McClellan worked as a Congregationalist minister and as a high school teacher and principal. His writing, generally self-published, addresses religion, nature, and romantic love while only occasionally revealing an emotional struggle against racial discrimination.

Oh! for the welcome breath of country air,
With Summer skies and flowers,
To shout and feel once more the halcyon
Of gayer boyhood hours
I think the sight of fields and shady lanes
Would ease my heart of pains.

To cool once more my thirst, where bubbled up
The waters of a spring,
Where I have seen the golden daffodils
And lillies flourishing,
My fevered heart would more than half forget
Its sighs, and vain regret.

Far, far away, from early scenes am I;
And, too, my youth has fled;
For me a stranger's land, a stranger's sky,
That arches overhead.
For scenes and joys that now have passed me by,
I can but give a sigh.