| July 19 |  |
Editor says, what if Little Mac had been assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theatre? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the June 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1825, on this day the eighteenth President of the United States, "Gentleman" George Hunt Pendleton (pictured) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.
George H. Pendleton
18th US PresidentAfter attending Cincinnati College and the University of Heidelberg in Germany, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847. He was a member of the Ohio Senate from 1854 to 1856. In 1854 he ran unsuccessfully for the Thirty-fourth United States Congress. Three years later he was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress and also succeeded in being reelected to the three following Congresses (March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1865), but in 1864 he failed to be elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress.
He was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1862 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against West H. Humphreys, United States judge for several districts of Tennessee. He was a leader of the peace faction of the Democratic party, with close ties to the Copperheads. In the 1864 general election he was on the winning ticket as George McClellan's running mate, a victory that was largely due to the delayed fall of Atlanta and the Confederate victory at Cedar Creek.
Pendleton was a noted antiwar Democrat, but McClellan's position was more equivocal: he supported continuation of the war and restoration of the Union (though not the abolition of slavery), but the party platform, written by Copperhead Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, was opposed to this position. The platform called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy. McClellan was forced to repudiate the platform, which made his campaign inconsistent and difficult.
The situation became even more tense when it was revealed that Lincoln was determined to attempt a no holds barred assault on Richmond to conclude the Civil War before inauguration day. President-elect McClellan then revealed his true colours by refusing to take a stand against his former boss, the lame-duck President. But he paid the ultimate price for this equivocation, because on the night of April 14th, he was shot dead in the Ford Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: George B. McClellan, Texas, Presidency, America, George H. Pendleton. Editor says, in authoring this article we refer to Eric Lipps' post Death of "Little Mac" and we also repurposed content from Wikipedia.
~ I've never heard of George H. Pendleton.
~ He invented the flannel shirt.
~ I'm sorry, he invented the *plaid* flannel shirt.
~ History is full of forgotten figures who might have ben president of the United States.
~ It wouldn't have mattered if McClellan had opposed abolition. Slavery was already abolished in the Confederacy, and the army was in no mood to let it stand. They were inspired. And after victory, which was inevitable, the Radicals would have prevented re-admission. The national mood had changed. The North savored its victory.
~ McClellan was as pro-Union as Lincoln, and he'd have been delighted to preside over the final destruction of the CSA. Matter of fact, he might have made JWB even madder, because he'd have likely crowed a lot more over having humbled his precious South.
~ Is this the same Pendleton that gave the name to Camp Pendleton? According to Wikipedia no, Camp Pendleton was declared a "permanent installation" and by 1946, it became the home of the 1st Marine Division. It was named after Major General Joseph Henry Pendleton (1860–1942), who had long advocated setting up a training base for the Marine Corps on the west coast. Today it is the home to myriad Operating Force units including the I Marine Expeditionary Force and various training commands.
~ McClellan was definitely prepping for the long-term war, which would've been even more devastating for a South behind the blockade. Rolling through Virginia as the Yanks did Georgia, but more slowly and more grinding, might've made JWB even crazier.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
