Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, May 19, 1864.
All goes on well up to this time. We did not have the big
battle which I expected yesterday, as, on advancing, we found the enemy so
strongly entrenched that even Grant thought it useless to knock our heads
against a brick wall, and directed a suspension of the attack. We shall now try
to manoeuvre again, so as to draw the enemy out of his stronghold, and hope to
have a fight with him before he can dig himself into an impregnable position.
We have recent Richmond papers containing Lee's
congratulatory address to his army, so you see both sides claim having gained
the advantage. Lee, however, seems to think they have gained their point when
they check us.
Yesterday I had a visit from Senators Sherman, of Ohio, and
Sprague, of Rhode Island; both were very complimentary to me, and wished me to
know that in Washington it was well understood these were my battles. I told
them such was not the case; that at first I had manceuvered the army, but that
gradually, and from the very nature of things, Grant had taken the control; and
that it would be injurious to the army to have two heads. I see one of the
newspaper men is puzzled to know what share we each have in the work, and
settles it by saying Grant does the grand strategy, and I the grand tactics.
Coppée in his Army
Magazine says, “the Army of the Potomac, directed by Grant, commanded by
Meade, and led by Hancock, Sedgwick and Warren," which is a quite good
distinction, and about hits the nail on the head.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 197-8
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