Meade of Gettysburg [Paperback]

Freeman Cleaves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1991

General George Gordon Meade is best known to history as the commander of the victorious Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, the greatest battle of the Civil War. In his own lifetime meager credit was allotted him for his achievement at Gettysburg, for his long pursuit of General Robert E. Lee into Virginia, and for the furious marches his men were forced into both before and after Gettysburg, until, finally, -in the vicinity of Appomattox Courthouse, he again held the upper hand. And since his death in 1872, frequent criticism has been meted out to him for not following up the victory his troops accomplished.

In this account of the man and his achievements, Freeman Cleaves has attempted to sift the truth from War Office archives and records, from private and public documents, to assess fairly the value of his services.

The fourth-ranking officer in the Federal Army at the end of the Civil War, Meade was one of that small corps of professional soldiers who ably conducted campaigns both North and South. A graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, he was a member of the far-famed Army Topographical Engineers, and served under General Taylor in the Mexican War. Plain-spoken, restless, and impatient, he was a familiar figure close to the front in many major Civil War battles, where his sound generalship won the respect of his troops and fellow officers, though Grant later, almost incomprehensibly, gave preferment to Sheridan.

Here, then, is not only a picture of the man in full round, but also a stimulating account of the strategies behind the important Civil War battles in which Meade distinguished himself: the Second Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness Campaign. Every student of Civil War history will want to meet the man who stopped Lee.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Freeman Cleaves, who is also the author of Rock of Chickamauga: The Life of General George H. Thomas (University of Oklahoma Press), was a member of the editorial staff of Financial World) but his avocation for many years has been research in American history, especially Civil War history. Mr. Cleaves was educated in Bates College, the University of New Hampshire, and Harvard University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (March 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806122986
• ISBN-13: 978-0806122984
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Complete, Detailed History of the Life of General Meade, March 28, 2000

By 

Charles Rhoads (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Meade of Gettysburg (Paperback)

Meade of Gettysburg is one of the few books written about the life of General George G. Meade. From reading other books about the Civil War, I became interested in General Meade. I was surprised to find that there are only a few books written about this soldier. When I purchased the book, I thought it would be about Meade's actions in the Battle of Gettysburg. While most of the book did revolve around his part in the Civil War, I was pleased to find that it was also a complete history of the man's life. The Battle of Gettysburg was just one part of the book. For example, I was surprised to learn that Meade was actively involved in the Topographical Corps and played a large role in the construction of the Brandywine light in the Delaware Bay. Meade of Gettysburg begins with the birth of George G. Meade and takes the reader through his entire life, ending with his funeral procession where his war horse, "Old Baldy" was brought out of retirement to march riderless behind the caisson bearing his master. For anyone interested in the life of General George G. Meade, this is your book.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacks strong substance, August 7, 2004

By 

B. Morris (Raytown, Missouri United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Meade of Gettysburg (Paperback)

As much interest as there is in the Civil War today it is amazing that there hasn't been a full scale biography done on George Meade since Freeman Cleaves wrote this book some 45 years ago.

While this is an easy book to read, it definately lacks the level of scholarship we would expect from a biography today. Cleaves has a smooth writing style, however after about 100 pages you really start to get the feeling that you are getting much more style than substance.

I don't know if the problem is lack of source information or simply that to Cleaves it was more important to entertain than to inform but it really got frustrating to me when Cleaves would skim over what were important sections of Meade's life.

Case in point is George Meade's wounding on the Peninsula. Cleaves was blending Meade's entire service on the Peninsula so much that I had to backtrack to figure out what battle Meade was even wounded at. His entire section on the Peninsula amounts to only a handful of pages and in the end Cleaves spends only half a page describing how Meade was actually wounded. His description of Meade's arm wound is simply Cleaves telling us that he had a wound in the forearm and nothing more. Next thing we know Meade is back up and around and heading back to his unit after going home to recuperate. His actual time recovering is completely ignored. We see this over and over again in the book.

Another thing missing out is Meade's opinions. Cleaves had full access to Meade's letters written during the war but makes no use of them. What did Meade think of his fellow generals? We don't know because Cleaves doesn't tell us. You would expect Cleaves to quote liberally from Meade's letters but he doesn't.

Unfortunately this book just doesn't live up to today's standards of what a reader expects from a biographical study like this. In this day and age where we have such great Civil War writers like Sears, Beatie, Detzer and Cozzens one expects a high level of scholarship. This book simply doesn't have that.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a "Growth on Grant's neck"?, March 9, 2009

By 

Douglas E. Libert "howitt" (parkersburg wv) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Meade of Gettysburg (Paperback)

This is not a critical type biography, more a narrative but you can still get the feel for the ol' "Snapping Turtle".Meade was born in Cadiz, Spain due to his father being there in consequence of his Philadelphia shipping firm. Supposedly Meade's father had to seek "diplomatic immunity"to escape some heavy accusations made by the Spanish government in regard to questionable business practices.At any rate the large Episcopalian Meade family of patrician Phillies did quite well in Spain.Through local political connections in Philadelphia Meade received an appointment to West Point and was able to be placed upon graduation into the "high status" Army Corps of Engineers.
He helped construct east coast and Great Lakes lighthouses and navigation charts when the Civil War broke out in 1861.He went Union simply because that was the place for Union loyalty which had paid for his education and in the interests of his families wealth.He had, from a read of the book, no desire for politics and steered clear apparently his experience with navigation charts gave him a hint of how to avoid the rocky shore of politics.
Meade's personality is seen as non-charismatic with a brooding temper yet highly competent.Not the personality to come into camp dressed as a private chomping a cigar reeking of bourbon,to inspire the troops.Although Meade is credited with winning Gettysburg there are other factors that come into play here since Meade had only been in command for a few days before Gettysburg:the author here does do a little critiquing.
This book gives a good description of the Army of the Potomac's campaigning from Gettyburg to the Wilderness which most including myself,are not aware of.Meade was instructed to destroy Lee's army by Washington.Unfortunately for Meade Lee was not co-operative and broke his army up to tie up Union troops and keep the war North of the Rappahannock.Meade is unfairly blamed for the numerous "mud marches" and no-show battles of this period when his hands were literally tied by Washington politics. The author covers this post Gettysburg to the Wilderness period well.
Finally Grant takes over and he also is told to destroy Lee's army however but most important---Grant is permitted to move the army to Richmond if necessary to draw Lee out whereas Meade was not permitted to do so.I was wondering if from the Gettysburg period to the Wilderness battle if Washington had not completed the Capitals' defense's to "state of the art".Did the Capitol no longer have to fear a Confederate march on Washington?
So now the "Snapping Turtle" takes a back seat for the rest of the war.Since Meade hadn't done anything disastrously wrong (and even Generals who had were still around),Grant decides to use him as a"puppet commander".Anyway Meade still has alot of political clout being an inspiration for alot of Pennsylvania troops,if anyone is motivated by a snapping turtle(maybe to get out of the way).His carrer after the war is short because of poor health due to combat wounds and lung ailments from campaigning.One negative sideline: While being in charge of the Army's Atlantic department after the war he actively proposed"denegrofication"(his term) of the army.Not a visionary man but maybe just what was needed at Gettysburg.