He organized his forces on favorable ground to fight an effective defensive battle against Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and repelled a series of massive assaults throughout the next two days.

While elated about the victory, President Abraham Lincoln was critical of Meade due to his perception of an ineffective pursuit during the retreat, which allowed Lee and his army to escape back to Virginia.

He returned to Florida and worked as a private citizen for his brother-in-law, James Duncan Graham, as an assistant surveyor to the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers on a railroad project.

[15] He conducted additional survey work for the Topographical Engineers on the Texas-Louisiana border, the Mississippi River Delta[16] and the northeastern boundary of Maine and Canada.

[29] In 1852, the Topographical Corps established the United States Lighthouse Board and Meade was appointed the Seventh District engineer with responsibilities in Florida.

[35] Prior to Captain Meade's command, Great Lakes' water level readings were taken locally with temporary gauges; a uniform plane of reference had not been established.

[37] Meade was appointed brigadier general of volunteers on August 31, 1861,[38] a few months after the start of the American Civil War, based on the strong recommendation of Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin.

[46] Meade resumed command of his brigade in time for the Second Battle of Bull Run, then assigned to Major General Irvin McDowell's corps of the Army of Virginia.

After the battle, Meade wrote to his wife that, "General Hooker has disappointed all his friends by failing to show his fighting qualities in a pinch.

[63] In the early morning hours of June 28, 1863, a messenger from President Abraham Lincoln arrived to inform Meade of his appointment as Hooker's replacement.

[66] While his colleagues were excited for the change in leadership, the soldiers in the Army of Potomac were uncertain of Meade since his modesty, lack of the theatrical and scholarly demeanor did not match their expectations for a General.

[70] Meade was only four days into his leadership of the Army of the Potomac and informed his corps commanders that he would provide quick decisions and entrust them with the authority to carry out those orders the best way they saw fit.

Meade gave orders for the Army of the Potomac to move forward in a broad front to prevent Lee from flanking them and threatening the cities of Baltimore and Washington D.C.

By 6 pm on the evening of July 1, 1863, Meade sent a telegram to Washington informing them of his decision to concentrate forces and make a stand at Gettysburg.

He sent chief engineer Gouverneur Warren to determine the status of the hill and quickly issued orders for the V Corps to occupy it when it was discovered empty.

One questionable decision Meade made that day was to order Slocum's XII Corps to move from Culp's Hill to the left flank which allowed Confederate troops to temporarily capture a portion of it.

[75] On the evening of July 4, 1863, Meade held a second council of war with his top generals, minus Hancock and Gibbon, who were absent due to duty and injury.

[81] Lee knew he had the superior defensive position and hoped that Meade would attack and the resulting Union Army losses would dampen the victory at Gettysburg.

[86] Lee petitioned Jefferson Davis to allow him to take the offensive against the cautious Meade which would also prevent further Union troops being sent to the Western Theater to support William Rosencrans at the Battle of Chickamauga.

[88] In the Bristoe Campaign, Lee attempted to flank the Army of the Potomac and force Meade to move north of the Rappahannock River.

In the Mine Run Campaign, Meade attempted to attack the right flank of the Army of Northern Virginia south of the Rapidan River but the maneuver failed due to the poor performance of William H.

[105] Meade ordered additional Union troops to join the battle but they struggled to maintain formation and communicate with each other in the thick woods of the Wilderness.

Waging a war of attrition in the Overland Campaign against Lee, Grant was willing to suffer previously unacceptable losses with the knowledge that the Union Army had replacement soldiers available, whereas the Confederates did not.

[116] Meade was opposed to Grant's recommendations to directly attack fortified Confederate positions which resulted in huge losses of Union soldiers.

[126] Meade and the Army of the Potomac crossed the James River to attack the strategic supply route centered on Petersburg, Virginia.

[128] During the Siege of Petersburg, he approved the plan of Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside to plant explosives in a mine shaft dug underneath the Confederate line east of Petersburg, but at the last minute he changed Burnside's plan to lead the attack with a well-trained African-American division that was highly drilled just for this action, instructing him to take a politically less risky course and substitute an untrained and poorly led white division.

[131] Other McClellan loyalists who advocated a more moderate prosecution of the war, such as Charles P. Stone and Fitz John Porter, were arrested and court-martialed.

[133][134] While Meade could be sociable, intellectual and courteous in normal times, the stress of war made him prickly and abrasive and earned him the nickname "Old Snapping Turtle".

[141] After the Camilla massacre in September 1868, caused by anger from white southerners over blacks gaining the right to vote in the 1868 Georgia state constitution, Meade investigated the event and decided to leave the punishment in the hands of civil authorities.

from Harvard University,[152] and his scientific achievements were recognized by various institutions, including the American Philosophical Society and the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences.