CAMP PIERPONT, VA., February
11, 1862.
To-night we have the good news that Roanoke Island has been taken
by the Burnside fleet, and while I write the camp is cheering all around me.
There are no particulars, so that our cheers are unmingled with mourning.
General Wise,2 you know, was at Roanoke Island; so perhaps your good
mother may have to rejoice over his capture, or mourn his death; let us hope as
Christians the former may prove to be the case. Nothing has transpired in
reference to Stone's arrest. I must believe he is the victim of political
malice, and that he will be vindicated from the charge of treachery and
collusion with the enemy. You know I always told you his conduct at Ball's
Bluff, in a military point of view, was open to criticism, and I always
wondered McClellan did not order an investigation. The "Tribune" is
becoming more violent and open in its attacks on McClellan and all regular
officers. This is in the interest of Fremont, Jim Lane and others. All this I
am glad to see; the more violent they become, the more open and bold, the
sooner the question of putting them down or yielding to them will have to be
settled, and until that question is settled, there is no peace practicable or
possible. To-night's paper has a very important and good piece of news if true,
viz: that Louis Napoleon in the address to his Chambers says, that so long as
we respect the rights of neutrals France will not interfere.
__________
2 General Henry A. Wise, C. S. A., brother-in-law
of Mrs. Meade, and Governor of Virginia, 1856-1860.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 245-6
No comments:
Post a Comment