Meade, George Gordon

Life Span
to
    Full name
    George Gordon Meade
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    7
    Family
    Richard Worsam Meade (father), Margaret Coates Butler (mother), Margaretta Sergeant (wife, 1840)
    Education
    West Point (US Military Academy)
    Occupation
    Military
    Other
    Other Occupation
    Engineer
    Relation to Slavery
    White non-slaveholder
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Union Army
    US military (Post-Civil War)

    George Gordon Meade (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    The bespectacled Meade resembled more the scholar than the soldier, but being at times short-tempered, he lived up to a popular description of him as a "damned old goggle-eyed snapping turtle." He saw to it that each corps in his army had a gallows or shooting post for "Friday executions." He deserted newspaper correspondents, believing much of their reporting to be inaccurate and to him malicious. Frequently he barred them from his army, only to have them retaliate with still more unfavorable coverage. According to his biographer, Freeman Cleaves, Meade's contributions were so distorted and denigrated by the Radical press that Meade supposed "it soon would be proved that either he was not at Gettysburg at all or that his presence there had been a positive detriment." Press criticism combined with the biased memoirs of grandstanding commanders who had various affiliations with the Army of the Potomac effectively relegate Meade to the background. His reputation has not achieved the high level that it deserves.
    Herman Hattaway and Michael D. Smith, "Meade, George Gordon," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00697.html.
    Date Event
    - The Army of the Potomac concentrates on Chancellorsville in preparation for an attack on Lee
    Union and Confederate armies collide near Chancellorsville in Spotsylvania County, Virginia
    "Stonewall" Jackson's flanking movement seizes the initiative in the Battle of Chancellorsville
    Lee's Army of Northern Virginia forces back entrenched Union forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville
    - The beaten Union Army retreats across the Rappahannock, ending the Battle of Chancellorsville
    General George Meade appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac, replacing Joseph Hooker
    - Battle of Gettysburg
    At Gettysburg, Union General Daniel Sickles disregards orders and loses much of his III Corps and his right leg
    - The retreating Army of Virginia reaches the Potomac and finds it flooded and impassable
    - The Confederate invasion of Pennsylvania ends when Lee's troops slip away across the Potomac in the night
    The troops of the Pennsylvania Reserve present General George Meade with a valuable sword in recognition of his leadership
    In northern Virginia, units of the Army of the Potomac pass in review before their commander, General Meade
    The Battle of the Wilderness opens on ground fought over the year before at Chancellorsville
    In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the Battle of the Wilderness continues for a second bloody day
    In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the Battle of the Wilderness ends and Union maneuvering continues
    - In fighting around Peeble's Farm, Union forces further tighten to ring around the key town of Petersburg
    At Jetersville, Virginia, Sheridan's Union force blocks the Confederate Army's retreat to Danville
    In Amelia County, Virginia, Union forces consolidate to block General Lee's retreat towards Danville
    In Washington D.C., thousands watch as the victorious Army of the Potomac parades through the city
    In a rainy Philadelphia, General George Meade leads Philadelphia's veterans in a welcome home parade
    The cornerstone is laid for the Soldiers' Monument at Gettysburg's National Soldiers' Cemetery
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Cleaves, Freeman. Meade of Gettysburg. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1960. view record
    Sauers, Richard Allen. Gettysburg: The Meade-Sickles Controversy. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 2003. view record
    Sears, Stephen W. Gettysburg. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Meade, George Gordon," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/12203.