Meade (sitting at left) and Lyman (standing in the rear at right) at Cold Harbor (Library of Congress).

Headquarters Army of Potomac
April 19, 1865

Lt.-Col. Theo. Lyman, A. D. C.

Colonel:—In parting with you after an association of over twenty months, during which time you have served on my Staff, I feel it due to you to express my high sense of the assistance I have received from you, and to bear testimony to the zeal, energy, and gallantry you have displayed in the discharge of your duties. Be assured I shall ever preserve the liveliest reminiscences of our intercourse, and wherever our separate fortunes may take us, I shall ever have a deep interest in your welfare and happiness, which, by the blessing of God, I trust may be long continued.

Most Truly Your Friend
Geo. G. Meade
Maj.-Genl. U.S.A.

Meade’s letter to Theodore Lyman is from Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 362. Edited by George R. Agassiz. Boston, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1922. Available via Google Books.