History, preservation focus of reenactments at Gettysburg
History and preservation are the center of life at the Daniel Lady Farm.
The 146-acre property on Hanover Road in Gettysburg served as Major General Edward Johnson’s staging area for the Confederate attack on Culp’s Hill and was used as a Confederate field hospital during the battle.
The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association has owned the land since 1999. This weekend, more than a thousand Civil War reenactors and four times as many spectators will converge there to mark the 158th anniversary of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
The Lady Farm reenactment fills a void created when the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee folded in 2019. The Gettysburg Anniversary Committee was known for hosting “mega” events at expansive farms outside of Gettysburg for 25 years.
The Lady Farm reenactment will be more intimate, but attendees can expect the same level of authenticity, especially since three core members of the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee team — Randy Phiel, Shaun Phiel and Kirk Davis — are at the helm.
Sutlers, reenactors and living historians began arriving at the site Wednesday, Davis said. Gates open at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Attendees can shop along sutlers’ row, learn from living historians and watch live-action battles and artillery demonstrations.
Davis and the Phiels said downsizing reenactment weekend was a way to keep the tradition alive.
“The mega events are history,” Randy Phiel said. “The future is right here. The future is smaller events and skirmishes.”
Randy Phiel explained reenactors are aging and younger people are not filling the ranks. Many people who have left the hobby have shifted their attention to other aspects of Civil War history, such as preserving the Daniel Lady Farm.
Davis serves as president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association. In the past two years, the group’s membership has grown from 28 to 1,300.
“I got them to a point where I convinced them it was a great place to play and a great place to preserve,” Davis said.
Volunteers were busy Wednesday preparing the grounds for this weekend’s events by filling water containers, trimming brush and marking spots for living history exhibits.
“Involvement in this farm is contagious,” Randy Phiel said.
Reenactments and other large-scale events have long been barred from Gettysburg National Military Park land. Visitors to the Daniel Lady Farm can reenact history on land adjacent to the park, near Benner’s Hill.
“This here is here in perpetuity,” Phiel said as he overlooked the Wheatfield.
“Perpetuity” is the preservation association’s focus, Davis said. Proceeds from this weekend’s events will go toward its “Paint the Barn Red” Campaign.
The 179-year-old barn is in need of fresh paint, new windows, foundation work, downspouts and new flooring. Reenactment attendees will have the opportunity to tour the barn and farmhouses.
Civil War is the focus at the Daniel Lady Farm this weekend, but Davis said the land will be used at different times throughout the year to highlight other aspects of American history, such as the Revolutionary War and World War II. Other groups, such as a Catholic youth conference scheduled for August and Scout Immersion Camporee in September, rent the land, giving the preservation association much-needed funds.
The Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association also plans to use a building on its property to open a visitor center that includes a gift shop and museum space dedicated to Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower and Maj. Jonathan Letterman, a surgeon credited for changing the course of Civil War medicine.
Davis hopes the project is completed in 2023, in time for the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
For more information on this weekend’s reenactment or the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association, visit www.gbpa.org.