The Henry Spangler Farm: A Most Historic Field

by Diana Loski



The Spangler family is one of the most prolific in Gettysburg.  A large majority of Adams County families most likely have a Spangler in their genealogical lineage.

The name Spangler derives from the  German word Spengler – which means “a metal worker.  The earliest ancestor known of the Spangler clan was George Spengler, living in 1150 A.D. who was the “cup bearer of  the Bishop of Wurzberg”.  The family lived in the Rhine Valley of Germany for many centuries, until religious persecution drove them into Switzerland and The Netherlands.  Until they were driven from their homeland,  they were considered “ well-to-do, thrifty and intelligent ” and  “were decendants of noble and honorable stock.”¹ 

The Spenglers were known in Europe as Palatines – or what we could know today in the Keystone State as  Pennsylvania Dutch.  During the early 18th  century, many of the Palatine faith emigrated to the American colony of  Pennsylvania to escape persecution.   Among them was Caspar Spengler, the first of the family to settle in  Pennsylvania.  With his wife, Judith, and their young family, Caspar arrived in Philadelphia in 1727.

Caspar settled “on the shores of the Delaware River” and the family lived there two years before they “plunged into the wilderness” of what is now York and Adams Counties in  Pennsylvania.  Since Adams County did not exist until the year 1800, Caspar Spengler was considered a settler in York  County.² 

John Spangler was a descendant of  Caspar.  His son, Abraham, born in 1787,  became a wealthy landowner in and around Gettysburg.  While there are many Spangler farms, the lands south of town that were prominent during the battle, are part of the large acreage owned by Abraham Spangler.   While his grave in Evergreen Cemetery names his birthplace as Frederick  County, Maryland, his death certificate, those of his sons and daughters and the 1850 census record all state that Abraham was born in Pennsylvania.³ 

Abraham was married twice.  His first wife, Mary Knopp Spangler, died young – likely from complications of childbirth.  She gave Abraham two sons, John and George,  and a daughter, Anna.  Abraham’s second wife, the former Elizabeth Lady, gave him several children.  Among them was Henry, born on December 21, 1830.⁴ 

Like his father, Henry was industrious, “a man of strict integrity” and  “a highly respected citizen”.   He married Sarah Plank, the daughter of the late George Plank, in  1855.  Because the Plank farm was the birthplace of his beloved wife, Henry purchased the farm on the Emmitsburg Road south of Gettysburg for her.  Henry purchased the farm that bears his name in 1862, just one year prior to the battle.  In order to maintain financial security, Henry and Sarah, along with Sarah’s mother, Hester, lived on  Abraham’s farm and rented out Henry’s new acquisition to a tenant, Jacob  Eckenrode.⁵ 

The Henry Spangler Farm, previously the George Plank Farm, was built in 1820 – originally a log house that over the years was enlarged and improved.  By the year 1863, the farm looked much like the way it appears today, with a sizable bank barn, a two-story home, and farmlands with orchards and fields.  The current barn, however, is a close replica of the 1863 building.⁶ 

Since he rented his farm on the Emmitsburg Road, Henry lived at his father’s farm, which included land on  Culp’s Hill.  Spangler’s Spring was considered owned by Henry Spangler during the Battle of Gettysburg.  Abraham lived in town with his wife, having retired from farming.  They lived near  the square until Abraham’s death in 1876.⁷ 

Henry and Sarah learned of the imminent battle the day before it began.   A Federal officer, likely from Buford’s Division, approached their home on Baltimore Street and warned them of the impending fight.  With three young children, Calvin, Alice, and  Harvey, Sarah insisted on leaving for the safety of their family.  Henry opted to stay at the farm, intending to protect their property – a vain hope.   Henry remained in the cellar for the duration of the battle as the soldiers clambered about his father’s home above him.  He saw one of the family quilts when he ventured upstairs, wrapped about a wounded soldier outside.⁸ 

The Henry Spangler farm fared a  little better than the Abraham Spangler property during the battle.  The Spangler farm on the Emmitsburg Road,  nestled on Seminary Ridge, formed part of the staging area for Pickett’s Charge on July 3, 1863.  While the Confederates took food, bedding, and other essentials from the property, the farm was near the edge of the line for Pickett’s Charge and held up against the final day of battle.  The farm where Henry remained,  however, near Culp’s Hill – the right flank of the Union line and part of the battle early in the morning on July 3 – fared worse.  When Sarah and the children returned, they found their home uninhabitable.  Their entire supply of food had been consumed by the soldiers.  Their clothing and linens had been used to dress wounds or the men simply took them for their own needs.  There were many wounded in the house.  A multitude of dead were buried on their farm, and grisly piles of amputated limbs surrounded the house.  There were bullet holes in the walls; blood stained the floorboards.  The livestock had been taken and fences had been torn down.   It was a typical story in the aftermath of the nation’s worst battle.⁹ 

With their current living space ruined for a significant amount of time, Henry Spangler and his young family decided to move to his farm on the Emmitsburg Road.  In farming his land over the years, Henry found countless items, weaponry, and artifacts from the final fight at  Gettysburg.  The thousands of pieces of detritus of the battle he collected as he farmed his land multiplied with each passing year.  At his death, the enormous find was donated to Gettysburg National Military Park.¹⁰ 

After the war, two more children  were born to Henry and Sarah Spangler: a daughter, Laura, was followed by a  son, Robert.¹¹ 

Henry and Sarah lived on the farm where she had grown up for the rest of their lives.  Sarah died at the farm in 1913 at the age of  81.  Henry remained at his farm, passing its ownership to his sons, and died in 1917 at the age of 86.  Both Henry and Sarah are buried in  Gettysburg’s Evergreen Cemetery.¹² 

Like their father before them, the  Spangler sons rented the farm to a tenant.   In 1931, the tenant, Willis Sterner, was working in one of the outbuildings when a strong thunderstorm approached Gettysburg.  A flash of lightning hit the barn, and the ensuing clap of thunder was heard in town.   Mr. Sterner saw the large fireball that resulted and saw that the barn was soon engulfed in flames.  He quickly rescued the livestock, but was unable to prevent the destruction of the barn and the farming equipment that was stored inside.  The barn was rebuilt in 1935.  At the time, the aging Robert Spangler was the owner. ¹³ 

After the death of Robert Spangler,  Henry’s youngest son, the heirs sold the farm that bore Henry’s name to  Gettysburg National Military Park in 1955.   The home that a considerate husband purchased out of love for his wife has survived and remains on the fields near Seminary Ridge.  It stands on this most historic field as a reminder of a young family who lived through the famous battle and a poignant vestige for those around it who did not.