George Meade

War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state.

George Gordon Meade (31 December 1815 – 6 November 1872) was a career U.S. Army officer and engineer involved in coastal construction. During the American Civil War he served as a Union general, and is most famous for defeating Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Quotes

• War is very uncertain in its results, and often when affairs look most desperate they suddenly assume a more hopeful state.
  • Letter to his wife Margaretta (11 June 1863); published in The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade (1913)