Major General George Gordon Meade.

This Currier & Ives print from 1863 depicts a very heroic version of the victor of Gettysburg.

This image, taken in September 1863 outside Culpeper, shows Meade with several of his generals. From left to right we have Gouverneur Warren, then in temporary command of the II Corps while Winfield Scott Hancock recovered from his Gettysburg wound; William French, commanding the III Corps; Meade; Henry Hunt, the army’s artillery chief; chief of staff Andrew Humphreys; and George Sykes (V Corps).

Take a step back and we can see the setting for the previous photo. This is the Wallach House outside Culpeper, Virginia. William Douglas Wallach owned the Washington Evening Star and kept “Montrose” as his country home in Virginia. An ardent Unionist, Wallach was not popular with his Secessionist neighbors. The building was destroyed during the war and a modern house occupies the site now. Mike Block showed me the site when I was down there to take Mike’s tour of the Rappahannock Station battle. You can read Clark “Bud” Hall’s article about Wallach here.

Here’s another shot from the Wallach house sessions. It must have been a long day. In this one Meade poses with his staff. Andrew Humphreys is to the right of Meade.

General Meade and General Sedgwick visit the Horse Artillery headquarters at Brandy Station. Meade is standing sideways to the camera, slightly to the right of the photo’s center. The Army of the Potomac established its winter quarters at Brandy Station in 1863 and remained there until the start of the Overland Campaign the next May.

This is one of the famous series of images that photographer Timothy O’Sullivan shot on May 21, 1864, at Massaponax Church. The Army of the Potomac is leaving Spotsylvania Court House behind. While the army passes, Meade, Grant and others sit on pews that have been carried outside from the church. In this shot Meade sits at the end of the pew at the left of the photo, looking at a map. Theodore Lyman sits next to him. Grant is on the pew facing the camera, his back to the trees, puffing on a cigar. Assistant Secretary of War Charles Dana is at the end of that pew. The Maltese cross on the wagons in the background indicate they belong to the V Corps.

Here’s an artist’s conception of that scene. He has allowed his imagination some free play. If you read the caption to the print, you’ll also see that has added the presence of generals who were nowhere near–not only Hancock, who had moved with the II Corps ahead of the army, but also General Sherman, who was making his way through Georgia at the time, and General Sickles. I’m surprised they couldn’t squeeze in President Lincoln.

Matthew Brady took this photograph of Meade at Cold Harbor on June 12, 1864. He also took a famous photo of Ulysses S. Grant, standing by a small tree in front of a tent, on the same day. After the photo sessions were over, the Army of the Potomac began to skip away from Cold Harbor and move towards the James River (Library of Congress).

A piano piece written to commemorate the death of Major General George Gordon Meade in 1872 (Johns Hopkins).