George Gordon Meade was born in Cadiz, Spain to a wealthy merchant from Philadelphia, Richard W. Meade, on December 31st, 1815. His father served in Spain as an agent of the US Navy but lost his fortune and returned to Philadelphia when Meade was twelve. Meade attended the US Military Academy at West Point, the choice made because his family could not afford to pay for college.  After graduation in 1835, he served for a year in Florida where he saw action in the Seminole campaign.  He resigned to pursue a civilian career but, having married he found it difficult to support his young family.   He returned to the Army as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers.  Meade served in Mexico, where he was decorated for gallant conduct in the Battle of Monterey, and his next postings involved coastal surveying of Florida and New Jersey and constructing lighthouses, including those at Barnegat and Absecon, in New Jersey and Jupiter Inlet and Sombrero Key in Florida.

Meade was promoted to Brigadier General of volunteers on August 31st, 1861 at the insistence of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin, and was 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 at the battle of Glendale. Meade recovered and led his brigade at the battles of Second Bull Run and South Mountain.  At Antietam, he led a division of Hooker's First Corps. Newly appointed a Major General, 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, 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, at the end of the Battle of Gettysburg.   Although criticized for not pursuing Lee's army immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, Meade was given the thanks of Congress by resolution on January 28th, 1864.  Meade, a careful and measured commander, had chosen to rest his troops and replenish their supplies before moving after Lee, much to the dismay of President Lincoln.

Meade retained command of the Army of the Potomac throughout the remainder of the war and General Grant made his headquarters with him. Meade was rewarded with the rank of Major General in the regular Army, but only after William T. Sherman and Philip Sheridan, the latter Meade's subordinate, had been appointed Major Generals.  Meade would be sensitive to the slight for the rest of his life.

After the war, Meade held various department commands and was in charge of the Military Division of the Atlantic, headquartered at Philadelphia. In Philadelphia he served as the first Commissioner of Fairmount Park, helping to lay out its carriageways and bridle paths.  He died of pneumonia at his home 1836 Delancey Place on November 6, 1872. He was buried at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

The Civil War Museum’s collection includes Meade’s uniforms, topographical and presentation swords, portraits, Meade’s headquarters flag from Gettysburg, a piece of the Fresnel lens from Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Fresnel lens, and many more of his personal items.

General George Gordon Meade's headquarters flag from the Battle of Gettysburg This flag flew at the Leister House, the headquarters house of Gen. Meade, from early in the morning of July 2, 1863, until the conclusion of the battle. The large flag marked the house as the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, and made it easier for surriers to find the commanding general.

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