The National tribune., 1908-07-02

NE: WASHINGTON e D. c. TIL
!, Lees army, to our then certain knowl
edge, numbered 81 900 infantry, IL, 00l
cavalry and about 275 pieces of artil
| lery; thatt without this garrison, ant
! taking into consideration our rapiC
! marches, 1--WE should be likely to fal
short of that number of infantry; tina
, your having an order which gave yot
control OF that garrison would max,
you responsible. in the event of failure
for not making use of them; that IL
| such an event they would in all prob
, ability be required to leave that post
that in the event of success they could
be returned at once.
I You will doubtless remember thai
the bringing on Of the general battle
at Gettysburg sooner than you expect.
| ed by Reynolds's collision with Hill
and the events that followed, prevented
| French reaching us in time, and it be.
ing determined, that he could not reach
| us, orders were given him for his
movements contingent upon our sue
cess or failure, as the battle would be
decided before he could reach us. The
| telcgraphic eand other correspondence
will show this.
| Il recall these facts to your recollec-
ton. knowing that the duties suddenly
| imposed upon you at the time may
| have caused you, while giving atten-
ton to other and more pressing duties,
to fail to fix decidedly in your mind
these points. l shGll be glad to know.
| If such Is the case, that some other
person than myself is alluded to by
Gen. Halleck."
! Tho this was very graceful to Gen.
| Meade. it did not meet with his APP
| proval, and he refused to avail himself
of it, Meade said, that, yielding to But
| terfields arguments, he had at first di-
rected 1000 men to be left on Mary
land flights to guard the opening into
the Shenandoah Valley, with the re-
naming 1000 sent forward to Freder-
| ick TO guard the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad. Later1he was Informed by
/ Butterlicld that the men on Maryland
| Nights were destitute of provisions,
| whereupon he ordered them to retire
! TO Washington. taking all public prop
| erty with them.
Changc of Strntegem. rr
t. While Hooker had cherished projects
| CT breaking into the Valley in Lees
rear and cutting. off his retreat-some-
| thing which -corid have been easily
done and which was the soldierly thing
/ to -do-Meade decided to put his army
| in good position covering Washing
ton and Baltimore, and by threatening
Lee to compel an attack from him. He
therefore deployed his corps out more
to the right to prevent Lees army
passing by that flank to reach Palti-
more while he held the left flank rest
ing on the South Mountain to make
Washington secure. -.r s5..
The country IN which the Army of
the Potomac was now operating was 4
wide, triangular valley. with the apex
near the mouth of the Monocacy on
the Potomac, and Frederick, its key
point, situated in. the narrower part
The valley stretched from the South
+ Mountain on the west to a parallel
range of hills 40 miles to the eastward.
and which shuts off the watershed OF
the Monocacy, from those of the Pa
tapsco and Patuxa3t.4 At gap in this
latter range OF hills is the little town
of Westminster. the terminus of the
branch railroad running from Balti-
more to tap =tTies rich agricultural re-
gion. From Frederick a number of
good srUadS iirndiate to the north and
cast OnesDf these was the Harrisburg
road. rtinnIfs~ byo the way of EmInitsb
burg, Gettysburg and HeidlerSburg.
Another wbs the, York road, running
by the wa1 OF FfiddlebGrg,' TaneytowiN
EittlestOwn an TI4anover. These main
roads were1 intef+sected by east and west
roads running from Bath and West-
minister to die gaps in the, South Noun
tain. Theotowf8i of Gettysburg is sit
uated almost on tine dividing line be-
tween thei9wa tersheds of the Susque-
hanna andDthe Potomac. Rock Creek
and Marsha Greeks near the town, flow
into the MBnocaey, while other nearby
streams run intot the Susquehanna.
sfeade's PFoposea Line Mt Pipe Creek.
Gen. Meade had formed the plan of
going into line behind the rayine of
Big Pipe Creek, which would make a
strong defensive position covering both
Washington and Baltimore. Big Pipe
Creek comes down from the eastern
hills before mentioned near the little
village of Manchester. runs between
Taneytown and Frizzelburg. flowing
west-southwest and taking up Marsh
Creek before falling into the Monocacy,
some 10 miles above Frederick, Tho
the country was generally rolling and
exceedingly fertile, yet the banks of
the creek were quite rugged. and there
were frequently such Fairgrounds of
the wild forces of nature as were seen
in the Devils Den at Gettysburg. Sub
stantialIy Meade expected to deploy his
line from Winchester to Middletown.
with his corps in such position as to
readily reinforce that portion which
Lee might attempt to break thru.
AS it advanced the army covered all
the roads leading TO Washington and
Baltimore. The First and Eleventh
Corps were directed on Emmitsburg, the
Third and Twelfth on Taneytown. the
Second on F'rizzleburg. the Fifth to
Union and the Sixth to Windsor.
Mai. George Gordon Meade.
The new commander of the Army of
the Potomac was now in his 4Sth year,
and as perfect an officer and soldier as
any army could show. He belonged to
a family which had always displayed
military tastes, and members of which
had distinguished themselves in the
army and navy. The ancestor of the
family was Robert Meade, who migrat,
ed from Ireland to Philadelphia some
time prior to 1892, and became a prom
inent merchant. He was q Jealous pa
triot, and his sons were public-spirited
citizens, who took the lead in the re-
sistance to the encroachments of the
mother country. George Meade, son of
Robert and grandfather of the General,
in 1880 contributed what was then con-
sidered an enormous sum-E2, 900
sterling--to help supply Washington's
suffering army. The father of Gen
Meade went to Spain on business and
remained there II years, engaged in
furnishing supplies from America to
the British and Spanish armies during
the Peninsular War He was also Unit
ed States Naval Agent at the port of
Cadiz, and it was at this place that his
son, George Gordon Meade, was born
er and the children back to this country
ff- oh inn nd