George G. Meade
George Meade Quotes
Last Updated March 29, 2011
With quotations by Meade first followed by others in order of the person making the quote
George G. Meade Quotes
Last Updated March 29, 2011
With quotations by Meade first followed by others in alphabetical order of the person making the quote
“I expect to be deprived of my command; but my men’s lives are too valuable to be sacrificed for popularity. I could not do it.”
George G. Meade
Dec 10 1863
Meade as quoted by Charles Wainwright in his journal on Dec 10 1863
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998., 308
“I must insist on being spared the inflictions of such truisms in the guise of opinions as you have recently honored me with, particularly as they were not asked for.”
George G. Meade
Oct 18 1863
Meade to Halleck
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 100
“of dollars and cents-that is of resources…in which the North, being the biggest cat and having the longest tail, ought to have the endurance to maintain the contest”
George G. Meade
Nov 24 1861
Meade describing the economics of the war in a letter to his wife
From How the North Won by Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones. Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1983. 465
“a barrage of profanity “almost makes the stone creeps”
a lieutenant
Dec 13 1863
a lieutenant describing Meade’s profanity at Fredericksburg
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 53
“a damned goggle-eyed snapping turtle”
a soldier
a soldier describes Meade
From Commander of All Lincoln’s Armies – A Life of General Henry W. Halleck by ohn Marszalek. Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. 176
“conservative and cautious to the last degree, good qualities in a defensive battle, but liable to degenerate into timidity when an aggressive or bold offensive becomes imperative.”
a soldier
Jun 30 1863
a soldier describes Meade
From Commander of All Lincoln’s Armies – A Life of General Henry W. Halleck by John Marszalek. Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2004. 176
“had worked himself into a towering passion”
a staff officer
Meade around Spotsylvania
From Cavalryman of the Lost Cause by Jeffry D. Wert. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008. 346
“General Meade is in the habit of violating the organic law of the army to place his personal friends in power. There has always been a great deal of favoritism in the Army of the Potomac. No man who is an anti-slavery man or an anti-McClellan man can expect decent treatment in that army as at present constituted. “
Abner Doubleday
Mar 1 1864
Doubleday on Meade supplanting him at Gettysburg in testimony before the Joint Committee
From Abner Doubleday A Civil War Biography by Thomas Barthel. Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2010. 182
[Meade] will fight well on his own dunghill
Abraham Lincoln
Jun 1863
Lincoln referring to fact that Meade was from Pennsylvania and battle would be fought there
From Fighting Joe Hooker Walter H. Hebert. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. 245
“I am sorry to lose General Meade from this corps, for I look upon him as one of our very best generals;”
Charles S. Wainright
Dec 25 1862
Wainwright on the appointment of Meade to the command of the Fifth Corps
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 147
“He is a West Pointer and major of Engineers; a fine soldierly, somewhat stiff-looking man, and the most thoroughbred gentleman in his manners I have yet met within the army. I do not know whether he will retain command of the corps, but doubt it as there are so many senior to him.”
Charles S. Wainright
Sep 21 1862
Wainwright’s early impression of Meade who temporarily commands First Corps
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 105
“From what I had seen of Meade during the three days I was at Chancellorsville, and from my previous knowledge of him, I had given him the preference, and was glad to find that there were others, good judges, who agreed with me.”
Charles S. Wainright
May 6 1863
Wainwright speculation on the replacement for Hooker after Chancellorsville
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 207
“Meade talked very plainly, and getting mad, damned Hooker very freely; so much so that he, Webb, cleared out and called off the rest of the staff, fearing that a court martial might ensure. He says that Meade’s temper is intolerable.”
Charles S. Wainright
Jun 12 1863
Wainwright reporting of a confrontation between Hooker and Meade as reported by Alexander Webb
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 224
“Meade was my candidate for Hooker’s successor….believing him to have the longest and clearest head of any general officer in this army.”
Charles S. Wainright
Jun 28 1863
Wainwrights’s view on Meade as the successor of Hooker
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 227
“Perhaps I am wrong in doing so now, but I do feel most decidedly that he has been over cautious today.”
Charles S. Wainright
Nov 8 1863
Wainwright on Meade’s actions at Brandy Station
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 300
“Meade does not mean to be ugly, but he cannot control his infernal temper.”
Charles S. Wainright
Dec 2 1863
Wainwright on Meade’s temper
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 306
“Meade was one of our most dreaded foes; he was always in deadly earnest and he eschewed all trifling.”
D.H. Hill
Hill referring to Meade at the Battle of South Mountain. Hill, Daniel H. “The Battle of South Mountain or Boonsboro” Battles and Leaders 2:574
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 39
“With his saber drawn, he rode among his units, exhorting the men despite the severe, though not mortal, wounding of his favorite horse, Baldy, and a deep bruise on his thigh caused by a piece of Confederate grapeshot.”
Ethan Rafuse
From his book George G. Meade and the War in the East describing Meade at Antietam
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 43
“You astound me with the rumor that Genl. Meade is to be removed. Great Scott! What do the authorities want?…Candidly, we feel every confidence in Meade, and if anyone succeeds him but McClellan, the dissatisfaction will be intense.”
Francis A. Donaldson
Oct 22 1863
Donaldson in a letter to his brother. Donaldson, Inside the Army of the Potomac: The Civil War Experience of Cpatain Francis Adams Donaldson, ed J. Gregory Acken (Mechanicsbur, PA: Stackpole. 1998) 371
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 101
“rather a ‘smooth bore’ than a rifle”
Gideon Welles
Welles describing George Meade
From How the North Won by Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones. Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1983. 465
“the personification of earnest vigorous action…He sent rousing dispatches to all points of the line, and paced up and down upon the field as he watched the progress of operations…and if he was severe in his reprimands and showed faults of temper he certainly displayed no faults as a commander.”
Horace Porter
Jun 16 1864
Porter, Campaigning with Grant, 209
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 137
“decidedly peppery, and went far toward confirming one’s belief in the wealth and flexibility of the English language as a medium of personal dispute.”
Horace Porter
Jul 30 1864
Argument between Burnside and Meade after the debacle at the Crater. Porter, Campaigning with Grant, 267
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 142
“I doubt him. He is an engineer.”
John Hay
Jul 14 1863
Hay’s concern about Meade’s apparent failure to pursue and attack Lee after Gettysburg
From How the North Won by Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones. Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1983. 468
“Meade, will commit no blunder in my front, and if I make one he will make haste to take advantage.”
Robert E. Lee
Lee upon learning of Meade’s assumption of Army command. Emory M. Thomas, Robert E. Lee: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton, 1995) 293
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 71
“What are you doing with all that grey in your beard?”
Robert E. Lee
April 1865
Lee to Meade at Appomattox. Lyman Meade’s Headquarters
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003. 164
“General Meade has more than met my most sanguine expectations. He and Sherman are the fittest officers for large commands I have come in contact with.”
U.S. Grant
May 13 1864
Grant in a letter to Halleck on May 13 1864
From A Diary of Battle The Personal Journals of Colonel Charles S. Wainright 1861-1865 by Charles S. Wainwright edited by Allan Nevins. New York: De Capo Press, 1998. 372
“Meade and I are in close contact in the field: he is capable and perfectly subordinate, and by attending to the details, he relieves me of much unnecessary work, and give me more time to mature my general plans.”
U.S. Grant
May 13 1864
Grant to Edwin Stanton, in Grant Memoirs 2:478
From George Gordon Meade and the War in the East by Ethan S. Rause. Abilene: McWhiney Founation Press, 2003.
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