Fighting on both sides: Richard K. Meade, Jr.

Maj. Richard K. Meade, Jr. 

   There are a handful of men who have the distinction of fighting on both sides during the war. One of those is Richard Kidder Meade, Jr.  Born in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1835, he was the son of Richard K. Meade, a U.S. Congressman and diplomat, appointed as US Minister to Brazil by President James Buchanan. Richard K. Meade, Jr., was a member of the West Point class of 1857, graduating third in his class. Among his classmates were E. Alexander Porter, Richard H. Anderson, Samuel W. Ferguson, and John S. Marmaduke. Assigned to the engineering corps in the US Army following graduation, he arrived in Charleston on December 10, 1860. Major Robert Anderson first sent him to Castle Pinckney, but Meade discovered that he did not have enough materials to finish the project assigned to him.[1]

   When Major Anderson chose to transfer his command to Fort Sumter, 2^nd Lt. Meade used one of the barges to help move the troops. Meade was back at Castle Pickney when James J. Pettigrew arrived on the following day. Meade had no soldiers, just himself and an ordnance sergeant, along with several workers. When Meade refused to open the gate, Pettigrew’s men procured ladders and scaled the walls. Pettigrew demanded Meade surrender on order of the governor of South Carolina, which Meade stated he could not do. The US flag was hauled down and a red flag with a white star was run up. Meade refused to watch the flag go up and retired to his room to write his report. Meade also refused a parole, believing that to do so acknowledged South Carolina as a foreign government. Meade then headed for Fort Sumter.[2]

   Major Anderson sought Meade’s opinion when the Star of the West was fired upon, and when Governor Pickens sent two men to demand the Fort’s surrender. At the later, it was Meade who suggested that the matter be referred to their superiors in Washington, telling Anderson that if they fired on the South Carolinians firing on the ship, “It will bring civil war on us.”[3] Meade was placed in charge of making bags for powder for the cannons prior to the battle. When the battle began on April 12, Meade found himself in command of a gun crew. He was also still in charge of making powder bags, which were soon running short.[4] 

The capture of Castle Pinckney

   At one point, prior to the battle, Meade received a note that one member of his family, his mother, or maybe a sister, was ill. Meade received a furlough to visit the sick relative. Abner Doubleday later wrote that Meade’s absence to Virginia, was a “strategic move to force poor Meade into the ranks of the Confederacy. . . He had previously been overwhelmed with letters on the subject. He was already much troubled in mind; and some months after the bombardment of Fort Sumter the pressure of family ties induced him (very reluctantly as I heard) to join the Disunionists.”[5] However, Doubleday would later praise Meade, writing that while he had never been under fire, Meade “proved [himself] to be [a true] son of [his] Alma Mater at West Point.”[6]

   Meade accompanied Anderson and the others to New York following the surrender of Fort Sumter. When Virginia left the Union, Meade resigned his commission on May 1, 1861. He soon pitched his fate with the Confederate forces and was appointed major of artillery in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States. Meade was assigned as engineering officer to Magruder, then worked on the defenses in the Cape Fear area, with General Branch at New Bern, and served as engineer officer on the staff of James Longstreet about the time of the Seven Days campaign. Major Meade died of disease, probably typhoid, on July 31, 1862, and is buried at Blandford Church Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia.[7]

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[1] Detzer, Allegiance, 63.

[2] Detzer, Allegiance, 114, 134, 135.

[3] Swanberg, First Blood, 148.

[4] Detzer, Allegiance, 167; Burton, The Siege of Charleston, 48.

[5] Doubleday quoted in Hendrickson, Sumter, 138.

[6] Swanberg, First Blood, 305.

[7] Krick, Staff Officer in Gray, 218.

How tall were Confederate generals?

 

 Have you ever noticed the W.B. Matthews lithograph of Confederate generals published in 1907? There stands Lee surrounded by some of the Confederacy’s best generals: Ewell, Bragg, Hampton, A.P. Hill, Joe Johnston, and many others. All the generals are about the same height, except Lee, who is a couple of inches taller than the others.  But how tall were they really? Was Lee really taller than all the others?  Here is a brief look. For some generals, they are simply described as being of medium height in their biographies, probably around five feet eight inches. Those who did not have an exact height listed are not included in this list. (For example, Earl Van Dorn is described as “About medium height,” and he is not included.)[1]

 

Who was over six feet tall?

James Longstreet, Lee’s Old War House, was an astounding six feet, two inches.[2]

Nathan Bedford Forrest was described as around six feet or six feet two inches tall.[3]

Wade Hampton, considered a “giant,” also came in at six feet.[4]

John C. Breckinridge, both general and cabinet member, stood six feet, two inches.[5]

James B. Gordon was thought to be between six feet three or four inches.[6]

Micah Jenkins was six feet two inches.[7]

Stephen D. Lee stood six feet tall.[8]

Collett Leventhopre, British born, “stood nearly six and one-half feet in height.”[9]

John H. Morgan “nearly six feet in height.”[10]

William N. Pendleton “was fully six feet in height.”[11]

Matt Ransom “stood a little over six feet in height.”[12]

Henry Sibley “Lean six feet.”[13]

Albert Sidney Johnson “was six feet and an inch in height”.[14]

John B. Magruder came in at six foot four inches.[15]

Robert F. Hoke – “Nearly six feet.”[16]

 

Who was a little taller than average, say between five feet ten and eleven inches?

Robert E. Lee was considered quite tall for the time, coming in at five feet ten and a half or five foot eleven inches tall.[17]

Stonewall Jackson was taller than Lee, “a little over five feet eleven inches.”[18]

Braxton Bragg, considered the most-hated man in the Confederacy, was five feet, ten inches in height.[19]

E. Kirby Smith was five feet, ten inches in height.[20]

Ambrose Powell Hill came in at five feet ten inches.[21]

J.E.B. Stuart was reported as five feet, ten inches tall.[22]

Patrick Cleburne stood about five foot, ten inches.[23]

Basil Duke was described as being five feet ten inches.[24]

Henry A. Wise was recorded as “five feet eleven inches.”[25]

 

Who was average?

Joseph E. Johnston was considered “of medium height: about five foot seven.”[26]

P.G.T. Beauregard “was five feet seven inches in height.”[27]

Richard Ewell was either five feet eight inches or five feet ten and one-half inches tall.[28]

Rowell Ripley “was five feet eight inches tall.”[29]

 

 

Who was below average?

Joseph Wheeler was considered “Small, only five feet, five inches tall…”[30]

Daniel Harvey Hill “was small in stature, barely five feet tall…”[31]

John B. Gordon was but five feet two inches. [32]

Thomas C. Hindman was “just barely five feet tall.”[33]

William Mahone was five feet five inches.[34]

Dabney Maury – five feet three inches.[35]

 

 

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[1] Hartje, Van Dorn, 60.

[2] Wert, General James Longstreet, 24.

[3] Hurst, Nathan Bedford Forrest, 261; Wyeth, Life of Nathan Bedford Forrest, 628.

[4] Andrew, Wade Hampton, 28.

[5] Davis, Breckinridge,

[6] Hartley,  Stuart’s Tarheels, 417n.3.

[7] Fox, General Micah Jenkins and the Palmetto Sharpshooter

[8] Hattaway, General Stephen D. Lee

[9] Cole, Collett Leventhorpe, 238.

[10] Ramage, Rebel Raider

[11] Lee, Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, 10.

[12] Marlow, Matt W. Ransom, 17.

[13] Gilman, Henry Hastings Sibley, 20.

[14] Johnson, The Life of Albert Sidney Johnson, 72.

[15] Casdorph, Prince John Magruder, 2.

[16] Barefoot, General Robert F. Hoke, 76.

[17] Blount, Robert E. Lee: A Life, 170.

[18] Smith, Stonewall Jackson’s Little Sorrel, 40.

[19] Martin, General Braxton Bragg, 9.

[20] Parks, General Edmund Kirby Smith, 93.

[21] Hassler, A.P. Hill, 3.

[22] Pavlovsky, Riding in Circles, 559.

[23] Nash, Biographical Sketches of Pat Cleburne, 142.

[24] Matthews, Basil Wilson Duke, CSA, 165.

[25] Wise, The Life of Henry A. Wise, 38.

[26] Symonds, Joseph E. Johnston, 10.

[27] Williams, P.G.T. Beauregard, 51.

[28] Pfanz, Richard S. Ewell, 552n.30.

[29] Bennett, Resolute Rebel.

[30] Martin, General Braxton Bragg, 104.

[31] Martin, General Braxton Bragg, 270.

[32] Tankersley, John B. Gordon, 212.

[33] Neal, The Lion of the South, 33.

[34] Blake, William Mahone of Virginia, 271.

[35] Waugh, The Class of 1846, 64.

Purging the Army of Northern Virginia

   A couple of weeks ago, while filming a short interview with Chris Mackowski of Emerging Civil War (we were at the American Battlefield Trust's Teacher's Institute), I made a comment about the purging of officers from the Army of Northern Virginia after Robert E. Lee was assigned command in June 1862. I had never really counted until today, but fifteen men who were brigade or division commanders during the Seven Days battles were not with the Army of Northern Virginia when it surrendered at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 (this excludes those who died or were killed in action). Did Lee have these officers transferred on purpose? A good question.

Here are the fifteen and what became of them:

John B. Magruder - sent to Trans-Mississippi Department after the Seven Days.

William H. C. Whiting - reassigned to the Military District of Wilmington. Died as a prisoner of war in New York on March 10, 1865.

Richard Taylor - transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department July 1862.

Bradley Johnson - with the Army of Northern Virginia until 1864, when consolidation removed him from command. Finished the war as commander at Salisbury Prison.

D. H. Hill - shuffled back to North Carolina in February 1863. Commanded a corps in the Army of Tennessee during the Chickamauga-Chattanooga Campaign. Had further run-ins with high command, but finished the war commanding a corps at Bentonville.

Boswell Ripley - bounced around between South Carolina and the Army of Northern Virginia. Commanded a division in the Army of Tennessee during the battle of Bentonville.

Robert Toombs - resigned March 4, 1863, after not getting the promotion he thought he deserved. Later served in the Georgia militia.

Howell Cobb - in November 1862, transferred in November 1862 to the District of Middle Florida. Later in the Georgia Militia.

Stephen D. Lee - November-December of 1862 transferred to Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana. In mid-1864 was a corps commander in the Army of Tennessee.

Roger Pryor - brigade was broken apart in the spring of 1863 and Pryor resigned.

William S. Featherston - transferred to Vicksburg in early 1863, and later commanded a brigade in the Army of Tennessee

Ambrose R. Wright - wounded in 1864, and transferred to Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

John G. Walker - transferred to the Trans-Mississippi department after the Maryland campaign.

Benjamin Hunger - relieved of field duty July 12, 1862, and spent most of the war as an inspector of artillery in the Trans-Mississippi department.

Theophilus Holmes - transferred to Trans-Mississippi department July 30, 1862.

Did Lee have some of these men transferred to get them out of his hair? All four most senior major generals in the army when Lee took command were soon elsewhere. While Margruder did an outstanding job fooling McClellan at Yorktown, there were numerous complaints leveled at him following the Seven Days battles, mostly for being drunk. He was very quickly assigned to the Trans-Mississippi Department, but on returning to Richmond to answer the rumors against him, he leveled charges against Lt. Col. R.H. Chilton of Robert E. Lee's staff. That surely did not help his cause.

William Whiting's feud was with Jefferson Davis They had butted heads in late 1861, declining command of a Mississippi brigade. Whiting was gone on sick leave, and when he returned, found his division under the command of John B. Hood.

Benjamin Huger feuded with Joseph E. Johnston over the Seven Pines battle. Johnston claimed that Huger was not ready to attack when ordered. Huger wanted charges preferred. Richard Taylor wrote that "Magruder is charged with incompetency and loss of head, and much blame attached to both his and Huger's slowness." (Davis, The Confederate General, vol. 3, 129)

Lee might have been trying to get rid of Theophilus Holmes prior to the Seven Days battles. There is a letter from Lee to the Secretary of War, dated June 19, 1862, stating that Lee "recommended General Huger's orders to be issued from the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office." (OR 1, vol. 11, pt. 3, 609.)

Lee, of course, was remaking the Army of Northern Virginia. He wanted younger,  more aggressive commanders to take charge of his divisions.