I still contend that the Washburne, Lincoln, Halleck, Grant relationship was all tied to prewar political association first forged in Galena, Illinois. While Grant was not directly connect to Lincoln, Grant's father Jesse certainly was closely connected to Washburne, and Washburne was very closely connected to Lincoln.
Did Meade have any such highly placed political supporters?
Was this same telegraph even sent to Meade, or Burnside, or Hooker or even Reynolds? Why did Grant recieve it at all? To that point in history his other expeditions had failed at taking Vicksburg. Was Halleck sending this information to his friend from Galena? Or did it go out to all army commanders who would otherwise be up for such a promotion? Unless it could be proven otherwise it sounds like there was some favortism involved in Halleck sending this telegraph to Grant.