CAMP NEAR POPLAR
SPRING, MD., September 12, 1862.
We are here as part of Hooker's (late McDowell's) corps,
forming a portion of the right wing of the army, under the command of Burnside.
I do not know who commands the left wing, nor am I able to ascertain the
strength and position of the different corps. The enemy are believed to be at Frederick
and behind the line of the Monocacy River; all reported as entrenching
themselves and are estimated in various numbers, from two hundred thousand to
fifty thousand. I have no doubt myself they are in large force and in strong
position. We have always thus found them, and I have no reason to expect a
different state now. As I said before, I do not know McClellan's force, or
their position, except what immediately surrounds us. We are on the old
National Road, connecting Frederick City with Baltimore, and are in a position
to cover either that city or Washington. I suppose that in a day or two we will
have a chance to tell what the enemy mean and what we can do. I must confess I
am not very sanguine of our power. The morale of the army is very much impaired
by recent events; the spirits of the enemy proportionately raised.
Tell Sergeant1 I have received his letter, and
that he did right to publish what I said of the Reserves, as it was true. There
was a portion of the division that was overwhelmed and fell back in good order
on the 30th, but there was no truth in the report that they ran or fled without
cause.
__________
1 Son of General Meade.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 309
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