Mr. Lincoln was not timid, and he was willing to trust his generals in making and executing their plans.  The Secretary was very timid, and it was impossible for him to avoid interfering with the armies covering the capital when it was sought to defend it by an offensive movement against the army guarding the Confederate capital.  He could see our weakness, but he could not see that the enemy was in danger.  The enemy would not have been in danger if Mr. Stanton had been in the field.  These characteristics of the two officials were clearly shown shortly after Early came so near getting into the capital.

Among the army and corps commanders who served with me during the war between the States, and who attracted much public attention, but of whose ability as soldiers I have not yet given any estimate, are Meade, Hancock, Sedgwick, Burnside, Terry and Hooker.  There were others of great merit, such as Griffin, Humphreys, Wright and Mackenzie.  Of those first named, Burnside at one time had command of the Army of the Potomac, and later of the Army of the Ohio.  Hooker also commanded the Army of the Potomac for a short time.

General Meade was an officer of great merit, with drawbacks to his usefulness that were beyond his control.  He had been an officer of the engineer corps before the war, and consequently had never served with troops until he was over forty-six years of age.  He never had, I believe, a command of less than a brigade.  He saw clearly and distinctly the position of the enemy, and the topography of the country in front of his own position.  His first idea was to take advantage of the lay of the ground, sometimes without reference to the direction we wanted to move afterwards.  He was subordinate to his superiors in rank to the extent that he could execute an order which changed his own plans with the same zeal he would have displayed if the plan had been his own.  He was brave and conscientious, and commanded the respect of all who knew him.  He was unfortunately of a temper that would get beyond his control, at times, and make him speak to officers of high rank in the most offensive manner.  No one saw this fault more plainly than he himself, and no one regretted it more.  This made it unpleasant at times, even in battle, for those around him to approach him even with information.  In spite of this defect he was a most valuable officer and deserves a high place in the annals of his country.

General Burnside was an officer who was generally liked and respected.  He was not, however, fitted to command an army.  No one knew this better than himself.  He always admitted his blunders, and extenuated those of officers under him beyond what they were entitled to.  It was hardly his fault that he was ever assigned to a separate command.