150 years ago today General Meade, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac, was concerned about the Committee on the Conduct of the War, which was investigating his performance at and after Gettysburg. Moreover, General Grant, the new overall commander of the federal armies, was scheduled to arrive in Washington – and who knew what Grant had planned for Meade and his army? From The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade … (page 176):
To Mrs. George G. Meade:
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, March 8, 1864.
I am curious to see how you take the explosion of the conspiracy to have me relieved, for it is nothing less than a conspiracy, in which the Committee on the Conduct of the War, with generals Doubleday and Sickles, are the agents. Grant is to be in Washington tonight, and as he is to be commander in chief and responsible for the doings of the Army of the Potomac, he may desire to have his own man in command, particularly as I understand he is indoctrinated with the notion of the superiority of the Western armies, and that the failure of the Army of the Potomac to accomplish anything is due to their commanders.
new boss on horizon? (“Scouts and guides, Army of the Potomac” March 1864)
