Monthly Archives: July 2025

By Katie Wolfe, Co-Vice President of the 62nd PVI LHF:

The 62nd PVI LHF continued our tradition of traveling to Gettysburg, PA to mark the anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, 162 years ago. This is always a very special weekend to our living history family, as we remember ‘the boys’ of the 62nd PVI at our Wheatfield Tribute Ceremony at the 62nd PVI Monument. This year was a little more special for a number of reasons- 1. We were also invited to set up our living history encampment at the Children of Gettysburg 1863 Museum, a great hands-on museum for children that educates them about both the battle and the civilians of Gettysburg, and 2. A very special visit from a young man named Lochlan, who was visiting Gettysburg with his family as his Make A Wish visit after recovering from a long treatment for cancer. Here are the highlights of our anniversary weekend in Gettysburg…

A highlight of Friday after we set up our encampment was when most of us gathered as a group for a Campfire Talk in Pitzer Woods on West Confederate Avenue with Ranger Matt Atkinson. Ranger Matt took the time to talk to us, in particular to Gavin in his uniform- way to go Gavin!  Anna and I actually helped to run the picture slides on his computer for his presentation on Camp Letterman Hospital so that he could stand closer to the audience and be heard. (He had no microphone and it was a large crowd.) There was actually a 62nd PA story in the presentation! Ranger Matt highlighted the story of Private Jacob Shenkel of the 62nd PA who was a musician and stayed to help at the Camp Letterman hospital after the battle. Private Shenkel was in 2 historic photographs Matt shared, one at an operation and one where he was posing/standing in a coffin box! What a remarkable story, with our 62d PVI LHF family sitting in the audience!

Saturday was a beautiful day for our Wheatfield Tribute ceremony. Our friend David Lentz fell in with us, Sergeant Rob Skeel led us in, Chaplain Jeff Ryder led us in an opening prayer, and Private Matt Hankinson spoke on behalf of the Company. Many stories of the 62nd PA’s fight in the Wheatfield were shared, but one memorable one was the story of the 62nd PA Camp Betty Black flag that members of our Armstrong County Civil War Roundtable recently saw in Harrisburg. It is wonderful that this flag is still preserved in our state capitol! The Wolfe ladies then read Joshua Chamberlain’s In Great Deeds Something Abides speech, Private Brian Wolfe played Taps, the wheat sheaf was placed by Private Gavin Zimmerman and Chaplain Ryder gave a final prayer to end another memorable Wheatfield Tribute Ceremony. 

We then had a brief break before our encampment at the Children of Gettysburg 1863 museum. It was a busy day and we greeted many guests, and many children in uniform! Everyone worked together to keep the camp running and we enjoyed a meal of ham sandwiches and an apple pie cooked by the ladies over the campfire. It was great to see Corporal Tim Bowser’s family and little grandson, who appreciated the cup of ice he got from Miss Katie! Amazingly, a descendant of a 62nd PVI soldier from Company B also visited our encampment, and so our list of descendants continues to grow!

An Antebellum Marine Band concert of patriotic music started at 6:00 pm, with Private Brian Wolfe joining to play his trumpet. At this concert, the Make A Wish young man Lochlan Brown and his family were introduced and a proclamation read in his honor by the Mayor of Gettysburg. He then conducted the band for Yankee Doodle, wearing a red band jacket given to him by the band master, our friend Ken Serfass, aka Living Historian General Grant. 

The Lochlan and family Make A Wish visit was definitely a highlight, as they visited with us during the concert. Lochlan and his family were so friendly and very appreciative of the time we took to talk to them. Our President, Slim Bowser, has been in contact with Lochlan and his family and is going to do a separate and more in-depth post very soon specifically about his visit to our encampment. Needless to say, it was a very moving and heart-warming visit for all of us, and one we won’t soon forget!

On Sunday, Chaplain Jeff Ryder led a wonderful church service and it was attended by many guests, which was great. We sang songs that the soldiers sang in 1863, such as “Soldiers of Christ Arise” and “Rock of Ages”. Our Chaplain then preached a wonderful and fitting sermon about Adam and Eve and the worst Independence Day, and our need for a Savior. We then enjoyed brunch together and talked to more visitors and children. It was great to see Rob Skeel again with James and Patrick! They even learned how to play Graces with Kara and Anna Wolfe and James was getting pretty good! We also were visited by an intern from the Seminary Ridge Museum who took our picture with General Bearford- very cute!

Many children visited our encampment, which was great to see!

We showed guests how to play the sawmill toy and the bugle!

We broke down camp late Sunday afternoon after a great weekend together!

I also want to give a shout-out to all of our younger generation in the 62nd PVI LHF- we really do have such a great group of kids and teens! On this particular weekend Cayden, Gavin, Kara, Anna, James and Patrick did such a great job helping out, setting up, cooking, cleaning, talking with visitors, playing with kids who visited and making everyone feel welcome in our camp. We are very proud of our younger generation!

That’s it from me- thank you all for a wonderful weekend. We missed everyone who could not be with us and we hope to see you at our next event! God Bless,

Katie

Many years ago, one of our long-time descendant members Joe Rupp mentioned that he was going to go to Gettysburg to work on the battlefield for a “Volunteer Work Day” program…I don’t recall if anyone else went with Joe that year, but in the years that followed the interest grew, to the point where we were recognized one year as the “group with the most volunteers” for that work day…

Over the course of our participation in the VWD efforts, which is under the direction of the Gettysburg Foundation [formerly “Friends of Gettysburg”], along with the National Park Service, we have been a part of many, many rewarding projects aimed at maintaining and preserving the Gettysburg battlefield for generations to come…this has included painting some of the historic structures [Codori Barn, McPherson Barn, Eisenhower Farm HQ building], historic fences, as well as building and repairing thousands of feet of historic fence lines, clearing brush along the fence lines, and several details inside the Soldiers National Cemetery [painting the engraved names on the Civil War markers, cleaning headstones]…

Which brings us to Saturday, June 7th, 2025, which started out with some light to steady rain for the morning hours…as it turned out, our small crew of five joined a much larger crew of volunteers for the “headstone cleaning” detail in the cemetery, and the rain didn’t bother us much, as the first step in the process of cleaning headstones is to wet them…from there, a cleaning solution [D2] is applied with pump sprayers, followed by a gentle scrubbing with nylon brushes, and then a second wetting or rinsing with the hoses…

This process results in a visible improvement, especially for the stones that were shaded and under trees, but the D2 cleaner is intended to produce a gradual cleaning of the marble stones through the repeated cycles of sunlight and rain, allowing the cleaner to penetrate the stone without causing any harmful deterioration…when you walk through the cemetery at any given time and see nearly pure white headstones, you are seeing the results of a cleaning cycle done weeks or months prior…

As with any of the duties performed involving the headstones, we never lose sight of the fact that each one represents someone who gave “the last full measure of devotion”, and to reinforce that, Wayne Motts, a man who wears too many hats to list, was kind enough to walk among the stones as we were cleaning, and stop to share a few stories about the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grandfathers or grandmothers whose names are engraved into history…

And so it continues amongst the volunteers…we had Tim Bowser, Matt Zimmerman and his son Gavin, and myself [Slim Bowser] with grandson Cayden Mechling, who along with many other fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, grandmas and grandpas, worked together to clean most [or all] of the non-Civil War headstones in the cemetery that day…

We were treated to lunch provided by the Gettysburg Foundation at the Gettysburg High School at noon, before returning to finish the job in the afternoon…the sunshine also returned, which gave us a chance to dry out, and made the white marble shine a little brighter…of course in that setting, among the thousands of graves, I couldn’t help but think of how God gives us the chance to become clean again, by submitting to the “cleaning process” provided by the blood of His Son Jesus, which makes us “white as snow” once we repent and believe!

At the end of the hard days work, we went back to get cleaned up so we could enjoy our annual “post work day cookout” at the beautiful log cabin reserved at Drummer Boy Camping Resort…it’s hard to beat setting on the cabin porch overlooking the pond, enjoying food, friends, and fellowship [and bullfrogs!] at one of our favorite Gettysburg locations…

If you want more information about Volunteer Work Day, you can go to: http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org

If you are interested in Drummer Boy Resort, go to:www.thousandtrails.com and search Drummer Boy Campground

We look forward to Volunteer Work Day 2026…hope to see you there!