Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Assn. Addresses Rumors
By Deborah Fitts
October 2002

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Hoping to lay to rest “persistent rumors” unfavorable to the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association (GBPA), board members held a press conference Aug. 13 to “replace [the rumors] with facts.”

The leadership of the 43-year-old nonprofit, Gettysburg’s oldest battle preservation group, has been the focus of attacks airedon the Internet accusing them of plotting to disinter Confederate dead on the Daniel Lady Farm, a 140-acre historic property that GBPA purchased three years ago.

Questions have also arisen as to the board’s progress — or lack of it — in paying off the $400,000 mortgage.

In a statement that he read at the press conference, held in the Gettysburg Hotel, GBPA treasurer Jeff Davis said, “As treasurer, let me assure you that we are in fine shape fiscally, perhaps more so than in many years.”

Davis cited “persistent rumors swirling around town, and others around the Internet. That is the main reason we are here tonight — to discuss and dismiss these rumors and replace them with facts.”

According to board member Kathi Schue, co-chairman of the Lady Farm Committee, nearly one-quarter of the $400,000 debt will have been eliminated by the end of the year. Until January of this year, Schue said, the board “never put a dime down on the principle.” But elections that month replaced half the 15-member board, and a new, more dynamic approach to fundraising emerged.

Schue also noted that grants for restoration of the long-neglected historic farmhouse totaled about $85,000 this year, and will be used to replace the septic system, restore windows and doors, repair and replace rotted floor joists, and clean and repoint the stone facade.

A new membership drive has raised ranks to over 300 dues-payers, Schue said, and a number of volunteers are helping run events and tackle maintenance projects at the farm.

As for the rumors, Schue said they stemmed from a couple who lived on the farm as tenants, but who were evicted by GBPA in August after Schue said promises to mow the grass and perform other chores for their rent-free situation were not honored. Schue said GBPA plans to file suit for damages against the couple.

The Internet attack said GBPA was going to dig up the buried Confederates “for purposes of money and notoriety,” and was using donations for purposes other than the stated ones. In fact, Schue said, the association has started a historic survey of the farm that, among others things, may determine if there are still remains on the property — but not to dig them up.

The farmhouse was converted into a Confederate field hospital for a day or two, or several days, in the wake of the battle. Ground-penetrating electronic equipment will be used to search for possible graves, Schue said.

As for the donations, Schue said the attacks had prompted several donors to inquire about where their money went, and “somebody actually wanted his money back.” But she asserted that every penny donated goes where the donor intended.

“If there is something to do with the Daniel Lady Farm, it is my cell phone that rings,” Schue said. “It is my reputation at stake. I have not taken even a dime for mileage. If people give me money it goes right to whatever project I’m working on. We are 100 percent volunteer and it’s going to stay that way.”

GBPA has also run afoul of local Straban Township regulations. Plans to hold living-history and fundraising events on the farm have been stymied by the township demanding that GBPA obtain a special-events permit, limited to only two events a year.

Schue said GBPA will appear before the township in late October to press its case for a zone change that would allow for more flexibility.

At its annual meeting Nov. 15, scheduled for the Dobbin House in Gettysburg, GBPA will formally present its first Bachelder Award, named for Col. John Bachelder, the early historian of the battlefield. The recipients will be the law-enforcement rangers at Gettysburg National Military Park. The award is a $1,000 piece of electronic equipment that will augment the park’s remote-detection device to locate after-dark trespassers.