Meade, George Gordon (1815–1872), Union Civil War general.Born in Cadiz, Spain, Meade, the son of an American naval agent, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1835 and served in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican War.

Appointed brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers when the Civil War began, Meade fought in most of the Army of the Potomac's main battles. Daring at the Battle of Fredericksburg won him a corps command. When Gen. Robert E. Lee moved his Army of Northern Virginia north in June 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave Meade command of the Army of the Potomac (nearly 88,000 men) with orders to stop the Confederates. Three days into his new assignment, Meade faced Lee's army of some 75,000 near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A three‐day, nearly decisive, battle began on July 1. Meade's steady command contributed greatly to a vital Union victory. Although criticized for permitting Lee's retreat to Virginia, Meade kept his command of the Army of the Potomac.

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, appointed to head all Union armies in March 1864, put his headquarters near Meade's. Both generals handled this potentially awkward command situation tactfully and cooperated well to war's end. Meade correctly tried to stop Grant's front assaults in the Wilderness campaign.

After the war, Meade's outspokenness hurt his reputation, and he sank into undeserved obscurity. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
[See also Gettysburg, Battle of; Union Army.]

Bibliography

Freeman Cleaves , Meade of Gettysburg, 1960.
Herman Hattaway and and Archer P. Jones , Why the North Won the Civil War, 1983.
Joseph T. Glatthaar , Partners in Command: The Relationship Between Leaders in the Civil War, 1994.
Charles F. Ritter and Jon Wakelyn, eds., Leaders of the American Civil War, 1998.

Frank E. Vandiver