Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, March 13, 1865.
I wish you would think favorably of my proposition to take a
trip to the army. I think it would arouse you and distract your mind.
You do not do justice quite to the court of inquiry. The
finding is a complete vindication of my part in the operation. I enclose a slip
from the Army and Navy Journal, which gives in full the “Finding of the
Court,” the papers having only published that portion in which individual
officers are censured by name.1 On reading this you will see the
court states that, had my orders been carried out, success was certain, and
that failure was due to the neglect of my orders by Major General Burnside and
others. It is true the court might have amplified this much more than it did,
and not ignored altogether Burnside's extraordinary course, in the withdrawal
of his command, which was the cause of our great loss. The Richmond papers say
Hampton has whipped Kilpatrick, and we have a despatch from Sheridan reporting
the occupation of Charlottesville and destruction of the James River Canal.
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1 For article mentioned, see Appendix T.
SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George
Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 267
