George Meade facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids George Meade
Meade photographed by Matthew Brady
Birth name	George Gordon Meade
Nickname(s)	"Old Snapping Turtle"
Born	(1815-12-31)December 31, 1815 Cadiz, Spain
Died	November 6, 1872(1872-11-06) (aged 56) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Buried	Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1835–1836; 1842–1872
Rank	Major general (USA)
Commands held	V Corps Army of the Potomac Department of the East
Battles/wars	Second Seminole War Mexican–American War American Civil War Peninsular Campaign Northern Virginia Campaign Battle of Antietam Battle of Fredericksburg Battle of Chancellorsville Battle of Gettysburg Bristoe Campaign Mine Run Campaign Overland Campaign Richmond-Petersburg Campaign Appomattox Campaign

George Gordon Meade (1815-1872) was an important Union Army general during the American Civil War. He was born in Cadiz, Spain on December 31, 1815. His family moved to the United States after they lost their money during the Napoleonic Wars. Meade became the commander of the Union Army of the Potomac right before the famous Battle of Gettysburg. After the Civil War, he continued to serve in the army. He also worked as a commissioner for Fairmount Park in Philadelphia until he died in 1872.

Early Life and Military Career
George Meade in the Civil War
- The Battle of Gettysburg
After the War
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Military Career

George Meade was born in Cadiz, Spain. His parents, Richard and Margaret Meade, were Americans. His father worked as an agent for the United States Navy. When Richard Meade died in 1828, his family had very little money. They moved back to the United States and settled in Philadelphia.

Because his family was struggling, Meade joined the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1831. Four years later, he graduated 19th in his class. He became a second lieutenant and fought in the Seminole Wars in Florida. After a year as an artillery officer, he left the army in 1837. He then worked as a civil engineer.

Meade rejoined the army in 1842 because he had trouble finding other jobs. He was a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. This was when the Mexican–American War started in 1846. Later, he was in charge of building lighthouses and surveying the Great Lakes.

George Meade in the Civil War

When the Civil War began, Meade was a captain in the regular army. He was made a brigadier general and led a group of Pennsylvania volunteers. He was tasked with building forts near Tenallytown, Maryland. Around this time, he got his nickname "The Old Snapping Turtle." He earned it because he was often short-tempered with other officers and even his bosses. He was especially impatient with civilians and newspaper reporters.

His troops joined the Army of the Potomac in March 1862. They fought in battles like Battle of Beaver Dam Creek and Gaines's Mill. Meade was badly wounded at the Battle of Glendale. He stayed on the battlefield giving orders, but lost too much blood from two bullet wounds. He had to leave the fight. He recovered in a Philadelphia hospital and returned to duty in September.

He led a division at the Battle of South Mountain and again three days later at the Battle of Antietam. At Antietam, he took temporary command of I Corps after its commander was wounded. He also fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg. After that battle, he became the commander of the V Corps. In May 1863, Meade's V Corps protected important river crossings at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Even though the Union Army had more soldiers, they lost to the Confederates. This defeat led to General Hooker being replaced as commander. On June 28, 1863, Meade was given overall command of the Army of the Potomac.

The Battle of Gettysburg

Meade had only been in charge of the Army of the Potomac for three days. He also had to deal with a Confederate army that had already entered Pennsylvania. Meade quickly got his forces ready. He moved his army towards Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to stop Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Nurses helping wounded soldiers at Gettysburg

Meade arrived late on July 1, with parts of his army already at Gettysburg. He decided to fight a defensive battle. His army held strong ground just south of Gettysburg. The next day saw some of the bloodiest fighting. The Union army held the high ground, and Lee's army attacked both sides of their line. Each attack was pushed back. That evening, Meade held a "council of war" with his officers. Everyone agreed the army should stay and keep fighting the Confederates.

On July 3, the Confederates attacked the middle of the Union line with about 13,000 men. They broke through for a moment but were pushed back again. When Lee told General George Pickett to gather his division and attack again, Pickett replied that he no longer had a division. His men had been almost completely wiped out during Pickett's Charge. At that point, Lee knew he had lost the battle.

On July 4, 1863, after three days of fighting at Gettysburg, the two armies watched each other from different hills. Meade sent out skirmishers to check the Confederate lines. But he did not order a full attack. Lee was now focused on getting his army and all their captured supplies back to Virginia. His army stayed in place while over 10,000 wounded men were moved by wagon train 40 miles (64 km) to Williamsport, Maryland. This train of wagons and ambulances with the wounded was about 17 miles (27 km) long.

Meade found out Lee's army had left on the morning of July 5. Meade then ordered his tired army to chase Lee. The Potomac River was flooded, which delayed Lee's army from crossing. But by the time Meade's forces reached the Potomac, Lee had already escaped back into Virginia.

Statue of General George G. Meade at Gettysburg

Meade was called the "hero of Gettysburg." However, President Lincoln was not happy. He had expected Meade to follow and destroy Lee's army, which could have ended the war. Meade offered Lincoln his resignation, but Lincoln refused to accept it. On July 7, 1863, Meade was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army.

The battles of Bristoe Station and Mine Run were not clear victories for the Union army under Meade. In the spring of 1864, Meade again offered to resign. This was when General Ulysses S. Grant became the general-in-chief of all Union forces. Grant made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac. Meade remained in command, but Grant made almost all the important decisions. This continued through the Siege of Petersburg. After that, Meade was promoted to major general. A week later, when Lee surrendered his army to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Meade was not there.

After the War

After the Civil War, Meade commanded several military departments. One of these was the Department of the South. In the fall of 1872, he became sick with pneumonia. He died on November 6, 1872. His funeral was a big event, with President Grant attending. Thousands of people in Philadelphia lined the streets to say goodbye to the "hero of Gettysburg."

On July 18, 1917, the United States Department of War ordered that Camp Meade, Maryland be named in honor of George G. Meade. In 1929, to tell it apart from Fort Meade in South Dakota, the camp was renamed Fort George G. Meade.

Images for kids

Meade photographed by Mathew Brady or Levin C. Handy
General Meade's horse, Old Baldy
Commanders of the Army of the Potomac, Gouverneur K. Warren, William H. French, George G. Meade, Henry J. Hunt, Andrew A. Humphreys, and George Sykes in September 1863
General Meade's headquarters, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Engraving by James E. Kelly of George G. Meade and the Council of War at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863
General Meade's headquarters, Culpeper, Virginia
Horse artillery headquarters in Brandy Station, Virginia, February 1864. Meade stands at the far right with Generals John Sedgwick and Alfred Torbert, along with staff officers.
Generals George G. Meade, Andrew A. Humphreys and staff in Culpeper, Virginia outside Meade's headquarters, 1863
General Meade and other generals of Army of the Potomac in Washington, D.C., June 1865
General George G. Meade and staff in Washington, D.C. in June 1865
George Meade tombstone in Laurel Hill Cemetery
George Gordon Meade Memorial, sculpted by Charles Grafly, located in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, D.C.
General Meade lived at 1836 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, and died in the house, 1872, according to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker in front.
A monument to Meade by sculptor Henry Kirke Bush-Brown, on the Gettysburg Battlefield, located close to the point where Pickett's Charge was repulsed.
Equestrian statue in Philadelphia, designed by Alexander Milne Calder, located in Fairmount Park, which Meade was the commissioner of following the war.