September 6ih, 1863
I promised to tell you how I invited General Meade to go
with me and see General Sykes. If I didn't know anything, I looked like
a Commander-in-Chief, for I had the best horse and the best accoutrements, and
as for clothes, General Meade was nowhere; besides which, he had no sword,
while I had. The cavalry escort reminded me exactly of the Guides that go with
the little Prince along the rue de Bivoli. No two of them had caps alike, none
had their jackets buttoned; all were covered with half an inch of dust, and all
eschewed straps to their pantaloons. Nevertheless, had the Rebs appeared, I
should have preferred these informal cavaliers to the Guides. Each man had a
sabre with a rusty scabbard, and a revolver hung at his belt. They all ride
well, and would be handsome horsemen, if “got up.”
General Humphreys, with his usual bland smile, appeared on a
small gray, which was of a contrary and rearing disposition; but the General
remarked, with the air of an injured man, that he had had three valuable horses
killed under him in battle, and now he should only get cheap ones.
General Meade, whose saddle-flap was ornamented with a bullet-hole within an
inch of his leg, was mounted on a small bay. And so we jingled off; sometimes
in the road, sometimes in the open fields, sometimes in the woods and sometimes
through creeks and mudholes. The Chief rides in a most aggravating way, neither
at a walk nor a gallop, but at a sort of amble, which bumps you and makes you
very uncomfortable. . . . In due season
we got to the 5th Corps Headquarters, near the Rappahannock, which is a very
narrow affair at this point, and not over four feet deep on the shallowest
fords. General Sykes looks a little like the photograph of General Lyon and has
a very thick head of hair, which stands up like Traddles's. He is a mild,
steady man, and very polite, like all the officers I have seen down here.
Indeed, a more courteous set of men it would be hard to find. I have yet to
meet a single gruffy one. They are of all sorts, some well educated, others
highly Bowery, but all entirely civil.
. . . The astute Sykes talked some time with the Chief, and
then we rode to the Headquarters of General Newton, who commands the 1st Corps,
hard by. This chieftain had a very gorgeous tent, erected for the express
accommodation of Mrs. Newton, who, however, was soon driven forth by the
general order excluding all ladies from the lines; and the tent was all that
remained to remind one of her presence. General Newton also has a thick head of
hair, and is a tall and finely built man and “light complected.” He was in
great glee over a tete-de-pont he had erected, and hoped to decoy some
unfortunate Rebels to within range of it. He produced a huge variety of liquids
which I had to refuse. The drinks I have refused will be a burden on my
conscience in time to come. They come from all sides and in great variety, even
champagne! . . .
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 8-9
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