George meade biography

History: Biographies George Gordon Meade. Meade, George Gordon oxford. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. George Gordon Meade gale. More From encyclopedia. Updated Aug 24 About encyclopedia. George Gipp. George Gabriel Stokes. George G. George Frederick Will. George Frederick Handel. George Franklin Trial: George Fox University: Tabular Data.

George Fox University: Narrative Description. George F. George Engelmann. George Emil Palade. George de La Tour. George David Birkhoff. George D. George Creel. After the Battle of Spotsylvania Court HouseGrant requested that Meade be promoted to major general of the regular army. In a telegram to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton on May 13,Grant stated that "Meade has more than met my most sanguine expectations.

He and [William T. Subsequently, Sheridan was promoted to lieutenant general over Meade on March 4,george meade biography Grant became president and Sherman became the commanding general of the U. However, his date of rank meant that he was outranked at the end of the war only by Grant, Halleckand Sherman. Meade and the Army of the Potomac crossed the James River to attack the strategic supply route centered on Petersburg, Virginia.

They probed the defenses of the city and Meade wrote, "We find the enemy, as usual, in a very strong position, defended by earthworks, and it looks very much as if we will have to go through a siege of Petersburg before entering on a siege of Richmond. An opportunity opened up to lead the Army of the Shenandoahto protect Washington D. Meade wanted the role to free himself from under Grant; however, the position was given to Sheridan.

When Meade asked Grant why it did not go to himself, the more experienced officer, Grant stated that Lincoln did not want to take Meade away from the Army of the Potomac and imply that his leadership was substandard. During the Siege of Petersburghe approved the plan of Maj. Ambrose Burnside to plant explosives in a mine shaft dug underneath the Confederate line east of Petersburg, but at the last minute he changed Burnside's plan to lead the attack with a well-trained African-American division that was highly drilled just for this action, instructing him to take a politically less risky course and substitute an untrained and poorly led white division.

The resulting Battle of the Crater was one of the great fiascoes of the war. Although he fought during the Appomattox CampaignGrant and Sheridan received most of the credit and Meade was not present when Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House. With the war over, the Army of the Potomac was disbanded on June 28,and Meade's command of it ended.

Many of the political rivalries in the Army of the Potomac stemmed from opposition to the politically conservative, full-time officers from West Point. Meade was a Douglas Democrat and saw the preservation of the Union as the war's true goal and only opposed slavery as it threatened to tear the Union apart. He was a supporter of McClellan, the previously removed commander of the Army of the Potomac, and was politically aligned with him.

George meade biography

Stone and Fitz John Porterwere arrested and court-martialed. Meade's short temper earned him notoriety, and while he was respected by most of his peers and trusted by the men in his army, he did not inspire them. Sickles had either mistakenly or deliberately disregarded Meade's orders about placing his III Corps in the defensive line, [ ] which led to that corps' destruction and placed the entire army at risk on the second day of battle.

Halleck, Meade's direct supervisor prior to Grant, was openly critical of Meade. Both Halleck and Lincoln pressured Meade to destroy Lee's army but gave no specifics as to how it should be done. In Januaryhe assumed command of the Department of the South. The formation of the state governments of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina for reentry into the United States was completed under his direct supervision.

After the Camilla massacre in Septembercaused by anger from white southerners over blacks gaining the right to vote in the Georgia state constitution, Meade investigated the event and decided to leave the punishment in the hands of civil authorities. Meade returned to command of the Military Division of the Atlantic in Philadelphia.

Infollowing Grant's inauguration as president and William Tecumseh Sherman 's assignment to general-in-chiefSheridan was promoted over Meade to lieutenant general. On December 31, his birthdayhe married Margaretta Sergeant, [ ] daughter of John Sergeantrunning mate of Henry Clay in the presidential election. Meade was presented with a gold medal from the Union League of Philadelphia in recognition for his success at Gettysburg.

Meade was a commissioner of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia from until his death. The city of Philadelphia gave Meade's wife a house at Delancey Place in which he lived also. The building still has the name "Meade" over the door, but is now used as apartments. Meade received an honorary doctorate in law LL. Having long suffered from complications caused by his war wounds, Meade died on November 6,in the house at Delancey Place, from pneumonia.

Meade was named in his honor. The one-thousand-dollar Treasury Notesalso called Coin notes, of the Series andfeature portraits of Meade on the obverse. The Series note is called the Grand Watermelon Note by collectors, because the large zeroes on the reverse resemble the pattern on a watermelon. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk.

Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. United States Army general and civil engineer — For other uses, see General Meade disambiguation. For other people named George Meade, see George Meade disambiguation. Major General. A portrait of Meade by Mathew Brady.

Laurel Hill CemeteryPhiladelphia. Early life and education [ edit ]. Topographical Corps and Mexican-American War [ edit ]. American Civil War [ edit ]. Peninsula campaign [ edit ]. Main article: Peninsula campaign. Maryland campaign [ edit ]. Main article: Maryland campaign. Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville [ edit ]. Gettysburg campaign [ edit ].

Command of the Army of the Potomac [ edit ]. Battle of Gettysburg [ edit ]. Lee's retreat [ edit ]. Bristoe and Mine Run campaign [ edit ]. Overland campaign [ edit ]. Richmond-Petersburg campaign [ edit ]. Political rivalries [ edit ]. Reconstruction [ edit ]. Personal life [ george meade biography ]. Later life and death [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ].

Memorials to Meade [ george meade biography ]. In honor of his war service, the city of Philadelphia gifted a house at Delancey Place to Meade's wife [ ]. In popular culture [ edit ]. Dates of rank [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. General George Meade had only been in command of the Union Army of the Potomac for three days when he won a crucial victory at Gettysburg during the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.

Meade initially had little desire for a military career, and he resigned from the army in after briefly serving in Massachusetts and Florida. For the next several years he pursued a civilian career in civil engineering, working for railroads and the U. War Department. In he married Margaretta Sergeant, the daughter of prominent politician John Sergeant, and the two eventually had seven children.

In Meade reenlisted in the Army and served as a junior officer in the Mexican-American War He spent the s in the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers building lighthouses and breakwaters on the Atlantic coast, and also helped conduct the first geodetic survey of the Great Lakes. Although only partially recovered, he returned to action during the Second Battle of Bull Run in August He was given command of a division shortly thereafter, and served with distinction at the Battle of Antietam and the Battle of South Mountain during the Maryland Campaign.

Reynolds as division commander in the corps of Joseph Hookerand led the division through the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. He commanded the 3rd Division during the battle of Fredericksburg, and then commanded the V Corps at the battle of Chancellorsville. After the Union defeats at these battles, Hooker resigned from command of the army, and on June 28,Meade was given command of the Army of the Potomac.

Meade would achieve both his greatest victory, and make his greatest mistake, during his first encounter with Confederate general Robert E. After the battle, Lee was able to retreat back into Virginia, and Meade received harsh criticism from President Abraham Lincoln for not finishing off the Army of Northern Virginia in its weakened state.

Meade offered his resignation, but it was denied, and he was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army on July 7, Meade continued to command his army during the Bristoe Station and Mine Run campaigns, but both proved to be indecisive. In the spring ofUlysses S. Grantthe newly appointed lieutenant general and general-in-chief of Union forces, made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac.