Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, 6 P. M., June 1, 1864.
We are pegging away here, and gradually getting nearer and
nearer to Richmond, although its capture is yet far off. Our advance is within
two miles of Mechanicsville, which, if you remember, is the place where the
fighting commenced in the Seven Days. The rebs keep taking up strong positions
and entrenching themselves. This compels us to move around their flank, after
trying to find some weak point to attack. This operation has now occurred four
times, namely, crossing the Rapidan, at Old Wilderness, at Spottsylvania Court
House, and recently at North Anna. We shall have to do it once more before we
get them into their defenses at Richmond, and then will begin the tedious
process of a quasi-siege, like that at Sebastopol; which will last as long,
unless we can get hold of their railroads and cut off their supplies, when they
must come out and fight.
Whilst I am writing the cannon and musketry are rattling all
along our lines, over five miles in extent, but we have become so accustomed to
these sounds that we hardly notice them.
The weather is beginning to be hot, but I keep in the saddle
during the day, and sleep soundly at night.
The papers are giving Grant all the credit of what they call
successes; I hope they will remember this if anything goes wrong.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 200
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