Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, February 11, 1862


CAMP PIERPONT, VA., February 11, 1862.

To-night we have the good news that Roanoke Island has been taken by the Burnside fleet, and while I write the camp is cheering all around me. There are no particulars, so that our cheers are unmingled with mourning. General Wise,2 you know, was at Roanoke Island; so perhaps your good mother may have to rejoice over his capture, or mourn his death; let us hope as Christians the former may prove to be the case. Nothing has transpired in reference to Stone's arrest. I must believe he is the victim of political malice, and that he will be vindicated from the charge of treachery and collusion with the enemy. You know I always told you his conduct at Ball's Bluff, in a military point of view, was open to criticism, and I always wondered McClellan did not order an investigation. The "Tribune" is becoming more violent and open in its attacks on McClellan and all regular officers. This is in the interest of Fremont, Jim Lane and others. All this I am glad to see; the more violent they become, the more open and bold, the sooner the question of putting them down or yielding to them will have to be settled, and until that question is settled, there is no peace practicable or possible. To-night's paper has a very important and good piece of news if true, viz: that Louis Napoleon in the address to his Chambers says, that so long as we respect the rights of neutrals France will not interfere.
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2 General Henry A. Wise, C. S. A., brother-in-law of Mrs. Meade, and Governor of Virginia, 1856-1860.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 245-6

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