Meade, William

(Nov. 11, 1789-Mar. 14, 1862). Presiding Bishop of the Confederate Church during the Civil War. Born in Frederick County, Virginia, Meade entered the junior class of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) in 1806, and graduated in 1808 as valedictorian. He studied for the ordained ministry under the Rev. Walter Addison of Maryland. He was ordained deacon on Feb. 24, 1811, and priest on Jan. 29, 1814. He was influential in the election of Richard Channing Moore as Bishop of Virginia in 1814, who began the work that revived the Episcopal Church in Virginia from the disorganization that followed the American Revolution. Meade served several churches in Virginia on a temporary basis and was rector of Christ Church, Winchester. On Aug. 19, 1829, he was consecrated Assistant Bishop of Virginia. He held this position until the death of Bishop Moore on Nov. 12, 1841. Meade then became the third Bishop of Virginia and served until his death. He was one of the leaders of the Evangelical Party in the Episcopal Church before the Civil War. Meade helped to found the American Colonization Society and to establish the nation of Liberia for freed Negro slaves. He was active in christianizing Negro slaves. One of his major accomplishments was the founding of the Virginia Theological Seminary. When the Civil War broke out, he was a defender of the South and a leader in the formation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America. He presided at the second preliminary meeting of the dioceses in the Confederate States at Columbia, South Carolina, Oct. 16-21, 1861, which adopted the constitution for the Confederate Church. He served as Presiding Bishop until his death. Meade presided at the consecration of Richard Hooker Wilmer as Bishop of Alabama, the only Bishop consecrated by the Confederate Church. He died in Richmond, Virginia.