Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Major General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 17, 1862

CAMP OPPOSITE FREDERICKSBURG, VA., December 17, 1862.

I wrote to you yesterday, giving a short account of the battle of the 13th, and my share of the same. You must, however, look to the newspapers for the details, although as usual they seem to ignore the Pennsylvania Reserves, except the New York Herald, which I understand says that we ran scandalously at the first fire of the enemy. This is the harder, because I saw the Herald correspondent on the field, and he might have known and indeed did know better. What his object in thus falsifying facts was I cannot imagine, but I would advise him not to show himself in our camp if he values his skin, for the men could not be restrained from tarring and feathering him. I believe I told you that yesterday I wrote to Burnside, officially informing him I had received my appointment as major general. To-day I went to see him to ascertain if there was any chance of my slipping away for a few days. He said he would be glad to let me go, but that he proposed to give me the Fifth Corps, now commanded by Butterfield. I told him, in that case I did not want to go. He said the order would have been issued to-day, but that Hooker (in whose grand division the Fifth is) objected to a change of commander in the midst of active operations. I expressed great surprise at this, and referred to Hooker having urged my assignment to his corps on the field of battle, and spoke of the letter he had written to Halleck urging my promotion. Burnside said Hooker had explicitly remarked his opposition was not personal to me, for he considered me one of the most splendid soldiers in the army; but it was on the principle of not changing commanders alone that he objected. Burnside finally said he was going up to see Halleck, and unless he ascertained they were going to send someone senior to me, he should put me there, and all that he regretted now was that I had not been in command of it the other day. More than this I could not ask.

I have received your letter by Clem. Barclay. Poor fellow, he did not know till his arrival that his nephew (Dr. B.'s of the navy's son) was killed in Chapman Biddle's regiment. This regiment behaved very well and did good service. You will probably see Alexander Coxe in Philadelphia. I sent him up to Washington with the bodies of Dehon and General Jackson, and told him, after turning them over to their relatives, he might run up to Philadelphia for a few days. He will tell you all about the fight.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 338-9

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