Download If one were to ask the average American or even the typi

Remembering
MG George G. Meade:
The Forgotten Victor
Of Gettysburg
I
f one were to ask the average American or even the typi-
By COL Kevin W. Farrell
U.S. Army retired
cal reader of ARMY, “Who is the most famous general officer of the American Civil War?” the most likely answer
would be “Robert E. Lee.” Similarly, “Gettysburg” would
overwhelmingly be the answer to a query as to which is the
most important and most famous battle of that war, even if
some historians might argue that the Union victory at Vicksburg, Miss., on July 4, 1863, the day after Gettysburg ended,
was actually more important to the ultimate Union victory.
On the other hand, counterintuitively, the victor of the Battle
of Gettysburg, MG George G. Meade, is largely forgotten today. To military personnel, his memory lives on dimly at the
U.S. Army post that is his namesake: Fort Meade, Md. Other
44 ARMY ■ July 2013
A monument to MG George G. Meade
stands on Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg
National Military Park, Pa. MG Meade is
shown atop his horse, Old Baldy, who
survived the general by 10 years.
Dennis Steele
July 2013 ■ ARMY
45
than a few memorials at the Gettysburg Battlefield and in
the cities of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., his is a
name largely unknown to the vast majority of Americans.
Even the most popular works on Gettysburg—the
eponymous 1993 film and the 1974 Pulitzer-Prize-winning
novel by Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels, on which it was
based—barely address the Union victor of the battle, continuing a historical oversight that dates almost to the battle
itself. While the outcome of that battle is not in doubt, historical analysis and popular interest invariably focus on
Lee’s generalship and decision making during the battle,
not to mention the actions and failures of his key subordinates, especially LTG Richard S. Ewell and LTG James
Longstreet, the two most notable “villains” held accountable
for the Confederate defeat. Most professional scholarship
and interest in the Battle of Gettysburg always seems to
come down to an explanation of how GEN Lee lost, rather
than how MG Meade won. Even a visit to Gettysburg, Pa.,
demonstrates that this legacy is etched in stone. A comparison of the most prominent statues at Gettysburg National
Military Park dedicated to each commander reveals a striking difference: Robert E. Lee atop the Virginia Monument
would tower over the Major General George Meade Equestrian Statue if the two were juxtaposed, because the Virginia Monument stands 41 feet high compared to barely
more than half that height for Meade at 22 feet.
Why this discrepancy has persisted, at least in popular
consciousness, should be examined. MG Meade’s legacy has
far more to do with his personality, his actions following his
victory, President Abraham Lincoln’s disappointment and
the lasting animus of his enemies rather than his actual conduct during the Battle of Gettysburg. Nothing, however,
can—or should—obscure the nature of his achievement: With
only three days in command, MG Meade not only halted but
soundly defeated the Confederacy’s best general in what was
arguably his most important battle. None of MG Meade’s
predecessors could come close to making such a claim.
The Years Before the Civil War
It was an unlikely course that led George G. Meade to
command the largest army yet assembled in North America
in late June 1863. Born on New Year’s Eve, 1815, George
was the eighth of 11 children born to Richard and Margaret
Meade in Cádiz, Spain. Financial ruin and tragedy were the
hallmarks of his youth. George’s father was a wealthy
Philadelphia merchant who lost his fortune while serving
in Spain as an American naval agent during the Napoleonic
COL Kevin W. Farrell, USA Ret., Ph.D., is the former chief of
military history at West Point. He commanded a combined arms
battalion in Iraq, and his most recent book is The Military and
the Monarchy: The Case and Career of the Duke of Cambridge in an Age of Reform.
46 ARMY ■ July 2013
Library of Congress
MG Meade, circa 1864.
Wars. In 1828, after his father’s death left the family impoverished, they returned to the United States.
Although a military career did not appeal to him as a
teenager, West Point’s free tuition proved irresistible, and
Meade entered the academy in 1831. He finished 19th in a
class of 56 and was commissioned into the artillery. Meade
saw active service in Florida against the Seminole Indians
with the 3rd U.S. Artillery in the year following his graduation, but he saw little future in the Army and resigned his
commission in 1836, citing ill health. He became a railroad
civil engineer for the War Department and for the Alabama,
Florida and Georgia Railroad.
On his birthday in 1840, Meade married into a prominent
political family. Over the course of their marriage, George
and his wife, Margaretta, would have seven children. Supporting this growing family proved difficult, so Meade returned to the Army as a second lieutenant in the Corps of
Topographical Engineers, six years junior in rank to his
West Point classmates who had remained on active duty.
He served admirably in staff positions during the MexicanAmerican War and was promoted to brevet first lieutenant
for his actions at the Battle of Monterrey.
Library of Congress
This house served
as MG Meade’s
temporary headquarters before
the Battle of
Gettysburg.
Following the Mexican-American War, LT Meade traveled extensively as a surveyor and lighthouse engineer, surveying the coasts of Florida and New Jersey and pioneering
lighthouse and breakwater construction along the East
Coast. In 1856, he was at last promoted to captain—21 years
after his graduation from West Point—and the following
year, he relieved LTC James Kearney to complete the survey of the Great Lakes in 1860. He was still on-site when
the Civil War erupted on April 12, 1861, with the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, S.C.
Rapid Promotion and the Ultimate Test
Library of Congress
With the rapid expansion of the U.S. Army in response
to the Southern secession and President Lincoln’s subsequent call for volunteers, Pennsylvania Gov. Andrew
Curtin recommended Meade for promotion. On August 31,
1861, he was promoted from captain in the Regular Army
to brigadier general of volunteers. As commander of the 2nd
Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, he was assigned the
mission of constructing defenses around Washington, D.C.
Nothing in Meade’s Army career before the start of the
Civil War indicated either potential for high command or
practical preparation for it. Although he was not unique in
this regard—the size of the entire U.S. Army was only
16,000 men in 1860—it was relatively rare for someone with
20 years of service never to have held command of any military organization.
The 18 months before the Battle of Gettysburg saw a
radical turn of events as Meade’s command experience
and combat leadership ability expanded rapidly and successfully, even though the overall record for the Union
Army in the Eastern Theater was decidedly mixed. In
1862, he participated in some of the most significant operations of the Army of the Potomac, including the Penin-
MG Meade and his staff in Washington, D.C., in May 1865.
July 2013 ■ ARMY
47
sula Campaign, during which he
was severely wounded in the
Seven Days Battles, and the Second Battle of Bull Run. Cautious
but competent and steadily improving, Meade became a division
commander in time for the Battle
of South Mountain in September
1862. There he drew the favorable
attention of his corps commander,
whom he would later replace: MG
Joseph Hooker. At the Battle of
Antietam, Md., that same month,
Meade assumed corps command
ahead of more senior officers when
Hooker was wounded. Wounded once again, Meade performed well as a corps commander in combat.
Although Meade resorted to his previous role as division
commander for the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., in December—another Union loss—his division achieved the greatest success of the Union forces involved. As a consequence,
he advanced to major general and received command of V
Corps, which he commanded during the fateful Union defeat at Chancellorsville, Va., in April and May 1863.
As a result of this compressed but impressive background of leadership and combat experience, he learned on
June 28, 1863, that President Lincoln had selected him to
take command of the Army of the Potomac. As the seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia drove ever
deeper into Union territory in an attempt to force a negotiated end to the war, MG Meade assumed command of a demoralized and fragmented army. His mission was clear:
Protect Washington, D.C., and drive the Confederates from
Northern soil.
Although it was a close-run thing, there can be no denying
MG Meade’s excellent use of terrain and interior lines to defeat GEN Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg. It was remarkable
that, even though he did not arrive on the battlefield until
the second day of the epic three-day struggle, MG Meade
was able to align his corps commanders and stand fast
against the worst onslaught GEN Lee could muster. By the
end of the third day—July 3, 1863—MG Meade had achieved
what none of his five predecessors could: an unequivocal defeat of GEN Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia.
Aftermath
In spite of MG Meade’s impressive victory over GEN
Lee, he was banished to relative obscurity largely because
of his decision not to press that victory. His failure to crush
GEN Lee’s army with a counterattack on July 4, 1863, has
been derided by historians ever since, for had such an at48 ARMY ■ July 2013
Library of Congress (from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper)
MG Meade in pursuit of
GEN Robert E. Lee and his
Army of Northern Virginia.
tack been successful, it could have indeed ended the Civil
War that year. Rather than risk his great victory by attacking in defensive positions, MG Meade held his terrain and
reconstituted his battered army, which had suffered about
25 percent losses. GEN Lee then began a long and masterful
withdrawal while MG Meade pursued only halfheartedly.
By July 14, 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia had escaped to safety across the swollen Potomac River, badly
mauled but still intact.
Considering the Union Army’s condition after the battle as
well as President Lincoln’s orders not to leave Washington,
D.C., unguarded, let alone MG Meade’s newness to armylevel command, his decision not to press the attack and risk
losing all he had gained against an entrenched Lee is hardly
surprising. MG Meade was a competent general, but he was
not a great one. Hindsight makes it easy to criticize him for
not being more aggressive, but it simply was not his nature.
With a countenance that was neither warm nor inspiring—MG Meade’s unfortunate nickname was “Old Snapping Turtle”—the Union commander’s notoriously short
temper and open hostility to the press won him little favorable coverage. Even more damaging, perhaps, were the
ceaseless machinations of his unscrupulous and insubordinate former corps commander, Daniel E. Sickles, and other
political enemies who schemed against him shortly after the
conclusion of the battle. Finally, President Lincoln was
clearly disappointed that MG Meade missed an opportunity
to end the war. Although he did not relieve him from command, he appointed LTG Ulysses S. Grant as Meade’s direct
superior for the duration of the war, ensuring that Meade’s
genuine success would be overshadowed by subsequent
events. His exclusion from the surrender ceremonies at Appomattox Court House, Va., at the end of the war fittingly
and sadly foreshadowed how he would be remembered.
None of these developments, however, should obscure his
great and improbable triumph at Gettysburg.
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