Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to episode 338 of our Civil War Podcast.

I'm Rich.

And I'm Tracy.

Hello y'all.

Welcome to the podcast.

In the 155 plus years since the Guns fell silent at Gettysburg, most accounts of the

epic contest have focused primarily on the general who lost the battle.

In a way, this isn't really surprising.

After all, with Robert E. Lee, you have a general of acknowledged talent, the architect

of startling victories, who then spectacularly fails his greatest test.

Even with the rise of the lost cause narrative in the post-war decades, the accounts shifted

to rationalizing the outcome of the campaign, but a peerless Lee remains center stage.

Even more recent historians of Gettysburg have too often given little credit to the general

who actually won the battle.

To varying degrees, they paint a picture of a union army commander who is largely passive

and whose decisions play little role in the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg.

We however happen to think such a portrayal is not only inaccurate, but is a shame.

And we think that major general George Gordon Mead, the union army commander who kicked

Bobby Lee's tail at Gettysburg, deserves some time in the spotlight.

From early on June 28, 1863, when he was thrust into command of the army of the Potomac,

George Mead had to achieve several seemingly contrary objectives.

In a note accompanying President Abraham Lincoln's order, appointing Mead to army command,

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