About Gen. Meade's Spurs-- Part 2: The Great Central Fair and Abraham Lincoln

General George Meade and his wife were members of the Great Central Fair.  At the end of it, he was presented with a sword which is now at the Philadelphia History Museum.  The Great Central Fair was probably the greatest purely civic act of voluntary benevolence ever attempted in Philadelphia.

On June 16, President Lincoln and his son Todd attended the fair and he donated 48 copies of the Emancipation Proclamation which sold for $10 apiece.  What would an autographed copy of this signed by Lincoln himself be worth today?  Or imagine if instead he had autographed copies of his Gettysburg Address?

I will write more about these copies of the Emancipation Proclamation later this week.

--Old SeceshFair