George+McClellan

General George McClellan



__﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Young Life __ ﻿George McClellan grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born on December 3, 1826. He came from a well-educated family; his father was a well-known surgeon. __College Preparation __ ﻿McClellan attended the University of Pennsylvania. He then attended West Point, the most prestigious military academy at the time, and graduated second in his class. __Military History __

After McClellan's time spent at West Point, he dutifully earned two brevets under Winfield Scott in Mexico and later served at his alma mater. As he worked hard in the regular army he was slowly promoted to higher and higher rankings. His slow promotions later prompted him to take a captaincy in the calvary ﻿in the 1855 expansion of the service. He then spent much of his time overseas studying the tactics and methods of European armies. This experience and knowledge highly influenced the later decisions he made on the Virginia Peninsula during the Civil War. While he was overseas he also altered the Prussian and Hungarian calvary saddles into the "McClellan Saddle." He then resigned his commission on January 16, 1857 and entered railroad engineering. He then used his knowledge to teach engineering at West Point. __Personal Life/Quirks __ ﻿ After resigning his commission in 1857, McClellan worked for the Illinois Central as chief engineer and vice president and just before the Civil War became a division President for the Ohio and Mississippi. McClellan reentered the military in 1862. McClellan was known for creating well thought out, organized battle plans, but he was terrible at leading battle and was extremely slow at moving his armies from point A to point B. His poor fighting skills were soon recognized by enemies and acted upon. McClellan was also known to think very highly of himself and tended to blame everyone else for his failures. For example, he blamed his failed battle at Yorktown on President Lincoln. ﻿ Civil War Experience  ﻿General George McClellan's assignments during the Civil War included:  - major general, Ohio volunteers (April 23- May 13 1861)  - commanding Army of Occupation, West Virginia, Department of the Ohio (May 13-July 23 1861)  - major general, USA (May 14, 1861)  - commanding Military Division of the Potomac (July 25-August 15, 1861)  <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 48px;">- commanding Military Division of the Potomac (July 25-August 15, 1861)  <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 48px;">- commanding Army and Department of the Potomac (August 15, 1861-November 9, 1862)  <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 48px;">- commander-in-chief appointed by Ohio's   <span style="color: #080707; font-family: Georgia,serif;">__<span style="color: #2d2ce2; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 48px;">﻿Post-War Experience __  <span style="color: #0c0c0c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 48px;">﻿﻿﻿﻿After McClellan's disaster of a battle at Bull Run, he later won some minor victories in West Virginia, receiving a Thanks of Congress on July 16, 1861, although much of the credit was due to his subordinates in Kentucky. He was later called to take charge at Washington, but some inexcusable actions on his part towards civil authorities was considered unpardonable. He earned himself the name "Young Napoleon." After years of military participation, he resorted to one of his homes in Trenton, New Jersey and ran for President in 1864. Winning the vote in only three states, he resigned from the army on election day. Active in state politics, he served as New Jersey's governor in the late 1870's and early 1880's. He died on October 9th, 1885. <span style="color: #0c0c0c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 48px;">

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