![]() ![]() In a letter he wrote on October 28, 1863, Birney said that Meade, when commanding a brigade and a division, “was always badly beaten, troops flying in disorder and has no confidence in Soldiers of the volunteers.” Birney had castigated a number of his fellow generals in the same letter. Birney refused, and in a face-to-face meeting on the battlefield, Meade’s language had been strong enough to “almost make the stones creep,” in the words on one bystander. It was a mutual dislike that dated back at least to Fredericksburg, when Meade sent messages asking Birney to send men to support his division, which had pierced Stonewall Jackson’s line. George Meade and David Bell Birney had never been friendly. ![]() The “thin, pale, Puritanic face” of David Bell Birney. ![]()
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