George Gordon Meade as he appeared in a carte-de-visite (Library of Congress).

After a long absence, George Gordon Meade returns to the Army of the Potomac.

I reached camp yesterday about 4 p.m., but was so much engaged talking to those who came to see me that I had no time to write to you. I had a grand sleep last night in my old buffalo robe, and feel a great deal better to-day, the cold in my head being much better. Indeed, it may be imagination, but I think getting back to camp has been decidedly beneficial, notwithstanding I arrived in a snow storm and that it has been very cold to-day. My friend Lyman had a big fire in my tent all day before I came. By-the-by, Lyman tells me his father-in-law, Mr. Russell, studied law in your father’s office, and remembers you very well. If you see Colonel Bache, you can tell him Lyman is the son of his old friend, as Lyman tells me his father was Mayor of Boston and married a Miss Henderson, of New York.

I have been overwhelmed with business and papers to-day. Among others, I have some fifteen applications for autographs and cartes-de-visite.

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. 165-6. Available via Google Books.