William Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac

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[371] General French, by a militia division under General Smith, and by considerable re-enforcements forwarded from Washington and Baltimore by the Government, whose officers, raised for a moment above that paltry policy that commonly controlled their military views, were eager to put into the hands of General Meade every thing needed to assure the devoutly desired consummation of the destruction of Lee, who could not bring into battle array above forty thousand men of all arms. It will be hard ever to persuade the mass of men that this was not within the compass of a vigorous stroke.¹

Descending, now, to the question of details: as I have pronounced both in favor of the most vigorous aggressive action of General Meade, and against an attack in the position in which he found himself at Williamsport, I must reconcile this seeming discrepancy, by saying that Lee's position on the ridge of Marsh Creek might have been turned. By throwing his right forward to the Conecocheaque, Meade would have removed his army from the difficult region of woods and hills in which it found itself, and in which all the advantages of position were greatly in favor of the Confederates; and he would have placed it in a country where he would have had the commanding heights down to the river. He would then have overlapped the Confederate left, which was thrown out in the air. To guard against any menace of Lee towards Washington, the South Mountain passes might have been held by the cavalry. In this position Meade would have attacked with as many advantages in his favor, as there were in the other disadvantages against him. But even had the army attacked and been repulsed, General Meade would have been forgiven; for in war it is often better to have fought and lost, than never to have fought at all. It will always remain a striking instance of the controlling influence exercised in this war by defensive positions, that the two decisive points of this great campaign were mainly determined by the simple incident of