Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, P. M., August 10,
1864.
The Washington papers of yesterday announce Sheridan being temporarily
assigned to the military division which Grant told me was intended for me.
Grant has been back two days, and has not vouchsafed one word in explanation,
and I have avoided going to see him, from a sense of self-respect, and from the
fear I should not be able to restrain the indignation I hold to be natural at
the duplicity some one has practiced. In my last conversation with General
Grant he distinctly told me that if a military division was organized I should
have the command, and that it was designed to give Sheridan only the command of
that part of the Army of the Potomac temporarily detached. This order is not
consistent with that statement.
To-day I got through with my evidence before the court of
inquiry. Burnside, in his cross-examination, through a lawyer, undertook to
impeach my testimony, though he disclaimed any such intention; but I gave him
as good as he sent. I hear he was about apologizing to me for his disrespectful
despatch, and was then going to resign; but on returning from Grant's
headquarters, where he expressed this intention, he found my charges and
letter, saying I had applied to have him relieved. I feel sorry for Burnside,
because I really believe the man half the time don't know what he is about, and
is hardly responsible for his acts.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 220
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