Meade Takes Command

Near Prospect Hall, on Sunday, June 28, 1863, Union Gen. George Gordon Meade replaced Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Meade accepted the command reluctantly because he worried about changing leaders in the middle of a campaign and believed his longtime friend Gen. John F. Reynolds was more capable and more deserving of the assignment. In a letter to his wife, Meade recalled being awakened at 3:00 a.m. by an officer from Washington who handed him the order relieving Hooker and assigning command to him. He wrote that, as a soldier, he could only accept and use his utmost abilities to command success, adding that he was moving at once against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and hoped Gen. Darius N. Couch could check Lee for a few days, because a battle would decide the fate of their country and cause. His words proved prophetic.

Frederick, Maryland · United States