While researching Searching for George Gordon Meade, author Tom Huntington visited a severed leg, a buried arm, and a horse's head. He also hiked across Civil War battlefields, recited the names of fallen soldiers at a candlelit ceremony at Gettysburg, and drank a champagne toast in a Philadelphia cemetery on New Year's Eve.

It was all part of his quest to learn more about Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade, the man who commanded the victorious Union army at the Battle of Gettysburg, yet has been unfairly overlooked by history in the years since. Although in command of the Army of the Potomac for a mere three days before the battle, Meade managed to defeat Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during three days of vicious fighting. Meade remained in command of the army for the rest of the war, but his reputation declined."I suppose after a while it will be discovered I was not at Gettysburg at all," he griped in a letter to his wife.

Huntington tells the full story of Meade's life and career, from his part in the Mexican-American War through his participation in the great Civil War engagements, including Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Petersburg. He also provides first-person accounts of his visits to reenactments, battlefields, museums, and institutions where he explores Meade's legacy with enthusiasts, curators, park rangers, and even a Meade impersonator. The result is a compelling mash-up of history, biography, travel, and journalism that touches both past and present.