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Lot 168
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McClellan Is "writing against time - being engaged in preparing a Chapter on western Virginia", w/Impt Details He Just Found Out Were Omitted from the Just Released Gov't Publication of His "Official Report"
McClellan Is "writing against time - being engaged in preparing a Chapter on western Virginia", w/Impt Details He Just Found Out Were Omitted from the Just Released Gov't Publication of His "Official Report"
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McClellan George

McClellan Is “writing against time – being engaged in preparing a Chapter on western Virginia,” w/Impt Details He Just Found Out Were Omitted from the Just Released Gov't Publication of His “Official Report” 


Autograph Letter Signed “Geo B McClellan,” one page, 5.25” x 8.25”. Orange, [New Jersey], no date, but penned in January 1864, Tuesday PM. To Edwin Bartlett Esq., 5th Ave Hotel [New York City]. Fine condition.



In full, “My Dear Mr. Bartlett, Your kind note inviting me to attend your Whist party reached me this afternoon. I am very busy just now in writing against time – being engaged in preparing a Chapter on Western Virginia to accompany the New York Edition of my Report, so that I fear it will not be in my power to avail myself of your kindness. Mrs. McC unites with me in kindest regards to Mrs Bartlett & yourself. With my sincere thanks for your thoughtfulness. I am your friend…”



Whist was a card game, a forerunner of bridge, which was very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. New York businessman Edwin Bartlett, U.S. Charge d’Affaires in Peru from 1838-1840, was married to the former Caroline Harrod, niece of Thomas Boylston Adams, youngest son of President John Adams.



On January 13, 1864, the House of Representatives “Resolved, That ten thousand copies of the official report of Major General McClellan (not including the accompanying documents) be printed for the use of the members of the present house.” The 38th Congress had authorized publication in late 1863 of “Organization of the Army of the Potomac. Letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting the report of Gen. George B. McClellan upon the Organization of the Army of the Potomac, and its campaigns in Virginia and Maryland, from July 26th, 1861, to November 7th, 1862.” The government publication omitted parts of McClellan’s “Official Report.”



An “Abstract and Analysis in Advance of Publication” first published in “The New York Commercial Advertiser” and then in “The New York Times” on January 5, 1864, began: “The report is dated New-York, Aug. 4, 1863. It begins with an illusion to the results of the victories in Western Virginia, which, we learn, were won not at all in connection with any general cooperative plan of action…” Newspaper reports of Gen. McClellan’s early battle victories in western Virginia had propelled him to the status of a national hero. The “New York Herald” headlined an article about him “Gen. McClellan, the Napoleon of the Present War.” Ostensibly, this excerpt published in advance of the government printing, resulted in McClellan quickly writing “a Chapter on Western Virginia” which became an introductory chapter (as well as part of the title) of his soon-to-be published Report.



“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 the Battle Fields” by General George B. McClellan was published by Sheldon & Co. in New York in late February 1864. Boston, Chicago, and Washington editions of variant titles and different lengths were also published in 1864.



On March 2, 1864, the “Hartford Daily Courant,” under the heading “New Books,” reviewed McClellan’s “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 the Battle Fields.” In part, “This is a full and complete edition of the report of General McClellan, dating from the time of his first connection with the Army of the Potomac. It also contains an introductory chapter relative to the campaign in Western Virginia…” This is the chapter McClellan was “very busy” writing at the time he was invited to the Whist party by Edwin Bartlett. The 38th Congress published the report in 1863. The “Courant” further notes, “Much interesting matter is embraced in this edition which was omitted from the one issued by the government … The volume will have a wide circulation, and will lead to a much clearer understanding of many points over which there has been infinite wrangling. Published in one elegant octavo volume by Sheldon & Co., No. 335 Broadway, N.Y….”



On August 31, 1864, General George B. McClellan was nominated for President at the Democratic National Convention held in Chicago. McClellan’s publication of his “Report” was used by his supporters while the government’s publication was used against him by those who favored Lincoln. Reviewing McClellan’s book, poet James Russell Lowell, editor of “The Atlantic Monthly,” noted, “The Report is a political manifesto, and not only that, but an attack on the administration which appointed him to the command, supported him with all its resources, and whose only fault it was not sooner to discover his incapacity to conduct aggressive political movements.”


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