That no one made a fuss over them indicates the extent to which the country was truly divided. George Meade’s sister-in-law was married to none other than General Henry Wise, who, in 1859, had led the effort to have John Brown hanged. Even closer to home was that George Meade’s younger sister had married a Confederate planter and moved with him to the Vicksburg area. In June 1863, perhaps before she was even aware that her brother had become commander of the Army of the Potomac, Elizabeth Meade wrote him a letter lamenting over what the Union men, led by General John McClernand, had done to her family home.