CAMP NEAR FALMOUTH, VA.,
January 28, 1863.
Your anxiety lest I should be placed in command of the army causes
me to smile. Still, I must confess when such men as Gibbon say it is talked
about, it really does look serious and alarming; yet, when I look back on the
good fortune which has thus far attended my career, I cannot believe so sudden
a change for the worse can occur as would happen if I were placed in command. I
think, therefore, we may for the present dismiss our fears on that score.
General Hooker has been two days in Washington. I am looking anxiously for his
return to hear what will be the result. Before he was placed in command he was
open-mouthed and constant in his assertions that he did not want to command,
and that he would not command unless he was perfectly untrammeled and allowed
in every respect to do exactly as he pleased. Now, I am quite confident no such
conditions will be acceded to in Washington. Hence, either "Fighting
Joe" will have to back down or some one else will be sent to take the
command. From my knowledge of friend Hooker, I am inclined to surmise the
former will be the case. But even supposing they give him carte-blanche, his
position is anything but enviable. This army is in a false position, both as
regards the enemy and the public. With respect to the enemy, we can literally
do nothing, and our numbers are inadequate to the accomplishment of any result
even if we go to the James River. On the other hand, the wise public are under
the delusion that we are omnipotent, and that it is only necessary to go ahead
to achieve unheard-of success. Of course, under such circumstances, neither
Csesar, Napoleon nor any other mighty genius could fail to meet with
condemnation, never mind what he did, and Hooker, I fancy, will find in time
his fate in the fate of his predecessors, namely, undue and exaggerated praise
before he does anything, and a total absence of reason and intelligence in the
discussion of his acts when he does attempt anything, and a denial of even
ordinary military qualifications unless he achieves impossibilities. Such being
the case, he certainly is not to be envied. I think when his head is cut off,
the Administration will try a general of their own kidney, either Fremont,
Hunter or some other. Of course, so long as Hooker is absent, I continue in
command of the Centre Grand Division, but I am more and more inclined to
believe that his visit to Washington will result in the abolition of the
grand-division system altogether, and the return to corps alone. I hope I shall
retain the Fifth Corps, as it is one of the best, including as it does the
regulars.
Humphreys has gone to Washington. I believe I wrote you he
behaved with distinguished gallantry at Fredericksburg. It appears that soon
after the battle, Burnside told him both the President and Secretary assured
him solemnly that Humphreys should be immediately promoted. He now finds a long
list sent to the Senate, including such names as Butterfield, Sickles, Berry
and others, who have really done nothing, while his name is omitted, and he
cannot hear that there is any record in the Department going to show he has
ever even been thought of. Under these circumstances he is naturally very
indignant. This is all entre nous. Just as I had gotten thus far, I
heard Hooker had returned, and notwithstanding it is storming and snowing
violently, I rode three miles to his headquarters to see him, and have just
returned. He seemed in excellent spirits, said they had treated him "en
prince" in Washington, and told him he had only to ask and he should have
what he wanted. He did not tell me his plans, but intimated that as soon as the
weather and the roads permitted he was prepared to try something.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 351-2
