HOOKER’S APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL.

243

Meade was asleep, and when awakened was con-“Unded by the sight of an officer from the "War^*®partment standing over him. He afterward^'<1 that, in his semi-stupor, his first thought wast he was to be taken to Washington in arrest,hough no reason occurred to him why he should6 - When he realized the state of affairs he became'httch agitated, protesting against being placedh command of an army that was looking towardReynolds as the successor, if Hooker should bels plaeed; referring to the personal friendship be-^cen Reynolds and himself, which would make6 President’s order an instrument of injustice to°th; urging the heaviness of the responsibility0 suddenly placed upon him in presence of the®hemy an( j w lien he was totally ignorant of the1 °sitions and dispositions of the army he was toke in charge; and strenuously objecting to thee 1uirement that he should go to Hooker’s head-barters to take over the command without being0ll t f or ky ^ le commanding general, as McClellansent for Burnside and Burnside for Hooker,cade proposed to Hardie that he should tele-Sraph to Stanton to be relieved from taking theit °bnand, but Hardie told him that in the councilc been assumed that he w T ould wish to be ex-Se d, that lie would prefer Reynolds first andkjhody else but himself afterward, and that he1 'Sht even deem it too late to displace Hooker;„ ‘ that, notwithstanding, it had been determinedat Hooker should be relieved, and by Meadebe, and that it should bo done immediatelyHardie’s arrival. It was a mental relief tog 6 st ern Secretary of War, when General Meade’sPeiitaneous utterances were reported to him, toe that he had uttered no protest against Ilook-s being relieved of the command, even in what ■Th n ^ mo8 ^ bo called the presence of the enemy.

ls silence on the part of a mau so regardlesstic so regardful of others, Mr. Stanton

tj o ° e Pted as being, in itself, his complete vindica-

tes General Hardie’s opinion, as a pro-

^boiial soldier, that he had no lawful discretion1Ve Vai 'y from tl.o orders given, horses and an escortor *-lered out and the party proceeded to gen-kud lea( ^ ( l u arters, some miles distant. J Hardiehot 61 ^°°b to break the news to Hooker, who didyj . llee d to be told anything after seeing who hisJj 0 V s w ere. It was a bitter moment to all, for, bad construed favorably the delay in re-hot to his tender of resignation, and couldWholly mask the revulsion of feeling. General

btte

tei 'beld, the chief of staff, between whom andin era l Meade much coldness existed, was calledthe four officers set themselves earnestly to

tr

bk to

r a — do the state some service by honestlytei'ring the command and all that could help

to make it available for good. During the inter-view Meade unguardedly expressed himself asshocked at the scattered condition of the army,and Hooker retorted ivith feeling. Tension wassomewhat eased by Meade’s insisting upon beingregarded as a guest at headquarters while GeneralHooker was present, and by his requesting GeneralButterfield, upon public grounds, not to exercisehis privilege of withdrawing with his chief; butHooker’s chagrin and Meade’s overstrung nervesmade the lengthy but indispensable conferencerather trying to the whole party.

When Reynolds heard the news, he dressed him-self with scrupulous care and, handsomely attended,rode to headquarters to pay his respects to the newcommander. Meade, who looked like a wagon-master in the marching clothes he had hurriedlyslipped on when awakened in his tent, understoodthe motive of the act, and after the exchange ofsalutations all around, he took Reynolds by the arm,and, leading him aside, told him how surprising,imperative, and unwelcome were the orders he hadreceived ; how much lie would have preferred thechoice to have fallen on Reynolds ; how anxious hehad been to see Reynolds and tell him these tilings,and how helpless he should hold himself to be didhe not feel that Reynolds would give him the ear-nest support that lie would have given to Rey-nolds in a like situation. . Reynolds answered that,in his opinion, the command had fallen where itbelonged, that he was glad that such a weight ofresponsibility had not come upon him, and thatMeade might count upon the best support lie couldgive him. Meade then communicated to Reynoldsall that he had learnedfrom Hooker and Butterfieldconcerning the movements and positions of thetwo armies, and hastily concerted with him a planof cooperation which resulted in the fighting ofthe battle of Gettysburg upon ground selected byReynolds.

During the afternoon the consultations wereended, and, with the aid of the representative ofthe War Department , the two generals drew up theorders that were to announce formally the changeof command. In the evening, standing in front ofthe commanding general’s tent. General Hookertook leave of the officers, soldiers, and civiliansattached to headquarters, and, amid many a “ God bless you, General! ” got into the spring wagonthat was to convey him and General Hardie to therailroad station, the former cn route to Baltimore ,the latter to Washington. When all was ready forthe start, the throng about the vehicle respectfullydrew back as Meade approached with uncoveredhead; the two men took each other by the hand,some words passed between them in a low tone,the wagon moved off, and Meade walked silentlyinto the tent just vacated by his predecessor.

was mistaken in thinking tliat McClellan liad sent for Burnside 'when the command "was turned

hlnV 1 - 11 *'*' 0 * R

1,10 JIea< le at last said, half playfully, “Well, I’ve been tried mid condemned -without aS’ and I suppose I shall have to go to execution.’’—C. F. B.