George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army
George Gordon Meade, Ed.

I cannot express to you how thankful I am you refused John Cadwalader's¹ request to publish my letter, and I have mentioned your good sense and prudence with great pride throughout the camp. It is the more appreciated, as many good people similarly situated have not exercised the same discretion, and many letters have been published which their authors would have given a great deal to have revised before meeting the eyes of their brother officers. Instances of individual valor which were never known before the letters came here in the papers, extraordinary feats performed by persons who were never near the reputed scene of action, and all kinds of lies and absurdities have been sent forth, the poor devils writing them supposing they would only be seen by their friends, and these little white lies, induced by their vanity, pass undiscovered. Another set wrote what they believed to be true, but in giving their accounts of the actions have run counter in their impressions to the impressions of others, so as to have raised in the army a number of cliques, each having its individual hero. Now, though I wrote you nothing but the truth, and what I saw myself, yet as it is impossible on a field of battle for any one man to see and know everything, many things escaped me, and had my letter been published and reached here, many who are now my good friends would have abused me for having omitted to mention their extraordinary services. Indeed, of the mass of letters I know of but one which has met with anything like approbation, and I am therefore over-rejoiced at your good sense in withholding mine. If there is anything I do dislike, it is newspaper notoriety. I think it is the curse of our country, and fear it is seriously injuring our little army, whose tone once was utterly opposed to making use of the public press to sustain their cause.

As to my name being mentioned in General Taylor's report, I think your expectations were altogether too high, and you deserved to be disappointed. When you reflect that of nearly two hundred officers only some twenty-five were mentioned, you must certainly acknowledge it a compliment. And the very fact of its being brought to your notice by so many persons proves that it was a compliment of no small value. Now, I did nothing but my duty, which did not require that I should charge batteries, or shoot Mexicans, or place myself in any position where I could display extraordinary personal valor, and I am only mentioned because, being near the person of