Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, February 9, 1865.
I note you have seen the report of the Committee on the
Conduct of the War, about the Mine. You have done Grant injustice; he did not
testify against me; but the committee has distorted his testimony, my own, and
that of every one who told the truth, in order to sustain their censure. When
you see all the testimony you will find their verdict is not sustained.
Immediately on the appearance of this report Grant sent me a despatch, a copy of
which I enclose, and from it you will see what he thinks of the course of the
committee, and of Burnside's testimony.1 I replied to him that,
after the acknowledgment of my services by the President, the Secretary and
himself, and the endorsement of the Senate, as shown by the large vote in my
favor, I thought I could stand the action of the committee, and I felt
confident that when the facts and the truth were laid before the public, the
report of the committee would prove a more miserable failure than the explosion
of the Mine. I, however, asked him to exert his influence to have published the
proceedings of the court of inquiry. He has gone to Washington, and I am in
hopes he will have this done; I think Burnside has used himself up.
Richmond papers of the 7th, have a message from Davis and
the report of the commissioners, from which it appears they required
recognition as an independent power, precedent to any negotiations. Of course
this was out of the question, and I think Mr. Lincoln's course ought to meet
the approval of all true patriots.
We cannot and ought not ever to acknowledge the Confederacy
or its independence, and I am surprised they took the trouble to send men into
our lines with any such ideas. This conference ought to unite the North to a
vigorous prosecution of the war; and the people, if they do not volunteer,
should submit cheerfully to the draft. In the same paper, which I send you, is
an obituary notice of Beckham, who, it appears, was killed in one of Thomas's
fights at Columbia, in Tennessee, he being colonel and chief of artillery to S.
D. Lee's Corps. Poor fellow, he and Kirby Smith have both been sacrificed!
_______________
1 For despatch mentioned, see Appendix S.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 261-2
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