West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown,
WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English
Abstract
A microfilm copy of the McClellan Papers, Vols. 12-14, held by the Library of Congress. There are letters to and from Gen.
McClelland and his staff headquartered in Cincinnati. Also there are Confederate letters presumably captured during McClellan's
first campaign into western Virginia. The rebel correspondence is between A.J. Wilson at Grafton and his family of Franklin
and also orders from Richmond to Col. George Porterfield. Porterfield mentions the difficulty of raising Confederate companies
from the local population in northwestern Virginia. Noteworthy correspondence (21, May 1861) to McClellan from Gen. Winfield
Scott, Dept. of the Army, Washington, DC reiterates the Western Department's objective as being an offensive to secure the
Mississippi River and not a campaign into north-west Virginia. Also reports to the Federal army by local citizens of the Kanawha
Valley about the activities of the occupying Confederate forces. Reputedly the Confederates were imposing themselves on a
Unionist population by drafting unwilling conscripts and influencing the outcome of secessionist referendums. In general,
the letters of this collection are about military conditions and popular sentiment in the Western Theater, particularly western
Virginia at the beginning of the Civil War.
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Conditions Governing Access
No special access restriction applies.
Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], George B. McClellan, Civil War Papers, A&M 2967, West Virginia and Regional
History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
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