Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, May 30, 1862

CAMP OPPOSITE FREDERICKSBURG, May 30, 1862.

It would appear from your letter that the Great Stampede, or, as it is called, the “Third Uprising of the North,” had not reached 2037 Pine Street¹ on the 25th instant, though it must have been in the city at the time. We, who are in the midst of the troubles and dangers, are greatly amused to see the terrible excitement produced in Philadelphia, New York and Boston by the inglorious retreat of Banks before a force but little larger than his own. McDowell has gone to Manassas, and has taken every one with him except our division, who have now the honor of holding Fredericksburg and the railroad from thence to Acquia Creek. Had not the enemy, in anticipation and fear of our advance, destroyed all the bridges on the rail and other roads between this point and a place some ten miles this side of Richmond, thus preventing their advance rapidly, as well as ours, I should look, now that we are reduced to one division (about ten thousand men), to their concentrating and coming down suddenly on us. This is their true game, from which they will perhaps be diverted by McDowell's movements, and their own work — placing obstructions to their rapid movements. At the latest accounts they had all retired from our front and gone back either to Richmond or Gordonsville. Still, they are much more enterprising than we are, and we are on the lookout all the time.

__________

¹ Home of General Meade's family.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 269