Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Original Photographs Taken on the Battlefields during the Civil War of the United States
John Stuart Mill · en
AFTER the evacuation of Yorktown on the fourth of May, in 1862, this
picture was taken. It shows the generals of the Army of the Potomac in
full uniforms after the hard siege, and at the very time when they were
maneuvering to drive back the Confederates, forcing them to stand in
defense of the Capital of the Confederacy--Richmond. It was through the
personal friendship of Major-General McClellan that Brady was allowed to
take this rare photograph. The warriors lined up in front of the camera
on the field at Yorktown. In the center is General McClellan--a man in
whose veins flowed the blood of Scotch cautiousness--"Be sure you're
right, then go ahead!" He was but thirty-six years of age when he held
the great army under his control. From boyhood he had been a military
tactician. When twenty years old he was graduated from West Point,
standing second in his class, and distinguished himself for gallantry in
the Mexican War. Six years before the outbreak of the Civil War, when
only thirty years old, McClellan was in Crimea and two years later he
submitted his report to the Government and resigned from the army to
become vice-president and chief engineer of the Illinois Central
Railroad. In 1860, he was general superintendent of the Ohio and
Mississippi Railroad. When the call swept across the continent for
troops to preserve the Nation, the old war spirit was aroused and
McClellan was one of the first to respond.
[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT YORKTOWN OF MCCLELLAN AND HIS
OFFICERS IN 1862]