Mary763
Corporal
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2014
I have been reading Allen Guelzo's Gettysburg: The Last Invasion and I'm confused about something. I had read in the chapter "Let us have no more retreats" that General Meade was brought before a Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. The story is that supposedly a Republican named Wilkinson along with Sickles and Doubleday had been talking about Meade's proposal to retreat on July 2nd to Pipe Creek. Now I have read the Pipe Creek circular that Meade put out to his Generals on June 30th describing the positions he wanted the army to take on Pipe Creek as a defensive position to fight the ANV. However, when Buford and later Reynolds were engaged at Gettysburg, the Pipe Creek idea was cancelled. We also know that the Army of the Potomac had, to put it mildly, a rough couple of days on July 1st and July 2nd. Now, I don't agree that Meade should have retreated to Pipe Creek and his Generals also disagreed with him so the discussion of retreat ended. Later, Sedgwick, Sykes, and Newtown all denied hearing Meade "talk" about a withdrawal which got him out of trouble with the Committee.
My question is what could the Committee have done to Meade if others did say that he discussed a withdrawal to Pipe Creek? Isn't a commanding officer always supposed to be thinking of ways to protect their army if necessary or did his actions show that Meade had lost faith in his troops? Was Sickles just trying to get Meade in trouble?
And a last thought...why is Meade not as popular as say Grant or Lee? If you ask anyone not educated in the Civil War, they almost always recognize the names Grant and Lee but most have never heard of Meade.
My question is what could the Committee have done to Meade if others did say that he discussed a withdrawal to Pipe Creek? Isn't a commanding officer always supposed to be thinking of ways to protect their army if necessary or did his actions show that Meade had lost faith in his troops? Was Sickles just trying to get Meade in trouble?
And a last thought...why is Meade not as popular as say Grant or Lee? If you ask anyone not educated in the Civil War, they almost always recognize the names Grant and Lee but most have never heard of Meade.