Who Was General George Meade? Life, Gettysburg Victory, and Enduring Military Legacy
By Alexander Ross
Meade arrived at the Gettysburg battlefield around midnight on the morning of July 2, inspecting the defensive perimeter by moonlight. The terrain resembled an inverted fishhook: anchored at Culp’s Hill on the right, curving past Cemetery Hill, and running straight south along Cemetery Ridge down toward the rocky outcrops of Little Round Top. Meade recognized the inherent advantage of interior lines. He could shift reinforcements from flank to flank along the Taneytown Road in a fraction of the time it took Lee’s messengers to ride around the Confederate exterior.
That logistical advantage saved the Union line on July 2. When Major General Daniel Sickles unilaterally advanced the III Corps off Cemetery Ridge into an exposed peach orchard and wheatfield, Meade rode directly into the breach to survey the damage. As Confederate divisions under James Longstreet slammed into Sickles' flank, Meade personally directed a torrent of reinforcements to plug the gaps, stripping reserves from the XII Corps and moving the V and VI Corps into position under point-blank fire.
By the evening of July 2, Meade assembled his corps commanders for a formal council of war. He asked three basic questions: Should the army stay or retreat? Should it attack or await assault? How long should they wait? The commanders voted unanimously to stand firm. Meade quietly predicted that Lee, having failed to break both Union flanks, would hammer the Union center the following afternoon.
His prediction proved exact. On July 3, following an earth-shaking artillery bombardment that tore through Union batteries, roughly 12,500 Confederate infantrymen advanced across three-quarters of a mile of open ground in what history records as Pickett's Charge. Meade’s defensive planning held fast. As the rebel line breached the stone wall at the Angle, Union infantry and double-canister artillery converged from both sides, gutting the assault. Robert E. Lee’s army suffered over 23,000 casualties during those three days, a devastating loss from which the Army of Northern Virginia never fully recovered.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
