Garry Adelman

CWSG to Feature Garry Adelman on

Orange County’s 1863 Battle at Payne’s Farm

at Noon Luncheon on September 27

The Civil War Study Group Inc. (CWSGI) at Lake of the Woods is bringing nationally known historian Garry Adelman to speak at its annual luncheon on Friday, September 27. His topic will be “Payne’s Farm: Forgotten Battle, Pristine Battlefield.”

The event will be held at the Lake of the Woods Clubhouse and is open to the public. Reservations are required by September 13, according to Craig Rains, president of CWSGI.

The battle at Payne’s Farm is one of several skirmishes and battles fought in the six-day Mine Run Campaign in November and December 1863. Generals Robert E. Lee and George Meade clashed near Locust Grove, only a few miles west of LOW. The Federal troops finally disengaged, moving through and around LOW as they headed back to fords crossing the Rapidan River.

Adelman, who is the Civil War Trust’s director of history and education, has been involved in developing the Payne’s Farm battlefield for several years.

Local resident, Bill “the Farmer” Meadows sold the 685-acre tract to the Civil War Trust and Piedmont Environmental Council in 2003 for $1.4 million, considerably less than its appraised value at the time.

In 2011, Adelman led a team in researching the battle on the pristine farmland and developed a 1.5 mile walking trail that includes 11 interpretive panels. Local civil war enthusiasts helped clear the trails.

Payne’s Farm battlefield was the scene of the heaviest casualties of the Mine Run Campaign. That campaign is the only action in the war that took place entirely in Orange County.

Garry Adelman is a graduate of Michigan State University and Shippensburg University of Penn. He is the author, co-author or editor of more than 40 Civil War books and articles. He is vice president of the Center for Civil War Photography.

He was a chief consultant for and appeared in History’s 2011 Emmy Award-winning documentary “Gettysburg.” He has also be a Licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guide for almost 20 years.

The CWSG luncheon will be held in the LOW Clubhouse at noon, preceded by a cash bar at 11 a.m. Tickets are sold out. For more information, contact CWSG Chair Pete Rainey at 972-9291 or email pete1304@comcast.net.