Henry Adams to Charles Francis Adams, Jr.
[London,] October 9, 1863
The political position of England is now fixed with a sufficient degree of firmness to relieve us of any immediate anxiety, and all our care centres upon things at home. The Chickamauga affair remains a mystery. The published report of that battle which appears to have been furnished to the associated press, seems to me to be so extraordinary a document that I give no faith to it until further confirmation. The defeat I care comparatively little for. But the confidence I have had in Rosecrans founded on a military career of such successes as those at Corinth, Murfreesboro and Shelbyville, is not to be shaken by a newspaper writer from Cincinnati. Especially when his statements are in such contradiction with those of Rosecrans himself. I suppose we shall soon know whether it is the Ohio copperheads who are trying to add dishonor to the defeat, or whether we have in fact got to give up our old confidence in the General.
I doubt whether you will succeed in getting a fight out of Lee. Ah! if our good Government would now but throw Meade’s whole army upon North Carolina and cut off that little game of shifting corps from one army to another, I think we might with a little energy settle the affair. As for Washington, if the destruction of that city were simultaneous with the end of the rebellion, I don’t know that such a result might not be very willingly risked. Meanwhile I feel fresh anxiety for you at every advance, as I suppose the Cavalry must be very hard worked just now. Of course we do not discuss the subject, as I’ve no fancy for raising trouble in feminine bosoms. The mystery in which the army of the Potomac is wrapped now now adds to my doubt, and the next telegram is by no means likely to be opened with less sinking of the stomach than usual.
