If one were to ask the average American or even the typical. Remembering MG George G. Meade: The Forgotten Victor Of Gettysburg

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1 Remembering MG George G. Meade: The Forgotten Victor Of Gettysburg If one were to ask the average American or even the typical reader of ARMY, Who is the most famous general officer of the American Civil War? the most likely answer By COL Kevin W. Farrell U.S. Army retired 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 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. 44 ARMY July 2013

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3 MG Meade, circa 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 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. Library of Congress 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 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 Mexican- American War and was promoted to brevet first lieutenant for his actions at the Battle of Monterrey. 46 ARMY July 2013

4 Library of Congress Library of Congress 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 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 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 MG Meade and his staff in Washington, D.C., in May This house served as MG Meade s temporary headquarters before the Battle of Gettysburg. 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- July 2013 ARMY 47

5 MG Meade in pursuit of GEN Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. 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 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 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 attack 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. Library of Congress (from Frank Leslie s Illustrated Newspaper) 48 ARMY July 2013