CAMP NEAR SHARPSBURG,
MD., October 5, 1862.
Since writing to you the President of the United States has
visited our camp and reviewed our corps. I had the distinguished honor of accompanying
him to the battle-field, where General McClellan pointed out to him the various
phases of the day, saying here it was that Meade did this and there Meade did
that; which all was very gratifying to me. He seemed very much interested in
all the movements of Hooker's corps. I do not know the purport of the
President's visit, but I think it was to urge McClellan on, regardless of his
views, or the condition of the army. I think, however, he was informed of
certain facts in connection with this army which have opened his eyes a little,
and which may induce him to pause and reflect before he interferes with
McClellan by giving positive orders. For instance, the following,
confidentially written: I prepared a statement, showing that Hooker's corps on
paper was thirty-one thousand five hundred strong; that of this number there
were present for duty only twelve thousand, and of these, a numerical list,
made on the day of the battle, after we came out of action, showed only seven
thousand. Hence, while the United States were paying, and the
authorities at Washington were relying and basing their orders and plans
on the belief that we had thirty-one thousand five hundred men, facts showed
that we had in reality, on the field fighting, only nine thousand. As to the
seven thousand that came out of the fight, we should add some two thousand
killed and wounded in it. It would take too much time to explain this apparent
paradox. Suffice it to say, it results from a serious evil, due to the
character and constitution of our volunteer force, and from the absence of that
control over the men, which is the consequence of the inefficiency of the
officers commanding them — I mean regimental and company officers. Three days
after the battle this corps numbered twelve thousand officers and men, though
on the evening of the battle we could only muster seven thousand. Now, the
difference of five thousand constituted the cowards, skulkers, men who leave
the ground with the wounded and do not return for days, the stragglers on the
march, and all such characters, which are to be found in every army, but never
in so great a ratio as in this volunteer force of ours. I believe all that
saves us is the fact that they are no better off on the other side, and it is
well known that on the 17th instant the roads to Winchester on the one side,
and Hagerstown and Frederick on the other, were filled with men who turned
their backs on their respective commands engaged in fighting. It is, from all I
can learn, about as bad on one side as the other.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 317-8
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