As future generals for the Federal Army during the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan are also remembered for their service in the Pacific Northwest during the 1850’s. Another, George Brinton McClellan made a cameo appearance. He led a group tasked with identifying a possible rail route through the Cascades. In addition, they potential were to build a military road across the mountain chain so emigrant wagons could more easily reach the Puget Sound of Washington Territory. This reconnaissance gave McClellan his first extended period of independent command since graduating from West Point with the Class of 1846.
Before George McClellan became the leading Federal general in the early Civil War, he served in the wilds of Washington, surveying for railroad routes.
BEGINNINGS OF THE LITTLE MAC LEGEND
George McClellan, the son of a Philadelphia surgeon, entered West Point at the young age of 16. He graduated four years later in 1846 second in his class – a placement he did not take with pleasure. Such a high class placement did, however, allow him to choose the branch of service in the Army. Considered the top branch, he joined the engineers.
Not long after graduation, McClellan sailed for Mexico with many other classmates to take part in the Mexican War. Reaching Zachary Taylor’s army operating out of Texas into northern Mexico, McClellan found the fighting quiet by the time he reached the scene. He did contract malaria and dysentery putting him in the hospital for almost a month. The malaria continued to haunt him on occasion throughout the rest of his life.
Mexican Hero
Commanding General Winfield Scott decided peripheral incursions into the Mexican frontier would not bring the Mexicans to the peace table. He determined only a direct plunge at the heart of Mexico – Mexico City – could end the war. Amassing his force first at Tampico, Scott’s invading force landed unopposed 9 March 1847, near Vera Cruz, Mexico’s main port. Laying siege to the city, McClellan busied himself with various tasks such as helping lay out siege lines and building battery emplacements for artillery. Vera Cruz surrendered on 27 March. This opened the door to the long 250-mile route up the National Road to Mexico City.
McClellan found himself involved in six different battles as Scott’s force made their way to the Mexican capital. His Army rank at the beginning of the war was subaltern only being promoted to second lieutenant after Vera Cruz. Along with many other officers during the campaign, McClellan won a couple of brevets along the way. First was brevet first lieutenant for actions at Contreras and Churubusco near the end of August. Later, another brevet captain for Chapultepec 13 September.
Irascible Superiors
He took to heart the idea an invading force needed to be well prepared before pushing off, something Scott demonstrated magnificently. He also reinforced his biases against politically imposed superiors, forced to serve under Gideon Pillow. Pillow became a brigadier general of volunteers – later major general – in reward to helping nominate fellow Tennessean James K. Polk at the 1844 Democratic National Convention – the original dark horse candidate. Pillow made several mistakes in the placement of his troops in battles. Those battles won despite Pillow, who went on to claim in print victory because of his efforts – published in the New Orleans Delta 10 September. Those claims led to charges and court martials quashed by political powers above the Army.
Scott wrote about Pillow, “… the only person I have ever known who was wholly indifferent in the choice between truth and falsehood, honest and dishonesty: – ever as ready to attain an end by the one as the other, and habitually boastful of acts of cleverness at the total sacrifice of moral character.” Polk responded, “General Pillow is a gallant and highly meritorious officer, and has been greatly persecuted by General Scott, for no reason than that he is a Democrat in his politics and was supposed to be my personal and political friend.” These thoughts were no doubt shared by Second Lieutenant McClellan,
POST WAR
McClellan returned to the U.S. for a year’s duty as an assistant engineer in the construction of Fort Delaware 30 miles downriver from Philadelphia after a stint back at West Point. He served as engineer and second-in-charge of an Army expedition led by Captain Randolph Marcy in 1852 to discover the sources of the Red River of Texas. Marcy was an officer of long-standing in the American Southwest, a West Pointer serving with the 5th Infantry Regiment.
The party spent most of the spring and half the summer journeying out into the Panhandle regions of Texas and Oklahoma discovering the different sources of the Red River. Along the way, meteorological, ethnic and biological surveys kept for the area newly acquired by the U.S. Marcy was one of the few superior officers McClellan ever got along with holding him in esteem. McClellan, later used lessons learned on this trip for his own expedition a year later wandering around the Washington Territory. He got along with Marcy well enough. He eventually married one of Marcy’s daughters, Mary Ellen, in 1860 after early rebuttals.
Back from the trip with Captain Marcy, McClellan spent the much of the rest of the year roaming about as an aide to General Persifor Smith inspecting various frontier posts in and around Texas. From that duty, he was detached to do a survey of Texas rivers and harbors along the Gulf Coast. At the same time, he published his first book, Bayonet Exercise a translation of a French book. Completing his project in March 1853, he wrote his sister Maria, “Altho’ I am glad to have had it, for the sake of learning something new, yet I must confess that I prefer prairies & pack mules, to the briny & a sail boat.”
ON TO WASHINGTON
Fellow Mexican Army engineer, Major P.G.T. Beauregard, forwarded him, 7 April, a telegram from Isaac Stevens, another engineer from the Mexican days. Stevens had resigned his commission to take on the post of governor for the newly established Territory of Washington. He found himself tabbed to lead one of four expedition survey teams aiming at finding routes for transcontinental railroads. His job, to survey possible rail routes from St Paul, Minnesota to the Puget Sound between the 47th and 49th parallels.
The ground he needed to cover in the short summer was immense. He wanted McClellan to lead a team from the west to find possible routes over the Cascades. Meanwhile, Stevens would come from the east focusing on passes over the Rocky Mountains. “The exploration arduous & will bring reputation.” Beauregard thought it an excellent opportunity for a young, motivated officer, “I was on the point of answering yes for you … I will take the liberty to advise you to accept his offer …” advice which McClellan promptly took.
McClellan and Stevens met up with each other in Washington, D.C. to confer about mission instructions. McClellan basically was told to explore the Cascade Range north from the Columbia River to the 49th parallel. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis gave additional instructions. McClellan was to survey and build a military road connecting settlements along the Puget Sound to the east over Naches Pass. Davis hoped the road would be open to emigrants coming west arriving by mid to late fall.
MCLELLAN’S EXPEDITION
Voyage and Outfit
Sailing from New York 20 May 1853, McClellan on the steamer Illinois made landfall on the Panamanian Isthmus – 30 May. On the Pacific side, he boarded – 1 June – another ship – the J.L. Stephens – for San Francisco and then to Fort Vancouver – 27 June – on the Columbia. It took McClellan six weeks to make the journey. Remarking on his last journey, “the coast of Oregon increases in beauty as you proceed N. – the Killamook Head is exceedingly picturesque.” And thoughts on the Columbia River – “This river is a magnificent stream – more like the St. Lawrence in its general character”.
At newly renamed Fort Vancouver – changed from Columbia Barracks 13 July – McClellan took three weeks gathering men, animals and supplies for his expedition. He was delayed having to outfit a party led by Lieutenant Rufus Saxton – West Point, Class of 1849. Saxton was transporting supplies directly to the Bitterroot Valley in order to meet Stevens’ party coming from the east. This initial party exhausted “the supply of serviceable animals” leaving horses – “Indian horses” of “indifferent” quality for McClellan.
Ulysses S. Grant served as post quartermaster while Charles P. Stone was the ordinance officer. These two men were just a couple from the Northwest army McClellan would deal with during the days of the Civil War ahead.
Grant put McClellan, up at his house shared with other quartermasters while they worked. One letter from fellow quartermaster and West Pointer, Class of 1847 – Henry Clay Hodges to Grant biographer William C. Church in 1897 noted Grant, while fitting out the expedition, went on one of his little sprees. His binge annoyed and offended McClellan. Hodges thought McClellan never forgave Grant even though it did not seem to affect his outfitting work.
Into the Wilds
Finally, on 18 July, McClellan pushed out with 61 men, 160 horses and pack mules plus three months rations. Included in the party were 29 soldiers from the 4th Infantry at the fort riding out as escort. Due to a late flood on the Columbia – the same flood that wiped out Grant’s potato farm venture, McClellan’s party set out further to the north tracing a rugged path through the vast forests along the Lewis River – then known as the Cath-la-pootle.
They ventured out of the Lewis River canyon on a path taken today roughly by Curly Creek Road. Atop the south wall of the canyon is a large carpark today – McClellan’s Overlook. From here, there are fine views up towards Mt St Helens and the array of minor peaks rising off the Boundary Trail running from the Mt St Helens Visitor Center at Johnston Ridge over to Council Lake near the northwest base of Mt Adams. Atop the ridge, a meadowed area known as McClellan Meadows through which the survey party crossed taking an old Native route relatively level through a forested plain at around 2,800 feet elevation.
reaching the east side
Passing Goose Lake and on through what is today, Peterson’s Prairie, the party, led by Native guides made their way through the dense forests. They rode past the Natural Bridges – Hool-hool-se. Here McClellan recounted Native explanations for the subterranean passages and lava bridges in his journal. Beyond they passed by more lava caves known as Guler Ice Cave. After crossing the White Salmon River at Trout Lake, they reached the camas prairies around Conboy Lake on 13 August. The party had taken almost a month after leaving Fort Vancouver.
Notice on the Army map of the time, the White Salmon River written with its Native name – Nikepun – is shown erroneously as a tributary of the Klickitat River. Crossing the Klickitat, the party made their way past what would become Fort Simcoe in a few years. They reached the Ahtanum Catholic Mission a few miles west of today’s Yakima.
Reconning Naches Pass
Recouping a bit from the efforts of getting here, McClellan sent his quartermaster, Lieutenant Henry C. Hodges – 22 August – over Naches Pass with six soldiers, seventeen packers and fifty pack horses to collect more provisions from Fort Steilacoom. Hodges sent word back on 31 August saying he had lost sixteen of the horses due to the hard terrain and lack of grass in the forests. He could not find enough pack animals to carry all the supplies back.
McClellan decided then sent the infantry escort – 17 men led by Lieutenant Sylvester Mowry, West Point class of 1852, along with all scientific collections gathered to date – back to Fort Dalles. This reduced the size of his party considerably since the amount of supplies his group could carry became limited. Writing to his brother John, McClellan noted “…Now, with my reduced party, I shall have little else than pack mules & can travel much more rapidly.”
On McClellan’s way up the Naches Valley, he took time out to climb nearby Mount Aix 26 August. One of the peaks northeast of Mt. Rainier, he named Mt. Stuart after his former roommate, James Stuart of South Carolina. Stuart died earlier in 1850. His group of Mounted Riflemen ran into problems with Natives around the Rogue River en route to new postings in California.
Another peak just east of Mt. Stuart in the same range is named today for McClellan.
Roads and Rails
In the hopes of building the road over Naches Pass, local residents from the Puget Sound area send out two parties to build an emigrant road. One party of twelve men set out from Olympia on 19 July to build the road from the east side. A second party of twenty men started out on 26 July to build the road from the west.
From 23 until 29 August, McClellan with an engineer and six other men surveyed the east side of Naches Pass. They camped on the summit 25 August. While he noted “the blazes of the party sent out from Olympia to cut a wagon road”, McClellan thought the route presented too many difficulties for building a railroad. With the need for five tunnels, many areas of solid rock cuts required, he doubted to “ever ride down the valley of the Nachess in a Railroad car.”
Reassembling the Party
Lieutenant Hodges set out to return from Fort Steilacoom on 6 September, rejoining McClellan on the east side 15 September. The Naches Pass road never became a major route for emigrant wagons. The road building teams ran quickly into problems. They “fell out among ourselves” returning to Olympia accomplishing little beyond marking the route with blazes. Altogether, the route required 68 crossings of the Naches and Little Naches Rivers to the east with multiple crossings of the White River to the west. As well, the descent to the west from the pass required a steep incline. Here wagons needed to be roped up, like conditions on other passes through the Cascades like the Barlow Trail around the south side of Mt Hood in Oregon.
In 1854, Lieutenant Richard Arnold from Fort Steilacoom was tasked to complete the road over Naches Pass. After working on the road, Arnold suggested picking another pass more appropriate for the road, such as Snoqualmie. Arnold later served as a Brigadier General of Volunteers in the Civil War. A son of a Rhode Island governor, Arnold was another West Pointer from the Class of 1850. The Yakama War beginning in 1855 ended attempts to continue to build the road in early 1855.
On to Sno-qual-moo Pass
McClellan thought he found Snoqualmie Pass, but really only discovered Yakima Pass, two miles to the south. Climbing above the pass for a general view of the area, mountains to the north obscured his view of Snoqualmie. Engineering-wise, McClellan thought Yakima Pass required two tunnels: one, a little over two miles in length and the other less than a mile.
He was more concerned with the amount of snow the pass received in winter. Natives told him snow levels atop the pass were dramatically high. In looking at trees on the summit, he figured “snow marks” showed depths of twenty feet during the winter. After reaching each summit, McClellan dropped down the other side a few miles along the Cedar River. Natives and a hunter along with the party related Cedar Canyon was narrow and difficult. This left McClellan thinking “…it would be extremely difficult to carve a road down this stream. It is always narrow & rocky.”
Accompanying McClellan to Yakima Pass, First Lieutenant Joseph K. Duncan served as McClellan’s chief mapmaker, astronomer and draftsman. He later became a Brigadier General with the Confederacy serving as Braxton Bragg’s chief of staff. Duncan died of complications of malaria 18 December 1862.
With two passes looked over, time began to weigh on McClellan. A Native guide told McClellan of “a very bad foot trail, leading from (Lake) Kitchelas to the Falls of the Limahonés (Snoqualmie).” McClellan wrote further, “Had I time I would not withstanding the extreme difficulty travel along the divide on foot.” He did descend to the shore of Lake Keechelus which he described “closed on all sides but the S.E. by lofty mountains. By not going to the north end of the lake and following Coal Creek, he failed to discover the real Snoqualmie Pass.
Trudging Onward
Hodges returned on 10 September with five men and 29 pack horses with provisions after an eleven-day journey from Steilacoom. McClellan also received word of his promotion in rank to First Lieutenant – others still referred to him by his brevet as Captain. Mowry also arrived back from Fort Dalles taking four days to reach the fort and the same to return. Also waiting at McClellan’s depot camp set up at Ketetas – near Ellensburg – was A.W. Moore, chief of the roadbuilding party from Steilacoom. After conferring with McClellan, they “completed the contracts with Mr. A.W. Moore & sent him on his way rejoicing.” The contracts were subject to the approval of Stevens. Stevens, however, would have McClellan look to Secretary of War Davis for final approval.
McClellan further pared his group down – 17 September – sending three men and 32 broken-down horses back to Fort Dalles. There were 36 remaining men in the party with 94 animals supporting them. Scheduled to meet up with Isaac Stevens’ party making their way west from St Paul, Minnesota in the late fall, McClellan moved his team further north reaching Lake Chelan on 25 September. From Fort Okanogan, McClellan with Duncan made a quick foray up the Methow Valley. He gained an appreciation for the potential of the Twisp Pass, but did not get close enough to actually see it. Then, they returned to venture farther up the Okanogan – Valley to the 49th parallel. Then, they marched east following the Kettle River – Ne-hoi-al-pit-kwu – to Fort Colville on the Columbia. By this time, it was 17 October, and the season was fast closing.
Meeting with the Governor
Isaac Stevens also graduated from West Point in 1839 but unlike McClellan, Stevens graduated first in his class. Like McClellan, Stevens served as an engineer seeing service in the Mexican War. He gained brevets to captain and major for actions at Churubusco and Chapultepec. In between serving in the war, Stevens worked on fortifications on the New England coast until 1849. Then he took over command of the Coast Survey Office in Washington, D.C. A strong supporter of Franklin Pierce for president in 1852, his reward, the governorship of the newly established Territory of Washington 17 March 1853. He combined his portion of the Pacific Railroad survey with his initial trip to his new domain.
Stevens met up with McClellan on the evening of 18 October at Colville. Both got along well … at first. Remember, these are two very smart men with big egos and not used to being disagreed with. Stevens bought into the idea of pushing for his new territory in a big way. What could be better for the future of his new bailiwick than getting the first transcontinental railroad. Puget Sound was closer to China and the rest of the Orient than any other port on the Pacific side. Finding a route not too hamstrung by terrain or weather became a priority for him. The same drive pushing him here, appeared time and again in the rest of his life – his push for Native American treaties in 1855; continued representative for Washington whether as Territorial Governor or Territorial Representative to the US Congress.
A Problem with Snow
The little governor (Stnading at only five foot three inches) wanted McClellan along with Lieutenant Andrew Jackson Donelson Jr – West Point Class of 1848, second in his class – to venture on to Olympia over the Yakima Pass. Donelson had arrived last to Colville bringing up Stevens’ main train on 28 October.
The first question was whether the animals were up to such a potentially strenuous journey. This was especially in lieu of McClellan’s secondhand knowledge of possible twenty-foot snow atop the pass. Stevens noted, “Whilst both were ready cheerfully to conform to any direction, they did not desire to go upon the duty; and accordingly, somewhat reluctantly, I determined to send the whole party to Walla-Walla, thence to the Dalles and Vancouver, thence to Olympia.”
Lieutenant Arnold went over Yakima Pass one year later in further reconnaissance of route
The true Snoqualmie Pass is yet to be described on the map.
He went on to say “I will here observe that all the gentlemen were too much influenced in their judgement by the belief that snows would fall early and deep in the Sno-qual-moo (actually, the Yakima) Pass …” Stevens thought others worried because of the “little fall of snow” they group had encountered coming south from Colville to the Spokane River had spooked them into believing “winter was already upon us” rather than “simply an incident of the fall, having nothing to do with betokening the approach of winter …”.
Second Thoughts
By the time the group reached Walla Walla, Stevens had second thoughts, “… I should have pushed the party over the cascades in the present condition of the animals; but Captain McClellan was entitled to weight in his judgement of the route, it being upon the special field of his examination.” Eventually reaching Olympia on 25 November, Stevens still desired to get a winter reconnaissance over the Cascades to prove a rail line was possible.
Abiel Tinkham was leading another group from Stevens’ easterners. They used a more southerly route from the Bitterroot Valley directly towards Walla Walla over paths used by Nez Perce. Stevens sent word for Tinkham to proceed from Walla Walla (where he arrived in early January 1854) over the Cascades going where others declined. Stevens wrote, “… my object being two-fold: to get at some facts which would decisively settle the question of the depth of the snow, in regard to which Captain McClellan and myself differed, as well as really to connect our work with the sound itself.”
Disenchantment
McClellan reached Olympia shortly after Stevens. Thoroughly disenchanted with his previous friend Stevens by now, he wrote to his mother, “We have to pass the winter at Olympia on Puget’s Sound, a flourishing city of some 10 or 12 houses – fine prospect that.” Earlier he noted being “thoroughly disgusted with the whole concern, & can only pray that I may be relieved from duty with the Survey at the earliest practicable moment.” Directed to explore and map as they came down the Columbia and then north to Olympia, McClellan detached his naturalist, George Gibbs to Astoria to explore Shoalwater (Willapa) Bay. The bay, ignored by earlier explorers, gsined interest whne a developing oyster industry showed an importance into figuring out just what the area offered.
Stevens conferred with other locals about possible crossings of the Cascades and wrote later, “… (I) learned that it was no uncommon thing for Indians on horseback to come from the Yakima country, through the Sno-qual-moo Pass to the sound in the months of winter.” When McClellan arrived in Olympia, Stevens ordered him to exam possible harbors along the Puget Sound to become a western depot for his hoped-for transcontinental line. In addition, McClellan was to extend his railroad survey from the Sound east to Yakima Pass.
McClellan’s thoughts on the Pacific Northwest by this time had eroded, “As there are houses in Olympia, that can be had, I expect to spend the winter in a tent – labored by the rain & mud – for you must know that we don’t expect to see the sun anymore until next summer – except at rare and short intervals of time – it is raining almost constantly … I don’t think much of it (Pacific Coast) – it is surely vastly overrated in every respect.”
Last Journey
To search out the west side of Yakima Pass, McClellan left Olympia in a canoe on 23 December. He hope to go by ground, but the roads and trails were impassable. The small party reached the mouth of the Snoqualmie River on 1 January 1854. He hoped to journey by land, but natives reported land routes being impassable during the winter rains. Pushing up to Snoqualmie Falls on 7 January, he was unable to persuade any Native guides to help further. The paths obliterated by winter conditions; McClellan made it only a few miles further than the falls before giving up. Natives described snow levels “up to the armpits at Lake Nooknoo (Rattlesnake Lake), and as increasing thence to the pass, at the summit of which it would be found to be twenty-five feet in depth.”
Retreating to the Sound, McClellan hoped to continue north to Bellingham Bay. However, on 12 January, a snowstorm forced McClellan to turn back on 14 January reaching Olympia on the 21st.
His return was just in time for Tinkham’s arrival into Seattle 26 January and onto Olympia 1 February. Tinkham had come over Yakima Pass on 20 January finding only six feet of snow on the summit. Further, the deepest part of snow only extended for a few miles along the route. Much of the rest of the route only measured one to two feet. He also reported no serious difficulties in building a road over the pass in terms of grade.
SUMMING UP THE SURVEY
Stevens uses Sno-qual-moo with Yakima in many parts of writing his official report. It seems they might have been aware of both passes at the time. Heavy amounts of downed timber may have prevented the approach to Snoqualmie rather than Yakima Pass lying a mile to the south. The Yakima Pass drops into the Cedar River drainage – Nooknoo – leading to Seattle via lake Washington. Snoqualmie Pass drops into the Snoqualmie drainage directly leading to Everett and indirectly to Seattle.
A rail line eventually used Snoqualmie Pass constructed by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) in 1909. With the demise of that line, the railroad became abandoned in 1980. It is a bike-hike trail today – Iron Horse State Park. Naches and Yakima Passes never hosted main roads and are little used today.
McClellan did not appreciate Stevens’ efforts to expect him to push through the Cascades in the winter. Political boosterism he saw behind the governor’s goal. Writing in his journal on 28 October “Political barbecue & the devil played generally tonight – all well enough in its way, but don’t like the way at all. Politics & surveys don’t agree well together.” Stevens pushing others to make up for McClellan’s lack thereof also muddied the waters between the two. Noting in his journal 9 November, “I have done my last serviced under civilians & politicians … I will not consent to serve any longer under Gov. S. unless he promises in no way to interfere – merely to give the general orders & never to say one word as to the means or time of executing them.”
Counterpoints to the Governor’s Report
Further, in his official report, McClellan noted the Yakima Pass was the only route practicable for a rail line between the Columbia River and the Canadian border. But, because of expenses in money, time and labor, McClellan recommended a route following the Columbia. Tinkham’s findings of considerably less snow than he forecast he noted as the result of an abnormally dry winter with “the statement of the Indians will be found to be quite near the truth.”
McClellan was not alone in dismissing Stevens’ claims of the potential ease of placing the transcontinental route through Washington. George Suckley, a naturalist working with Stevens’ eastern group wrote his brother the route as practical as pushing one through the Himalayas and to his uncle, “If anybody should ask you to take stock in the road you had better decline.”
The dispute between McClellan and Stevens had no damage to his career. But bridges between the two men were burnt. Bridges that burning brighter after McClellan declined to send Stevens his expedition journals so Stevens could document his final report. He also wanted to his name noted in the final report “as seldom as possible”. Stevens tried again saying McClellan would gain fair credit for the discoveries of his team. He would even accept a copy of the journal with personal material deleted. McClellan replied to what he thought of “the Gov’s declaration of war” in rude terms finishing with “As to my own journal, you cannot have it.”
CIVIL WAR
Lieutenant to Major General
After leaving the Northwest early in March, McClellan stayed for another few years in the Army reaching the rank of Captain in the new 1st Cavalry Regiment thanks to the efforts of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. Davis took him on as a sort of protégé.
He also selected McClellan as part of a commission sent to observe the Crimean War in March 1855. Travelling with two older Majors Richard Delafield and Alfred Mordecai – both of whom first in their classes at West Point – he wrote to his brother “these d-d old fogies!! I hope that I may never be tied to two corpses again – it is hell on earth…” Following the completion of his report on their trip, he resigned his commission in 1856 to enter civilian life as a railroad executive in Illinois as opposed to frontier duty with the 1st Cavalry.
With the onset of the Civil War, McClellan rose meteorically first through the volunteer ranks. Then, re-entering federal service on 14 May 1861 he shot up to major general in the Regular Army. Suddenly, he outranked everyone except Lieutenant General Winfield Scott. After a couple of minor victories in western Virginia, President Lincoln called McClellan to the East. Lincoln gave McClellan the task to reconstruct the Federal forces after their defeat at First Manassas 21 July. McClellan was 34 years old.
Stevens Post-Survey
Stevens term as governor was over in 1856. His term was full of controversy with a multitude of treaties pushed on Native tribes of the Territory. Following those, the Yakama War soon followed. He remained popular enough to be elected territorial delegate to Congress in 1856 and 1858. Working with Oregon’s delegate, Joseph Lane, he helped push through Congress measures paying off debt accrued during the Yakama War. At the same time, he gained ratification of the ten treaties he helped sign with various tribes.
The presidential election of 1860 saw Lane and Stevens together again. Both men felt the constitution protected slavery, something not widely supported in the Northwest. Both were Democrats. One originally appointed by President Polk (Lane) and the other by Pierce (Stevens). Lane became the running mate of John Breckinridge, the choice of Southern Democrats in the election of 1860. Breckinridge’s selection was the result of the Democratic party with the North selecting Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas. Stevens chaired the Breckinridge national committee. The result being both he and Lane becoming fatally weakened politically in their adopted territories.
Running for a third term as Washington Delegate and with the outbreak of the Civil War, Stevens withdrew from the election – his opponents already blocking him. He jumped onto a steamer for the East offering his service to the government.
Stevens and the Highlanders
Initially, as a Democrat, he found little interest. He finally gained the colonelcy of the 79th Regiment of New York Volunteers in August 1861. The 79th filled out of mainly with Scottish-American volunteers and the regiment nickname “The Highlanders”. Stationed near Washington with the new Army of the Potomac, Stevens found himself under McClellan, a position he resented. However, he felt bound to accept the post. Almost immediately, faced with a near mutiny of his troops over purported home leave. Stevens was able to quell the incipient insurrection. McClellan ordered regimental colors stored “until its members have shown by their conduct in camp, that they have learned the first duty of soldiers – obedience – and have proven on the field of battle that they are not wanting in courage.”
In the following days, Stevens set about instilling discipline and training in the regiment. Soon, he was describing the men of his regiment as “My Highlanders”. Following skirmishes in northern Virginia, McClellan relented returning the confiscated colors. He wrote, “They have shown by their conduct that they are worthy to carry the banner into action and the commanding general is confident they will always in future sustain and confirm him in the favorable opinion he has formed of them.”
stepping up to brigade command
Stevens was soon tabbed to command a brigade in Annapolis for action eventually along the southern seacoast. On his farewell from the regiment “he recalled the events of the past two months, his voice faltered, and it was quite evident that he regretted the parting as much as we did. Just as he turned to ride off, one of our number, stepping a pace or two in front of the line, shouted: ‘Tak’ us wi’ ue!’ This touched a responsive chord, and the cry was taken up by the whole line.” Once Stevens reached Annapolis, he requested and was granted the 79th to join his brigade. The brigade followed him until his death a year later.
Stevens was still a colonel when given brigade command, but not given a promotion to Brigadier General. Of course, McClellan was behind that slight. He finally found out the reason, which he already suspected. He sent his son Hazard to President Lincoln to ask why he was denied. Lincoln replied McClellan advised against the promotion. Hazard wrote later, “Colonel Stevens had better remain in command of the Highlanders some time longer … that it would not be safe to take away their colonel at present.” But with the son present and the fine job Stevens had done thus far, Lincoln wrote McClellan, “May I not now appoint Stevens a Brig. Genl? I wish to do it.” Stevens was promoted 28 September to Brigadier General. He specified his residency as Washington Territory saying, “if life is spared me, I shall be in the Territory again”.
Away from Little Mac
McClellan made sure Stevens’ brigade was not part of his immediate Army of the Potomac. The brigade saw itself shunted off to action in the Carolina Sea Islands. The brigade eventually found itself a part of John Pope’s Army of Virginia. It saw action first at Second Manassas – Stevens was a Major General by then in charge of a division – and then a few days later at Chantilly. Here, Stevens lost his life clutching a flag dropped by a flag bearer, trying to inspire an attack among his men.
AFTERMATH
David Nicandri, Northwest historian and formerly the president of the Washington Historical Society and the Washington Historical Museum, summed his feelings about McClellan thus, “I think the consensus among historians is that McClellan didn’t like this assignment, he hated the Northwest, didn’t like the weather, didn’t like the topography and showe a profound lack of ambition, which of course most historians have seen as a foreshadowing of his lack of ambition and failure to execute Lincoln’s plan to combat the Confederacy during the Civil War.”
Maybe. McClellan’s failures in the Civil War seem to color what people write about his service on the Railroad Survey. The experiences of the other surveys were not much more successful further south. In one instance, the team following the 38th and 39th Parallels lost their leader, Captain John W. Gunnison – West Point Class of 1837 second in class rank like McClellan – lost his life and the lives of seven others when they were ambushed by Natives in central Utah. All in all, Jefferson Davis’s shotgun approach to finding possible transcontinental routes was mired in politics of the antebellum period. The time available to survey plus the distances involved made it difficult to do a detailed study of routes.
McClellan versus …
McClellan is noted for missing many more passes than he reported – Stampede, Snoqualmie, Stevens being three passes usually noted. Of course, Stampede Pass was not discovered until 1881. Stevens Pass (not named for the governor but the rail engineer surveying the pass) in 1890. And, while Snoqualmie was first trod by non-Native feet in 1858, a rail line would not be built until 1909. The difficulties McClellan faced especially on the early stages of his journey forcing a path through the thick forests of Clark County, the Lewis River canyon all combined to severely cut into the time he had to do more than a superficial exploration of the mountains. With more time, he probably could have found the real Snoqualmie Pass. However, by late in September when he was in the area, time left him with fewer options.
He should have reduced the size of his party earlier from the onset. The number of escorts given him were courtesy of Fort Vancouver commander, Colonel Benjamin Bonneville. With 61 men, 160 animals plus instruments and provisions, his party managed only five miles a day trudging through the difficult terrain on the west side of the Cascade Range. That number went up after he reached the east side, especially after reducing the size of his party. All in all, McClellan’s party covered over a thousand miles of ground.
… Stevens
Stevens’ party covered much more. But they also had the advantage of covering much flatter and less rugged terrain than their western counterparts. Stevens was constantly sending his lieutenants off from the main party – including himself – to further reconnoiter the landscape. Lewis and Clark Pass and Cadotte Pass in Montana – covered by Stevens’ party – are no more remembered today as main arteries than Naches or Yakima Passes in the Cascades. Marias Pass – used by the Great Northern in 1889 – was not discovered in several attempts by Stevens and his lieutenants, though he did know of the existence of the pass. He wrote about the pass as present without seeing it in person. That was much like McClellan writing about lack of passes in the Cascades without getting up close enough to make sure.
Both Isaac Stevens and George McClellan are controversial figures, then and more so now. The two figured at or near the top of their classes at West Point, serving as engineers after graduation. Both knew they were right, and both knew the results of their Northwest clashes figured strongly in the years to come.
FURTHER READING
Two very good biographies exist concerning the two men. George McClellan is covered by Stephen Sears’ biography, George B. McClellan; the Young Napoleon. For a biography on Isaac Stevens, look no further than Kent Richards’ Isaac Stevens; Young Man in a Hurry. Philip Overmeyer wrote an in-depth article on McClellan’s efforts in Washington in a 1941 article for The Pacific Northwest Quarterly published by the University of Washington. The maps and survey reports for Stevens’ route and the others are available online from a Stanford University website.