[5][6] George McClellan died early in the morning on May 9, 1847, from exsanguination due to an ulcerated lesion below the sigmoid flexure of the colon.

He then took up the study of medicine, first with Thomas Hubbard of Pomfret, Connecticut, later Professor of Surgery of the Medical College of New Haven, with whom he remained one year.

In 1817, he went to Philadelphia to attend medical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, and to become the private pupil of John Syng Dorsey, Professor of Materia Medica, receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1819.

Many unsuccessful requests had already been made for a new medical school in Philadelphia so he and others had the idea to couple it with Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

1861 saw the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College close due to unpaid bills and low enrollment secondary to the American Civil War.

Nothing could exceed the combined coolness and skill manifested by Dr. M. throughout this terrible operation, which he has now performed for the eleventh time, and hitherto with remarkable success.

I had sometimes heard McClellan spoken of as a heartless surgeon, devoid of feeling or sympathy for those who came under his knife; but I can solemnly aver that I have seldom witnessed more unaffected sorrow than he manifested on this occasion.

He walked the room incessantly, and repeatedly clasped my hands in his, while he expressed, in emphatic language, the feelings that preyed upon his mind.

He moreover assured me, that he seldom performed one of his severer operations without first asking the blessing of God on his undertaking; and that days and nights of painful anxiety, often preceded those great professional efforts which have justly placed his name on the pinnacle of surgical fame.

The gurgling respiration of the unfortunate patient announced the near approach of death, and I withdrew, full of sympathy for the agonized emotions of my friend.His name became widespread and he was known to have performed more surgeries than any other during his lifetime.