Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, September 24, 1863.
The last time I
wrote I told you of my having referred to Washington the question of a further
advance. As I expected, no decisive answer was sent to me, but I was told to
act in accordance with my own judgment. The next thing I was summoned to
Washington and informed that the President considered my army too large for a
merely defensive one, and proposed to take a portion of it away. I objected and
reasoned against this, and left Washington with the belief that the President
was satisfied. I had just arranged the programme for a movement, and was about
issuing the orders, when orders came from Washington, taking troops away. Of
this I do not complain. The President is the best judge of where the armies can
be best employed, and if he chooses to place this army strictly on the defensive,
I have no right to object or murmur. I was in Washington from 11 p. m. Tuesday till 1 p. m. Wednesday; saw no one but the
President, Mr. Stanton and General Halleck; was treated very courteously by
all. I told the President and General Halleck that if they thought I was too
slow or prudent, to put some one else in my place. Halleck smiled very
significantly, and said he had no doubt I would be rejoiced to be relieved, but
there was no such good luck for me. I cannot very well tell you all that transpired;
the intelligence, by no means favorable, had been received from Rosecrans, and
it was evident, without any one knowing what exactly might or could be done,
that there still existed a feverish anxiety that I should try and do something.
Now that I have been weakened, I presume the country will not be so exigeante.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 150-1
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