14, 1847, his effective forces being then only sixty-five hundred men, and this act, with the exception of a few minor skirmishes, closed the war. He could well afford to say with regard to one of the causes of this phenomenal success: "I give it as my fixed opinion that, but for our graduated cadets, the war between the United States and Mexico might, and probably would, have lasted some four or five years, with, in its first half, more defeats than victories falling to our share; whereas, in less than two campaigns, we conquered a great country and a peace without the loss of a single battle or skirmish."

The army of occupation entered upon a well-earned period of recuperation pending the negotiations for a definite treaty of peace, and, with the exception of a few minor skirmishes, active employment of the troops in war ceased. In his year of active service McClellan had gained much practical information, and, after his baptism of fire, had endured the dangers and fatigues of the campaign with cool bravery and alert activity. In common with others, he had suffered some loss of bodily vigor, which was destined to make its existence known in decreased vitality in the winter of 1861. Universal commendation was bestowed upon the engineer officers not only by the commanding general, but by all the subordinate commanders, for their unremitting zeal, bravery, dash, and skill, by means of which the defensive positions of the enemy were thoroughly reconnoitered, and plans for attack wisely conceived and successfully executed. McClellan, though the youngest of these, was unremittingly employed and assigned to duties that would ordinarily have fallen to an officer of higher rank; he thus benefited by the fact that there were so few officers of his corps with the army. He was too subordinate in position to have the solution of the greater problems of the campaign to solve, but he possessed that cast of mind which retained the elements of each in his memory and subjected them to a contemplative study to ascertain whether they had been properly solveď. The official commendation of his

superior officers brought him in due time the only recognition which his Government was in the habit of bestowing for brave conduct on the field of battle, that of brevets. These were: First lieutenant, August 20th, "for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco "; and captain, September 13th, for Chapultepec. He was also brevetted for Molino del Rey, which he declined on the ground that he had not participated in that battle.

The garrison duty of the engineer company in the City of Mexico ended May 28, 1848, and on that day McClellan marched with his company to Vera Cruz to embark for home. They reached West Point, their proper station, June 22d, and here the young graduate of less than two years' service was welcomed back to his alma mater as a veteran of the war, a dignity well sustained by his soldierly bearing and bronzed complexion, notwithstanding the fact that he had barely reached the age of young manhood.

CHAPTER II.

EXPLORATION. CRIMEAN WAR.

FOR the next few years McClellan had a pleasant station and the agreeable duty of assisting in the instruction of cadets in practical military engineering, being able to demonstrate the importance of his instruction by illustrations drawn from his recent experience in Mexico. He became a member of the Napoleon Club, which the officers on duty at West Point had organized for the critical study of the campaigns of that master of the art of war. Their meetings were held in a large room in the Academic Building, upon the walls of which were painted accurate maps of the theater of wars in Spain, Italy, and Germany, drawn to a sufficiently large scale to illustrate the strategical movements of Napoleon's principal campaigns. Prof. D. H. Mahan, the head of the department of civil and military engineering at the Academy, presided at these mectings and gave the members the benefit of his keen, incisive criticism and instructive analysis in their studies of the Napoleonic wars, the fruit of which was afterward made manifest in the war of the rebellion. McClellan selected the campaign of 1812 for his essay, and in accordance with his habit of mind devoted every spare moment to its study to the exclusion of everything else; and when the paper was read he had demonstrated to his comrades that the bent of his mind was. strategical rather than tactical. He received many compliments on the clearness of his style, the purity of his diction, and the mastery of his subject. During this period, in addition to his professional study, he acquired a substantial knowledge of foreign languages

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and improved his acquaintance with the best literature. He had also much to occupy him in the dry details of plans and estimates for public buildings, particularly that of the new engineer barracks, for which he made many finished drawings, fulfilling all the exact requirements of the engineering department of that day.

Having succeeded to the command of the engineer company, June 18, 1850, McClellan gave a great deal of attention to the physical development of his soldiers and expertness in handling their arms. This led him

to translate the excellent work of Gomard on Bayonet Exercise, and instruct his noncommissioned officers, who in turn taught the men how to handle the musket as a weapon of defense against the lance, saber, or musket. It proved to be an excellent gymnastic exercise, a graceful accomplishment, and gave the men much additional confidence in themselves and their weapons. His adaptation of the French system of Gomard to the tactics of the United States Army was published in 1852, after it was made, by regulation of the War Department, upon the recommendation of General Scott, a part of the system of instruction for the army.

McClellan was relieved from duty at West Point, June 21, 1851, and ordered to report to Brevet-Major John Saunders, Corps of Engineers, as his assistant in the construction of Fort Delaware. The masonry forts, which were the main elements in the scheme of the permanent seacoast defense of that time, were considered of sufficiently great importance to require the personal supervision of the chief of engineers at Washington in almost all the details of their construction. Consequently but little latitude was permitted to the senior engineer officer on the site, and he was obliged to follow instructions with the minutest care; and still less would the individuality of the junior officers be permitted to have any sway. So that it must have been a welcome relief to McClellan when, after a few months' duty upon this work, he received orders, March 5,

1852, to join Marcy's expedition for the exploration of the sources of the Red River of Arkansas.

Captain Randolph B. Marcy, of the Fifth Infantry, had been engaged for three years in exploring the then unknown country lying upon the Canadian branch of the Arkansas, the head waters of the Trinity, the Brazos, and the Colorado of Texas, but at this time a great portion of the Upper Red River country was entirely. unknown. Many previous attempts had been made, but without success, the first of record being by officers sent out by the French Government, but who went no higher than Natchitoches, La. Sparks's expedition in May, 1806, passed above the Great Raft, but was then turned back by a large Spanish force, and compelled to abandon its further prosecution. In the same year Pike's expedition went up the Arkansas intending to strike across the country to the Red River, but, after many privations and much suffering, it was captured by the Governor of New Mexico on the Rio Grande, and was sent home by way of Chihuahua and San Antonio. Again Colonel Long, of the Topographical Engineers, attempted this exploration in 1819-'20, but failed to find the sources of the Red River, striking the Canadian instead ; and so, to complete the topographical knowledge of this portion of our territory, Marcy's expedition was organized and started from Fort Belknap on the Brazos, May 1, 1852. The personnel comprised Captain Marcy, Lieutenant Updegraff, Surgeon Shumard, and fifty-five men of Company D, Fifth United States Infantry, with Captain McClellan as engineer officer, but who also performed the duties of commissary and quartermaster to the command. The official report of this exploration was published by Congress, but an interesting narrative is embodied in Marcy's Army Life on the Border, where all the incidents of their daily marches and discoveries are related. Suffice it to say that the expedition started on its march into the unknown territory from the mouth of Cache Creek on the Red River on May 9th, and reached its goal on the 16th of June, meeting with no great difficulties ex