He Only Had Three Days

General George Gordon Meade was born December 31st 1815 in Cadiz Spain.

George Gordon Meade was born to American parents December 31st 1815 in Cadiz Spain, where his father had run into some legal and financial issues because of the Napoleonic Wars. Meade received an appointment to West Point and graduated in 1835.
He served one year with the 3rd US Artillery, then left to become a civil engineer. Due to a lack of employment and the Mexican American war he rejoined the army in 1842.

At the start of the Civil War Meade was working on a survey of the Great Lakes. The first summer of the war he was assigned to a division of the Pennsylvania Reserves as a Brigadier General, which after training joined the Army of the Potomac. Meade was wounded in action at Frazier’s Farm during the Seven Days Battle. He had recovered and led his brigade at Second Battle of Bull Run. Three days before the Battle of Gettysburg Meade was placed in command of the Army of Potomac. After arriving on the battle field, he moved his troops masterfully to the threaten areas of the field. He however, received disapproval for letting General Robert E Lee slip away taking his surviving Confederate army back into Virginia.

Meade continue to serve after the ending of the war, helping with Reconstruction in the south. He became the commissioner of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia in 1866, the job he held until his death. Meade died November 6th 1872 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania from pneumonia and old wounds received during the war.

Another web site that might interest you about this subject
Biography of General Meade