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Submitted by:
Dave Shultz

I would be glad to comment on Gen. Meade and his religious faith. Gen. Meade was indeed a man of deep faith, as evidenced in the quotes found below, in his official orders and announcements to the army after battles, in his letters to his wife found in the "Life and Letters of Gen. Meade", in his funeral obsequies, in the dedicatory addresses for several of his monuments delivered by his comrades who knew him best and spoke movingly of his deep faith, and in the memoirs of several of his closest aids, such as Theo. Lyman; A. A. Humphreys, and in several of his biographies. He was baptized a Catholic at his birth in Spain, his father a devout Catholic, but was raised a devout Episcopalian by his mother. He was a devoted member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, from which he was buried on Nov. 10, 1872. He was friends with a number of the clergy, and a bishop presided at his funeral.  All Meade's writings are imbued with a simple, though abiding faith in God, and in the simple Christian life. As we all know, Meade was no showman, or charismatic figure playing to the press or the crowd. His motto was always:  'Deeds not words', and this holds true in his religious practices. He was not outwardly demonstrative in his devotion, as in his personal life, but practiced his own private form of religion, seeking to demonstrate by his life, the Christian virtues. Now, Meade was no angel. Many of the memoirs speak of him as 'swearing vehemently' when occasion warranted, but was always gentle and kind in ordinary circumstances, "gentle as a woman", always willing to help out the needy and innocent.  His kindly treatment of his negro soldiers speaks to this trait, and his generosity to the enemy, and the downtrodden shows his knightly and Christian values. His inter-personal relations with people are revealing of Meade's kindly nature. He always tried to think well of everyone, even those who sometimes opposed him: Warren, Griffin in the Wilderness, Grant, even Sickles, is treated with respect when Meade learns of his insubordination, and his attempt to regain his command in Oct. 1863, when Meade received him graciously. All reveals Meade to be a man of conscience, breeding, and firm faith, setting a Christian example. Though not outwardly or ostentatiously religious, the man lived the role of a Christian knight, though he was not perfect, and had a hot temper, generally when someone failed in his duty, never-the-less, Meade breathed his own brand of quiet faith into his command, his orders, and at his HQ. Indeed the epitaph on his tomb captures his true spirit: "He did his work well, and is at rest."

Please note below that during an answer and question forum, following a lecture on R. E. Lee and the Hand of God, Richard Rollins was presented with a viable question concerning Gen. Meade's religious consciousness. Richard respond as stated below. It was a reasonable question one which needs answering. Although I was not in attendance for the address delivered by Richard, I know he thinks Meade one of the ablest leaders in either army. Although I agree with Richard that Meade was not over zealous practicing his Christian beliefs I think we need a closure to the question.

Our last presentation on R.E. Lee, by Rich Rollins, inspired the following
comments made on behalf of Gen. George Meade. For your consideration....

Civil Warriors 4/18/98

Re: "The discussion of Robt E. Lee and the Hand of God" And Mr. Rollins's
assertion that no Generals on the Union side of the War were conscious of
religion in their decision making.

When the name of General Meade was put up, the idea was chuckled at and the
speaker said that, from what he had read, Meade was decidedly "secular".

I felt the need to offer something of a response to that discussion, not
for prideful reasons at being snickered at and dismissed with a cursory
wave, but under the heading of an issue to which I have taken as something
of a personal cause. Setting the records straight about the one man most
abused and least appreciated by historians: General George G. Meade.

The premise of my larger argument is that all writers of history are
writing from a particular perspective, and, as Mr. Rollins, an accomplished
writer and speaker, they search for the facts that support their theory,
and ignore many of those that don't.

An assertion that I am fond of making is that history is not only written
by the victors, but by those with the strongest pens or the biggest
soapbox. And most of our opinions on the Civil War are formed by writers
whose own works were influenced by the popular writers to come out of that
war. Bestsellers, usually politians like Doubleday and, yes, Dan Sickles
who were the most prolific. Even a writer like the great Bruce Catton, my
own personal favorite "Glory Road" may be the most powerful book I've read
on the Civil War, had to refer occasionally to these other Civil War
eyewitnesses for his information. --The other place our present-day
writers go for their information is the 1860's press.

To put it bluntly, as most of you know, Meade hated the press and the press
hated Meade. Many of those more popular with the press (Hooker and Sickles
come to mind) despised Meade for being the honest and honorable man they
were obviously not. Meade was respected most by the likes of Generals
Reynolds, Hancock, Couch, Warren, Gibbon, Humphreys...the men who
recommended Meade for their commander. The excellent artillery commander
Gen. Hunt did not care for Meade personally (they were too similar in their
stuffed shirts), but he praised Meade for his battlefield abiliities. After the war,
General Bobby Lee said Meade was the one man he most feared to face on the
field of battle.

Herman Hattaway in his forward to Freeman Cleaves's book "Meade at
Gettysburg" wrote: "During the 1864 campaign, perhaps because generals such
as Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and Winfield Scott Hancock were such darlings
of the reporters, the press essentially damned Meade with faint
praise. One correspondent admitted that "Gen. Meade's name never
appeared...if it could be omitted." Quite bluntly, "Meade's work was
withheld from public notice unless it could be presented unfavorably." Nor
was Meade unconscious of this treatment. He allowed that it soon would be
proved that either he was not at Gettysburg at all or that his presence
there had been a positive detriment." If these assertions are correct, if
Meade was omitted from, and his work distorted in, so many passages that
became principal sources for countless historians, we can understand why
Meade is so often inadequately handled in scholarly writing..."

But lest I stray too far from the topic, I thought I'd share with you some
more appropriate quotes to support my argument that General Meade was far
from a "secular" man, as Richard Rollins contends.

Another quote from the above-mentioned book:

"Meade was a quiet, religious and reserved man. Once during the
Chancellorsville campaign, Meade rode through a large group of men fording
the Rapidan River and they began to cheer him. He removed his forage cap
and rode bareheaded through their lines making no other outward sign. He
later reminisced that he never would forget their warm demonstration. He
was never one to stir up an applause. He never waved his hat, until he did
so on the last day of the war."

Major General John Gibbon wrote of his old comrade:

"...his adjuration made before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, and
repeated other places with the same earnestness, "I deny, (Meade says)
under the full solemnity and sanctity of my oath, and in the firm
conviction that the day will come when the secrets of all men shall be
known..."

Of course referring to Judgement Day. Not the statement of a "secular" man.

In a 1930 public address titled "Meade in Command," Isaac Pennypacker wrote:

"...a devout member of the Protestant Episcopal church, who, as opportunity
offered, arranged to have religious services at his headquarters, he
himself partaking of the Communion, as did General Huphreys, Gen. Seth
Williams and others of his staffs."

Later, Pennypacker recalls:

"Meade and Lee were members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. When
shortly after the war Meade was in command for a while of a military
district composed of Southern States with his headquarters in Georgia, he
found the Protestant Episcopal Church of the town in a dilapidated
condition and the people too impoverished to repair it. From his friends
in the North he collected enough money with his personal contribution to
carpet the church and do needed restoration work."

This is not the work of a "secular" man.

In 1927, President Calvin Coolige wrote in defense of Meade:

"The records more and more reveal General Meade as a gallant soldier and a
Christian gentleman. He was the great commander of the Army of the
Potomac... The army had five commanders. Four of them were displaced
within the first two years of its existence. During the last half of its
history, from June 28, 1863 until it was disbanded after Appomatox, it was
Meade alone. He was displaced not by defeat, but by victory."

And:

"Throughout his life General Meade was a man of deep religious
conviction. When he entered the service he said, 'I go into the
field...trusting to God to dispose of my life and actions in accordance
with my daily prayer that his will, not mine, shall be done.' Throughout
his entire military career he constantly acted in harmony with that
sentiment. Time and again, in his letters and statements, he acknowledged
his dependence upon Divine Providence. Like most great soldiers he was
devoted to peace, not war."

My last bit of evidence--in a Memorial Day address, May 30, 1888,
(former aide-de-camp to Gen. Meade) Colonel James C. Biddle wrote:

"He (Meade) will be remembered with admiration, not only for his military
achievements, which, unsurpassed by those of any other man, will ever live
in the grateful recollection of his counrtymen, but also for the purity of
his character, for his unselfishness, for his freedom from the jealousies
and envies so common among distinguished soldiers, for his patient and
uncomplaining endurance of injustice, for his courage, which was of that
high order that dared to do right at the risk of his own reputation, for
his modesty, that made him ever ready to praise others, while during his
whole career he never spoke or wrote one boastful word of himself, and for
his supreme devotion to duty. As long as these virtues are held in esteem
among us, and we rejoice in the blessing of a reunited country, just so
long will we honor the name and memory of General George G. Meade, the
great and victorious soldier, the loyal and public-spirited citizen and
patriot, the generous, chivalrous, honorable Christian gentleman."

Biddle's thoughts, though obviously colored by his closeness to the
General, most clearly reflect my own. My grandmother's maiden name was
Nora Meade.

Thank you,
Jerry Bingham