REMINISCENCES OF MEN AND EVENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR.
By Charles A. Dana,
Assistant Secretary of War from 1863 to 1865.
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT COLLECTION OP CIVIL WAR PHOTOGRAPHS.
VII.
WITH GRANT AND HIS GENERALS IN THE MARCH TO PETERSBURG.—IN THE PANIC AT WASHINGTON RAISED BY EARLY.
THE Army of the Potomac, to which I went in May, 1864, at Mr. Lincoln's request, was composed of the Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Army Corps, and of one cavalry corps. In command of the army was Major-General George G. Meade. He was a tall, thin man, rather dyspeptic, I should suppose, from the fits of nervous irritation to which he was subject. He was totally lacking in cordiality with those with whom he had business, and, as a consequence, was generally disliked by his subordinates. With General Grant, Meade got along perfectly, because he had the first virtue of a soldier—that is, obedience to orders. He was an intellectual man, agreeable to talk to when his mind was free; but silent and indifferent to everybody when he was occupied with that which interested him.
As a commander, Meade seemed to me to lack the boldness that was necessary to bring the war to a close; he lacked self-confidence and tenacity of purpose; and he had not the moral authority that Grant had attained from his grand successes in other fields. As soon as Meade had a commander, he was all right; but when he himself was the commander, he began to hesitate. Meade had entirely separate headquarters and a separate staff, and Grant sent his orders to him.
THE CORPS COMMANDERS.
In command of the Second Army Corps was Major-General W. S. Hancock. He was a splendid fellow, a brilliant man, as brave as Julius Cæsar, and always ready to obey orders, especially if they were fighting orders. He had more of the aggressive spirit than almost anybody else in that army. Major-General G. K. Warren, who commanded the Fifth Army Corps, was an accomplished engineer.
Major-General John Sedgwick, who commanded the Sixth Army Corps, I had known for over twenty years. Sedgwick graduated at West Point in 1837, and was appointed a second lieutenant in the Second Artillery. At the time of the Mackenzie rebellion in Canada, Sedgwick's company was stationed at Buffalo, New York, a considerable length of time. I was living at Buffalo then, and in this rebellion the young men of the town organized a regiment of city guards, and I was a sergeant in one of those companies; so that I became quite familiar with all the military movements then going on. Then it was that I got acquainted with Sedgwick. He was a very solid man; no flummery about him; you could always tell where he was to be found, and in a battle that was apt to be where the hardest fighting was. He was not an ardent, impetuous man, like Hancock, but was steady and sure.
Two days after I reached the army, on May 9th, not far from Spotsylvania Court House, Sedgwick was killed. He had gone out in the morning to inspect his lines, and, getting beyond the point of safety, was struck in the forehead by a sharpshooter and instantly killed. The command of the Sixth Corps was given to General H. G. Wright. Wright was another engineer officer, well educated, of good, solid intellect, with capacity for command, but no special predilection for fighting. From the moment Meade assumed command of the army, two days before Gettysburg, the engineers rapidly came to
