George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) is a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in coastal construction, including several lighthouses.
He fights with distinction in the Second Seminole War and Mexican-American War.
During the American Civil War, he serves as a Union general, rising from command of a brigade to the Army of the Potomac.
He is best known for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.
Meade's Civil War combat experience startsas a brigade commander in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, including the Battle of Glendale, where he is wounded severely.
As a division commander he has notable success at the Battle of South Mountain and assumes temporary corps command at the Battle of Antietam.
His division is arguably the most successful during the assaults at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
During the Gettysburg Campaign, he is appointed to command the Army of the Potomac just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg, but is able to organize his forces to fight a successful defensive battle against Robert E. Lee.
This victory is marred by his ineffective pursuit during the Retreat from Gettysburg, by the inconclusive campaigns in the fall of 1863, and by intense political rivalries within the Army, notably with Daniel Sickles.
In 1864–65, Meade continues to command the Army of the Potomac through the Overland Campaign, the Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, and the Appomattox Campaign, but he is overshadowed by the direct supervision of the general in chief, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who accompanies him throughout these campaigns.
He also suffers from a reputation as a man of short, violent temper who is hostile toward the press and receives hostility in return.
After the war, he commands several important departments during Reconstruction.
