George McClellan’s loss to Abraham Lincoln in November 1864 left its mark on the losing candidate. Announcing his military retirement, McClellan disclaimed personal disappointment over the election while acknowledging, “For my country’s sake I deplore the result…” He had once been popular, but that fact and McClellan’s discontent with the war had not been sufficient to overcome the basic popularity of the incumbent At the end of the war the McClellan family left the nation for an extended European vacation. Returning in 1868, he became a New York superintendent of public works and then a railroad president. In 1877 McClellan was elected to a two year term as governor of New Jersey. George McClellan died in 1885 at 58 years of age, after penning an extensive defense of his wartime service.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.