George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Major-General United States Army
George Gordon Meade, Ed.

[12] in after life, he referred to this cause, and the dislike for the military duties, as having produced a certain amount of inattention, that told unfavorably upon his general standing before he was graduated from the institution. At the end of the third year he stood number seventeen in his class of sixty. At the end of the fourth and last year he stood number nineteen in his class, then reduced to fifty-six. He was graduated on the 1st of July, 1835, and assigned as brevet second lieutenant to the Third Regiment of Artillery.

Among those of his class who in after years became prominent in military and civil life were George W. Morrell, Henry L. Kendrick, Montgomery Blair, Archibald Campbell, Herman Haupt, Henry M. Naglee, Joseph H. Eaton, Marsena R. Patrick, Thomas B. Arden, and Benjamin S. Roberts.

It is customary to allow the class graduating from West Point a leave of absence for three months before the members are obliged to report for duty to the various posts assigned them. Lieutenant Meade, availing himself of this leave, sought and obtained, after a few days spent in Washington with his mother, employment as an assistant on the survey of the Long Island Railroad, and continued on the work until the end of September. His object in thus passing the time of his leave of absence was, first, to reimburse his mother for the expense of his outfit as an officer of the army, and, secondly, to make such acquaintances and connections as would open to him a future in civil life and enable him to resign from the army. The construction of railroads was at that period assuming importance, and seemed to offer great opportunities to a young man beginning life as a civil engineer. He had, in truth, gone to West Point somewhat against his will, and, as has been mentioned, he had desired to leave the institution and take his chances in some walk of civil life. Moreover, he felt that the routine incident to service in the line of the army was unsuited to him, and it was also feared, and he was duly warned, that his constitution was not sufficiently strong to withstand a tour of duty in the enervating climate of southern Florida, where his regiment was then stationed. As, however, the time approached for him to make his decision, the responsibility of giving up a permanent position weighed so heavily upon him that he resolved on trying an active campaign with his company, then at Tampa Bay.

Fortunately for him, it occurred about this time that his brotherin-law, Commodore Alexander James Dallas, was placed in command