ver lost his
equipoise or acted upon impulse alone, and he never permitted mere
appearances to move him. Nor could his superiors induce him to
act against his judgment as to a particular military situation.
It will be remembered that he was urged to fight Lee north of the
Potomac after Gettysburg. He was urged to bring on a battle before
the departure of the Eleventh and Twelfth Corps for the West, and
when Lee moved north on his flank his opportunity seemed to have
come to fight a battle, but his fear of the same strategy displayed
by the Confederate Army in the second Bull Run campaign against
Pope induced him to be over-cautious, and to so concentrate his
army as to avoid the possibility of its being beaten in detachments.

The next day (October 16th), after Meade reached Centreville, the
President, in his anxiety that Lee should not again escape without
a general battle, addressed this characteristic note to Halleck:

"If General Meade can now attack him (Lee) on a field no more than
equal for us, and do so with all the skill and courage which he,
his officers, and men possess, the honor will be his if he succeeds,
and the blame may be mine if he fails.

"Yours truly,
"A. Lincoln."

This note was forwarded to Meade.

To this he answered that it had been his intention to attack the
enemy when his exact whereabouts was discovered; that lack of
information as to Lee's position and intentions and the fear of
jeopardizing his communications with Washington had prevented his
doing so sooner. But the pressure continued. Halleck, the 18th,
wired Meade:

"Lee is unquestionably bullying you. If you cannot ascertain his
movements, I certainly cannot. If you pursue and fight him, I
think you will find out where he is. I know of no other way."

This was too much for Meade's temper. He responded:

" . . . If you have any orders to give me I am prepared to receive
and obey them, but I must insist on being spared the infliction of
such truisms in the guise of opinion as you have recently honored
me with, particularly as they have not been asked for. I take this
occasion to repeat what I have before stated, that if my course,
based on my own judgment, does not meet with approval, I ought to
be, and I desire to be, relieved from command."

Although Halleck apologized "if he had unintentionally given
offence," and Meade thanked him for the "explanation," these and
other like occurrences had their influence on