 His closest friends were aristocratic southerners including Stonewall Jackson, 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.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.