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(1815-1872), a Federal general in the Civil War, graduated at West Point in 1835, fought in the Mexican War and against the Seminoles, and was busy in the surveying department. Soon after the Rebellion had commenced, he was assigned to a brigade in the Army of the Potomac, was wounded in the Seven Days' battles, and fought at the second battle of Bull Run. At Antietam and Fredericksburg he commanded a division, and at Chancellorsville a corps. At the end of June, 1863, Meade was appointed to supersede Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac; Lee's great invasion of the North was in progress, and Meade was near Frederick. Almost immediately afterward occurred the battle of Gettysburg (which see). The chief credit for this decisive Union victory is variously claimed for the commander-in-chief, for Hancock, Howard, Reynolds and other corps commanders; Meade arrived on the battlefield about noon of the second day. He was made brigadier-general in the regular army, and the next year major-general. Under Grant in 1864-65 he was in immediate charge of the Army of the Potomac, and after the war held command of different departments.