Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Major-General Henry W. Halleck to Major-General George G. Meade, July 13, 1863 – 9:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 13, 1863 9.30 p.m.
Maj. Gen. GEORGE G. MEADE,
Army of the Potomac:

Yours of 5 p.m. is received. You are strong enough to attack and defeat the enemy before he can effect a crossing. Act upon your own judgment and make your generals execute your orders. Call no council of war. It is proverbial that councils of war never fight. Re-enforcements are pushed on as rapidly as possible. Do not let the enemy escape.

H. W. HALLECK,    
General-in-Chief.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 27, Part 1 (Serial No. 43), p. 92

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