Commissioned in August 1861 as a brigadier general, his command joined the Army of the Potomac in 1862. Meade commanded his brigade through the Peninsula Campaign. He was wounded at Glendale, but returned before the Battle of First Manassas. He received a promotion to division commander, leading a division through the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. After the Battle of Fredericksburg, he is transferred to the 5th corps. He served at the Battle of Chancellorsville as a corps commander before the failure of Joseph Hooker as commander of Army of Potomac led to his replacement by Meade. Meade led the Army of Potomac through the Battle of Gettysburg and then, in the fall of 1863, in the Bristoe and, the Mine Run Campaigns. In March 1864, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant arrived to travel with the army throughout the Overland Campaign of 1864. With Grant's aid, Meade laid siege to the town of Petersburg, Virginia. He served through the Appomattox Campaign, but he felt slighted by the credit granted to Grant. He mustered out of the volunteer service, however, he continued in the regular army.
