Gilbert S. Meem

Who was Gilbert S. Meem?

Gilbert Simrall Meem was a brigadier general in the Virginia militia, who served along with the Confederate States Army in northwestern Virginia at various times during 1861 and early 1862 in the American Civil War. Meem's men participated in Stonewall Jackson's attacks on the towns of Romney and Bath, later Berkeley Springs, now in West Virginia in early January 1862. After the brigade went into winter quarters in Martinsburg, now West Virginia, Meem resigned his commission on February 1, 1862, apparently under pressure. He served in the government in Shenandoah County, Virginia during the war.

Meem served two years in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1852 to 1854 and four years in the Virginia Senate between 1871 and 1875. He was a noted breeder of livestock before and after the war. In 1892, he moved to Seattle, Washington, where he was appointed postmaster by President Grover Cleveland.