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George G. Meade

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:16,000.00 - 18,000.00 USD
George G. Meade

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Auction Date:2013 Jul 25 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:5 Rt 101A Suite 5, Amherst, New Hampshire, 03031, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Extremely rare field press-printed and battlefield-issued broadside of General Meade’s “General Orders No. 68,” one page, 7 x 6, July 4, 1863. In full: “The Commanding General, in behalf of the country, thanks the Army of the Potomac for the glorious result of the recent operations. An enemy superior in numbers and flushed with the pride of a successful invasion, attempted to overcome and destroy this Army. Utterly baffled and defeated, he has now withdrawn from the contest. The privations and fatigue the Army has endured, and the heroic courage and gallantry it has displayed will be matters of history to be ever remembered. Our task is not yet accomplished, and the Commanding General looks to the Army for greater efforts to drive from our soil every vestige of the presence of the invader. It is right and proper that we should, on all suitable occasions, return our grateful thanks to the Almighty Disposer of events, that in the goodness of his Providence He has thought fit to give victory to the cause of the just.” In very good condition, with various unobtrusive folds and creases, foxing to rough edges, and two professionally repaired tears to lower edge (not affecting any text).

Although the Battle of Gettysburg was a landmark victory for the Union, it was far from a perfect battle. The number of casualties was staggering—nearly 50,000 between the armies—and Lee’s severely weakened Army of Northern Virginia was allowed to escape across the Potomac River back to safety. At 4:15 on July 4, with the battlefield still strewn with the dead and wounded, Meade issued General Orders No. 68 commending his victorious troops. While President Lincoln agreed that praise was in order, offering his own personal congratulations to the Army of the Potomac for it’s hard-fought victory, he found part of Meade’s message infuriating. Attuned as always to the power of words, he denounced the phrase “drive the invaders from our soil” to General Halleck, pointing out that all of America, not just the North, was “our soil.” He was appalled by Meade’s shortsighted reluctance to pursue Lee with full force, remarking that had he closed in upon Lee, he could have ended the war. Combining the historical significance of this message with it’s extreme rarity—fewer than a half dozen of this battlefield-issued first printing are known to exist—this piece will make an extraordinary addition to any serious Civil War collection.