August 11, 1864
Sheridan has been appointed to command all the upper Potomac
forces, which is saying that he is to command all the troops to drive Early out
of the Shenandoah Valley. He is a Major-General, and is an energetic and very
brave officer. This command, however, is a very large one, larger than he ever
before had. I have little doubt, that, for field-service, he is superior to any
officer there. Things are cooking, and the Rebels will find they must fag away
still, as well as we. I do not exactly know if Meade likes this appointment:
you see they have taken one of his corps, added much of his cavalry and many
other troops to it, and then given the command to his Chief of Cavalry, while
he [Meade] is left, with a reduced force, at this somewhat negative Petersburg
business. I rode out just at dark, and from an “elevated position,” as Smith
would say, watched the flashes of the sharpshooters, and the fires of the camp.
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 210-1
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