Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, January 16, 1862

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., January 16, 1862.

Every one seems relieved at the change in the War Department,¹ though the secret cause is as yet unknown, some putting it on his political faith, others on his want of integrity, etc., etc.

__________

¹ Edwin M. Stanton succeeded Simon Cameron as secretary of war.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 243

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Friday, January 16, 1863

The snow continued today with a high wind. I loaned Lieutenant Spencer $15.00.¹ I went to the city today to purchase some supplies, spending in all $1.00. This evening we received our long-looked-for knapsacks with our extra underwear, which was quite welcome. Those of us who were not fortunate enough to secure extra underclothes when at Holly Springs, as some did, were obliged to wear one undersuit for forty-nine days without changing. When we now cast them aside, some of the boys declared that there was almost enough life in their clothes to walk.

__________

¹ Mr. Downing informs me that, as was the common practice, this loan was evidenced only by a verbal contract. — Ed.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 94-5

General Robert E. Lee to One of His Sons, February 16, 1862

February 16, 1862.

I am very glad to hear that you are well and that you have attained such a high position by your own merit. I hope you will strive hard to show that you deserve it, and that you will go on increasing in honor and usefulness. Our country requires now every one to put forth all his ability, regardless of self, and I am cheered in my downward path in life by the onward and rising course of my dear sons.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 160

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, January 5, 1862

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., January 5, 1862.

I fully expected before to-day we would have received the orders that we had hints about, but as yet nothing has been received. Possibly McClellan's sickness may have postponed them, for it is now pretty well known that he has been, if he is not now, quite sick, with all the symptoms of typhoid fever. His employing a Homoeopathic doctor has astonished all his friends, and very much shaken the opinion of many in his claimed extraordinary judgment.

The weather continues quite cold; we have had a little snow, but the ground is frozen hard and the roads in fine order. I have seen so much of war and its chances that I have learned to be satisfied with things as they are and to have no wishes. Were it not for this philosophy, a movement would be desirable, for I am satisfied this army is gaining nothing by inaction, and that volunteers, beyond a certain point, are not improvable. And as this war will never be terminated without fighting, I feel like one who has to undergo a severe operation, that the sooner it is over the better. An officer from town this evening says the report there is that McCall's Division is to join Burnside's expedition,¹ but I think this is a mere street rumor. They would not put an officer of McCall's years and service under so young a man as Burnside. I think, however, that if the Burnside destination is correctly guessed, viz., up the Potomac, that it is highly probable that simultaneous with his attack of the river batteries a movement of the whole of this army will be made on the Centreville lines, to prevent any detachment of their forces to reinforce the batteries and their guard. Should Burnside be successful and find a point where we could advance in their rear, then a large force will be sent in that direction, while the balance attack them in front. This is all surmise and is entre nous, but I have a notion it is McClellan's plan just now.

__________

¹ Brigadier-General Ambrose E. Burnside, commanding expedition to Roanoke Island, N. C.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 242

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Thursday, January 15, 1863

It turned cold during the night and the rain of yesterday turned into snow which continued all day. Our camp is in a frightful condition, there being six inches of snow on mud a foot deep. Half the men of the Sixth Division go into town over night. The Eleventh Iowa received two months' pay this afternoon, and now only a few of us remain in camp, the most of the boys putting up in the city instead. We are expecting any moment to receive orders to break camp here.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 94

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, July 5, 1863

CAMP NEAR BLACK RIVER,

20 miles east of Vicksburg, July 5, 1863.

You will have heard all about the capitulation of Vicksburg on the 4th of July, and I suppose duly appreciate it. It is the event of the war thus far. Davis placed it in the scale of Richmond, and pledged his honor that it should be held even if he had to abandon Tennessee. But it was of no use. and we are now in full possession. I am out and have not gone in to see, as even before its surrender Grant was disposing to send me forth to meet Johnston who is and has been since June 15th collecting a force about Jackson, to raise the siege. I will have Ord's corps, the 13th (McClernand's), Sherman's 15th and Parkes' 9th. All were to have been out last night, but Vicksburg and the 4th of July were too much for one day and they are not yet come. I expect them hourly. I am busy making three bridges to cross Black River, and shall converge on Bolton and Clinton, and if not held back by Johnston shall enter Jackson and there finish what was so well begun last month and break up all the railroads and bridges in the interior so that it will be impossible for armies to assemble again to threaten the river.

The capture of Vicksburg is to me the first gleam of daylight in this war. It was strong by nature, and had been strengthened by immense labor and stores. Grant telegraphs me 27,000 prisoners, 128 field guns and 100 siege pieces. Add to these 13 guns and 5,000 prisoners at Arkansas Post, 18 guns and 250 prisoners at Jackson, 5 guns and 2,000 prisoners at Port Gibson, 10 heavy guns at Grand Gulf, 60 field guns and 3,500 prisoners at Champion Hill and 14 heavy guns at Haines' Bluff, beside the immense amounts of ammunition, shot, shells, horses, wagons, etc., make the most extraordinary fruits of our six months' campaign. Here is glory enough for all the heroes of the West, but I content myself with knowing and feeling that our enemy is weakened by so much, and more yet by failing to hold a point deemed by them as essential to their empire in the Southwest. We have ravaged the land, and have sent away half a million of negroes, so that this country is paralyzed and cannot recover its lost strength in twenty years.

Had the eastern armies done half as much war would be substantially entered upon. But I read of Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia being threatened and Rosecrans sitting idly by, writing for personal fame in the newspapers, and our government at Washington chiefly engaged in pulling down its leaders, — Hooker now consigned to retirement. Well, I thank God we are free from Washington and that we have in Grant not a 'great man' or a 'hero,' but a good, plain, sensible, kind-hearted fellow. Here are Grant and Sherman, and McPherson, three sons of Ohio, [who] have achieved more actual success than all else combined, and I have yet to see the first kindly notice of us in the state, but on the contrary a system of abuse designed and calculated to destroy us with the people and the army; but the Army of the Tennessee, those who follow their colors and do not skulk behind in the North, at the hospitals and depots far to the rear, know who think and act, and if life is spared us our countrymen will realize the truth. I shall go on through heat and dust till the Mississippi is clear, till the large armies of the enemy in this quarter seek a more secure base, and then I will renew my hopes of getting a quiet home, where we can grow up among our children and prepare them for the dangers which may environ their later life. I did hope Grant would have given me Vicksburg and let some one else follow up the enemy inland, but I never suggest anything to myself personal, and only what I deem necessary to fulfil the purposes of war. I know that the capture of Vicksburg will make an impression the world over, and expect loud acclamations in the Northwest, but I heed more its effect on Louisiana and Arkansas. If Banks succeed, as he now must, at Port Hudson, and the army in Missouri push to Little Rock, the region west of the Mississippi will cease to be the theatre of war save to the bands of robbers created by war who now prefer to live by pillage than honest labor. Rosecrans' army and this could also, acting in concert, drive all opposing masses into the recesses of Georgia and Alabama, leaving the Atlantic slopes the great theatre of war.

I wish Halleck would put a guard over the White House to keep out the committees of preachers, grannies and Dutchmen that absorb Lincoln's time and thoughts, fill up our thinned ranks with conscripts, and then handle these vast armies with the single thought of success regardless of who shall get the personal credit and glory.

I am pleased to hear from you that occasionally you receive kindness from men out of regard to me. I know full well there must be a large class of honest people North who are sick of the wrangling of officers for power and notoriety, and are sick of the silly flattery piled by interested parties on their favorites. McClernand, the only sample of that sort with us, played himself out, and there is not an officer or soldier here but rejoices he is gone away. With an intense selfishness and lust of notoriety he could not let his mind get beyond the limits of his vision, and therefore all was brilliant about him and dark and suspicious beyond. My style is the reverse. I am somewhat blind to what occurs near me, but have a clear perception of things and events remote. Grant possesses the happy medium and it is for this reason I admire him. I have a much quicker perception of things than he; but he balances the present and remote so evenly that results follow in natural course.

I would not have risked the passing the batteries at Vicksburg and trusting to the long route by Grand Gulf and Jackson to reach what we both knew were the key points to Vicksburg. But I would have aimed to reach the same points by Grenada.¹

But both aimed at the same points, and though both of us knew little of the actual ground, it is wonderful how well they have realized our military calculations.

As we sat in Oxford last November we saw in the future what we now realize, and like the architect who sees developed the beautiful vision of his brain, we feel an intense satisfaction at the realization of our military plans. Thank God, no President was near to thwart our plans, and that the short-sighted public could not drive us from our object till the plan was fully realized.

Well, the campaign of Vicksburg is ended, and I am either to begin anew or simply make complete the natural sequences of a finished job. I regard my movement as the latter, though you and others may be distressed at the guesses of our newspaper correspondents on the spot (Cairo) and made to believe I am marching on Mobile, on Chattanooga, or Atlanta. . . .

__________

¹ In a letter of August 20, 1863, Sherman wrote: "I confess to feel some pride that I have linked my name with Grant's in achieving one of the stupendous works of this war." In his Personal Memoirs (I, 543 n.) Grant wrote: "Sherman gave the same energy to make the campaign a success that he would or could have done if it had been ordered by himself."

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 269-72.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/06.

General Robert E. Lee to Mildred Lee, February 26, 1862

SAVANNAH, 26th February, 1862.

And are you really sweet sixteen? That is charming, and I want to see you more than ever. But when that will be, my darling child, I have no idea. I hope after the war is over we may again all be united, and I may have some pleasant years with my children, that they may cheer the remnant of my days. I am very glad to hear that you are progressing so well in your studies, and that your reports are so favorable. Your mother wrote me about them. You must continue to do likewise to the end of the session, when I hope you will be able to join your mother. It has been a long time since I have seen you, and you must have grown a great deal. Rob says he is told that you are a young woman. I have grown so old, and become so changed, that you would not know me. But I love you just as much as ever and you know how great a love that is. You must remember me to the P's., your cousin M., Mrs. B., the C's., etc., and tell them how obliged I am for their kindness to you. I hope you appreciate it, and that your manners and conduct are so well regulated as to make your presence and company agreeable to them.

I hope you will be admired and loved by all my friends, and acquire the friendship of all the good and virtuous. I am glad S. agrees with you so well. You know it is considered vulgar for young ladies to eat, which I suppose is the cause of your abstinence. But do not carry it too far, for you know I do not admire young women who are too thin. Who is so imprudent in Clarke as to get married? I did not think in these days of serious occurrences that any one would engage in such trivial amusements. This is a serious period, indeed, and the time looks dark, but it will brighten again, and I hope a kind Providence will yet smile upon us, and give us freedom and independence. These reverses were necessary to make us brace ourselves for the work before us. We were getting careless and confident, and required correction. You must do all you can for our dear country. Pray for the aid of our dear Father in Heaven for our suffering soldiers and their distressed families. I pray day and night for you. May Almighty God guide, guard, and protect you! I have but little time to write, my dear daughter. You must excuse my short and dull letters. Write me when you can, and love always your devoted father,

R. E. LEE.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 159-60

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, January 2, 1862

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., January 2, 1862.

I hear nothing of the movements against McClellan, because I am out of the way of politics entirely and do not often even see the papers. I think, though, the President is his firm friend, and that he will not be disturbed so long as moderate and conservative views have the upper hand. Still, something must be done. This condition of quiescence, with such enormous expenses, is ruining the country, and, one way or the other, the attempt will have to be made to come to a conclusion.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 241-2

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, January 14, 1863

It rained all night and much of the day. Our tents failed to turn the water, as the strong wind blowing literally drove the rain through the canvas, making it as wet where we lay as on the outside. There is no hay or straw to lie on at night and no lumber to be had for floors, but the quartermaster is providing us with plenty of cordwood, and having the Sibley tents we build fires in the center of them to warm ourselves and dry our clothes. A great many of the boys got permission to go down town to spend the night. We signed the payrolls for two months' pay and were expecting to receive our pay today, but for some reason it failed to come.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 94

In The Review Queue: Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave, Annotated Edition

Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave:

Annotated Edition

Edited by  Hank Trent

The American Anti-Slavery Society originally published Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave in 1838 to much fanfare, describing it as a rare slave autobiography. Soon thereafter, however, southerners challenged the authenticity of the work and the society retracted it. Abolitionists at the time were unable to defend the book; and, until now, historians could not verify Williams’s identity or find the Alabama slave owners he named in the book. As a result, most scholars characterized the author as a fraud, perhaps never even a slave, or at least not under the circumstances described in the book.

In this annotated edition of Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave Hank Trent provides newly discovered biographical information about the true author of the book—an African American man enslaved in Alabama and Virginia. Trent identifies Williams’s owners in those states as well as in Maryland and Louisiana. He explains how Williams escaped from slavery and then altered his life story to throw investigators off his track. Through meticulous and extensive research, Trent also reveals unknown details of James Williams’s real life, drawing upon runaway ads, court cases, census records, and estate inventories never before linked to him or to the narrative. In the end, Trent proves that the author of the book was truly an enslaved man, albeit one who wrote a romanticized, fictionalized story based on his real life, which proved even more complex and remarkable than the story he told.

About the Author

Hank Trent is an independent scholar focusing on antebellum American history. He resides in Ohio and is currently working on a biography of Richmond slave trader Bacon Tait.

ISBN 978-0807151020, LSU Press, © 2013, Hardcover, 190 Pages, Chapter End Notes, Appendices & Index. $40.50.  To Purchase the book click HERE.

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, June 27, 1863

CAMP ON BEAR CREEK, 20 MILES N. W.

OF VICKSBURG, June 27, 1863.

I am out here studying a most complicated geography and preparing for Joe Johnston if he comes to the relief of Vicksburg. As usual I have to leave my old companions and troops in the trenches of Vicksburg, and deal with strange men, but I find all willing and enthusiastic. Although the weather is intensely hot I have ridden a great deal, and think I know pretty well the weak and strong points of this extended line of circumvallation, and if Johnston comes I think he will have a pretty hard time to reach Vicksburg, although from the broken nature of the country he may feign at many points and attack but at one. Black River, the real line, is now so low it can be forded at almost any point and I prefer to fight him at the ridge along which all the roads lead. Of these there are several some of which I have blocked with fallen trees and others left open for our own purposes, and which will be open to him if he crosses over. . . .

My military family numbers by the tens of thousands and all must know that they enjoy a part of my thoughts and attention. With officers and soldiers I know how to deal, but am willing to admit ignorance as to the people who make opinions according to their contracted knowledge and biassed prejudices, but I know the time is coming when the opinion of men ‘not in arms at the country's crisis, when her calamities call for every man capable of bearing arms’ will be light as [compared] to those of men who first, last and all the time were in the van. . . .

I doubt if history affords a parallel to the deep and bitter enmity of the women of the South. No one who sees them and hears them but must feel the intensity of their hate. Not a man is seen; nothing but women with houses plundered, fields open to the cattle and horses, pickets lounging on every porch, and desolation sown broadcast, servants all gone and women and children bred in luxury, beautiful and accomplished, begging with one breath for the soldiers’ rations and in another praying that the Almighty or Joe Johnston will come and kill us, the despoilers of their homes and all that is sacred. Why cannot they look back to the day and the hour when I, a stranger in Louisiana, begged and implored them to pause in their career, that secession was death, was everything fatal, and that their seizure of the public arsenals was an insult that the most abject nation must resent or pass down to future ages an object of pity and scorn? Vicksburg contains many of my old pupils and friends; should it fall into our hands I will treat them with kindness, but they have sowed the wind and must reap the whirlwind. Until they lay down their arms and submit to the rightful authority of the government they must not appeal to me for mercy or favors. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 267-9.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/05.

General Robert E. Lee to [Mary Custis Lee?], February 23, 1862

Savannah, Georgia, February 23, 1862.

The news from Tennessee and North Carolina is not at all cheering. Disasters seem to be thickening around us. It calls for renewed energies and redoubled strength on our part. I fear our soldiers have not realized the necessity of endurance and labor, and that it is better to sacrifice themselves for our cause. God, I hope, will shield us and give us success. I hear the enemy is progressing slowly in his designs. His gunboats are pushing up all the creeks and marshes to the Savannah, and have obtained a position so near the river as to shell the steamers navigating it. I am engaged in constructing a line of defense at Fort Jackson which, if time permits and guns can be obtained, I hope will keep them out.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 159

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 31, 1861

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., December 31, 1861.

Do you know, to-day is our wedding-day and my birthday. Twenty-one years ago we pledged our faith to each other, and I doubt if any other couple live who, with all the ups and downs of life, have had more happiness with each other than you and I. I trust a merciful Providence will spare us both to celebrate yet many returns of the day, and that we shall see our children advancing in life prosperously and happily.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 241

Diary of Alexander G. Downing: Tuesday, January 13, 1863

We left bivouac this morning at 6 o’clock and moved on to within a mile of Memphis, where we went into camp. The day was cloudy, threatening rain, and by evening had turned quite cool, with a high wind blowing. The ground being very rough here, the setting up of our tents was pretty slow work.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 94

From Ft. Pillow

MISSISSIPPI FLOTILLA, OFF FT. PILLOW,

On board J. H. Dickey, May 13,

Our mortar boats, one of which, for the past three weeks has kept up a steady day bombardment on Ft. Pillow, from beneath the protection afforded by Craighead Point, were yesterday morning withdrawn and silenced, by order of Com. Davis, after firing one or two shells at dusk last evening.  The rebels commenced shelling the place either from their works at the fort or from the Tennessee shore.  They kept at their firing during the night, their shell bursting wide of the mark.  They fired generally two mortars in quick succession, at intervals of about twenty minutes.  They are provided with heavy mortars and shell, equaling in weight of metal and efficiency to those used by this fleet, and they are rapidly gaining in their gunnery.  Our mortars thus far have remained silent.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 17, 1862, p. 1

The Wheeling Legislature Going to Richmond

WASHINGTON, May 13.

A member of Congress, who has just returned from Wheeling, states that the loyal Legislature of Virginia, now in session in that city, is getting ready to move to Richmond.  The capture of the State capital is regarded as certain, and the Legislature proposes to take time by the forelock and occupy the State House as the legitimate representative body of the State.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 17, 1862, p. 1

Cairo, May 15 [1862].

When Gen. Mitchell joined his forces with Gen. Pope’s division he brought with him 2,500 prisoners.  They will be sent to Cairo as soon as transportation can be obtained.

In the battle of Farmington, one rebel General, supposed to be Bragg, was killed.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, May 17, 1862, p. 1

Major General William T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman, June 11, 1863

WALNUT HILLS, June 11, 1863.

. . . I don't believe I can give you an idea of matters here. You will read so much about Vicksburg and the people now gathered about it that you will get bewildered, and I will wait till maps become more abundant. I miss Pitzman very much. I feel his loss just as I did that of Morgan L. Smith at Chickasaw, both wounded in the hip, reconnoitering. So far as Vicksburg is concerned the same great features exist. The deep washes and ravines with trees felled makes a network of entangled abattis all round the city, and if we had a million of men we would be compelled to approach it by the narrow heads of columns which approach the concealed trenches and casemates of a concealed and brave and desperate enemy. We cannot carry our men across this continuous parapet without incurring fearful loss. We have been working making roads and paths around spurs, up hollows, until I now have on my front of over two miles three distinct ways by which I can get close up to the ditch, but still each has a narrow front and any man who puts his head above ground has his head shot off. All day and night continues the sharp crack of the rifle and deep sound of mortars and cannon hurling shot and shell at the doomed city. I think we have shot twenty thousand cannon balls and many millions of musket balls into Vicksburg, but of course the great mass of these bury into the earth and do little harm. We fire one hundred shot to their one, but they being scarce of ammunition take better care not to waste it. I rode away round to McClernand's lines the day before yesterday, and found that he was digging his ditches and parallels further back from the enemy than where I began the first day. My works are further advanced than any other, but still it will take some time to dig them out. The truth is we trust to the starvation. Accounts vary widely. Some deserters say they have plenty to eat, and others say they are down to pea bread and poor beef. I can see horses and mules gently grazing within the lines and therefore do not count on starvation yet. All their soldiers are in the trenches and none know anything but what occurs close to them. Food is cooked by negroes back in the hollows in rooms cut out of the hills and carried to them by night. The people, women and children, have also cut houses underground out of the peculiar earth, where they live in comparative safety from our shells and shot. Still I know great execution must have been done, and Vicksburg at this moment must be a horrid place. Yet the people have been wrought up to such a pitch of enthusiasm that I have not yet met one but would prefer all to perish rather than give up. They feel doomed, but rely on Joe Johnston. Of him we know but little save we hear of a force at Yazoo City, at Canton, Jackson and Clinton. . . .

SOURCES: M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Editor, Home Letters of General Sherman, p. 266-7.  A full copy of this letter can be found in the William T Sherman Family papers (SHR), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556, Folder CSHR 2/05.

General Robert E. Lee to Mary Custis Lee, February 8, 1862

Savannah, Georgia, February 8, 1862.

I wrote you the day I left Coosawhatchie. I have been here ever since endeavoring to push forward the works for the defense of the city. Guns are scarce as well as ammunition. I shall have to bring up batteries from the coast, I fear, to provide for this city. Our enemies are trying to work their way through the creeks and soft marshes along the interior of the coast, which communicate with the sounds and sea, through which the Savannah flows, and thus avoid the entrance to the river, commanded by Fort Pulaski. Their boats require only seven feet of water to float them, and the tide rises seven feet, so that at high water they can work their way and rest on the mud at low tide. I hope, however, we shall be able to stop them, and my daily prayer to the Giver of all victory is to enable us to do so. We must make up our minds to meet with reverses and overcome them. But the contest must be long, and the whole country has to go through much suffering. It is necessary we should be humble and taught to be less boastful, less selfish, and more devoted to right and justice to all the world.

SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 158-9

Brigadier General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 30, 1861

CAMP PIERPONT, VA., December 30, 1861.

I intended yesterday (Sunday) to have written you a long letter, but just as I was getting ready to do so, orders came for a review by Governor Curtin. The review and attendant duties occupied pretty much the balance of the day. After the review, which passed off very well, Ord's, or the Third Brigade, was addressed by Governor Curtin, who eulogized their conduct at Dranesville, thanked them in the name of the people of Pennsylvania, and said he had directed the word Dranesville to be inscribed on the banner of each regiment in the brigade. Secretary Cameron, who was present, asked very kindly after you, and hoped you were quite well. Among Governor Curtin's cortege was Craig Biddle,¹ who seemed glad to see me, and said he had seen you only a few days ago in the street. General McClellan has issued a complimentary order, in which he returns his special thanks to General Ord and his brigade for the fight, and to McCall and the division for the prompt measures taken to repel the advance of reinforcements.

Well, the vexed Trent affair is settled, and just as I expected it would be. Seward's letter I do not like. It is specious and pettifogging. Had Mr. Seward written this letter immediately on receipt of the intelligence of the capture, and examination of the subject, then it would have been all right and honorable; but I do not understand the manliness of not finding out you are wrong until a demand is made for reparation, particularly as, anterior to that demand and its consequences, everything was done by Congress and the Navy Department, the press and all jurists, to insist on the justice and legality of the act. It is a clear case of backing out, with our tracks very badly covered up. I would have preferred insisting on the act being legal, but yielded on the broad ground of superior force and our inability at the present moment to resist the outrage. I think the course of England has been most disgraceful and unworthy of a great nation, and I feel confident that, if ever this domestic war of ours is settled, it will require but the slightest pretext to bring about a war with England.

__________

¹ Craig Biddle, of Philadelphia, afterward a judge of the court of common pleas.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 1, p. 240-1