Monday, December 22, 2014

Major-General George G. Meade to Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, October 24, 1864

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
October 24, 1864.
Lieut. Gen. U.S. GRANT,
Commanding Armies in the Field:

GENERAL: With extreme reluctance I find myself compelled to call your attention to the following extract from an article published in the New York Independent of October 13, 1864:

He is the general (myself) * * * who, in the campaign from the Rapidan to the James under Grant, annulled the genius of his chief by his own executive incapacity; who lost the prize of Petersburg by martinet delay on the south bank of the James; who lost it again in succeeding contests by tactical incompetence; who lost it again by inconceivable follies of military administration when the mine was exploded; who insulted his corps commanders and his army by attributing to them that inability to co-operate with each other which was traceable solely to the unmilitary slovenliness of their general; who, in a word, holds his place by virtue of no personal qualifications, but in deference to a presumed, fictitious, perverted political necessity, and who hangs upon the neck of General Grant like an old man of the sea, whom he longs to be rid of, and whom he retains solely in deference to the weak complaisance of his constitutional commander-in-chief. Be other voices muzzled, if they must be, ours, at least, shall speak out on this question of enforced military subservience to political, to partisan, to personal requisitions. We, at least, if no others, may declare in the name of a wronged, baffled, indignant army, that its nominal commander is unfit, or unwilling, or incapable to lead it to victory, and we ask that General Grant's hands may be strengthened by the removal of Meade.

It is not necessary to inquire or surmise what source inspired the foregoing grave bill of indictment, nor would I trouble you in regard to this matter, if this was the first or only instance in which I had cause to complain of misrepresentation, but you are aware that ever since I have had the honor to serve under your immediate direction I have been held responsible for all the acts which a certain portion of the public press have been pleased to designate as failures or blunders. Indeed, the extract now quoted is an admirable summary of the various charges which from time to time have been brought against me. Now these charges are either true or false; in either case the public and those who are near and dear to me are entitled to know the facts. In the absence of any published official reports or any official records, to which I can refer, I feel justified in appealing to you and asking as a matter of justice and a simple concession to truth that you will furnish me with such evidence as will place it in my power to correct the extraordinary misapprehension into which the editor of the New York Independent appears to have been led through some malign influence, the origin of which I am utterly unable to account for.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
 GEO. G. MEADE,
Major-General, Commanding.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 42, Part 3 (Serial No. 89), pages 316-7

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