General George Meade with a better reputation

Union General George Meade was in charge of the Union army during the Battle of Gettysburg which arguably turned the tide of U.S. Civil War. Yet most people remember Grant, Sherman, and even McClellan before Meade.


What could Meade have done so that history remembers him better?
 

Japhy

Banned
In the Aftermath of Cold Harbor Meade snapped. He'd been under alot of pressure, his Army was bleeding men, Grant was in Camp with him giving the main orders to Meade's subordinates, effectively cutting him out of the loop. The Press was just talking about Grant, Grant and Grant. It was not going well for him.

Then, he found out that one reporter had decided to talk about him, in the context of the defeat at Cold Harbor, that is saying he screwed up. And this is where the snapping comes in, he brings the man to his tent, berates him and bans him from the theater the Army is operating in. Not only that but he has a placard put around the mans neck declaring that he is an agent working to destroy the men's morale and has him led out of camp on a mule (Or something close to this, I don't quite recall the specifics.)

The result of this was that the rest of the Press Corp with the Army, and their Publishers at home all agreed to a pact. Meade became an Unperson, skipped over in all messages, stories and dispatches for the remainder of the war with the exception of when he screwed up and could be made to look bad. And between then and Appomattox they did just that.

^ Prevent the incident, and Meade can be a Fifth member of the Big Four which won the war (Grant, Sherman, Sheridan and Thomas).
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Simple: have him atttack Lee at Gettysburg on July 4, utterly smash the Army of Northern Virginia, force Lee to surrender on the north bank of the Potomac, and end the war. That should give Meade a better reputation.
 

Japhy

Banned
Simple: have him atttack Lee at Gettysburg on July 4, utterly smash the Army of Northern Virginia, force Lee to surrender on the north bank of the Potomac, and end the war. That should give Meade a better reputation.

A hard feat to pull off when half your available corps are in no state to move on the offensive.
 
Simple: have him atttack Lee at Gettysburg on July 4, utterly smash the Army of Northern Virginia, force Lee to surrender on the north bank of the Potomac, and end the war. That should give Meade a better reputation.


Didn't Meade argue to Lincoln that the Army of the Potomac was almost as badly beat up as the ANV?
 
So, might it be said Lincoln expected too much of him after Gettysburg?

Yes, although in fairness to Lincoln he didn't know the condition of either army and had a history of his generals complaining with or without equally good reason that he was asking too much. For him to think this was one of those things again is rather understandable.
 
A better performance in the Mine Run Campaign would certainly do Meade's reputation no harm. This could be achieved by having French's Corps avoid being bogged down while crossing Jacob's Ford, this maintaining the speed Meade had originally wanted for the advance and preventing the Confederates from entering the fortified line on Mine Run. Certainly a victory in the Mine Run Campaign coupled with his vitory at Gettysburg would improve his reputation greatly - however it is unlikely to stop Grant supervising his actions closely since Grant has a preconcieve notion of the Eastern Army commanders of the Union being bad fighters.
 
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