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.