Gettysburg July 4th Weekend 2026

[dkmom]

Reenactments at the Daniel Lady Farm this year. https://danielladyfarm.com/events
Looking forward to our first one at G'burg.
Feature battles are Barksdale's Brigade at the Peach Orchard, Defense of Seminary Ridge and Pickett's Charge.

 

[Chap]

Green with envy for those who can go enjoy that! When I was a Confederate artilleryman, our battery had the honor of "opening the ball" for Pickett's charge at the 130th (I think) anniversary reenactment. "Opening the ball" meant firing the first shot in that huge cannonade that preceded the infantry charge.

Daniel Lady Farm is by far the better of the two events that usually coincide on the anniversary of that battle. Last time we were able to go, the government-sponsored reenactment had a zillion and twelve rules against depictions of violence (huh? It was a battle for cry'n out loud!) or "undue hostility," etc. Political correctness ruined the event, but just nearby is Daniel Lady Farm - part of the actual battlefield - and private property not bound by government rules forbidding "depictions of violence" when reenacting one of the bloodiest battles of the War Between the States.

 

[captaindrew]

Green with envy for those who can go enjoy that! When I was a Confederate artilleryman, our battery had the honor of "opening the ball" for Pickett's charge at the 130th (I think) anniversary reenactment. "Opening the ball" meant firing the first shot in that huge cannonade that preceded the infantry charge.

Daniel Lady Farm is by far the better of the two events that usually coincide on the anniversary of that battle. Last time we were able to go, the government-sponsored reenactment had a zillion and twelve rules against depictions of violence (huh? It was a battle for cry'n out loud!) or "undue hostility," etc. Political correctness ruined the event, but just nearby is Daniel Lady Farm - part of the actual battlefield - and private property not bound by government rules forbidding "depictions of violence" when reenacting one of the bloodiest battles of the War Between the States.

What are you talking about? Most years there's only one reenactment. Years ago it was hosted by the Gettysburg Anniversary Committee, they folded after the 156th and the Lady Farm has been hosting it since. For the 160th there was a second event geared more for the reenactors and campaigners held on private property a week before so both events went off just fine. There's no government run reenactment. The national parks hosts living history programs throughout the year, no none of the parks allow force on force reenactments and it's been that way as long as I remember. Some of these programs such as the ones the Liberty Rifles put on are excellent, I've participated in a few of them. You don't have to burn powder to have a good event. In reality the least authentic thing we do as reenactors is battle reenactments.

 

[3rdBrigade]

The best event I ever did was being part of "The Last March of the Iron Brigade " the Liberty Rifles hosted for the NPS Gettysburg 150th. All the typical reenactment battles and camps were always the same thing with a different name, be it we were "portraying" Antietam, Champions Hill, Petersburg, etc. it was the same thing, same scenario.
I'll take a quality living history any day over the typical reenactments.

Bill