Ohio History Journal

  • 1
  •  
  • 2
  •  

NOTES

NOTES

 

McCLELLAN'S WESTERN VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN OF 1861

1 George B. McClellan, Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac:

To Which Is Added an Account of the Campaign in Western Virginia, with Plans of Battle-Fields

(New York, 1864), 16-17. Cited hereafter as McClellan's Report.

2 The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate

Armies (Washington, 1880-1901), Series I, Vol. II, 44-45. Cited hereafter as Official Records. As

all references are to Series I, the series number is omitted from subsequent citations.

3 Frederick W. Lander to George B. McClellan, June 8, 1861. George B. McClellan Manuscripts,

Library of Congress.

4 Official Records, II, 51-52.

5 McClellan to E. D. Townsend, May 30, 1861. McClellan Manuscripts.

6 Lander to McClellan, June 8, 1861. McClellan Manuscripts.

7 Ibid.

8 Wellsburg (W. Va.) Herald, June 14, 1861. Colonel Kelley, one of the few Union casualties,

was seriously wounded.

9 Major Cowan, B. Christian, and others to Thomas S. Haymond, June 7, 1861. John Letcher

Executive Manuscripts, Virginia State Library, Richmond.

10 Official Records, II, 236-238.

11 Ibid., 237.

12 Robert E. Lee to George A. Porterfield, May 4, 1861. McClellan Manuscripts.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 Minutes of the Governor's Advisory Council of Three, May 14, 1861. Manuscript in Virginia

State Library, Richmond.

16 Official Records, II, 51-52.

17 Ibid., 52. The Northwestern Virginia Railroad was the Parkersburg branch of the Baltimore

and Ohio system. It ran from Parkersburg to the main line at Grafton.

18 Lewisburg (W. Va.) Chronicle, February 2, 1861.

19 A New Yorker, for example, wrote to Dennison on May 5: "Let me congratulate you on the

zeal and energy which Ohio has displayed, and also on the excellent choice you have made of a

general to command your forces in the field. I knew Capt. McClelland [sic] at the time of his

mission to Crimea and saw the respect, Governor Dennison, which he inspired among the ablest

officers in Europe." McClellan Manuscripts.

20 William Dennison to R. W. Taylor, May 1, 1861. William Dennison Executive Manuscripts,

Ohio Historical Society, Columbus.

21 Dennison to Lincoln, April 27, 1861. Robert Todd Lincoln Collection of Abraham Lincoln

Manuscripts, Library of Congress.

22 McClellan's Report, 8.

23 Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War (Cincinnati, 1895), I, 47.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid., 48; McClellan's Report, 12.

26 Reid, Ohio in the War, I, 48.

27 Dennison to McClellan, May 20, 1861. Dennison Manuscripts.

28 This comment was written on a letter that Scott received from McClellan dated April 27,

1861. Copy in McClellan Manuscripts.

29 Winfield Scott to McClellan, May 21, 1861. McClellan Manuscripts.

30 Official Records, II, 648.

31 McClellan to Scott, June 5, 1861. McClellan Manuscripts.

32 George B. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story (New York, 1887), 50; McClellan's Report,

13-14.

33 McClellan's Own Story, 57.

34 McClellan's Report, 22-23; Official Records, II, 196-197.

35 Official Records, II, 199. See also McClellan's Own Story, 59.

36 Official Records, II, 198.

37 Ibid., 198-199; McClellan to T. A. Morris, July 3, 1861, McClellan Manuscripts.

38 Official Records, II, 198, 293, 908.

39 Ibid., 240-242.