Editor’s Note: Theodore Lyman was General George G. Meade’s aide-de-camp from the fall of 1863 through Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. An intelligent and outspoken individual, Lyman’s letters to his wife provide great insight into the happenings at Meade’s headquarters. These letters, taken from the now public domain book Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865; Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox and written by Lyman to his wife, appear here at the Siege of Petersburg Online exactly 150 years to the day after they are written. Since this site is concerned solely with the Siege of Petersburg, the letters start on June 12, 1864 and end on April 3, 1865. See the bottom of this and every other letter for a list of all the letters which have appeared to date.
July 7, 1864
I paid a visit to Brigadier-General Barlow, who, as the day was hot, was lying in his tent, neatly attired in his shirt and drawers, and listening to his band, that was playing without. With a quaint hospitality he besought me to “take off my trousers and make myself at home”; which I did avail of no further than to sit down. He said his men were rested and he was ready for another assault! — which, if of real importance, he meant to lead himself; as he “wanted no more trifling.” His ideas of “trifling,” one may say, are peculiar. It would be ludicrous to hear a man talk so, who, as De Chanal says, “a la figure d’un gamin de Paris,” did I not know that he is one of the most daring men in the army. It would be hard to find a general officer to equal him and Joe Hayes — both my classmates and both Massachusetts men. Hayes now commands the Regulars. He could not have a higher compliment.1
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- LT: June 12, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: June 13, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: June 15, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: June 16, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: June 17, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: June 18, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: June 19, 1864 Theodore Lyman
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- LT: July 12, 1864 Theodore Lyman
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- LT: July 30, 1864 Theodore Lyman
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- LT: August 19, 1864 Theodore Lyman
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- LT: October 2, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 3, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 4, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 6, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 7, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 10, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 11, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 14, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 17, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 27, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 28, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 29, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: October 30, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 6, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 10, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 11, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 12, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 13, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 14, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 16, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 18, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 19, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 22, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 24, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 27, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 28, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 29, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: November 30, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 1, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 3, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 5, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 6, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 8, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 9, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 10, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 11, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 12, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 13, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 14, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: December 15, 1864 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 1, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 2, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 3, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 4, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 5, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 6, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 8, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 10, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 11, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 13, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 18, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 25, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 26, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 28, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 29, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 30, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: March 31, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: April 1, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: April 2, 1865 Theodore Lyman
- LT: April 3, 1865 Theodore Lyman
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Source/Notes:
- Agassiz, George R. Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865; Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox. Boston: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922, p. 186 ↩