John Coalter Bates, 26 Aug 1842 - 04 Feb 1919 Search this
George Nelson Macy, 24 Sep 1836 - 13 Feb 1875 Search this
Henry Jackson Hunt, 14 Sep 1819 - 11 Feb 1889 Search this
George Gordon Meade, 31 Dec 1815 - 6 Nov 1872 Search this
George David Ruggles, 11 Sep 1833 - 19 Oct 1904 Search this
Richard Napoleon Batchelder, 27 Jul 1832 - 04 Jan 1901 Search this
Simon Forrester Barstow, 16 Dec 1817 - 31 Jul 1882 Search this
Medium:
Albumen silver print
Dimensions:
Image/Sheet: 38.3 × 45.8 cm (15 1/16 × 18 1/16")
Mount: 47.4 × 59 cm (18 11/16 × 23 1/4")
Mat: 66 × 81.3 cm (26 × 32")
Type:
Photograph
Date:
1865
Exhibition Label:
The victor at Gettysburg, George Meade (1815–1872), seated center, ended the war with a sense that he had been overlooked and dealt with unfairly. Abraham Lincoln’s criticism that he had failed to vigorously pursue Robert E. Lee after Gettysburg still rankled. And while Meade retained command of the Army of the Potomac, Ulysses Grant’s decision to serve in the field meant that Meade would always be overshadowed by the Union’s commanding general, both in day-to-day decision-making and by reputation. Meade served faithfully and punctiliously under Grant, and Grant testified to Meade’s character in his Memoirs.
Meade was only the last of the many commanders of the Army of the Potomac who was bedeviled by the army’s nearness to Washington and the propensity of its officers to play politics. Aware of its history, Meade, who was a superior corps commander, had not desired overall command in 1863 but was unable to turn Lincoln down.
