Searching for George Gordon Meade: The Forgotten Victor of Gettysburg - Hardcover

Huntington, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811708136 ISBN 13: 9780811708135

Publisher: Stackpole Books, 2013

Synopsis

While researching Searching for George Gordon Meade: The Forgotten Victor of Gettysburg, author Tom Huntington visited a severed leg, a buried arm, and a horse's head. He also hiked across Civil War battlefields, recited the names of fallen soldiers at a candlelit ceremony at Gettysburg, and drank a champagne toast in a Philadelphia cemetery on New Year's Eve. It was all part of his quest to learn more about the man who commanded the victorious Union army at the Civil War's Battle of Gettysburg, yet has been unfairly overlooked by history in the years since.

Although in command of the Army of the Potomac for a mere three days before the battle, Major General George Gordon Meade managed to defeat Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia during three days of vicious fighting. The cantankerous general remained in command of the army for the rest of the war even as he watched his reputation decline. "I suppose after awhile it will be discovered I was not at Gettysburg at all," he griped in a letter to his wife.

Searching for George Gordon Meade is not your typical Civil War biography. While Huntington does tell the story of Meade's life, he also provides first-person accounts of his visits to the battlefields where Meade fought and museums that cover the Civil War. He includes his conversations with experts, enthusiasts, curators, park rangers and even a Meade impersonator to get their insights. The result is a compelling mash-up of history, biography, travel and journalism that touches both past and present.

A historian's investigation of the life and times of Gen. George Gordon Meade to discover why the hero of Gettysburg has failed to achieve the status accorded to other generals of the conflict

Covers Meade's career from his part in the Mexican-American War through his participation in the great Civil War engagements, including Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and Appomattox.

Available for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg

Explores Meade's legacy today at reenactments, battlefields, museums, and institutions that preserve history

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Advance Praise for SEACHING FOR GEORGE GORDON MEADE

"Despite his great victory at Gettysburg and his command of the army that forced Lee's surrender at Appomattox, George Meade saw his fame eclipsed by that of Lee, Grant, and other Civil War generals. This book does a great deal to redress that historical injustice. Tom Huntington has invented a new genre of biography that shifts between past and present as he tells the story of Meade's life and describes his own pilgrimage to the key sites of that life. The result is an engrossing narrative that the reader can scarcely put down."
--James M. McPherson
Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"Searching for George Gordon Meade is a splendid book! Well-researched, well-reasoned, and well-written, it's a timely and vital addition to the all-too-meager literature on this neglected American hero. Strongly recommended for serious historians as well as for a general readership. Excellent!
--Ralph Peters
Author of Cain at Gettysburg

"Much more than another Civil War biography, Tom Huntington's gripping personal 'search' for George Gordon Meade is unique and irresistible: a combination life story, military history, travelogue, and cultural commentary that brings us closer than ever to the old general and his strange reputation--and also opens new windows to our own unending search for an understandable national identity."
--Harold Holzer, Author and Chairman of Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation

From the Inside Flap:

Who was George Gordon Meade? He should be remembered as one of the Civil War's most important generals. Instead, history has pushed him aside. The hot-tempered Meade received command of the Union's dysfunctional Army of the Potomac only three days before he defeated Robert E. Lee's Confederates at Gettysburg. After that Meade watched his reputation decline, thanks in part to the escape of Lee's army, hostility from politicians and the press, the machinations of Gen. Daniel Sickles, and the rise of Ulysses S. Grant. "I suppose after awhile it will be discovered I was not at Gettysburg at all," Meade once grumbled.

Meade, it seems, is the Rodney Dangerfield of Civil War generals. He gets no respect. Tom Huntington wanted to find out why. In Searching for George Gordon Meade, he tells the story of the general's life and his participation in the Civil War's great engagements, including Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. Huntington also provides accounts of his own investigations of Meade's legacy. Along the way he hikes across battlefields, recites the names of fallen soldiers at a candlelit ceremony at Gettysburg, drinks a champagne toast at Meade's grave on New Year's Eve, and visits a severed leg, a buried arm, and a horse's head. The result is a quirky and compelling mash-up of history, biography, travel, and journalism that casts new light on an overlooked figure from the past.

About this edition

• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0811708136
• ISBN 13: 9780811708135
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416