A Critical Examination (in Part) Of Pennypacker's Life of General George G. Meade (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from A Critical Examination (in Part) Of Pennypacker's Life of General George G. Meade "The Ninth Corps was moved by rail to Annapolis, where it was recruited up to about twenty-five thousand men. As the time for action neared it was set in motion, and by easy marches reached and re-enforced the Army of the Potomac on the morning of the 6th of May. in the midst of the battle of the Wilderness. It was not formally incorporated with that army until later, but by a sort of Action, it was held to be a distinct army, Burnside acting in concert with Meade, and receiving his orders directly from Grant, as did Meade. These two armies were the excuse for Grant's personal presence, without actually superseding Meade. "In my opinion the great soldier of the Army of the Potomac at this time was General Humphreys. He.was the chief of staff to General Meade and was a strategist, a tactician, and an engineer. Humphreys was a lighter, too, and in this an exception to most engineers. He was a very interesting figure. He used to ride about in a black felt hat. the brim of which was turned down all around, making him look like a Quaker. He was very pleasing to deal with, unless you were fighting against him. and then he was not so pleasant. [He was a Quaker by descent.] Humphreys was a very charming man. quite destitute of vanity. I think he had consented to go and serve with Meade as chief of staff out of pure patriotism. He preferred an active command, and eventually on the eve of the end, succeeded to the command of the [combined] Second [Third]Corps, and bore a conspicuous part in the Appomatox campaign. - Charles A. Dana's Recollections page 191-2. "Before the army had recovered from itslong march from Cold Harbor and the failure to capture [Petersburg] there was an unusual amount of controversy going on among the officers. Meade and Warren were so at loggerheads that Meade notified Warren that he must either ask to be relieved as corps-commander or he (Meade) would prefer charges against him. It seemed as if Meade grew more unpopular every day. Finally the difficulties between him and his subordinates became so serious that a change in the commander of the Army of the Potomac seemed probable. "The Fifth Corps having prepared the way. the whole army left the lines about Cold Harbor on schedule time, just as soon after nightfall on the 12th [June 1864] as its movements could be concealed from the observation of the enemy. It was in drawing orders for such complicated movements as these, along different roads and by different crossings, that the ability of General Humphreys, the chief of staff, was displayed. Everything went perfectly from the start". Page 218 "I had long known Meade to be a man of the worst possible temper, especially toward his subordinates. I think he had not a friend in the whole army. No man, no matter what his business or his service, approached him without being insulted in one way or another, and his own staff officers did not dare to speak to him unless first spoken to. for fear of either sneers or curses. The latter however, I had never heard him indulge in very violently, but be was said to apply them often without occasion, and without reason. At the same time, as far as I was able to ascertain, his generals had lost their confidence in him as a commander. His orders for the last series of assaults upon Petersburg, ill which we lost ten thousand men without gaining any decisive advantage, were greatly criticised. They were, in effect, that he bad found it impractible to secure the co-operation of corps-commanders, and that, therefore, each one was to attack on his own account and do the best he could by himself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgotten