“‘Your Golden Opportunity Is Gone?: General Meade & The Pursuit From Gettysburg” – Jen Murray
Between July 1-3, 1863, Major General George G. Meade led the Army of the Potomac in a victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, marking the army’s first significant battlefield victory to date. Upon hearing of the repulse of the Confederate forces at Gettysburg, northern civilians and newspapers rejoiced in Meade’s great victory. But such euphoria proved short-lived, and Meade’s decline in prominence came as rapidly as his ascent to command. By July 14, a mere eleven days following the battle’s climactic assault of Pickett’s Charge, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia rested on the south side of the Potomac River. Disappointment in Meade’s inability to destroy, not merely defeat, the southern forces spread throughout the North and defined the atmosphere in Washington, D.C. During the program, we will explore Meade’s leadership during the pursuit and consider the Army of the Potomac in these pivotal days following the Battle of Gettysburg. Join us on July 13 as Dr. Jennifer Murray presents, “‘Your Golden Opportunity Is Gone?: General Meade & The Pursuit From Gettysburg.”
Dr. Jennifer M. Murray is an Assistant Professor of History at Shepherd University and the Director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War. Her most recent publication is On A Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2023, published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2014 and printed as a second edition in 2023. Murray is currently working on a full-length biography of General George Meade, tentatively titled Meade at War. She is the co-editor of the forthcoming, “They Are Dead, And Yet They Live”: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America to be published by the University of Nebraska Press in February 2026. Prior to joining the faculty at Shepherd, Murray taught at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. A native of Maryland, Murray worked as a seasonal interpretive park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park for nine summers.
Come join leading historians and scholars as they discuss intriguing topics about their latest works and research on the Maryland Campaign and the Civil War during the Antietam Institute’s Civil War Summer Lecture Series. See the complete 2026 schedule.
These indoor programs are held in McKinley Hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The church is located at 209W Main Street with a small parking area off the alley. More parking is available on Main and Hall Streets. These lectures are free and open to the public. Each week, the Antietam Institute holds a drawing in which the proceeds support the Save Historic Antietam Foundation. Be sure to check their Facebook page for updates and changes to the schedule.
