Editing George B. McClellan (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Julian Scott - George Brinton McClellan - NPG.65.35 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|thumb|The [[Julian Scott]] portrait of McClellan in the [[National Portrait Gallery (United States)|National Portrait Gallery]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
McClellan was born in [[Philadelphia]] on December 3, 1826, the son of a prominent surgeon, [[George McClellan (physician)|George McClellan]], the founder of [[Thomas Jefferson University|Jefferson Medical College]].<ref name="Appletons" /> His father's family was of Scottish and English heritage.<ref name="wL02N" /> His mother was Elizabeth Sophia Steinmetz Brinton McClellan, daughter of a leading Pennsylvania family, a woman noted for her "considerable grace and refinement." Her father was of English origin, while her mother was [[Pennsylvania Dutch]].<ref name="m2RIm" /> The couple had five children: Frederica, John, George, Arthur, and Mary. One of McClellan's great-grandfathers was [[Samuel McClellan]], a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] who served during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref name="dAssB" />

McClellan initially intended to follow his father into the medical profession, and attended a private academy, which was followed by enrollment in a private preparatory school for the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref name="Kelley">{{cite book |last=Kelley |first=Brent |title=Famous Figures of the Civil War: George McClellan |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mUe9DaeeVCAC |location=Philadelphia, PA |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |pages=11–13 |isbn=978-1-4381-0273-3 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> He began attending the university in 1840, when he was 14 years old, resigning himself to the study of law after his family decided that medical educations for both McClellan and his older brother John were too expensive.<ref name="Kelley"/> After two years at the university, he changed his goal to military service. With the assistance of his father's letter to [[President of the United States|President]] [[John Tyler]], McClellan was accepted at the United States Military Academy in 1842 at the age of 15, with the academy waiving its usual minimum age of 16.<ref name="dBI0b" />

At West Point, he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, deeply interested in the teachings of [[Dennis Hart Mahan]] and the theoretical strategic principles of [[Antoine-Henri Jomini]]. His closest friends were aristocratic southerners including [[George Pickett]], [[Dabney Maury]], [[Cadmus Wilcox]], and [[A. P. Hill]]. These associations gave McClellan what he considered to be an appreciation of the southern mind and an understanding of the political and military implications of the sectional differences in the United States that led to the Civil War.<ref name="DPK2u" /> He graduated at age 19 in 1846, second in his class of 59 cadets, losing the top position to [[Charles Seaforth Stewart]] only because of inferior drawing skills.<ref name="PcZIe" /> He was commissioned a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Second Lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in the U.S. Army [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]].<ref name="Eicher371" />