Complex sentence: His father, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant serving in Spain as a naval agent for the U.S. government, was ruined financially because of his support of Spain in the Napoleonic Wars and died in 1828 when Meade was not yet a teenager.
Split into simpler sentences: His father, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, was serving in Spain as a naval agent for the U.S. government. He was ruined financially because of his support of Spain in the Napoleonic Wars and died in 1828 when Meade was not yet a teenager.