Saturday, December 21, 2013

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, May 19, 1862

CAMP OPPOSITE FREDERICKSBURG, May 19, 1862.

I hardly know when I last wrote to you, though I know it has been several days longer than I intended; but I have recently been on a Court of Inquiry, and to-day my brigade was reviewed and inspected by Inspector General Van Rensselaer; so that I have been so busy as to have been prevented from writing to you.

McDowell has been to Washington, but what has occurred is unknown. McCall is not to be disturbed, at least at present. Ord has been assigned to the new division of which Hartranft, Ricketts and Bayard are the brigadiers.

The cars are running to the river, and the bridge for the railroad is nearly completed. We now await the arrival of General Shields's division, when I suppose we will start for Richmond. We hear nothing of McClellan, beyond the fact that he has rested from pushing the enemy to the wall. Things are coming to a focus, both at Richmond and at Corinth. If we should be successful at both places, I think the South had better give it up, though there is no telling what they will do or what we will have to do. Subjugation is very easy to talk about, but not quite so easy to execute. All we can do is to be patient and await coming events.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 266-7

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