There really is no proof that my grandfather's McClellan family is in any way related to George B. McClellan, the Civil War hero who was the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in 1864, although the surname spelling suggests some possible connection dating back to the first appearance of the McClellans in Galloway of the 1300s. Anyway, in the presidential race of 1864, McClellan carried only three states — New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky — compared to Lincoln's 22 states, including California, Nevada, and Oregon, the Confederate states not participating. How many times do I have to explain that we are not even Democrats, let alone have any thought of Civil War history in connection with our own family history. Anyway, my direct ancestor, the newspaper editor William B. McClellan, was arrested by the Confederates on charges of treason because of his article on behalf of persons who were sabotaging Confederate military operations and critical of General Magruder who was having them arrested and deported to Mexico. McClellan in his newspaper was making some points about the Confederates not really being representative of the "Federal" government and not really having authority to run the state government when his newspaper office was invaded by Confederate soldiers. Under orders from General Magruder, six men were arrested, their homes and businesses ransacked, and themselves marched all the way to Houston where they were held for a few days and asked to answer charges coming from an unnamed informant before being released. McClellan says by way of apology: "Thus much we have felt ourselves called upon to state in vindication of our own good name...We acknowledge the fallibility of our own judgment. And both history and experience have taught us to doubt the unerring wisdom of all others. Of a conscious sense of our devotion and loyalty to the true principles of our government, no unjust and unfounded suspicions can deprive us. In the language of the Latin poet, adopted as our motto in our schoolboy days, we can truthfully explain, "Nil conscire sibi nulla pallescere culpa." (A quote in Latin, from Horace, "To be conscious of no wrongdoing, to turn pale at no crime.")
As I was saying, I am so not interested in listening to the sour grapes of South Carolina Rebel dogs. Enough said about that.
