Gettysburg Foundation Buys The 80-Acre Spangler Farm 
By Deborah Fitts

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — One of “the more pristine historic properties” associated with the battle of Gettysburg has been purchased by the Gettysburg Foundation for $1.9 million.

The 80-acre George Spangler Farm, little-known to the general public, comprises a prewar home, barn and outbuildings, plus field patterns and walls, that have changed little since the battle, according to the foundation. The property lies within the boundary of Gettysburg National Military Park.

It was in the summer kitchen of the farm, which still stands in the dooryard of the stone house, that Confederate Gen. Lewis Armistead died of his wounds. He was initially buried on the farm. The nearby barn harbored many Confederate wounded, and wounded from the Union 11th Corps were housed in tents scattered among the buildings.

“The farm is literally untouched from the time of the battle,” said park historian John Heiser. “This is the last true surviving corps hospital site on the battlefield that has stood virtually untouched. It’s almost immaculate.”

The foundation, which recently opened the park’s new $103 million museum and visitor center, will retain ownership of the property, according to spokesman Dru Anne Neil.

“We’re thrilled and the park is thrilled that we preserved the land,” said Neil. She said in the coming months the foundation will undertake rehabilitation of the buildings, in cooperation with the park, with the intention of returning them as closely as possible to their 1863 appearance.

The buildings “need a lot of work,” Neil said.

Eventually the foundation plans to use the site for educational programming, according to Neil.

“What a great way to end, for instance, a Pickett’s Charge tour, by bringing people out to where Armistead died.”
The property lies between the Taneytown Road and Baltimore Pike, and is bounded by Granite Schoolhouse Lane and Blacksmith Shop Road. The farmstead is not visible from the road, and Neil said there would be no public access for a period of months, until the buildings are secured.

 Foundation President Robert Wilburn stated in a press release, “Many of the fields, buildings and boundary lines associated with the Civil War-era George Spangler Farm are still intact. Purchase of this historic site is in keeping with our ongoing mission to enhance the preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg.”

The foundation closed on the property April 30 from owners Ronald, Richard and Clarence Andrew. A lead gift for the purchase came from the Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.

 Heiser said the Spangler farm dates from the early 1800s. During the battle the Union command chose the farm as its “closest — and most important — artillery and ammunition support facility,” according to a park account.

Granite School House Lane and Blacksmith Shop Road were “among the busiest of the local roads used to supply troops, artillery and ammunition,” and Granite School House Lane connected the property to the two major logistical arteries, Baltimore Turnpike and Taneytown Road.

“Timely artillery support from the Spangler Farm was instrumental in helping the Union army hold the high ground on July 2 and in achieving victory July 3,” according to the park account. “Infantry support from the Union 5th and 12th Corps moved across the fields of the farm — and along the local roads that border it — in their hasty rescue of the beleaguered Union battle line on July 2.”

Before sundown on July 1 surgeons of the 11th Corps had established their field hospital at the farm, choosing it for its relatively protected position, abundance of well water, the sizeable buildings and open fields, and its proximity to Baltimore Pike.

Armistead was brought there after being mortally wounded at the height of Pickett’s Charge on July 3. The hospital was closed in September, according to Heiser. Nearly 2,000 Union troops were treated there, as well as a number of Confederates.

Heiser said the surgeons lived in a small wagon shed, which still stands, on the side of the barn. He added that the barn itself was “literally unaltered” since its construction — unusual among bank barns still standing today.

Neil predicted that some foundation events would be held at the farm this fall. There may also be park programming, she said. “It’s all collaborative. We don’t do anything without working with the National Park Service.”

To assist with rehabilitation, the nonprofit Tourism Cares will send several hundred tourism-industry volunteers to the farm next April for hands-on labor.

Park spokesman Katie Lawhon said the park would work with the foundation to initiate a historic study of the buildings and landscape features, possibly with the help of consultants.

The closest park-owned land to the Spangler Farm is a contiguous 3-acre parcel on Granite School House Lane from which the park removed a non-historic house. Powers Hill lies just north of the farm. The park boundary runs along most of the west, south and east sides of the Spangler Farm, which was brought within the boundary in 1990.

According to Lawhon, of 6,000 acres within the park boundary, 1,054 acres, in 81 parcels, remain unprotected. The Spangler Farm “was one of the bigger parcels not protected,” she said.