Major General George G. Meade (1815-72) George Meade assumed command of the Army of the Potomac just before it plunged into the Battle of Gettysburg. Meade smashed General Robert E. Lee's forces and handed the Confederates their first major defeat in two years.

American army officer, born in Cádiz, Spain, and educated at the U.S. Military Academy. He joined the Union forces at the outbreak of the American Civil War, participating in the defense of Washington, D.C., in 1861. As a major general of volunteers he fought at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and shortly thereafter was appointed commander of the Army of the Potomac. In July 1863, in the battle that is considered the turning point of the war, he defeated the Confederate forces at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He continued as commander of the Army of the Potomac, working closely with General Ulysses S. Grant, until the end of the war. Promoted to major general in the regular army in 1864, Meade commanded various military departments in the U.S. until his death.

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Photographs: Library of Congress
Bibliography: Bache, Richard Meade. Life of General George Gordon Meade (1898); Cleaves, Freeman. Meade of Gettysburg (1960; repr. 1991); Meade, George. The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, 2 vols. (1913).