Major General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 16, 1862

OPPOSITE FREDERICKSBURG, VA., December 16, 1862.

I hope you received my telegram sent on the evening of the 13th inst., announcing my safety.¹ It was out of my power to write, and no mails were permitted to leave the camps, and the telegram I only smuggled through the kindness of Seth Williams. I almost forget when I wrote you last, but I think it was on the 10th inst. The next day we moved down to the river bank and commenced throwing over bridges at two points, one opposite the town, the other about two miles lower down. Franklin's grand division was assigned to the last position. The bridges were finished by the afternoon of the 11th without any opposition at our place, but with much trouble and quite severe loss at the town. On the 12th we crossed. Sumner at the town, Franklin below, and Hooker remaining in reserve. On the 13th it was determined to make an attack from both positions, and the honor of leading this attack was assigned to my division. I cannot give you all the details of the fight, but will simply say my men went in beautifully, carried everything before them, and drove the enemy for nearly half a mile, but finding themselves unsupported on either right or left, and encountering an overwhelming force of the enemy, they were checked and finally driven back. As an evidence of the work they had to do, it is only necessary to state that out of four thousand five hundred men taken into action, we know the names of eighteen hundred killed and wounded. There are besides some four hundred missing, many of whom are wounded. All the men agree it was the warmest work the Reserves had ever encountered. I cannot enumerate all the casualties, but among them was poor Dehon,² who fell pierced through the heart and expired almost immediately. Yesterday, under a flag, we found his body, and Coxe has taken it this morning to Washington. I had become very much attached to Dehon for his many excellent qualities, and it does seem as if the good luck that attends me is to be made up in the misfortunes of my staff. I was myself unhurt, although a ball passed through my hat so close, that if it had come from the front instead of the side, I would have been a "goner." The day after the battle, one of their sharpshooters took deliberate aim at me, his ball passing through the neck of my horse. The one I was riding at the time was a public horse, so that Baldy and Blacky are safe. Our attack on the left failed; same result on the right, though with greater loss and without the éclat we had, because we drove them for some distance and took some six hundred prisoners. The fact being, as I advised you, they had prepared themselves, in a series of heights covered with woods, where they had constructed redoubts and connected them with rifle pits, so that it was pretty much one fortification. On the town side, the works were so near that our people could make no progress out of the town, they coming immediately under the fire of the works. The 14th and 15th were spent in reconnoissances and deliberations, the result of which was, that last night we had the humiliation to be compelled to return this side of the river; in other words, acknowledge the superior strength of the enemy and proclaim, what we all knew before, that we never should have crossed, with the force we have, without some diversion being made on the James River in our favor. What will be done next I cannot tell. Burnside, I presume, is a dead cock in the pit, and your friend Joe Hooker (fighting Joe) is the next on the list, except that it is said fighting Joe recommended the withdrawal of the army. This operation was most successfully effected before daylight this morning, the enemy not having the slightest intimation until it was too late. I have seen George³ this morning; his regiment was over here nearly all the time, as there was no use for cavalry. Among the killed was poor Bayard, who was struck by a cannon shot while sitting under a tree. His loss is universally regretted. The day before we crossed, late in the evening, I got your letter of the 6th, and Mr. Stanton's important one dated November 29th, 1862.⁴ It was a very handsome compliment he paid you in transmitting it through you, which means, I should infer, that he would make you a major general if he could, and, that you had made me. Do you think major general sounds any better than brigadier?

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¹ Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11-15, 1862. Federal loss, killed, wounded, and missing, 12,653 (O. R.)

² Arthur Dehon, 1st Lieutenant 12th Rcgt. Mass. Vols., and A. D. C. to General Meade.

³ Son of General Meade.

⁴ Appointing him major-general U. S. Volunteers.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 337-8