Summary:
In late June, 1863, General George Gordon Meade, newly installed as commander of
the Army of the Potomac, pursued Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia into
Pennsylvania. In this dispatch, Meade reports to Union General Darius Couch on
his advance on Lee's men in the vicinity of Chambersburg and Gettysburg. Meade
also attempts to make arrangements for supplies.
Maj.-Gen. Couch:
June 30, 1863.
I am in position between Emmitsburg and Westminster, advancing upon the enemy. The enemy hold (A. P. Hill) Cashtown Pass, between Gettysburg and Chambersburg. Their cavalry--three to five brigades--are on my right, between me and the Northern Central. My force is tolerably well concentrated, moving with all the speed that the trains, roads, and physique of the men will bear. I am without definite and positive information as to the whereabouts of Longstreet and Ewell. The latter I presume to be in front of you. The army is in good spirits, and we shall push to your relief or the engagement of the enemy, as circumstances and the information we receive during the day and in the marches may indicate as most prudent and most likely to lead to ultimate success. I am anxious to hear from you, and get information of the disposition of the enemy and his movements so far as you know them. If you are in telegraph communication, or otherwise, with Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, I should like supplies and shoes accumulated, to be thrown to me on the line of Northern Central or the Susquehanna, as circumstances may require or my movements may make most advisable. Please communicate my dispatch to the Gen.-in-Chief. My communications with him are intercepted by the cavalry of the enemy on my right. Can you keep the enemy from crossing the river?
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. G. MEADE,
Maj.-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 27, Serial No. 45, Pages 1084, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
