the President for volunteers. Ohio's Governor William Dennison was faced with the organization and support of a large military organization, where theretofore the State had had practically none, at the same time being beset by demands for the protection of Cincinnati and other cities in the Southern part of the State. His great need was for an experienced military officer, but Washington needed them, too, and they were hard to find. In this emergency the name of McClellan was on the lips of many. Influential Cincinnatians, among them Larz Anderson, brother of Major Anderson of Fort Sumter fame, and William S. Groesbeck, pressed McClellan military abilities upon the Governor, who recalled meeting McClellan at a railroad convention some years before and having heard his praise from others at that time, and he recalled further having then received a copy of McClellan's treatise on the Organization of European Armies. He forthwith sent for McClellan to come and advise him about the fortifications being demanded by the then not serene, but nervous, Cincinnatians.

Captain McClellan, like he was to do so many times later, played hard to get, but sent in his place Captain John Pope with his best recommendation. Governor Dennison saw Pope, but apparently was not greatly impressed with him. Pope recommended that cannon be secured and emplaced upon Walnut Hills to command the Ohio River and the Northern Kentucky towns. In this Governor Dennison acquiesced and a large number of massive Columbiads were purchased for this purpose. Needless to say they were never needed.

In the meantime, McClellan, whose military reputation by now had been blown into that of a genius, was being much sought after. New York, through its Governor, wired asking for his services; his home state of Pennsylvania it was said would offer him the command of its reserves, and also the appointment as Chief Engineer of its militia. Cincinnatians felt they could not afford to lose him and a conference of active and prominent citizens was held at the Burnet House, Sunday, April 21, 1861. Democrats, Bell and Everett men and Republicans were present, prominent among the latter being Rutherford B. Hayes. All agreed Cincinnati and Ohio could not afford to lose McClellan's services. They wired Washington as follows: "People of Cincinnati wish Captain McClellan to be appointed to organize forces and take command at Cincinnati", signed William J. Flagg, S. F. Vinton, W. S. Groesbeck, L. Anderson, George E. Pugh and R. B. Hayes. Governor Dennison by now convinced that Ohio must have this military virtuoso to lead its volunteers, and decided to pass over Major Irwin McDowell of the regular army, a relative of Dennison's by marriage.

The Governor now insistently requested McClellan to see him at Columbus. McClellan did so, stopping there on his way to Pennsylvania to see about its offer. But governor Dennison was greatly taken by George McClellan, his appearance and demeanor being prepossessing, modest yet assured, gentle yet assertive, winning yet forceful, in all - that of a man of great personal charm and yet of solid competence. This is the picture one received of George B. McClellan from most all who knew him, particularly the faith and confidence his personal presence inspired in others, yet how can it be reconciled with his acts, or rather his failure or slowness to act in times of great emergencies his innermost doubt of self with attendant railings at others, as shown by letters to his wife - and his public affronts and even rudeness at times to those holding positions superior to him.

But these traits were not then known to Governor Dennison and he caused an act to be hurriedly rushed (it is said, in three hours) through the Ohio Legislature, then in session, by virtue of which he could appoint Generals of Ohio Militia Volunteers, and immediately tendered McClellan the highest appointment thereunder, Major General. This was much too tempting and immediate to resist. McClellan accepted the appointment that day, April 23, 1861, and instantly threw himself into his duties. Two days later Governor Curtin's formal offer to McClellan to command the troops of Pennsylvania was delivered to McClellan, who advised Governor Dennison had it come two days earlier he would have accepted, and now offered to resign in favor of McDowell if Dennison desired. This the Ohio Governor promptly declined, and McClellan wrote General Curtin that having accepted the command of the Ohio forces he was bound in honor to stand by them.

So exceptional were his organizational abilities and so effective his worth, that order was soon being brought out of chaos. Governor Dennison was so impressed that he importuned Washington, where he was very powerful, to have McClellan appointed a Major General in the regular Army. Upon the calling out of the three years troops with their Generals appointed by the President, his efforts were successful and McClellan on May 14, 1861, was commissioned Major General of the United States Army. It is said this great honor achieved so rapidly and at such a young age -thirty-four - was so overwhelming that neither McClellan nor his ' father-in-law, Major Marcy, nor wife, accustomed as they were to the slowness of promotion in the regular army, could credit it. Only when they had repeatedly read the dispatch and had the Governor assure them, could they do so.

At this time, there came to Cincinnati an untidy, taciturn former regular Army Captain, West Point graduate, Class of 1843, but now unsuccessful business man, who had come from Illinois to Covington, Kentucky, to visit his father, and went over to Cincinnati to see if the State of his birth had use for his services. Evidently he knew McClellan, his Junior at the Point; in any event, he tried for three days to see the new Major General but being unsuccessful went back to Illinois and accepted the command of a volunteer regiment of that State. Reputedly he later said of McClellan at this time: He had a way of inspiring you with the idea of immense capacity. I saw in him the man who would pilot us through, and I wanted to be on his staff. McClellan later commented that his not having seen Ulysses S. Grant in Cincinnati at this time was Grant's good luck, that he would have given Grant a place on his staff, where he probably would have remained and shared McClellan's fate.

Action being demanded, it was taken. Governor Dennison was a man of direct, vigorous and immediate action, and thought McClellan was of the same type. Indeed, so McClellan was in all things leading up to the crisis, then he faltered, his inner sense of insufficiency took control and he procrastinated, all to his Country's great detriment, as well as his own. It had been said of him that as a railroad engineer he built the strongest bridges on the road, yet hesitated to give the order to send over the first train. But to return, McClellan was not lost to Governor Dennison as military advisor for Ohio, since Washington put McClellan in command of the Department of the Ohio comprised of the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with Missouri and parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia soon added, with headquarters fixed at Cincinnati. But an immense training camp for Ohio troops was established near Miamiville on the Little Miami railroad, then, thereafter, and even now, known as Camp Dennison. Cincinnati felt more secure with the thousands of soldiers pouring into this camp, and it was under the control of the regular army and, consequently, in General McClellan's command. However, many complaints soon arose about its management, of there being insufficient rations, poor sanitary facilities etc. - most of which were undoubtedly groundless, exaggerated or inescapable, but Governor Dennison received the brunt thereof rather than McClellan. The Governor suffered it, without complaint, and McClellan let him do so.

At the same time McClellan did get the troops in his department well organized and equipped. Simultaneously he set about trying to insure the neutrality of Kentucky. He negotiated with General Simon Bolivar Buckner, then Inspector-General of the Kentucky State Guard, and Governor Magoffin, the result of which was an agreement that Kentucky's neutrality as against the Southern States would be respected so long as it protected United States property within its boundaries, enforced the laws of the United States, and caused any Southern forces to remove therefrom, and in the latter event if they did not, then McClellan was to have the right of occupancy to do so, withdrawing his forces when the result was accomplished. General Buckner in his report of June 10, 1861, to Governor Magoffin of this arrangement stated "The well-known character of General McClellan is a sufficient guarantee for the fulfillment of every stipulation on his part. In any event, the arrangement was soon by force of circumstances rendered inoperative and forgotten, but it certainly was a powerful circumstance in causing the State Government of Kentucky to remain officially in the Union during the entire Civil War.

Governor Dennison strode where angels feared to tread. Recognizing that Ohio in the southeast bordered upon Virginia, which thrust a triangular wedge between the loyal States of Pennsylvania and Ohio, - militarily a most ominous threat to the Union he also was aware that the predominant feeling of the people of the western region of Virginia was pro-Union. Right from the beginning of the Secession he maintained contacts with them and as early as April 19, 1861, he stationed troops at Marietta across from Parkersburg. On the 7th of May he asked Washington to include Western Virginia in McClellan's department, which was immediately ordered. Then he wrote McClellan requesting he enter West Virginia at once at Parkersburg, where the Loyalists were requesting aid.

McClellan's reply caused Dennison to doubt whether, after all, his new General was a man of action. In short McClellan demurred. He had raw troops, - he was making great progress in organization "Let us organise these men and make them effective - in Heaven's name don't precipitate matters - I find I must remain here to organize the secret service - I fear nothing from Western Virginia." On the 13th of May McClellan wrote again urging waiting until Western Virginia has decided for herself what she will do. All this while, however, McClellan was suggesting to Lieutenant General Scott a grand campaign into and through the Kanawah Valley across the Alleghenies, down the James and into Richmond by the back door. Scott said it was a bold plan, but the plan under consideration was for a strong strike down the Mississippi with McClellan in command.

Virginia itself was not waiting. On May 20th came word her groups were in Grafton moving on Wheeling to break up the Union Convention being held there. Dennison telegraphed both McClellan and Scott. On the 24th Scott asked McClellan to see what he could do. McClellan now decided to act. His Ohio troops swept into West Virginia, moved out the railroad to Grafton, and defeated the Rebels in a skirmish at Philippi. The Wheeling Convention was protected. Then McClellan himself took to the field with, as usual, a well considered strategical plan. After some delays, which always seemed to characterize his troop movements, with two columns he set out against the Confederates at Laurel Hill planning to effect a pincers movement. The one column arrived on schedule and demonstrated; McClellan's own column was late and only his advance guard was up in time to fight. The pincers never fully closed, but in the battle of Rich's Mountain, the Confederate outpost was driven in and Garnett, the Confederate General, retreated, only himself to be killed at the fight at Corrick's Ford, at which event his Army broke up and the remnants fell back into Virginia proper. On July 14th, General McClellan could report to Washington that his mission was accomplished and West Virginia freed from the Rebel grasp.

While the news of this little campaign was slowly being released, McClellan's former rival for the command of the Ohio troops, Irwin McDowell, was moving into Virginia with a large army to overwhelm the Confederates and move on Richmond. But on July 21st, he met defeat in the debacle of first Bull Run, and the effect upon the people of the North was extremely demoralizing.

A hero was needed, and one was soon found in the person of George Brinton McClellan, the liberator of West Virginia, whose campaign was compared with that of Napoleon in Italy. The House of Representatives on July 16th had passed a Resolution extending to him and his Army the thanks of the House for his victories. His public pronouncements were Napoleonic in tone - "Soldiers of the Army of the West, I am more than satisfied with you. You have annihilated two Armies commanded by experienced soldiers entrenched in mountain fastnesses" --- Here was the needed leader for the demoralized armies in the East. Quickly he was called to Washington and by August 20th he was the Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

A strict disciplinarian, he nevertheless soon won the respect of his men by his insistence upon a superb supply system, and their respect for themselves by seeing that they were drilled until they became soldiers in fact as well as in name. His winning personality, and constant showmanship, demonstrated by constant canters with a fancy staff through and among the troops, with occasional talks to some of them, as well as his calculated pronouncements, - made him an unexcelled morale builder. Soon from the motley mass of men who had fled like sheep from Bull Run, he had fashioned the greatest Army ever to that time created on earth, the Army of the Potomac. And the soldiers of this Army loved him, to them he was Little Mac , and to the Nation - Little Napoleon. He loved it. Thirty-five years of age - how could he help it. The General of whom his soldiers sang:

"The army is gathering from near and from far;
The Trumpet is sounding the call for the war;
McClellan's our leader, he's gallant and strong;
We'll gird on our armor and be marching along.

Marching along, we are marching along,
Gird on the armor and be marching along;
McClellan's our leader, he's gallant and strong;
For God and our country we are marching along."

Thus he appeared as the man called to be the Saviour of his Country. He believed it and thought the politicians were jealous and spiteful and trying their best to subvert his God-given mission. So the railings in private against his superiors began again, first against General Scott, who, old and infirm, eventually stepped out, whereupon in November, 1861, McClellan was in command of all the United States Forces.

Little Mac at this time wrote:

"Oct. ... I am firmly determined to force the issue with Gen. Scott. A very few days will determine whether his policy or mine is to prevail. He is for inaction and the defensive; he endeavors to cripple me in every way; yet I see that the newspapers begin to accuse me of want of energy. He had, even complained to the War Department of my making the advance of the last few days. Hereafter the truth will be shown."

and

"Nov. 3 I have already been up once this morning that was at four o'clock to escort Gen. Scott to the depot. *** The sight of this morning was a lesson to me which I hope not soon to forget. I saw there the end of a long, active, and ambitious life, the end of the career of the first soldier of his nation; and it was a feeble old man scarce able to walk; hardly any one there to see him off but his successor. Should I ever become vainglorious and ambitious, remind me of that spectacle. I pray every night and every morning that I may become neither vain nor ambitious, that I may be neither depressed by disaster nor elated by success, and that I may keep one single object in view - the good of my country. At last I am the 'major-general commanding the army'. I do not feel in the least elated, for I do feel the responsibility of the position. And I feel the need of some support. I trust God will aid me."

Then, gripings against his greatest supporters, Stanton and Lincoln, with dark references to dictatorship.

Here at the zenith of his career, the inner weakness asserted itself. Having the greatest army in the world, fashioned by his own hands, he hesitated to use it. It might come to harm, this he could not bear. Like his earlier bridges it night have a latent defect, which would destroy it. Defeat was unthinkable, but it could happen - and his Army be destroyed. So he worked out grand strategy and did nothing. Only when an outraged Cabinet, a provoked President and a muttering Public, forced him, did he move, by that time hampered by restrictions, and shortly no longer in overall command - all due to his own hesitation.

George B. McClellan

However, this period can not be passed by without further reference to John Pope, McClellan's late friend of Cincinnati and The Literary Club days. Pope had been winning fame in the West at Melford, New Madrid and the capture of Island No. 10 in the Mississippi. Appointed Major General March 21, 1862, now with McClellan's campaign being unsuccessful, he was called to the East and put in command of the Union Troops in Northern Virginia. Rumor credits him with announcing to a flourish of trumpets, his headquarters would be in the saddle . In any event he told his Army of Virginia: "Let us understand each other. I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies; from an army whose business it has been to seek the adversary, and to beat him when he was found; whose policy has been attack and not defense --- I hear constantly of 'taking strong positions and holding them', of 'lines of retreat' and of 'bases of supplies'. Let us discard such ideas" ---.

Washington had assembled a large army for him, and finally, after much beating around the bush, recalled McClellan and his Army with orders for several of his corps commanders to join Pope's forces. McClellan from the first took this ill, and in his letters to his wife disparaged Pope's ability and predicted his defeat. McClellan told her in this summer of 1862:

George and Nelly

In late July - I see that the Pope bubble is likely to be suddenly collapsed. Stonewall Jackson is after him, and the young man who wanted to teach me the art of war will in less than a week either be in fall retreat or badly whipped. He will begin to learn the value of 'entrenchments, lines of communication and of retreat, bases of supply', etc."

On August 10th - They are committing a fatal error in withdrawing me from here, and the future will show it. I think the result of their machination will be that Pope will be badly thrashed within ten days, and that they will be very glad to tarn over the redemption of their affairs to me ..."

On August 11th - I presume Pope is having his hands quite full today; is probably being hard pressed by Jackson. I cannot help him in time, as I have not the means of transportation; but I foresee that the government will try to throw upon me the blame of their own delays and blunders. So be it. I have learned to endure, and shall continue to as long as the good of the country required that I shall do so; but not one moment longer than that."

On August 24th - I fancy that Pope is in retreat, though this is only a guess of mine, without anything to base it on. I don't see how I can remain in the service if placed under Pope; it would be too great a disgrace, and I can hardly think that Halleck would permit it to be offered me . . ."

On August 28th - Pope is in bad way; his communication with Washington cut off, and I have not yet the force at hand to relieve him. He has nearly all the troops of my army that have arrived."

On August 29th - I find the soldiers all clinging to me; yet I an not permitted to go to the post of danger. Two of my corps will either save Pope or be sacrificed for the country. I do not know whether I shall be permitted to save the capital or not."

On August 31st - There was a severe battle yesterday, and almost exactly on the old Bull Run battle-ground. Pope sent in accounts during the day, that he was getting on splendidly, driving the enemy all day, gaining a glorious victory, etc., etc. About three this morning Hammerstein returned from the field (where I had sent him to procure information), and told me that we were badly whipped, McDowell's and Sigel's corps broken, the corps of my own army that were present (Porter and Heintzelman) badly cut up but in perfect order. *** I feel in that state of excitement and anxiety that I can hardly keep still for a moment. I learn from Hammerstein that the men in front are all anxious for me to be with them. It is too cruel!"

Robert E. Lee

This was even a more demoralizing defeat for the Union than First Bull Run, with a fine army now a disorganized rabble of Union soldiers fleeing through Northern Virginia into Washington, except for a few of McClellan's former divisions of the Army of the Potomac, who fought a delaying rear-guard action. But soon the miracle occurred. The fleeing troops took heart, reformed and were once again an organized powerful army. For the word had gone out that McClellan had been restored to the command, and immediately he had appeared among the troops and; his mere presence reassuring them, Washington was saved. Little Mac was back. The name was magic! But to Little Mac not magic, but the grace and support of the Good Lord. He confided to his wife on September 2nd:

I was surprised this morning, when at breakfast, by a visit from the President and Halleck, in which the former expressed the opinion that the troubles now impending could be overcome better by me than any one else. Pope is ordered to fall back upon Washington, and, as he reenters, everything is to cone under my command again! A terrible and thankless task. Yet I will do my best, with God's blessing, to perform it. God knows that I need His help. I am too busy to write any more now. Pray that God will help me in the great task now imposed upon me. I assume it reluctantly, with a full knowledge of all its difficulties and of the immensity of the responsibility. I only consent to take it for my country's sake and with the humble hope that God has called me to it; how I pray that He may support me! ... Don't be worried; my conscience is clear, and I trust in God."

The fair weather friends of the Cincinnati days were now foul weather enemies for certain. John Pope claimed, in effect, that McClellan had been largely responsible for the defeat at Second Bull Ran through the delay in bringing up his troops from the Peninsula, and that the only divisions of McClellan's who had joined his forces were late and their commanders were, at the very least, uncooperative. McClellan's favorite, Fitz John Porter, at Pope's insistence was ordered before a court martial. When McClellan cane back into command the court martial was suspended, but was later held and in January 1863 Porter was cashiered for disobedience of orders. Subsequently, after many years and the efforts of Rutherford B. Hays, during his Presidency (Hays having been a member of the Literary Club and known both McClellan and Pope and having served under McClellan, being wounded at South Mountain), this finding was set aside. John Pope immediately after the battle was relegated to the command of the Department of the Northwest, which he held for the remainder of the War.

The former friend, but present enemy, thus disposed of, McClellan quickly brought his Army back into fighting shape. Then with Lee's first invasion of the North and the opportune finding of the Lost Order giving Lee's plans for the ensuing week, McClellan moved and fought. By the middle of September he had fought the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, the latter the bloodiest battle of the war, and while again his movements were too slow to catch and destroy the Army of Northern Virginia, they were aggressive enough to inflict severe losses upon it, come within an inch of totally defeating it, aad force its withdrawal into Virginia.

President Lincoln came out to review the battle-tested Army of the Potomac, and upon a sunny October day in 1862 told Little Mac "General, you have saved the Country. You must remain in command and carry us through to the end."

But this was not to be. McClellan soon became again afflicted with the "slows" as Lincoln put it, and not moving, after the success of Antietam, with the rapidity the Administration demanded, he was relieved of his command on November 7, 1862, and ordered to report to his home at Trenton, New Jersey, where he was left to sit out the rest of the War.

His departure from his beloved Army of the Potomac is described as a heart-rending demonstration, with strong men weeping and throwing their caps upon the ground and some crying to be lead to Washington, while they uncoupled his railroad car from the rest of the train, and only recoupled it when he begged them to do so.

Both sides of his character show at this difficult moment of his life. His vainglory and his humility, with the latter winning out. For he quietly turned over his command and left his beloved army, telling his wife:

"They have made a great mistake. Alas for my poor country'. I know in my inmost heart she never had a truer servant. I have informally turned over the command to Burnside, but shall go tomorrow to Warrenton with him, and perhaps a day or two there in order to give him all the information in my power - Do not be at all worried I am not. I have done the best I could for my country; to the last I have done my duty as I understand it. That I must have made many mistakes I cannot deny. I do not see any great blunders; but no one can judge of himself. Our consolation must be that we have tried to do what was right; if we have failed it was not our fault."

I am very well and taking leave of the men. I did not know before how much they loved me nor how dear they were to me. Gray-haired men came to as with tears streaming down their checks. I never before had to exercise so much self-control. The scenes of to-day repay me for all that I have endured."

Enough for the life of any man, you would say. Not for George B. McClellan. Still the idol of many, he remained in the public scene as the leader of the Northern Democrats. The Democratic Convention met in Chicago in August 1864, and on the first ballot nominated him for President. Everyone thought he would be elected. In August 1864, Lincoln wrote "I do not sec how we can defeat McClellan in the election ."

His old acquaintance, Rutherford B. Hayes, who had pushed his military debut, always thought well of him. In October 1862 Hayes, writing from Middleton, Maryland, where he was then recuperating from his wound received at South Mountain, said "McClellan is undoubtedly the General for this Army.. If he is let alone, I think he may be relied on to do well ." Now, in August 1864, Hayes, a strong Republican, wrote on the 8th "I hope McClellan will be nominated at Chicago. I shall then feel that, in any event, the integrity of the Union is likely to be maintained". Later on the 29th Hayes wrote "In camp, five miles to the south of Charlestown, laxily listening to heavy firing on our right. McClellan probably nominated. I suspect he will be elected. Not so bad a thing if he is. Reading Harry Lorrequer."

But Grant, Sherman and Sheridan gained unexpected victories. Atlanta fell. An administration with victorious legions was different from one with stale-mated armies. On the day of election, McClellan resigned his commission. His popular vote was only 494,567 votes less than Lincoln's, and there appears no doubt it would have been greater, and his election possible, had impartiality been shown with the soldier vote, and Democrats as well as Republicans furloughed hone, or helped, to vote. McClellan received the electoral votes of only three states, Delaware, Kentucky and New Jersey. But the margin was so narrow in many of pivotal states of the only 24 states participating, that the result easily could have been quite different. Little Mac carried Lincoln's home county by not quite 400 votes.

The decision being made, McClellan accepted it gracefully. After several important engineering achievements he served as Governor of New Jersey from 1878-81 and died October 29, 1885 in his 59th year.

His one great failing, appears to have been an inferiority complex, upon which, as men small in height sometimes do, he had superimposed a superiority complex, but the innate depression gained control at most moments of crisis and prevented his fine abilities and admirable personal qualities from obtaining the crowning successes they should otherwise have gained for him. In any event, however, it is interesting to conjecture how the history of our Nation and the Civil War night have been changed had not three Cincinnatians been so insistent upon the appointment of George B. McC1ellan to the command of the Ohio forces. McClellan might have gone on to Pennsylvania where, without the catapult of events he met here in Ohio, his rise must have been much slower. Maybe this would have been better for him and the Nation. He intimated later he felt he came to high command too soon. Certainly it would have meant that McDowell would have been here in the West and not in command at first Bull Run. Perhaps U.S. Grant would have received a better reception from McDowell and joined his staff. McClellan instead of Meade would have commanded the Pennsylvania troops at the beginning, making almost certain that Meade would not have commanded at Gettysburg had there even been such a battle. The Peninsular campaign, Second Bull Run, South Mountain and Antietam might never have occurred, and consequently Rutherford B. Hayes, one of the three men referred to, would never have been mentioned in dispatches for gallantry and so later become President. One could go on thus indefinitely, but enough that these three men unwittingly cast the die. The course of Fate followed inevitably.

Let us, therefore, stop and ponder that in the sequence of great and tragic events in those dread days of Civil War three men in Cincinnati were unknowingly the prime instruments of fate. Theirs was the action of destiny best described by Tennyson: