Lot 66
Meade, George Gordon (1815-1872) Commander of the Army of the Potomac from before Gettysburg to the end of the war. Important war-date Autograph Document Signed twice, once as "Geo. G. Meade" and once "GGM," 2 pp (recto/verso of one sheet), in pencil, on Head-Quarters, Army of the Potomac letterhead, 8 x 5 in., 8:15, June 4, 1864. Meade sends battlefield orders to Major General (Horatio) Wright.
In full: "Your dispatch reporting you are in advance of the 18th Corps has been sent to Gen. [William 'Baldy'] Smith who is under the impression he is in advance of you. Smith and [Major General Winfield] Hancock are both ordered to push forward. There is not the slightest idea that the 6th Corps is not doing what it always has done orderly and well. It is a question of judgment as to the timing of assaults which between the three corps may involve delay and failure. Geo. G. Meade Maj. Genl." He adds below, "Push on & when you think it time to stop report. GGM." Light occasional soiling, especially to fold on verso, else near fine.
This order was written on the morning after the second assault ordered by General Grant, with the intent of a decisive blow against Lee's entrenched forces; instead, it resulted in the decimation of Union troops by the Confederates, exacting the most horrific carnage of the Civil War, with 7,000 Union casualties in the space of a half hour adding to the already costly assaults on the two previous days. Wright, Smith, and Hancock had all complained to Meade that the other corps commanders had failed to protect them from enfilading fire. Boatner says, "The three corps had moved upon diverging lines, each directly facing the enemy in its immediate front, and the farther each had advanced the more its flank had become exposed….Cold Harbor represents a horrible failure of Federal generalship." Meade's indecisive orders to Wright exemplify that failure of leadership. Skirmishing continued from June 4-12 but Grant did not call a truce to collect the wounded and dying until June 7th, an admission of defeat. In his memoirs, he regrets the last assault on Cold Harbor. With the Confederate victory at Cold Harbor-- Lee's last major field victory--Grant abandoned his move toward Richmond and moved toward Petersburg, where after nine months of trench warfare, Lee would be forced to retreat and would surrender the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 10,000.
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