When was george meade born

He gets no respect. Rutherford B. Adding insult to injury, Meade later had to testify about Gettysburg before a congressional committee, mainly because the man who had almost cost him the battle—Maj. Daniel Sickles—was spreading rumors that Meade had intended to retreat from the battlefield. Even before the war ended Meade sensed his reputation was in eclipse.

Then too, in the last year or so of the war Meade had Grant, by then general-in-chief of Union forces, traveling with his army and looking over his shoulder.

Grant got credit for any victories. That situation was exacerbated by a conspiracy among newspaper reporters, angry that the hot-tempered Meade had kicked a reporter out of his camp. As a result they agreed to omit Meade from their dispatches. Meade seemed an unlikely general. His habitual personal appearance is quite careless, and it would be rather difficult to make him look well dressed.

His sloppy appearance underscored the fact that Meade was no prima donna. He had not sought command of the Army of the Potomac, nor did he engage in the kind of backstabbing often seen among generals. He was also a fighter, badly wounded in one battle and with plenty of shot horses and hats to testify to his courage. He took delight in a conversation overheard by an aide during a trip to Washington. George Meade at his headquarters, June George McClellan lost his nerve and retreated from the gates of Richmond.

He performed admirably at Antietam when McClellan, once again in charge, managed to push Lee out of Maryland. Hooker had grand plans to finally defeat Lee, but when he put them to work at Chancellorsville it turned into yet another Union defeat. Meade argued with Hooker about going on the offensive, but Hooker opted to retreat. Desperate for supplies and eager for a victory on Northern soil, Lee then headed north to Pennsylvania.

Hooker began to shadow him, but on June 28 a messenger arrived from Washington to relieve him of command and give the army to Meade. The Army of the Potomac had always been buffeted by political currents.

Charles Stone spent six months in prison without learning what the charges were against him. But Meade abruptly found himself commanding the army that Lee had manhandled pretty effectively in the past. By the time Meade was ready to attack, Lee had slipped across the river. Lincoln believed otherwise. Lincoln never did replace Meade, who remained in command of the Army of the Potomac until it was dissolved after the war.

Meade commanded the army through the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor, and finally outside of Petersburg. After his successes during the battles, Grant asked for Meade to be promoted to major general, and it was permitted. After the war, he held several military commands and returned to Pennsylvania, where he died in Civil War Biography.

George G. Title Major General. Date of Birth - Death December 31, — November 6, Topic s :. Related Biographies. View All Related Resources. Ulysses S.

General-in-chief of all the Union armies, Ulysses S. Meade chafed at the new arrangement but generally performed effectively under Grant.

During the siege Meade was promoted to major general in the Regular Army. After the war Meade held a succession of leadership positions in the Reconstruction era: at the Department of the East; the Third Military District; the Department of the South; and the Military Division of the Atlantic.

He died at age fifty-seven in Philadelphia, while still on active duty, from complications of his old wounds and pneumonia.

Meade is not usually seen as a brilliant strategist. He grew increasingly cautious after Gettysburg, mainly out of a growing concern about the futility of attacking entrenched positions.

Nevertheless, he was not afraid to engage the enemy and give his best effort. The victor of Gettysburg received many honors, including the thanks of Congress. Of all of the former engineers who became combat commanders of the federal armies, Meade achieved the most conspicuous success.