October 24, 1863
We went to Willard's after the pow-pow and got a very good dinner;
only poor General Meade was bored to death and driven out of all peace of mind,
by dirty politicians who kept coming up and saying: “Ah, General Meade, I
believe; perhaps you do not recollect meeting me in the year 1831, on a
Mississippi steamboat? How do you do, sir? What move do you propose to execute
next? Have you men enough, sir? What are the intentions of Lee, sir? How are
the prospects of the rebellion, sir? Do you look upon it as essentially
crushed, sir? Or do you think it may still rear its head against our noble
Union, sir?” etc., etc. All of which the
poor Chief (endeavoring to snatch a mouthful of chicken, the while) would
answer with plaintive courtesy; while the obscure aides-de-camp were piling in
all kinds of delicacies. . . . The papers
say General Meade received imperative orders to give Lee battle; not a word of
truth in it! You might as well give imperative orders to catch a sea-gull with
a pinch of salt. Lee would perhaps have given us a chance; but the same storm
that prevented our advance carried away the Rapidan bridge, and he could get
nothing to eat. His forces were, I think, larger than supposed, especially in
cavalry, which was very numerous.
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 38
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