George Gordon Meade (1815-1872) was one of the few Union Army generals in the American Civil War who was born and began his career in a foreign country. He was born in Cadiz, Spain on December 31, 1815. He came to the United States after his family was financially ruined during the Napoleonic Wars. Meade was made commander of the Union Army of the Potomac just before the Battle of Gettysburg. After the Civil War he stayed in the army, serving in the South during the Reconstruction. Meade served as commissioner of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia until his death in 1872.