June 29, 1863, The New York Herald
It is with no ordinary feelings of gratification that we announce to our readers this morning the retirement of General Hooker and the appointment of Major General George G. Meade, late of the Fifth army corps, to the command of the Army of the Potomac.
With regard to the qualifications of this officer for this supremely important position at this crisis, the reader will be amply satisfied from the simple facts of his military history, which will be found in the special biographical sketch given elsewhere in this paper. Distinguished for his good and gallant conduct in the Mexican war, General Meade, in the peninsular and Maryland campaigns of General McClellan, and in the late eventful Rappahannock campaigns of General Burnside and General Hooker, has still added to his high reputation as a brave skilful and capable military leader. His merits are approved by the officers of the Army of the Potomac, and we are assured that this appointment as their Commander-in-Chief on the field will be hailed with unqualified satisfaction by the soldiers of every State and of every regiment of the army. As we understand this appointment, in another sense, it is a compromise which will be satisfactory not only to the old soldiers of McClellan, but to his friends outside of the army; for, according to our information, Gen. Meade has not been mixed up and is not the creation of any political faction, but the independent professional soldier, who has won his claims to distinction and his present promotion by his sword.
We have no inclination now to deal harshly with Gen. Hooker. In the all important fact that he has been relieved at his own request we recognized an act of patriotism on his part which disarms us of any desire to reproduce the evidence of his experience at the head of the Army of the Potomac against him. We congratulate him, as well as the country, on the patriotic considerations which have induced him to retire in season to enable his successor to move forward without delay upon the enemy; and the country will feel grateful to President Lincoln that an officer whose record and reputation give every assurance of success is now at the head of the army upon which the safety of the national capital and the fate of the rebellion depend.