Born in Cadiz, Spain, in 1815, George Gordon Meade came to America after his family was financially ruined by the Napoleonic Wars. He attended West Point, and after graduating, he served in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, supervising the construction of coastal lighthouses. At the start of the Civil War, Meade was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of a brigade of Pennsylvania volunteers. His unit was attached to George C. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, and Meade was injured during the bloody Seven Days Battle. After his recovery, he returned to combat, and was command of the Army of the Potomac on June 28, 1863. Less than a week later, Meade won a decisive victory at Gettysburg, although was reprimanded by President Lincoln for not pursuing and finishing off General Lee’s weakened army. In 1864, General Grant made the Army of the Potomac his headquarters, and he was greatly impressed with Meade’s leadership during the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and the siege of Petersburg. Meade was promoted to major general but his reputation was overshadowed by Grant’s throughout the last year of the war.
This 1866 portrait of Meade depicts the general outfitted in his military uniform and bears a strong resemblance to a photograph taken by Mathew Brady. It was published by Benjamin W. Hitchcock, a New York sheet music publisher, suggesting that the illustration was contained in a patriotic songbook.
