The county is named for a captain who never saw it

Meade County carries the name of Captain James M. Meade of the 17th United States Infantry, an officer of the War of 1812.

Meade fought at Tippecanoe in 1811 and was promoted to captain afterward. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of the River Raisin, in what is now Monroe, Michigan — a defeat so severe that "Remember the Raisin" became a rallying cry for the rest of the war.

The county was named in his honour a decade after his death.