Sentence:  It was the opinion of some of us that these must be part of the Committeemen who had been in the Battle of the North Bridge , which entitled them to a sort of veteran status , and we <WSD>felt</WSD> that if they employed this tactic , it was likely enough the best one . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  come to believe on the basis of emotion, intuitions, or indefinite grounds