. Abraham Lincoln and the battles of the Civil War . of the Secretary of War and a per-sonal friend of both the officers concerned, wasthen called into the conference room and di-rected to start at once for Frederick City and,without disclosing his presence or business,make his way to General Meade and give himto understand that the order for him to assumethe command of the army immediately wasintended to be as unquestionable and peremp-tory as any which a soldier could receive. Hewas then, as the representative of the Presi-dent, to take General Meade to the headquar-ters of General Hooker an
. Abraham Lincoln and the battles of the Civil War . of the Secretary of War and a per-sonal friend of both the officers concerned, wasthen called into the conference room and di-rected to start at once for Frederick City and,without disclosing his presence or business,make his way to General Meade and give himto understand that the order for him to assumethe command of the army immediately wasintended to be as unquestionable and peremp-tory as any which a soldier could receive. Hewas then, as the representative of the Presi-dent, to take General Meade to the headquar-ters of General Hooker and transfer the com-mand from the latter to the former. ColonelHardie manifested some reluctance to doinghis appointed task in the prescribed manner,but Mr. Stanton sententiously remarked thatin this case the manner was of the substanceof the matter, to which Mr. Lincoln addedthat he would take the responsibility uponhimself for any wound to the feelings of thetwo generals, or of the bearer of the order. GENERAL HOOKERS APPOINTMENT AND REMOVAL. 109. MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE Colonel Hardie was supplied with passes andorders to facilitate his progress, and withmoney to buy his way through to his destina-tion if delayed or obstructed on the road. Ifcompelled by the imminency of capture byStuarts raiders to destroy his papers, and hecould still make his way through, he was todeliver verbally the order for the changing ofthe command and supervise its execution. Colonel Hardie got safely to Frederick, andby diligent inquiry ascertained the whereaboutsof General Meades headquarters, severalmiles from town. By some oversight at head-quarters, no governor or provost marshal hadbeen appointed for the town, and the streetsVol. XXXIII.—15. and all the roads leading to the camps werethronged with boisterous soldiers, more or lessfilled with Maryland whisky, and many of themripe for rudeness or mischief. By liberal useof money he at last obtained a buggy and adriver who knew the roads, but his
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectgenerals, bookyear1887
