Payne's Farm

Welcome to the website for the Stonewall Brigade sponsored Payne's Farm Event. The purpose of this website is to disseminate information to event participants and to support an improved portrayal of selected historical regiments.

This was a campaign-style event geared toward experienced "campaigners". Participants were to portray troops on campaign in late 1863. The event attempted to re-create in "real time" the movements of the 151st New York and 2nd Virginia toward their collision on Payne's Farm on November 27, 1863.

This event was preservation-oriented and fundraising was an important part of pre-event activities. Proceeds are being donated to CWPT and used to create interpretive markers and trails on the Payne's Farm battlefield.

I got the idea for the Payne's Farm event in May of 2003 after reading about the sale of the property to the CWPT. I had been involved with the CWPT and their attempt at purchasing the Mullins Farm at Chancellorsville, so I knew who to call to ask permission to use the land in Orange County. Nearly 2 ½ years later, the event happened this past weekend, much like I envisioned it back in 2003.

When the website went up in January of 2005, the event had four goals that we wanted to achieve. From the website:

The goals of Payne's Farm 2005 include:

Raise funds for CWPT to place interpretive trails and signs on the Payne's Farm battlefield.

The event income and expenses breakdown like this:

Income

Registration     $6,677.00

Raffle              $1,590.00

Donations       $3,355.00

Total            $11,622.00

Expenses

Insurance         $ 145.00

Toilets (5)        $ 325.00

Shuttle Gas      $ 195.26

Rations            $ 821.14

Water wells        $ 75.00

Total            $ 1,561.40

Donation to CWPT $10,060.60
Accurately re-create the life of soldiers on campaign in 1863 for a thirty-hour period (Friday evening to Sunday morning). Commanders will be asked to conform to a strict timeline based on the original battle.
To give the participants some new experiences in re-enacting.
To bring to light a little-known campaign of the Civil War in Virginia.

I will let others pass judgment on whether or not the other event goals were met, but I think it is clear that we accomplished the first goal. My goal was to do this event with half of the $20 registration fee going directly to CWPT. Given the number of expected participants, $3,000 seemed like a reachable goal for the event. I cannot thank you enough for your efforts in raising and donating funds to this event.

I would like to thank the following folks for their work on making this event happen.

Jim Campi, Noah Merkham, Rick Shaffer, Ruth Hudspeth, and Mary Goundrey of the CWPT.

The CWPT, Terry & David Kerr, Bill Meadows, Bret Johnson, and Larry Pedersen for allowing the event to use their land.

Jeff Kindred, SWB, who lives in Orange County near the event and provided all the water used by the participants. Jeff also arranged for the port a johns at a discounted rate.

Bob Klokis, Roman Holland, Scott Chapman, Earl Clough, Ken Mink, George Walters and Kevin Myers who worked logistics for the Confederate side of the event.

Charles Heath, Jeff Henion, Jerry Todd, Jim Doyle, Dave Myrick and Brian Luscombe who worked logistics for the Federal side of the event.

Kevin Myers, Sam Graham, Charles Heath and Jeff Henion who provided water vehicles.

Kim Stidley, Jeff Baldwin, Bob Klokis, Scott Chapman and Ken Mink for providing and/or driving the shuttle vehicles.

Bret Sumner and George Walters who ran registration on Friday.

Tom Cummings for his help in procuring the insurance for the event.

Ken Mink, Eric Mink, Earl Clough, Dan Calhoun, Dan Orpen, Bob Schaffer, Tom Galleher, John Baker, Chris Beck, Rich Taddeo, Roman Holland, Bob Klokis, Charles Heath, Jeff Kindred, Kim Stidley, Scott Chapman and Glenn Courson for cutting wood prior to and during the event. (I'm sure I missed some guys here, sorry)

The Payne's Farm overseer, Shiloh, for allowing us to cut wood on the site to save money.

Jerry Stiles, Rich Taddeo, Bill Watson and Dan Hindman who provided rations to the participants. The CS corn meal was donated by the George Washington Grist Mill in Alexandria, VA. Federal coffee was donated by Dan Hindman.

Brian Koenig and Pete Smith, who were the modern medical coordinators for the event.

Jeff Baldwin, for developing and updating the event website.

Rich Taddeo, who developed the CS uniform standards for the event.

Kevin O'Beirne and Tom Cummings, the event's battalion commanders.

I want to especially thank the following people, because if it were not for them, the event wouldn't have happened.

Kevin O'Beirne, who embraced the idea for the event and took over the Federal planning process almost immediately. Most of the Confederate information was plugged into Kevin's clear and concise format. Kevin also commanded the Federals in the field.

Jerry Stiles, who reviewed all event plans for accuracy and made suggestions that made this event better.

Charles Heath, who provided moral support and event planning expertise. He also headed up the Federal logistical staff and worked tirelessly before, during and after the event to ensure that things went smoothly and on schedule, despite not having a schedule to work from.

Eric Mink, who was on board from the beginning. Eric attended county meetings with me, walked the site many times with me, provided historical background for the website, reviewed all aspects of the event for me, provided me a couch to sleep on on Thursday night prior to the event, obtained tax records so that I could notify the neighbors of our intentions, and acted as the adjutant to the Confederate commander, keeping things on schedule and worrying for me on the field.

Mike "Dusty" Chapman