Person1815 – 1872

George G. Meade

Also called: George Meade

Union general who took command of the Army of the Potomac three days before Gettysburg and repulsed Lee there

The son of an American merchant, he was born in Cádiz, Spain. A West Point graduate who served in the Mexican War, he spent many years as an engineer officer building lighthouses and surveying the coast. In the Civil War he commanded a brigade and then a corps, and on 28 June 1863 was suddenly given command of the Army of the Potomac, beating Lee at Gettysburg three days later. His failure to pursue Lee’s retreating army disappointed Lincoln, and from 1864 he led the Army of the Potomac under Grant’s overall direction.

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1 related event

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1863Battle of Gettysburgcommander
Lee’s army, invading Pennsylvania, fought Meade’s Union army for three days and lost when Pickett’s Charge collapsed — the largest battle of the war and its turning point.

People who appear alongside

Robert E. Lee1807 – 1870
Confederate general who led the Army of Northern Virginia to many victories, lost at Gettysburg and surrendered at Appomattox in 1865

Themes this person appears in

The American Civil War1850 – 1865
From the Compromise of 1850 to Lincoln’s assassination — a nation divided over slavery fought four years of civil war, preserving the Union and ending slavery