Last year, I wrote about Richard Kidder Meade, who was a Union officer at Fort Sumter, but later resigned and became a Confederate officer. You can find those entries on my Saw the Elephant blog.
I had wondered if he might have been related to Union General George G. Meade, hero of Gettysburg. He wasn't, but I did come across one of the general's brothers in the Navy and a nephew, also in the Navy who were in the Civil War.
Richard Worsam Meade II, was born in Spain and was the brother of General Meade. He entered the Navy as a midshipman in 1826 and was made lieutenat in 1837. After that, he saw intermitant service util resigning in 1855.
With the onset of the Civil War, he returned to duty with the rank of commander and commanding the SS North Carolina, a former ship-of-the-line, now a receiving ship in New York Harbor.
He eventually became commander of the famous USS San Jacinto (of the Trent Affair) until that ship ran aground in the Bahamas January 1, 1865.
He retired in 1867 and died in Brooklyn, NY, on April 16, 1870.
He was the father of Richard Worsam Meade III who I will write about in my next blog.
It's a Meade Thing. --Old B-R'er
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