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
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