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Three Roads to Gettysburg: Meade, Lee, Lincoln, and the Battle That Changed the War, the Speech That Changed the Nation
An epic, revelatory account of the Battle of Gettysburg, where George Meade, Lincoln's unexpected choice to lead the Union army, defeated Robert E. Lee and changed the course of the Civil War.
By mid-1863, the Civil War, with Northern victories in the West and Southern triumphs in the East, seemed unwinnable for Abraham Lincoln. Robert E. Lee’s bold thrust into Pennsylvania, if successful, could mean Southern independence. In a desperate countermove, Lincoln ordered George Gordon Meade—a man hardly known and hardly known in his own army—to take command of the Army of the Potomac and defeat Lee’s seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia. Just three days later, the two great armies collided at a small town called Gettysburg. The epic three-day battle that followed proved to be the turning point in the war, and provided Lincoln the perfect opportunity to give the defining speech of the war—and a challenge to each generation of Americans to live by.
These men came from different parts of the country and very different Robert E. Lee, son of the aristocratic and slaveholding South; George Gordon Meade, raised in the industrious, straitlaced North; and Abraham Lincoln, from the rowdy, untamed West. Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 split the country in two and triggered the Civil War. Lee and Meade found themselves on opposite sides, while Lincoln had the Sisyphean task of reuniting the country.
With a colorful supporting cast second to none, Three Roads to Gettysburg tells the story of these consequential men, this monumental battle, and the immortal address that has come to define America.
By mid-1863, the Civil War, with Northern victories in the West and Southern triumphs in the East, seemed unwinnable for Abraham Lincoln. Robert E. Lee’s bold thrust into Pennsylvania, if successful, could mean Southern independence. In a desperate countermove, Lincoln ordered George Gordon Meade—a man hardly known and hardly known in his own army—to take command of the Army of the Potomac and defeat Lee’s seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia. Just three days later, the two great armies collided at a small town called Gettysburg. The epic three-day battle that followed proved to be the turning point in the war, and provided Lincoln the perfect opportunity to give the defining speech of the war—and a challenge to each generation of Americans to live by.
These men came from different parts of the country and very different Robert E. Lee, son of the aristocratic and slaveholding South; George Gordon Meade, raised in the industrious, straitlaced North; and Abraham Lincoln, from the rowdy, untamed West. Lincoln’s election to the presidency in 1860 split the country in two and triggered the Civil War. Lee and Meade found themselves on opposite sides, while Lincoln had the Sisyphean task of reuniting the country.
With a colorful supporting cast second to none, Three Roads to Gettysburg tells the story of these consequential men, this monumental battle, and the immortal address that has come to define America.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2025
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June 18, 2025
From this book’s description, which promises “an epic, revelatory account of the Battle of Gettysburg,” you’d be forgiven for thinking this book is primarily about the Battle of Gettysburg. Instead, the battle, which doesn’t occur until a full two-thirds of the way into the book, is more of the climax than the main event. As the book’s title suggests more accurately than its description, it’s more about the “roads to Gettysburg” that each main character took to get there than it is about the battle itself.
That being the case, the book ends up being a triple biography of the battle’s opposing generals and the Union’s commander-in-chief. And as in other triple biographies that I’ve read, one person’s story invariably ends up being far more interesting than the others’.
Abraham Lincoln’s biography is well known to most readers, but here we get his full life story anyway, from his birth and upbringing through his presidency. Robert E. Lee’s biography is somewhat lesser-known to the average reader, but he’s still a familiar figure whose story has been told endless times. Then there's Union General George Meade, who's much less familiar to most. And whether in spite of that or because of that, I found his story far more compelling.
So could this, or should this, have been a biography of Meade instead? Would that have appealed to a general readership? Was it necessary to put Lincoln and Lee on the cover and Gettysburg in the title for marketing purposes?
Already in the book’s foreword, Meade’s story is by far the most intriguing, as he is stunned to be informed in the middle of the night that he’s been named to lead the Army of the Potomac - as it turns out, mere days before the Battle of Gettysburg. After this dramatic start, though, the book backtracks and progresses at a far more leisurely pace, as each protagonist’s full life story unfolds in successive chapters.
I learned nothing new from the retelling of Lincoln’s life story. I was slightly less familiar with all the details of Lee’s upbringing. But I knew nothing about Meade’s background, so once again found myself far more interested in his story than anyone else’s. McGrath’s detailed description of Meade’s pre-Civil War career designing and constructing lighthouses turned out to be surprisingly captivating, though I still couldn’t help wondering while reading it, “but isn’t this book supposed to be about Gettysburg?”
Not until a quarter of the way into the book do the three men’s stories begin to converge, as each plays a part in the Mexican-American War (as a participant, or in Lincoln’s case, an opposition lawmaker in Congress). And after a full recounting of the circumstances leading up to the Civil War, the three biographies that had been proceeding mostly on separate tracks fully come together as the war begins.
As the narrative finally makes its way toward Gettysburg, McGrath foreshadows the event by justifying all the background he’s provided in the first two-thirds of the book: “What was about to take place in the following days was a direct result of the roles these three men had played over the past two years and the decisions they had made through the course of their lives.”
When the battle gets underway, however, the narrative doesn’t necessarily hearken back to the three men’s life stories, so much as it is a concise retelling of how the battle played out, from Generals Lee and Meade’s perspectives, with a bit about what Lincoln was doing at the time.
When the battle ends, we jump ahead to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and an epilogue wraps up everyone’s story. Lincoln’s ends pretty quickly, as a paragraph that begins with him learning of Lee’s surrender ends with his assassination. Lee’s life story wraps up with little reflection on Gettysburg or the war. And once again, Meade’s story proves to be the most compelling - and the most connected to Gettysburg. He’s the only one to remain in active military service, and he spends the rest of his life defending himself, his actions at Gettysburg, and his perceived failure to finish off Lee, from critics who focus their efforts on “smearing his reputation” and “relegating him to being a footnote.”
Meade himself seemed resigned to his own historical obscurity, lamenting that “I suppose after awhile it will be discovered that I was not at Gettysburg at all.” McGrath does a lot to redeem him, but it’s unfortunate that in getting his due here, Meade has to share triple-billing with two bigger names.
Good stories are meant to be told, and retold. So when a popular author without any prior expertise on a subject like the Civil War decides to write about it, and ends up retelling familiar tales about things like Lincoln’s childhood, the circumstances precipitating the Civil War, and Gettysburg itself, I can’t complain if I don’t learn anything new about them. This is not a necessary work of new scholarship, and isn't really meant to be. But McGrath’s writing is very good and engaging, and there are those who don’t know much about these subjects who may pick up this book and read these stories for the very first time, so there’s not necessarily anything wrong with him telling them again.
Just as in his earlier biography of James Monroe, McGrath’s appealing storytelling does so much to help Meade stand out and restore his reputation. McGrath believed Monroe was a compelling enough subject to deserve his own book. I only wish he had decided the same about Meade.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Dutton Caliber for providing an advance copy of this book for review, ahead of its November 18th release.
That being the case, the book ends up being a triple biography of the battle’s opposing generals and the Union’s commander-in-chief. And as in other triple biographies that I’ve read, one person’s story invariably ends up being far more interesting than the others’.
Abraham Lincoln’s biography is well known to most readers, but here we get his full life story anyway, from his birth and upbringing through his presidency. Robert E. Lee’s biography is somewhat lesser-known to the average reader, but he’s still a familiar figure whose story has been told endless times. Then there's Union General George Meade, who's much less familiar to most. And whether in spite of that or because of that, I found his story far more compelling.
So could this, or should this, have been a biography of Meade instead? Would that have appealed to a general readership? Was it necessary to put Lincoln and Lee on the cover and Gettysburg in the title for marketing purposes?
Already in the book’s foreword, Meade’s story is by far the most intriguing, as he is stunned to be informed in the middle of the night that he’s been named to lead the Army of the Potomac - as it turns out, mere days before the Battle of Gettysburg. After this dramatic start, though, the book backtracks and progresses at a far more leisurely pace, as each protagonist’s full life story unfolds in successive chapters.
I learned nothing new from the retelling of Lincoln’s life story. I was slightly less familiar with all the details of Lee’s upbringing. But I knew nothing about Meade’s background, so once again found myself far more interested in his story than anyone else’s. McGrath’s detailed description of Meade’s pre-Civil War career designing and constructing lighthouses turned out to be surprisingly captivating, though I still couldn’t help wondering while reading it, “but isn’t this book supposed to be about Gettysburg?”
Not until a quarter of the way into the book do the three men’s stories begin to converge, as each plays a part in the Mexican-American War (as a participant, or in Lincoln’s case, an opposition lawmaker in Congress). And after a full recounting of the circumstances leading up to the Civil War, the three biographies that had been proceeding mostly on separate tracks fully come together as the war begins.
As the narrative finally makes its way toward Gettysburg, McGrath foreshadows the event by justifying all the background he’s provided in the first two-thirds of the book: “What was about to take place in the following days was a direct result of the roles these three men had played over the past two years and the decisions they had made through the course of their lives.”
When the battle gets underway, however, the narrative doesn’t necessarily hearken back to the three men’s life stories, so much as it is a concise retelling of how the battle played out, from Generals Lee and Meade’s perspectives, with a bit about what Lincoln was doing at the time.
When the battle ends, we jump ahead to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and an epilogue wraps up everyone’s story. Lincoln’s ends pretty quickly, as a paragraph that begins with him learning of Lee’s surrender ends with his assassination. Lee’s life story wraps up with little reflection on Gettysburg or the war. And once again, Meade’s story proves to be the most compelling - and the most connected to Gettysburg. He’s the only one to remain in active military service, and he spends the rest of his life defending himself, his actions at Gettysburg, and his perceived failure to finish off Lee, from critics who focus their efforts on “smearing his reputation” and “relegating him to being a footnote.”
Meade himself seemed resigned to his own historical obscurity, lamenting that “I suppose after awhile it will be discovered that I was not at Gettysburg at all.” McGrath does a lot to redeem him, but it’s unfortunate that in getting his due here, Meade has to share triple-billing with two bigger names.
Good stories are meant to be told, and retold. So when a popular author without any prior expertise on a subject like the Civil War decides to write about it, and ends up retelling familiar tales about things like Lincoln’s childhood, the circumstances precipitating the Civil War, and Gettysburg itself, I can’t complain if I don’t learn anything new about them. This is not a necessary work of new scholarship, and isn't really meant to be. But McGrath’s writing is very good and engaging, and there are those who don’t know much about these subjects who may pick up this book and read these stories for the very first time, so there’s not necessarily anything wrong with him telling them again.
Just as in his earlier biography of James Monroe, McGrath’s appealing storytelling does so much to help Meade stand out and restore his reputation. McGrath believed Monroe was a compelling enough subject to deserve his own book. I only wish he had decided the same about Meade.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Dutton Caliber for providing an advance copy of this book for review, ahead of its November 18th release.
November 20, 2025
This book is a well written joint biography of Meade, Lee and Lincoln, followed by a solid description of the Battle of Gettysburg and its immediate aftermath. I am just not sure why we need it.
The first half is alternating chapters about the early life of each subject, followed by chapters on their early careers and then chapters on their roles in the early years of the Civil War. The second half of the book is a straightforward and clearly written description of the battle.
Lincoln and Lee do not really need another biography. McGrath doesn't really add anything significant to their story. Meade's background is less well known. His father was a bigger than life businessman who had huge ups and downs in his career. Meade was a conscientious soldier who was not particularly well known before the war. We get more than I needed on the details of his supervising the construction of new style lighthouses.
It is interesting that all three of them had difficult fathers. Lincoln's father was a stern rigid man who did not approve of Lincoln's book learning. There seems to have been no warmth between them. Lee's father was a hero of the Revolutionary War and a wild spendthrift who impoverished and embarrassed his family. Meades' father was a remote bigger than life character. McGrath doesn't draw any particular lessons from this coincidence.
The description of the battle is solid. He highlights all of the traditional subjects, including Sickles advance against orders, the fight at Little Round Top, Pickett's Charge, and Longstreet's disagreement with Lee.
There are many first-rate books on Gettysburg. Stephen Sears 2003 "Gettysburg "is probably the best one volume narrative. McGrath appears to have done plenty of research for this fully footnoted history, but I didn't take away anything new and significant about the battle or about Lee or Lincoln. I did learn some new background on General Meade.
The first half is alternating chapters about the early life of each subject, followed by chapters on their early careers and then chapters on their roles in the early years of the Civil War. The second half of the book is a straightforward and clearly written description of the battle.
Lincoln and Lee do not really need another biography. McGrath doesn't really add anything significant to their story. Meade's background is less well known. His father was a bigger than life businessman who had huge ups and downs in his career. Meade was a conscientious soldier who was not particularly well known before the war. We get more than I needed on the details of his supervising the construction of new style lighthouses.
It is interesting that all three of them had difficult fathers. Lincoln's father was a stern rigid man who did not approve of Lincoln's book learning. There seems to have been no warmth between them. Lee's father was a hero of the Revolutionary War and a wild spendthrift who impoverished and embarrassed his family. Meades' father was a remote bigger than life character. McGrath doesn't draw any particular lessons from this coincidence.
The description of the battle is solid. He highlights all of the traditional subjects, including Sickles advance against orders, the fight at Little Round Top, Pickett's Charge, and Longstreet's disagreement with Lee.
There are many first-rate books on Gettysburg. Stephen Sears 2003 "Gettysburg "is probably the best one volume narrative. McGrath appears to have done plenty of research for this fully footnoted history, but I didn't take away anything new and significant about the battle or about Lee or Lincoln. I did learn some new background on General Meade.
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