Born in New York City, he was the son of Captain Richard Worsam Meade II, USN, and followed his father by entering the Navy[1] on October 2, 1850.

[1] Promoted to Lieutenant on January 23, 1858,[2] Meade was an officer of the steamer Saranac and sailing sloop of war Cyane, both units of the Pacific Squadron, during 1859–1861.

[1] After returning to the East Coast from the Pacific in mid-1861, Lieutenant Meade was hospitalized for a few months for a tropical illness, then provided gunnery instruction to volunteer officers as the Navy expanded to meet the challenges of the American Civil War.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Commander on July 16, 1862,[2] Meade's subsequent Civil War service was distinguished, including participation in the suppression of the July 1863 New York Draft Riots, plus active combat and blockade enforcement work while commanding the Mississippi River ironclad Louisville in the latter part of 1862 and the gunboats Marblehead in South Carolina waters in 1863–1864 and Chocura in the Gulf of Mexico during 1864–1865.

His obituary in the Indianapolis News reported Meade as criticizing President Grover Cleveland, and quoted the sentence "I am an American and a Union man, two things this administration can't stand.