Richard Worsam Meade II (May 21, 1807 – April 16, 1870) (also called Richard Worsam Meade, Sr., in relation to his son, Rear Admiral

Richard Worsam Meade III Richard Worsam Meade III (also called Richard Worsam Meade, Jr., by many sources) (October 9, 1837 – May 4, 1897) was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Biography Born in New York City, he was the son of Captai ...

) was an officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Life and career

Meade was born in Cádiz, Spain on May 21, 1807 to American parents,

Richard Worsam Meade I Richard Worsam Meade (June 23, 1778 – June 25, 1828) was an American merchant and art collector, and the father of Civil War General George Gordon Meade. After growing up in his father George Meade's shipping business, he became su ...

and his wife Margaret Coats Butler Meade; his younger brother was Major General

George Gordon Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was a United States Army officer and civil engineer best known for decisively defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. He ...

, the victor of Gettysburg. Meade entered the Navy as a

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

in April 1826, appointed from the state of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. During the next decade he served in a number of ships, among them the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

''Brandywine'' (during the later 1820s and early 1830s) and

sloop-of-war In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

''Saint Louis'' (in the mid-1830s). He was promoted to lieutenant in December 1837 and was subsequently assigned to the

U.S. Coast Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

, the

New York Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a ...

, the steamer ''Fulton'' and storeship ''Erie''. Beginning in the mid-1840s his Navy service became intermittent, with a long period of "waiting orders" broken in 1847 by assignment to the steamer ''Scourge''. Lieutenant Meade resigned his commission in December 1851, but was again in service in 1854–1855 as commanding officer of the steamship ''Massachusetts'', part of the

Pacific Squadron The Pacific Squadron was part of the United States Navy squadron stationed in the Pacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Initially with no United States ports in the Pacific, they operated out of storeships which provided naval s ...

. He once more left the Navy in September 1855. Meade returned to active duty during the Civil War and was given the rank of commander, apparently backdated to September 1855. He commanded the

receiving ship A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipmen ...

at New York (the old ship-of-the-line ''North Carolina'') into 1864. Promoted to captain (in 1864, with the date of rank again apparently backdated, this time to July 1862), he was commanding officer of the steam frigate ''San Jacinto'' until she was wrecked in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

at the beginning of 1865. After the war, Meade became a member of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or simply the Loyal Legion is a United States patriotic order, organized April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Army. The original membership was composed of members ...

. Captain Meade appears to have had no further active employment. He was retired in December 1867 and died at

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, on April 16, 1870. He is buried in Philadelphia at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, with his wife and several relatives.* He was the father of

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meade, Richard Worsam II 1807 births 1870 deaths Union Navy officers American expatriates in Spain Meade family