Meade George Meade

[James S.]

Got a question that I've been wondering about. Okay, Meade was in command of the Army of the Potomac, Grant in 1864 was put in command of ALL Union armies, so how come Meade doesn't get any credit, so to speak, for beating the Army of Northern Virginia? All you hear about are Grant in the East and Sherman in the West. Not trying to start a war but how come Meade doesn't get his due?

Thanks,
James

 

[damYankee]

Grant certinly gave him much credit, if you read Grants book you would know this.
Meade was an aggressive leader and a bit abrasive, prone to much cursing and colorful language.
But he got the job done as witnessed at Gettysburg.

 

[hanna260]

I think I can help answer part of this. Part of the reason was the press- Meade did not have a good relationship with them and if they did not like you- then you were out of luck because they pretty much made it their mission to destroy you and they controlled a lot of the war information. Another reason was army politics- there were certain people in the army who were jealous or wanted to denigrate Meade- who had a temper and who could be less than lovable and created some enemies. Finally, Grant and Meade got along well enough during the war but after the war the relationship seems to have cooled. Grant and Sherman- being human- also emphasized their contributions perhaps to the detriment of others after the war long after Meade was dead.

Also, for a long time, Confederate generals seemed to have dominated the historiography with Union generals receiving less attention, unless their names were Grant, Sherman, or Custer (but to be fair, that was mostly focused on Little Bighorn). There was also a novel some of you may have heard about that did a lot to create myths about Gettysburg that rather... diminished Meade's accomplishments.

If you're looking for a book, Searching For George Gordon Meade is a good one. http://www.amazon.com/Searching-George-Gordon-Meade-Gettysburg-ebook

 

[cash]

Meade's bad press stemmed from the Cropsey affair. Edward Cropsey was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote a story generally complimentary to Meade, but the final paragraph said, "History will record, but newspapers cannot that on one eventful night during the present campaign Grant's presence saved the army, and the nation too; not that General Meade was on the point of committing a blunder unwittingly, but his devotion to his country made him loth [sic] to risk her last army on what he deemed a chance. Grant assumed the responsibility, and we are still on to Richmond." Cropsey was referring to a rumor that after the Battle of the Wilderness, Meade wanted to retreat. The rumor wasn't true, but Cropsey published it without verifying it. Meade went ballistic. He published general orders that first of all misspelled Cropsey's name as "Crapsey," then went on to banish Cropsey from the Army of the Potomac. That was bad enough, but Meade went further and ordered that Cropsey be paraded through the camp wearing a sign reading, "Libeler of the Press."

It was humiliating for Cropsey, but it was a Pyrrhic victory for Meade, because from then on the press correspondents agreed that Meade's name would never again appear in a story unless it was connected to bad news for the army. They never again referred to the Army of the Potomac as "Meade's Army." From then on it was always "Grant's Army."

Meade also had people in Congress gunning for him, wanting him replaced. Dan Sickles was only one of these folks. Meade was called to Washington to testify before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War a number of times to justify his actions at Gettysburg. You'd think he lost the battle by what they were saying.

Meade was a capable general, and a fine army commander, but he wasn't the general who was going to win the war. Grant was needed for that.

 

[hanna260]

It was humiliating for Cropsey, but it was a Pyrrhic victory for Meade, because from then on the press correspondents agreed that Meade's name would never again appear in a story unless it was connected to bad news for the army. They never again referred to the Army of the Potomac as "Meade's Army." From then on it was always "Grant's Army."
.

That was the story I was struggling to recall. I knew that the press for some reason decided not to report on him but could not figure out why.

 

[James S.]

Thanks Hanna, that book looks really, really cool.

Have not read Grant's book. I only read about specific battles and unit histories. Never really been interested in the generals & strategy, and/or politics at all. I've always found those kind of things boring, but that's just me.