Our museum has
dedicated an entire room to material related to the life
and career of Major General George Gordon Meade, commander
of the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg. General
Meade's War Horse, Old
Baldy, a veteran and war hero,
holds a place of honor in the Meade Room.
The former
home of Major General Meade is located at 1836 DeLancy Place,
just around the corner from the Museum on 19th Street.
Other Pennsylvania generals honored in this room are: John
Fulton Reynolds, and George Brinton McClellan.
Major General George
Gordon Meade
(1815-1872)
George Gordon Meade was born in Cadiz, Spain on December 31st,
1815. His father, Richard W. Meade, was a merchant and served
in Spain as an agent of the US Navy. The family later moved
back to Philadelphia where Meade was raised. He graduated from
the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1835. Prior
to the Civil War, Meade served in the Corps of Topographical
Engineers, as well as in Mexico and Florida.
Meade was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August
31st, 1861 at the insistence of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew
Curtin, and given a brigade of Pennsylvania infantry. They
joined the Army of the Potomac in the spring of 1862 during
the Peninsula Campaign, where he was severely wounded during
the battle of Glendale. Meade recovered and led his brigade
at the battles of Second Bull Run and South Mountain, and at
Antietam led a division of Hooker's First Corps. Newly appointed
a major general of volunteers, Meade led his Third Division
at Fredericksburg, which was the only Federal unit to successfully
penetrate the Confederate line. A few days later he was appointed
to command the Fifth Corps, which he led at the battle of Chancellorsville.
On June
28th, 1863 Meade was given command of the Army of the Potomac,
at that time in pursuit of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern
Virginia which was then making its way through Maryland into
Pennsylvania. Three days later Meade and his army were engaged
in the largest battle ever fought on the North American continent,
the battle of Gettysburg. On July 7th, 1863 Meade was promoted
to brigadier general in the Regular Army, to date from July
3rd. Although criticized for not pursuing Lee's army after
the battle of Gettysburg, Meade was given the thanks of Congress
by resolution on January 28th, 1864.
Meade retained command of the Army of the Potomac throughout
the remainder of the war and U. S. Grant made his headquarters
with him. Meade was rewarded with the rank of major general
in the Regular Army only after William T. Sherman and Philip
Sheridan, the latter Meade's subordinate, had been appointed.
After the
war, Meade held various department commands and was in charge
of the Military Division of the Atlantic, headquartered at
Philadelphia. He died of pneumonia at his home 1836 Delancey
Place on November 6, 1872. He was buried at Laurel Hill
Cemetery in Philadelphia.
