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Show : GENERAL McCLELLAN. General George B. McClelland died i : : ! about midnight last night at Orange s ; , Mountain, N. J. He was born in Phila- ' ' ii: delphia, December 3, 1826. He studied at ; the University of Pennsylvania.but in 1842 j i i entered the Military Academy at West ( A Point, where he graduated second in his if class, and was assigned to duty as brevet ! I second-lieutenant in the Engineer Corps. .; In the Mexican war he served with distinction, and was succes- ; . i sively brevetted first-heutenant and captain. In 1851-52 he was the chief engineer of the Department of Texas. In 1853-54 he was the chief engineer for the exploration and survey of the western division, of the proposed Pacific Railroad, while in 1855 he was on special service s in collecting railroad statistics for the . War Department. He was a member of the Military Committee to visit the seat , of the war in the Crimea. OnJunelGth, ! i i 1857, he resigned his commission in the i 1 ; army to take the post of chief engineer of i the Illinois Central Railroad. In 18G0, he became President of the St. Louis & Cincinnati Railroad, and the opening of j ; the Civil War found him in this position. ;'"! : When the Civil War broke out he was : commissioned as Major-General of the ( !, Ohio Volunteers, and was placed in com- i i I mand of the Department of the Ohio, : I which embraced the States of Ohio, In- k diana, Illinois, and the western parts of s. Pennsylvania and Virginia. In May, : 1861, he was commissioned a Major- v 5 General in the regular armjr and was in several engagements in Western Virginia, ; . where he succeeded in clearing the region of the Confederate forces, and for this he ; t received the thanks of Congress. Soon :;.( : after the defeat of the Union forces at i m Bull Run he was summoned to Washing- i - ' : ton, and was placed in command of the i .1 Division of the Potomac, and soon after he was given command of the Army of . ' . the Potomac. Upon the retirement of General Scott he was made Commander- . : t in-Chief of the Armies of the United . I j States, and took the field' in March, 1862, 1 3 and soon laid siege to Yorktown, which I t was abandoned by the Confederates as ; ji soon as McClellan was ready to open fire, j j The Confederates who had abandoned , Yorktown made a stand at Williams- i , i? burg under General Joseph E. Johnston, j , thereby enabling their trains to escape, ; 1 ! and then they fell back upon Richmond. i Soon after this he was superseded by ' : I General Halleck as General-in-chief, and ' i on August 14th was ordered by Halleck , to return with his whole army to Fortress J!.: Monroe and Yorktown. After the defeat j at Bull Run, General Pope, at his own :!:! request, was relieved of the command of ;. the troops around Washington, and Mc- 1 Clellan was placed in command. Soon ; i i ; after this came the invasion of Maryland i i : by the Confederates, which was brought to a close by the battle of Antietam. ; , I j Here practically closes the military career i J f of General McClellan, as he was soon I k thereafter superseded by General Burn- ! ' f ! side, and was ordered to Trenton, N. J., I ; f i i y there to await further orders. ; i j ! i In 1S64 McClellan was the Democratic I , ! : , candidate for President, George II. Pen- ; dleton being second on the ticket. The pi'! popular vote for him was 1,808,725, while I : I s : j ; the popular vote for .Lincoln was 2,216,- ' 1 0- TIie electoral vote was 212 for Lin - ; y j . coin, and 21 for McClellan. McClellan ; ' M ! j j : : resigned his commission in the army ( Novembers, 1804, and took up his resi- ! s i I ; Uence in JNew 1 ork, and soon afterwards : : j ' went to Europe. In 1868 he changed his i ! f residence to Trenton, N. J., and followed ; 1 t. the profession of engineering. In 1877 - f McClellan was elected Governor of New I ' I Jersey by a majority of 12,743 over the I ' : ; i j r Republican candidate, William Newell. I ; ! 1 1 - p No man who rose to any eminence in 'hj 5v the Civil War has been so much dis- ! : 'i cussed, and condemned and praised as it hi was General George B. McClellan. As I ,r ; an organizer of armies and a disciplin- . . !: arian all acknowledge his great merit, ; ! and the beneficial result of such an or- ; f ; i ganization as he perfected can scarcely , i be overestimated. As an organizer he j was great, but what his abilities in the : ; 1 1 i field would have been can never i : : ; I : bo known, as he was superseded 1 j before he" had time to display them. J' Ml'- It; lias generally' been thought that hi? removal was procured through :t political influence, and whenever his case I j ,: lias keen discussed, it has been discussed lip and decided upon political grounds. That f : , j he had military genius of a high order jj 1 1 cannot . be denied, and his slowness in j j moving, which is assigned as the reason ' ; j ; i for the discontent that the authorities at I f i . ' . Washington felt at his conduct, was :(?! i : doubtless due to elaboration of plans ' ! : -i rather than to any other cause. The em- r i bers of the Civil War are not all dead, and to-day it is impossible to discuss the j j case of McClellan with calmness and ; without rancor on the one side or the t ! 1 ; ! other. McClellan for many long j'ears at E 'i least will be looked upon as one who was ; . ( ?: injurea, ana irom whom the oppor- i' , I ;; t unity of winning great distinction I.! ' was unjustly taken. He belonged to a I t ! Iolitical jarty that was very unpopular i i j: n the days of the war, and no matter ; ! j how great may have been a man's patriot- -';! j j ism and devotion to his country, if he ! : j was not of tlie dominant political party f : j his integrity was more or less doubted. ': ; , And this we believe was the true cause ; j for McClellan's retirement by tlie author- i : I itiea at Washington. In all great wars . i j i some who are prominent at first are fated - : ; to fall from favor, and it mav have been i , that it was McClellan's fate to be of those . , : ' who fall from favor. 1 - . |