I just got home from George Gordon Meade’s home town, where I was honored and flattered to receive the Order of Merit from the General Meade Society of Philadelphia. Anyone who has read my book, Searching for George Gordon Meade: The Forgotten Victor of Gettysburg, should know about the General Meade Society because the book included some accounts of its activities. Among them were the “grand unveiling” of the head of Old Baldy, Meade’s horse, at the Grand Army of the Republic Library and Museum, as well as the annual birthday celebrations in Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill Cemetery. Well, every year the Society awards the Order of Merit to an individual who they feel deserves to be honored for furthering the society’s mission of commemorating the memory of General Meade. I’m very pleased to say the board members picked me this year. At the annual champagne brunch and awards ceremony I received a beautiful medal (pictured). Many thanks to Andy Waskie, president and founder of the Meade Society, and to all the board members who made this possible. It was a wonderful day and, like all the Meade events I’ve attended, a lot of fun. And I guess I should extend my thanks to General Meade, too, without whom none of this–including the book–would have been possible!