Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1963)
1 8 B MONDAY, JUNE 24, 1962 MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOHD, OREGON Meade Takes Over North Forces Br MERTON T. AXERS UPI Correspondent It was nearly 3 o'clock in the morning of June 28, 1863, when a man in civilian cloth ing aroused Ma). Gen. George Gordon Meade in his tent near Frederick, Md. The intruder announced himself at Lt. Col. James A. Hardie from the War Depart ment in Washingloa What did he want? Meade inquired sleepily. Hardie remarked he had come to give Meade trou ble. His reverse humor joited Meade awake. Hardie lighted a candle and handed Meade an order from President Lincoln making Meade the commander of the Army of the Potomac In place of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker. Meade tried to talk himself out of the job. Why not Maj Gen. John F. Reynolds, conv mander of the I Corps and Meade's senior? He was better fitted for the command, Meade argued, and many agreed Hardie replied that all these questions had been anticipate ed by Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin M. btanton and that he (Hardie) had orders to accompany Meade to Hooker's headquarters and see that the command was transferred. , "Well, I've been tried and condemned without o hearing. and I suppose I shall have to go the execution, Mcado said and put oh 'his mud-spattered uniform. In Full Uniform Meade and Hardie-rode to Hooker's headquarters in Frederick, arriving about dawn. Hooker. had heard that a War Department official was in camp and appeared in full uniform. Hardie ' Informed" ' Hooker that his resignation had been accepted and that he was re lieved of the- Army of the Potomac command and trans ferred to Baltimore to await orders. Hooker wrote a fare- ORDER FROM LINCOLN - Early on June 28, 1863, Lt. Col. James A. Hardie entered the tent of Maj. Gen. George Gor don Meade near Frederick, Md. Hardie, from the War De partment in Washington, handed Meade an order from President Lincoln making Meade commander of the Army of the Potomac in place of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker. Meade tried to talk himself out of the job, but Hardie s orders were firm. Together, they rode to Hooker's camp. Hardie informed Hooker of the change and Meade took over. Meade's work was cut out for him. Lee had Invaded the North and It was up to Meade to stop him. If he failed, there would be little to stop Lee from taking Baltimore and Washington. Here Meade is shown at right and Hooker at left. (UPI) well address to his troops and rode in a spring wagon with Hardie to the Frederick rail road station. It seems likely that Hooker welcomed his release from command. He had courted it by sending in his resignation the day before. It was prompt cd by refusal of Maj. Gen, Henry W. Halleck, overall army commander, to give Hooker command of the Fed eral troops at Harper's Ferry, Va. Hooker wanted to include the Harper's Ferry troops in the Army of the Potomac. When Hooker's resignation arrived in Washington late on June 27, Lincoln, Stanton and Halleck talked it over at the War Department. Stanton and Halleck agreed Hooker must go and Meade was the man to put in command. Lincoln went along with them, saying Meade would fight well "on his own dunghill," a reference to the fact that Meade was Pennsylvania!) and a battle there appeared to be Immi nent. The cabinet was neither consulted nor told of the switch in commanders until the next day when it was an accomplinhcd fact. Secretary Salmon P. Chase, who had sponsored Hooker's appoint mcnt, was upset but could do nothing more than protest Radical Republicans also re scntcd what appeared to them to be a covert move. Meade was accounted a Democrat. When Meade watched Hook er ride away he turned back into the headquarters tent that now was his facing a military problem unique in Civil War history. Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of North Virginia was invad ing Maryland and Pennsyl vania. Even as Meade took over the command, Maj. Gen. Jubal Early led his Confeder ate division Into York, Pa., and occupied the town, cap turing supplies which includ ed 200 barrels of flour, 30,- WAV ., ,- l .- ' ' : 000 bushels of corn and 1,000 pairs of shoes. Early levied a tribute of (100,000 but York could raise only $28,000, which Early accepted in lieu of burning the town. Early bad marched through 1 small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg to reach York. At the same time Confeder ate cavalry occupied Mcchan icsburg, Pa., eight miles from Harrisburg, the capital on the Susquehanna river. Stand Mad Plain Lee's army was strung from there south into the Shenan doah valley of Virginia. Meade's new job was to keep the Army of the Poto mac between Lee and wasn- inglon and Baltimore and to fight him somewhere in the area. Halleck s orders, deliv ered by Hardie at the same time as Hookers removal, made that plain. The first move of Meade was to summon Hooker's chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Daniel But lerficld, to find out the posi tion of the seven corps of the Army of the Potomac and to learn how Hooker had plan ned to maneuver. Butterficld gave him the positions of the troops but if Hooker had any plans Meade did not learn them. Meade ordered the army to keep moving toward the Sus quehanna, covering Washing ton and Baltimore. He retain ed Butterficld as chief of staff after having tried to induce Maj. Gen. G. K. Warren, his V Corps engineering officer. to take the position. Who was this Meade, what manner of man was he and what were his chances of suc cess in the job at which Mc Clcllan, Burnside and Hooker had failed? ForHhc North the issue was joined. If Meade failed there would be nothing except gar rison troops between Lee and the national capital and Bal timore, perhaps even Phila delphia. And commanders of the Army of the Potomac had a long record of failure against Lee. Meade was known to his men in the V Corps as the "old snapping turtle" for his plain speech, his restlessness and impatience. But he had shown himself to be an able soldier on the Peninsula where he was wounded and at Antietam and Fredericksburg. The skirts of his uniform frock coat were clear of the intrigue so char acteristic of Mc-Clollin and Hooker. Born on Dec. 31, 1813 at Ca diz, Spain, where his father was an American merchant, he was reared mostly in Penn sylvania and was graduated from West Point in 1835. He was 40 when he succeeded to army command, older than most of the Army of the Poto mac leaders. He had fought in the Mexican War without par ticular distinction. Lincoln said of him: "General Meade has my confidence as a brave and skillful officer." Lee, a better judge of mili tary men, said: "General Meade will com mit no blunder on my front and if I make one he will make haste to take advantage of it." Charles Carlcton Coffin, Boston Journal war corre spondent, saw Meade that day. He wrote: 'General Meade cared but little for the pomp and parade of war. His own soldiers re spected him because he was always prepared to endure hardships. They saw a tall, shm, gray-bearded man, wear ing a slouch hat, a plain blue blouse, with his pantaloons tucked into his boots. He was plain of speech and familiar in conversation , , . "I saw him soon after he was informed that the army was under his command. There was no elation, but on the contrary he seemed weigh ed down with a sense of re sponsibility resting on him . . . He stood silent and thoughtful by himself." With his army on the move north from Frederick to op pose Lee, Meade found a mo ment to write to his wife, Margaret, in Philadelphia. "Dearest, you know how reluctant we both have been to see me placed in this posi tion, and as it appears to be God's will for some good pur pose - at any rate, as a good soldier I had nothing to do "Pray earnestly , . ." but accept , , . Armed Bandits Loot . ; Home of Entertainer Hollywood - (UPI) - The gun men who masqueraded them selves as policemen when they forced their way into the home of Negro entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., stole an es timated $14,000 in cash and valuables, 'detectives reported Saturday. Neither Davis nor his wife, actress May Britl, was at home whe nthe burglary occurred. Hollywood - IUPII - Actress B e 1 1 e Davis' 16-year-old daughter, Barbara, will be married in December to Jer emy Hyman, 29-year-old vice president of the Seven Arts Film Co. v ; - v. I mh f ahvtj 'C r swM I 1 Eugene Man Killed In Texas Accident Waeldcr, Tex. -Am- Ronald Arthur Ward, 27, of Eugene, Ore., was. killed Thursday when his car skidded on we( pavement and rammed broad side into an oncoming truck; on U. S. Highway 90 near here. Investigators said Ward ap plied his brakes as he was driving and caused the car to skid into the truck. The truclc driver, Jesse G. Mullins, 35, of Woodville, Tex., suffered minor injuries. ; Waelder is about 90 miles east of San Antonio. MAKES PROTEST - Actor Charlton Hcston, backed up by nearly 60 other Santa Monica Mountain residents, makes his protest against proposed country club-apartment complex during a city planning commission hearing in Los Angeles Tuesday. Complex model is shown in the foreground. (UPI) East Germans Seal Off Border Area Berlin - d'PI) - The East Ger man Communists Saturday night began scaling off a new forbidden zone along the East West Berlin border despite a protest by Western allies that it was an illegal move aimed at turning the Soviet zone into a concentration camp. Eastern police unloaded wire fences 100 meters (109 yards) behind the 22-month-old wall in the first step to en force a new ordinance to halt the flight of refugees over the wall and apparently to prevent pro-Kennedy dem onstrations when the Presi dent arrives. Four Eastern border guards fled across the new strip Sat urday before work on it was completed. The four guards, aged 19 to 21', fled in uniform carrying their machine pis tols although several hundred Eastern police were working on the Ierice.' Illlf SHIP AND , ; TRAVEL... awtomated railway ; UNION ' PACIFIC for information, call: , Phone 773-5388 Young Tender ray Ml STEM Over Rump Roast USDA CHOICE . USDA CHOICE WIZARD-ALL FRAGRANCES-REG. 59c 4rv .4"y mi 11 Sp-Mw mtmm m. mmmm. jlk ' aaa aa m NORTHERN QUALITY TOILET TISSUE SHUR FRESH-ALL FLAVORS STOKLEY CALIFORNIA TOMATO JUICE 7-oz. Tin 4-Roll Pkg. CARNATION ICE CREAM i2 GAL. 99c V: Gal. BIG'Y Run of Tarts Everything Baked BAKERY Right in tht Store ... Not Freth Daily . . . Fresh Hourly COCONUT CAKE With 7-Minute Icing PERFECT FOR HAMBURGERS ONION BUNS- SUGARED OR GLAZED DONUTS SERVE TOASTED RASIN NUT BREAD LOADED WITH FRUIT HUCKLEBERRY PIE each 97 do, 49" do. 49 13-o. lost . each 49 T 46-oz. Tin LIMIT 3 PKGS. Vel Detergent large CARNATION CREAMERY BUTTER . TROPIC ISLE 79 c size I rjj mm fffltL Strawberries Pictsweet Sliced 99 r 5 We Give & Redeem SILVER DOLLAR Stamps OPEN EVERY DAY 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. 1 0-oz. pkg. Tip Top FRUIT DRINK , .. t . $ioo o-oi. Tin for f It's New Just Thaw and Bake WHITE BREAD 3-1 6-oi- Loafs 49' i KRAFT COTTAGE CHEESE PINT CARTON 1811 Alta Drip or Reg. Grind & (Q)SJ Mb. pkg. 59 4 for J 10 or 99' c rZ-,just in ttmWashinglnn Sla'r DELICIOUS f ArrLtb -i - 1 J -10-ox. Tin T WKUjncu nivcMrrLC soo Tin h for VAl VITA WHOLE NEW POTATOES 300 Tn . HABITANT PEA SOUP WHITE-ECONOMY PKG. PAPER PLATES 100 Counl WHITE SATIN GRANULATED SUGAR . THREE JAYS-3.8S B.F. FRESH MILK - 9l- jug 89' Plus Tax MARKET-CREAMY PEANUT BUTTER j 3 UKE MAGIC! C"Jf h wt it ft i flt ttStl Iff ! Washington Delicious lb. IDAHO LARGE SIZE BIRQ CHERRI ES GOLDEN PIPE 99' $JS3 tmnn for T " in RIPE AND JUICY ib 39 C.4 AA i uu bis I SANTA ROSA PLUMS , 29 SMOOTHIE BRAND CARROTS 10'
