George Meade - Old Baldy

[TO THE TUNE OF “MISTER ED”]

A horse is a horse, of course, of course – and no one would mess with a horse’s corpse
Unless, of course, that horse’s corpse has a famous horse’s head.

The son of a prominent Philadelphia family, George Meade was one of America’s greatest war heroes. He fought gallantly in the Mexican-American War and later, as a General in the Civil War, defeated Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army at the battle of Gettysburg. What Philadelphians may not know is that Meade also designed many of the grand lighthouses that still stand today at the Jersey Shore.

Accompanying Meade in his Civil War exploits was his loyal horse Baldy. Baldy (named for the white patch in his forehead) was shot and wounded in many a battle – 14 times in all – but bravely returned to fight again and again. Writing to his wife from Army headquarters, General Meade said of Baldy, “I am very much attached to the old brute.” After the war, Meade became the first Commissioner of Fairmount Park and often rode Baldy proudly through the park. Meade died in 1872, but Baldy – who at some point was renamed Old Baldy – lived on for another 10 years.

When Old Baldy finally died at the ripe old horse age of 30, it would have been nice if he could have been allowed to rest in peace on the farm outside of Philadelphia where he was buried. But two of General Meade’s admirers had other ideas. On Christmas Day 1882, they excavated the poor beast, threw his head in a sack, dragged it to Philadelphia, had it stuffed and mounted onto an inscribed shield, and presented it as a gift to General George G. Meade Post # 1, Grand Army of the Republic.

Wrong. Nearly 100 years later, Old Baldy’s mounted head – looking pretty seedy by then – was in North Philly at the cash-strapped Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library among a stack of old storage boxes containing Civil War artifacts. The Civil War & Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia graciously offered to refurbish Old Baldy and display him at its own exhibition hall located just off of Rittenhouse Square, and the GAR museum graciously agreed.

Wrong. In 2003, the GAR museum – having regained its financial health – asked the Civil War museum to return Old Baldy to North Philly. The Civil War museum refused, claiming that it, not the GAR museum, now owned Old Baldy under the common law principles of adverse possession and laches. Once again, Old Baldy found himself in the middle of an ugly battle, only this time it was a legal custody battle in Philadelphia Orphans Court.

Finally, in 2005, the parties settled the lawsuit. Under the terms of the settlement, Old Baldy will remain at the Civil War museum, ON LOAN FROM THE GAR MUSEUM, until 2015. Where will the city’s most famous horse’s head end up after that? The Civil War museum? The GAR museum? Someone’s bed? The glue factory?