Hunterstown PA hosts annual Civil War event and battlefield tour

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Authors Steve Stanley (left) and J. David Petruzzi were among the special guests at the annual “Battle of Hunterstown Walking Tour” and associated events held at the historic Tate Farm near the Hunterstown, PA battlefield. Fought on July 2, 1863, during the Gettysburg Campaign, Hunterstown is sometimes referred to as Gettysburg’s “North Cavalry Field.” J.E.B. Stuart’s men here blocked the road to Gettysburg. George Armstrong Custer nearly lost his life at Hunterstown; his orderlyq rescued him from possible harm after the Boy General was unhorsed in the road near the Felty farm.
The Hunterstown Historical Society and the owners of the Tate Farm (Roger and Laurie Harding) graciously put on this FREE event every year, which is highlighted by a walking tour of the battlefield by Licensed Battlefield Guide Mike Vallone. Cornerstone Church provided a delicious BBQ sandwich lunch for a modest fee.
Here are a few photos from the 2011 event.

Laurie Harding (in the white blouse) greets the enthusiastic crowd of perhaps 100-150 people at a tent erected on her farm, which served as a field hospital following the July 2, 1863, Battle of Hunterstown.
A number of authors and artists were present to sell and sign their work, including Jared Frederick, Dr. Thomas M. MIngus, Don Ernsberger, Steve Alexander (who portrays George Armstrong Custer), Rick Liblong, and Scott L. Mingus, Sr.

Connie and Larry Clowers greeted the crowds and mingled in their living history portrayals of Julia and Ulysses S. Grant. They are widely known as experts on the Grants.

This impressive marker to Brig. Gen. George Armstrong Custer is on a corner of the Tate Farm. Descendants of Custer’s bugler Norville Churchill were present for its dedication in 2008.

Ohio-born George Armstrong Custer was only 23 years old when he took the field at Hunterstown in what was his second combat command as a brigadier general. Two days earlier he had led the Michigan Wolverines at the Battle of Hanover in the adjacent county (York) to Hunterstown.

This neat old stone church, the Great Conewago Presbyterian Church, was also pressed into service as a field hospital following the Battle of Hunterstown. Dozens of Revolutionary War veterans, including several officers, are buried in the graveyard.

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