The son of Gabriel & Nancy Ann (Baughman) Meals, in 1860 he was a stone cutter living in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, and stood 5' 9" tall with brown hair and blue eyes. Deemed "one of the finest specimens of physical manhood we have ever seen," he allegedly could write his name on a wall with a 56 lb. weight hanging from his little finger. That is, of course, an unconfirmed statement, although it would seem that George Meals was quite a strong man.
A Civil War veteran, he enlisted with the regular army April 14, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, and assigned to Battery M, 4th U.S. Artillery. He re-enlisted for a second term and honorably discharged at term's end January 21, 1867. Lauded as "the first man to leave Gettysburg for the army," his enlistment date tends to support that contention. However, the claim that he "fired the first shot at [the battle of] Sharpsburg" is one that likely can never be proven, albeit it is a possibility. On the down side, he contracted dysentery while in the army, and it remained with him all his life.
He married Margaret A. Little August 22, 1868, in Gettysburg and fathered Georgia Irene (b. 01/26/72), Constant Christian (b. 03/18/77), Earnst Justice (b. 01/11/79), John Clayton (b. 12/17/80), Henry Arthur (b. 06/23/84), Edith Angela (b. 07/08/86) and Raymond Emanuel (b. 09/09/89). After the war, he lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County and Towanda, Bradford County, but by 1890 was a resident of Spring Garden Township, York County, where he served as chaplain for Sedgwick Post No. 37, G.A.R. In November 1894, the state declared him "a lunatic" and housed him at the state mental facility in Dauphin County where he died from heart disease.
A Civil War veteran, he enlisted with the regular army April 14, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, and assigned to Battery M, 4th U.S. Artillery. He re-enlisted for a second term and honorably discharged at term's end January 21, 1867. Lauded as "the first man to leave Gettysburg for the army," his enlistment date tends to support that contention. However, the claim that he "fired the first shot at [the battle of] Sharpsburg" is one that likely can never be proven, albeit it is a possibility. On the down side, he contracted dysentery while in the army, and it remained with him all his life.
He married Margaret A. Little August 22, 1868, in Gettysburg and fathered Georgia Irene (b. 01/26/72), Constant Christian (b. 03/18/77), Earnst Justice (b. 01/11/79), John Clayton (b. 12/17/80), Henry Arthur (b. 06/23/84), Edith Angela (b. 07/08/86) and Raymond Emanuel (b. 09/09/89). After the war, he lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County and Towanda, Bradford County, but by 1890 was a resident of Spring Garden Township, York County, where he served as chaplain for Sedgwick Post No. 37, G.A.R. In November 1894, the state declared him "a lunatic" and housed him at the state mental facility in Dauphin County where he died from heart disease.
The son of Gabriel & Nancy Ann (Baughman) Meals, in 1860 he was a stone cutter living in Gettysburg, Adams County, Pennsylvania, and stood 5' 9" tall with brown hair and blue eyes. Deemed "one of the finest specimens of physical manhood we have ever seen," he allegedly could write his name on a wall with a 56 lb. weight hanging from his little finger. That is, of course, an unconfirmed statement, although it would seem that George Meals was quite a strong man.
A Civil War veteran, he enlisted with the regular army April 14, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, and assigned to Battery M, 4th U.S. Artillery. He re-enlisted for a second term and honorably discharged at term's end January 21, 1867. Lauded as "the first man to leave Gettysburg for the army," his enlistment date tends to support that contention. However, the claim that he "fired the first shot at [the battle of] Sharpsburg" is one that likely can never be proven, albeit it is a possibility. On the down side, he contracted dysentery while in the army, and it remained with him all his life.
He married Margaret A. Little August 22, 1868, in Gettysburg and fathered Georgia Irene (b. 01/26/72), Constant Christian (b. 03/18/77), Earnst Justice (b. 01/11/79), John Clayton (b. 12/17/80), Henry Arthur (b. 06/23/84), Edith Angela (b. 07/08/86) and Raymond Emanuel (b. 09/09/89). After the war, he lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County and Towanda, Bradford County, but by 1890 was a resident of Spring Garden Township, York County, where he served as chaplain for Sedgwick Post No. 37, G.A.R. In November 1894, the state declared him "a lunatic" and housed him at the state mental facility in Dauphin County where he died from heart disease.
A Civil War veteran, he enlisted with the regular army April 14, 1861, in Baltimore, Maryland, and assigned to Battery M, 4th U.S. Artillery. He re-enlisted for a second term and honorably discharged at term's end January 21, 1867. Lauded as "the first man to leave Gettysburg for the army," his enlistment date tends to support that contention. However, the claim that he "fired the first shot at [the battle of] Sharpsburg" is one that likely can never be proven, albeit it is a possibility. On the down side, he contracted dysentery while in the army, and it remained with him all his life.
He married Margaret A. Little August 22, 1868, in Gettysburg and fathered Georgia Irene (b. 01/26/72), Constant Christian (b. 03/18/77), Earnst Justice (b. 01/11/79), John Clayton (b. 12/17/80), Henry Arthur (b. 06/23/84), Edith Angela (b. 07/08/86) and Raymond Emanuel (b. 09/09/89). After the war, he lived in Williamsport, Lycoming County and Towanda, Bradford County, but by 1890 was a resident of Spring Garden Township, York County, where he served as chaplain for Sedgwick Post No. 37, G.A.R. In November 1894, the state declared him "a lunatic" and housed him at the state mental facility in Dauphin County where he died from heart disease.
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