The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade: Major-General United States Army.

MEADE, George Gordon.

Item Number: 139426

Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1913.

First edition of Meade’s autobiography. Octavo, two volumes, original cloth with gilt titles to the spine, tissue-guarded frontispiece and six folding maps to vol. I, 24 folding maps to vol. II. In near fine condition. Uncommon in this condition.

United States Army officer and civil engineer George Gordon Meade remains best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. During the Gettysburg Campaign, he was appointed to command the Army of the Potomac just three days before the Battle of Gettysburg. Arriving on the field after the first day's action on July 1, Meade organized his army on favorable ground to fight an effective defensive battle against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, repelling a series of massive assaults throughout the next two days. Lee was forced to retreat to Virginia, ending his hope of winning the war through a successful invasion of the North.