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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Jay
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State Rep. Harry
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Readshaw help key in preserving Gettysburg battlefield ground
GETTYSBURG, Nov. 18 – State Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, today announced the success of a six-year crusade to save a 145-acre farm that played a significant role in the pivotal Gettysburg Civil War battle.
At a news conference in the shadow of a restored barn that served as a Confederate field hospital, Readshaw said funding is now in place to ensure the preservation of the Daniel Lady Farm east of Gettysburg, Pa. on Hanover Road.
Readshaw has been a crucial supporter of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association in its drive to save the farm, including the house and barn that, though scarred, survived the battle. The house served as a field hospital and blood stains can still be seen on its floors.
On the first night of the July 1863 battle, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee met with officers of his army’s left flank at the farm and the troops that assaulted Union forces on Culp’s Hill formed up on the farm just east of the house.
Research also recently revealed that until the ill-fated “Pickett’s Charge” by the Confederates, Union Gen. George Meade was preparing to attack their southern flank at the Lady Farm.
After the battle, a portion of the farm was part of the Union’s Camp Letterman field hospital, which treated thousands of dying and wounded soldiers from both sides.
Readshaw said the all-volunteer GBPA will pay off the remaining $295,000 of the mortgage on the farm through a $180,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation easement grant obtained by the Adams County Land Conservancy. Those funds will be combined with others from the conservancy, the Civil War Preservation Trust and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
Joining Readshaw at the news conference were Sidney Kuhn of the Land Conservancy of Adams County; GBPA President Kathi Schue; James Lighthizer, president of the Civil War Preservation Trust; Barry Frantz of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, representing the U.S. Department of Agriculture; and Shawn Pentrack, representing Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll, a longtime supporter of Readshaw’s Pennsylvania Gettysburg Monuments Project and the GBPA.
“The participation of the Civil War Preservation Trust came at an especially critical time,” said Readshaw. “The Preservation Trust is respected for its results in helping to save threatened Civil War sites in the North and the South, and their support of the Lady Farm added national credibility the GBPA crusade.”
Lighthizer said that although many people think Gettysburg is protected because of its status as a National Park, the work there is far from done. The Lady Farm is just one example, as CWPT has helped save nearly 350 acres in Gettysburg to date.
“The Daniel Lady farm was of tremendous importance to the battle, said Lighthizer. “Because of the grant we’re announcing today, we are able to ensure that this hallowed piece of American soil will appear just as it did in 1863, so generations of Americans can experience Gettysburg in an authentic and rewarding way.”
Lighthizer also praised Readshaw for his championing of efforts to ensure the protection of Gettysburg and its legacy.
“Representative Harry Readshaw’s name has become synonymous with preservation at Gettysburg,” added Lighthizer. “His efforts on behalf of the Daniel Lady Farm are just the latest in a long string of battlefield preservation initiatives fostered by Representative Readshaw at Gettysburg.”
Kuhn, from the Land Conservancy of Adams County, said his organization had been working to acquire the funds for an easement on the Lady Farm since the GBPA bought the property in 1999.
“The preservation of the Daniel Lady Farm has been a priority for a variety of reasons,” Kuhn said. “For its historic features, of course, but also because it provides a scenic buffer of open space between the Gettysburg National Military Park and the commercial strip development along Route 30. What better way to commemorate Remembrance Day and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address than to celebrate the protection of such an important part of Gettysburg history – the Daniel Lady Farm.”
Readshaw said it is inspiring that most of the people involved in the preservation of the Lady Farm are, in the parlance of the Civil War, ‘Yankees,’ some even descendants of Union soldiers who fought at Gettysburg.
“It is not a love of one cause or the other that drew the GBPA to the Lady Farm,” said Readshaw, “but a love of American history and the desire to preserve for generations to come tangible evidence of our nation’s story and the individuals who propelled it.”
Readshaw also said that while organizations and grants put the Lady Farm mortgage payoff over the top, it has been the individual contributors and volunteers who provide the greatest momentum, from motorcyclists in the annual Harrisburg to Gettysburg ride and school children collecting pennies in Chambersburg, to individuals from across the nation and even overseas who sent small donations to be a part of saving an irreplaceable piece of Gettysburg.
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