what did Major General George B. McClellan look like?
“At first everybody admired the thirty-four-year-old general. Handsome, with blue eyes and reddish brown hair, he gave an impression of strength and vigor[…] ‘looks as if he ought to have courage, and I think, is altogether more than an ordinary man.’” (Lincoln, David Herbert Donald, 317)
“He appeared well cast for the part: short and broad-shouldered, with a quick eye and a jaunty confidence, he never displayed anything less than a commanding presence.” (To The Gates Of Richmond, Stephen W. Sears, 1)
“Short, handsome, and broad-shouldered, ‘Little Mac’ valued the pomp and circumstances of the military.” (Surgeon in Blue, Scott McGaugh, 55)
“He did not seem young; he was young, with all the vigor and clear-eyed forcefulness that went with being thirty-four. His eyes were blue, unclouded by suspicion, his glance direct. He wore his dark auburn hair parted far on the left and brushed straight across, adding a certain boyish charm to his air of forthright manliness. Clean-shaven save for a faint goatee and a heavy, rather straggly mustache which hid his mouth except when he threw back his head to laugh, he had strong, regular features that gave cartoonists little to catch hold of. He was of average height, five feet nine and one-half inches, yet he was so robust and stockily built- his chest massive, his well-shaped head set firmly on a muscular neck; ‘a neck such as not one man in ten thousand possess,’ an admirer wrote- that he seemed short.” (The Civil War Fort Sumter to Perryville, Shelby Foote, 100)
“The youthful-looking McClellan, short and compact of build, with gray eyes and dark hair, attracted much favorable notice at West Point. […] Dabney Maury, his friend from Virginia, thought he bore ‘every evidence of gentle nature and high culture, and his countenance was as charming as his demeanor was modest and winning.’” (George B. McClellan The Young Napoleon, Stephen W. Sears, 7-8)
“[Jacob D. Cox] described McClellan as ‘rather under the medium height, but muscularly formed, with broad shoulder and a well-poised head, active and graceful in motion.’ From the first, Cox recalled, he made a strong impact on those around him: ‘Personally he was a very charming man, and his manner of doing business impressed every one with the belief that he knew what he was about.’” (George B. McClellan The Young Napoleon, Stephen W. Sears, 70)
“William Howard Russell of Times in London thought in fact McClellan had a Napoleonic look about him ‘in actual weight and breadth,’ with the same tendency toward embonpoint.” (George B. McClellan The Young Napoleon, Stephen W. Sears, 101)
“In person McClellan was five feet nine inches tall, with great breadth of shoulders and solid, not superfluous, muscle. He measured forty-five inches around the chest. His physical strength in his younger life was very great[…] To the very last day of his life his step was quick, firm, elastic, the expression of that uniform cheerfulness, buoyancy: and enjoyment of life which he possessed and which he always communicated to those around him.” (W. C. Prime)
“A compact, red-headed, well born man, McClellan had known only success in his career as a railroad executive and military officer.” (Lincoln’s Melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk, 179)
izzy806
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
romaincrisis
dailybridgerton
annaxmalina
yousharknotpass
