Caroline Meade is one of Atlanta's most prominent senior ladies, along with Pittypat Hamilton, Mrs Elsing and Dolly Merriwether. She is the wife of Dr Meade, and mother to their two sons Darcy Meade and Philip Meade.
Personality[]
Mrs. Meade is a gossip and a domineering woman, though she always supports and obeys her husband. She is also a loving mother to their sons and their deaths break her heart. Like most Atlanta ladies of her age, Caroline is deeply prejudiced, not only against people of colour, but also to anyone she deems morally inferior, such as Scarlett O'Hara and Belle Watling.
Biography[]
At one point, Caroline married Dr Meade in Atlanta and they had two sons: Darcy and Philip (1848). When Caroline first came to Atlanta it was still called Marthasville (1842-1847), and she lived in a log cabin.
When the war started in 1861, Caroline's eldest son immediately enlisted to fight. Mrs. Meade set up a Bazaar to raise money for the war cause, and also started a hospital for wounded soldiers, both of which employed Melanie Hamilton and her sister-in-law Scarlett. Caroline secretly judged Scarlett, who barely mourned her husband and who had even danced with a man at the Bazaar. When prostitute and madam Belle Watling offered money to support the hospital, Mrs. Meade refused her twice before Melanie made her change her mind.
At The Battle of Gettysburg (1863), Caroline lost her eldest son. She had just bought new shoes for him as Darcy's letters described his freezing feet, walking with the army for days on end through the northern snow. Caroline dyed all the clothes in the house black and swore to walk to Pennsylvania to collect her son's body.
During the siege of Atlanta, Caroline's younger son Phil died too, aged just 17. Mrs. Meade and the doctor had lost their home when the Yankees fired the town and they had neither the money nor the heart to rebuild, now that Phil and Darcy were dead. Mrs. Meade said she never wanted a home again, for what was a home without children and grandchildren in it? They were very lonely and had gone to live with Mrs Elsing.
Around this time, Dr Meade joined the Ku Klux Klan, with his wife's support. He was almost caught during one attack, but saved by Rhett Butler and Belle Watling. Despite this, Caroline continued to oppose Scarlett, Rhett and Belle. She loathed them and made up rumours about them with India Wilkes, spreading lies about an affair to Melanie Hamilton. She attended Melanie's death bed with India.
Trivia[]
- Mrs. Meade's first name was never mentioned in the book. In the film it is "Caroline".
- It is highly likely that Carreen O'Hara, whose full name is Caroline Irene O'Hara, was named after Mrs. Meade. Her husband possibly delivered Carreen.