General George B. McClellan is depicted here in a three-quarter-length standing portrait on an albumen CDV, published by E. Anthony of 501 Broadway, New York, from a photographic negative originating with Brady's National Portrait Gallery. The image dates to the Civil War era, almost certainly produced during McClellan's tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac between 1861 and 1862, when Brady's gallery made this portrait widely available to a Union public hungry for images of its generals.

McClellan wears a double-breasted Union officer's frock coat with two rows of buttons running the full length of the front, epaulettes on both shoulders, and sleeve buttons at the cuffs. His hands are clasped behind his back, his posture erect, and his expression direct and composed beneath a full dark mustache and short side-parted hair.

George Brinton McClellan (1826–1885) was a West Point graduate, Mexican-American War veteran, and the general who organized and trained the Army of the Potomac after the Union disaster at First Bull Run. He later ran as the Democratic presidential candidate against Abraham Lincoln in 1864.

The printed caption along the lower mount reads "GEN'L. GEO. B. McCLELLAN." The reverse bears the full E. Anthony imprint with the Brady's National Portrait Gallery attribution, along with the handwritten notations "7/20." in the upper right and "6" in the upper left.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer

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