Gettysburg - Daniel Lady's Barn
by Susan Rissi Tregoning
Title
Gettysburg - Daniel Lady's Barn
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This impressive 1842 red German bank-style barn on the historic Daniel Lady Farm was used as a Confederate Field Hospital during the Civil War Battle at Gettysburg.
On July 1, as Confederate troops advanced through Gettysburg, Union General Alpheus Williams, commanding the 1st Division of the 12th Corps, Army of the Potomac, arrived at Daniel lady Farm to secure nearby Benner’s Hill. Deciding to storm the hill, Williams and his soldiers exchanged light fire with Virginia troops on the edge of the farm before they were recalled and took up position on Culp’s Hill.
On July 2, the Daniel Lady Farm was Confederate Major General Edward Johnson’s staging area and headquarters for their attack on the right flank of the Union at Culp’s Hill. General Robert E. Lee and General Early visited the farm to coordinate the engagements. The fighting was heavy, and there were many casualties. Officers were treated in the farmhouse, while the enlisted men were treated in the barn.
After three days of battle, the Confederates and Union soldiers faced off for a day without significant action before retreating the next day, leaving their dead scattered across the 146-acre farm and the seriously wounded Confederate soldiers in the barn and farmhouse. Many days later, the bodies and injured would be moved to “Camp Letterman,” a nearby Union field hospital just north of the farm.
Through it all, Daniel Lady, his wife, Rebecca, and their seven young children (his 4th child turned seven on June 26, 1863) stayed in their circa 1820 fieldstone farmhouse watching the desecration of their home. While their house and barn survived, the furniture was broken up for cookfires, blankets, and everything else for hospital use. The doors were even removed and used as stretchers and operating tables. Bloodstains can still be seen throughout the home. In the barn, Confederate soldiers carved their initials in a doorjamb, and there is still a fragment of a Union cannonball lodged in a floor joist.
Copyright 2023 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
March 10th, 2023
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