General george meade biography
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General george meade biography
George Meade: Early Life and Military Career
George Gordon Meade was born on December 31, 1815, in Cadiz, Spain, where his father worked as a U.S. naval officer. Following his father’s death in 1828, Meade’s family found itself on the brink of financial ruin and returned to the United States to settle in Pennsylvania.
In 1831 Meade entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, in part because of his family’s tenuous financial situation. He graduated four years later, finishing 19th in a class of 56.
Did you know?
General George Meade had only been in command of the Union Army of the Potomac for three days when he won a crucial victory at Gettysburg during the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.
Meade initially had little desire for a military career, and he resigned from the army in 1836 after briefly serving in Massachusetts and Florida.
For the next several years he pursued a civilian career in civil engineering, working for railroads and the U.S. War Department