John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[249] repeated too often. The President, the Secretary of War, the general-in-chief, the cabinet, and both Houses of Congress wanted to hear it, and their interest in it was heightened by the fact that although Gettysburg was justly regarded as a great victory it was marred by the escape of the Confederate army across the Potomac into Virginia.

Notwithstanding the necessity of repeating his story and of attending to such other business as pressed upon him, Dana found time to write to me in his own hand from the War Department, July 21, 1863. As this letter has never been published elsewhere, I give it in part as follows:

... I got here very safely, and find everybody in distress because Meade failed to capture Lee. There can be no question that a vigorous attack, seasonably made, must have resulted in the surrender of his entire army. Meade was anxious to make it, but his four principal corps commanders, Sykes, Sedgwick, Slocum, and French, all his seniors in rank, were so determinedly opposed to it, while the only one who strongly urged it, Wadsworth, was only a temporary corps commander and a volunteer to boot, that he yielded and let the critical opportunity go by. The President wrote him a letter recommending such an attack, but it came too late, by some accident. The facts since discovered show that there was no possibility of our failure. ...

... There is no talk of removing General Meade or putting General Grant in command of the Army of the Potomac. ...

... I am going home to Connecticut for a fortnight. Then the secretary desires me to come back here for some duty not yet explained to me. But I am sure I shall not for a long time have anything to do or any association as agreeable and instructive as during my three months with the Army of the Tennessee.

I had almost forgotten to say that the New York riots are over and cannot be repeated. Governor Seymour and the leaders of the Copperhead Democracy were mostly at