The Meade statue at Gettysburg (Tom Huntington photo).

With this letter from George Gordon Meade, we come to the end of a road.

This is the final letter that appears in Meade’s Life & Letters. The remainder of volume II, which provides a summation of Meade’s post-war life, does include some excerpts from his correspondence, but the “letters” part of Meade’s story essentially ends here. From this point on, the general will spend much of his life back home in Philadelphia (interrupted by one long stay in Atlanta), so there will be no need to write to his wife.

With Meade’s and Theodore Lyman’s published correspondence at an end, this blog will slow down a bit. I will continue to post things—especially as we move through George Meade’s bicentennial year—but the posts won’t be as frequent as they have been in the past.

It’s been a lot of fun to follow Meade and Lyman through their war experiences. It’s also been quite an educational experience. I’ve learned a lot as I investigated the references Meade and Lyman made in their letters. It’s been a valuable project for me. I hope all of you who have accompanied me on this journey have found it to be as rewarding as I have. Thanks for reading.

I depended on the boys to tell you all the news. You will see by the papers that the great review is to come off next Tuesday. On that day, the Army of the Potomac, consisting of the cavalry, Ninth, Fifth and Second Corps, will, under my command, march through Washington and be reviewed by the President. To-day’s paper contains an announcement of the fact, in a telegram from Mr. Stanton to General Dix, which it is expected will bring the whole North to Washington.

I have heard nothing further about the proposed new duties, or about going to West Point. The order reducing the armies is published, and I suppose the reduction will take place immediately after the review, so that it will not be long before the question is settled.

Meade’s correspondence taken from The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army, Vol. 2, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1913), pp. 279-80. Available via Google Books.