May 24, 1863

General,

Your note of the 22d. inst. has been received. My recollection of the substance of the remarks made by you at the consultation of the Corps Commanders held on the night of the 4th of May is that you were decidedly in favor of an advance in the direction of Fredericksburg at daylight the next morning, that you considered this[?] army had headlong[?] already been made subservient to the safety of Washington and that you threw out the question altogether; this drew out the remarks made by Genl. Sickles. I simply remarked, that as my Corps was the only one which had not been engaged at all, I would not urge my opinion on the matter, but that I agreed with you.

[Other hands:]

Draft of reply

in writing of JFR

(___)

see pp 381-382 of

“Life & Letters of Gen.

Geo. G. Meade”