Autographed carte de visite

General-in-Chief of the U.S. Armies during the Civil War, 1861-62

Democratic Presidential Candidate that was defeated by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864

Governor of New Jersey

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1826-85) Hailed as the "Young Napoleon," McClellan was thought to have of the greatest military minds of his generation. He was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prominent surgeon, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. One of McClellan's great-grandfathers was General Samuel McClellan of Woodstock, Connecticut, a brigadier general who fought in the Revolutionary War. George Brinton McClellan graduated 2nd in his class of 59 cadets at West Point in 1846, where he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, deeply interested in strategic principles. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His closest friends at the Academy were southerners George Pickett, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A.P. Hill. After graduation, he served with distinction in the Mexican War, as an engineering officer who was frequently subject to enemy fire, and was appointed a brevet first lieutenant for his services at Contreras, and Churubusco, and to captain for his service at Chapultepec. He performed reconnaissance missions for General Winfield Scott, a close friend of McClellan's father. McClellan's experiences in the Mexican War would shape his military and political life. He learned that flanking movements that were used by General Scott at Cerro Gordo are often better than frontal assaults, and the value of siege operations against Veracruz was another well learned lesson. He witnessed Scott's success in balancing political with military affairs, and his good relations with the civil population as he invaded, enforcing strict discipline on his soldiers to minimize damage to civilian property. In the fall of 1852, McClellan published a manual on bayonet tactics that he had translated from the original French. He also received an assignment to the Department of Texas, with orders to perform a survey of Texas rivers and harbors. In 1853, he participated in the Pacific Railroad surveys, ordered by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, to select an appropriate route for the planned transcontinental railroad. Because of his political connections and his mastery of French, McClellan received the assignment to be an official observer of the European armies in the Crimean War in 1855, as part of the Delafield Commission, led by Richard Delafield. Traveling widely, and interacting with the highest military commands and royal families, McClellan observed the siege of Sevastopol. Upon his return to the United States in 1856, he requested an assignment in Philadelphia to prepare his report, which contained a critical analysis of the siege and a lengthy description of the organization of the European armies. He also wrote a manual on cavalry tactics that was based on Russian cavalry regulations. Capitalizing on his experience with railroad assessment, he became chief engineer and vice president of the Illinois Central Railroad, and then president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in 1860. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, McClellan was appointed major general, and he played an important role in raising the Army of the Potomac, and proved to be a brilliant military organizer, administrator, and trainer of men, but as the war developed he proved to be an officer totally lacking in the essential skills and qualities of successful command of large forces in battle. He served as the Commanding General of the United States Army, 1861-62. General McClellan organized, and led the Union Army in the 1862 Virginia Peninsula campaign in southeastern Virginia which was the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater of the war with the capture of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., as their objective. McClellan was somewhat successful against Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, but the emergence of General Robert E. Lee to command the Army of Northern Virginia turned the subsequent Seven Days Battles into a Union defeat, but Lee failed to destroy McClellan's Army of the Potomac, and suffered a bloody repulse at Malvern Hill, Va. General McClellan and President Abraham Lincoln developed a mutual distrust for each other, and McClellan was privately derisive of Lincoln. Lincoln on the other hand accused McClellan of being too cautious in the field and once asked "Little Mac" if he was not going to use his army if he (Lincoln could borrow it). Lincoln removed him from command in November 1862, in the aftermath of the bloody battle of Antietam, Md., fought on September 17, 1862, which was the single bloodiest day in U.S. military history. A contributing factor in this decision was McClellan's failure to pursue Lee's army following the tactically inconclusive, but strategic Union victory at the Battle of Antietam outside of little town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. McClellan went on to become the Democratic Party's nominee in the 1864 presidential election against the incumbent Republican President Lincoln. The effectiveness of his campaign was damaged when General McClellan repudiated his party's platform, which promised an end to the war, and negotiations with the Confederacy. Consequently he was beaten by Lincoln. He later served as the Governor of New Jersey from 1878-81. The concluding chapter of his political career was his strong support in 1884 for President Grover Cleveland. He was interested in the position of Secretary of War in Cleveland's cabinet, but did not get it. McClellan devoted his final years to traveling and writing; producing his memoirs, 'McClellan's Own Story," in which he stridently defended his conduct during the war. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 58 at Orange, New Jersey. He was buried at Riverview Cemetery in Trenton.

Wet plate, albumen carte de visite photograph, mounted to 2 3/8 x 4 1/4 card. Standing view striking a Napoleonic pose while wearing a double breasted frock coat with rank of major general. Superbly autographed in a bold ink hand on the front mount, Geo. B. McClellan. Back mark: Whipple, 96 Washington Street, Boston. McClellan was not camera shy, but this is a pose I have never encountered before. This image came from the Surgeon and General Bernard J.D. Irwin collection. Written in period ink in Irwin's hand on the reverse is, Major Genl. Geo. B. McClellan, Com'der in Chief U.S.A., Com'der Army of the Potomac. Died Oct. 29, 1885, at 59. This is image No. 37 in the Irwin collection as indicated on the reverse of the card. Excellent photograph. Very desirable autographed image of "Little Mac." Rare.

History of United States Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin

Surgeon & General Irwin was the first United States Medal of Honor Recipient by date of action, February 13, 1861.

(1830-1917) Born in County Roscommon, Ireland, he immigrated with his parents to the United States in the 1840s. He attended New York University from 1848 to 1849, and then served as a private in the New York Militia. In 1850, he entered Castleton Medical College, and he later transferred to New York Medical College, where he graduated in 1852.

He served as a surgeon and physician at the State Emigrant Hospital on Ward's Island, NYC, until his appointment as assistant surgeon in the U.S. Army in 1856. He was an assistant army surgeon during the Apache Wars, and was the first Medal of Honor recipient chronologically by date of action. His actions on February 13, 1861, at Apache Pass, Arizona, are the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded! The citation on his medal of honor reads; "Voluntarily took command of troops and attacked and defeated hostile Indians he met on the way. Surgeon Irwin volunteered to go to the rescue of 2d Lt. George N. Bascom, 7th U.S. Infantry, who, with 60 men, was trapped by Chiricahua Apaches under Cochise. Irwin and 14 men, not having horses, began the 100-mile march riding mules. After fighting and capturing Indians, recovering stolen horses and cattle, he reached Bascom's column and helped break his siege."

Cochise, the Apache Indian chief, and a group of Apache warriors were accused of kidnapping a boy and a small group of U.S. soldiers in the Arizona Territory after the Army had captured Cochise's brother and nephews. When the Army refused to make a prisoner exchange, Cochise killed his prisoners. Soldiers then killed Cochise's brother and nephews. 2nd Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom led a group of 60 men from the 7th U.S. Infantry after Cochise but was soon besieged, prompting a rescue mission by the army. In response to the siege of Bascom and his men, Irwin set out on a rescue mission with 14 men of the 1st U.S. Dragoons. He was able to catch up with the Apaches at Apache Pass in present day Arizona. He strategically placed his small unit around Cochise and his men, tricking the Apache leader into thinking that he had a much larger army with him. The Apaches fled and Bascom and his men were saved. Bascom and his men joined Irwin and together they were able to track Cochise into the mountains & rescued the young boy that Cochise had captured.

The Medal of Honor did not exist during the time of the "Bascom Incident," and would not be established until a year later in 1862. However, the actions of Irwin were well remembered, and he was awarded the Medal of Honor just prior to his retirement. Irwin's actions were the earliest for which the Medal of Honor was awarded, predating the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Irwin subsequently served with the Union army during the Civil War, and was promoted to captain in August 1861, and the next year was appointed medical director under Major General William "Bull" Nelson. He improvised one of the first field hospitals used by the U.S. Army at the Battle of Shiloh, on April 7, 1862. He was captured during the Battle of Richmond, Ky., while attempting to save the wounded General Nelson. He was promoted to major in September 1862, and after his release from a Rebel prison he became medical director in the Army of the Southwest. From 1863 to 1865, he was superintendent of the military hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and in March of 1865, he was brevetted to the rank of colonel. He was a companion of the California Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and the Order of the Indian Wars of the United States. After the Civil War, Irwin served as a senior medical officer at several U.S. army posts, including West Point from 1873 to 1878. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in September 1885, to colonel in August 1890, and to brigadier general in April 1904. He died in Ontario, Canada, on December 15, 1917, and is buried in the West Point Cemetery, at the U.S. Military Academy, New York.

His son George LeRoy Irwin, graduated from West Point in 1889, and served in World War I, becoming a Major General in the U.S. Army.

His grandson Stafford LeRoy Irwin, graduated from West Point in 1915, and served in World War II, and became a Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army.

His daughter, Amy Irwin Addams McCormick, was a nurse with the American Red Cross and served during World War I.

General Irwin was an admirer and collector of photographs, and he put together a very large, and superb collection of Union and Confederate images. Interestingly, he collected photographs of both Rebel and Yankee alike. I have owned several famous military photograph albums before and never came across one that collected images from both sides of the rebellion. He numbered each individual image, and wrote a brief historical notation on each one. The collection was split up by another dealer, and by the time I found out about it, I was still very fortunate to be able to acquire about one third of his superb Civil War image collection. Each image is rare because it is "one of a kind" having come from the Irwin collection!

The image of B.J.D. Irwin pictured here is a copy photograph from the "Find a Grave" website and is used here for illustration purposes only.