Step Back in Time at Our “In the Shadows of 1864” Council-Wide Camporee

The New Birth of Freedom Council is pleased to announce that our 2025 council-wide camping event will be a Civil War-themed camporee on a family farm a quarter mile from the Gettysburg battlefield.

This theme will be familiar to some units in the Council, as Battlefield and Heritage Trails District held a joint fall camporee using this theme and location in 2022. About 900 Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA members attended the event, which was later featured in Scout Life magazine. You can check out that event’s wrap-up video at https://vimeo.com/769284466.

We encourage our units to save September 26-28, 2025, for this outstanding program opportunity.

So, what’s the premise for this event?  After the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union forces were in desperate need of replacement soldiers for those who had perished. So, in the spring of 1864, they ran a recruiting event, hence our theme, “In the Shadows of 1864.”

This fun, off-the-chart event will include hands-on activities, inter-unit competitions, and learning stations hosted by Civil War reenactors and our volunteers. 

• Scouts BSA and older Scouts will be mustered into the Union Army and formed into Companies. Each Company will go through a series of stations in which they are schooled in all that is needed to be a Union Soldier of the period. All companies will engage in stations related to Calvary, Medical station, Music, Cannon Demonstration, Encampment organization, Games of the 1860s, and Drill instructions.
• All Cub Scouts will have a separate program area in which they will have the opportunity to participate in several stations with age-appropriate activities, such as candle making, games of the period, a Civil War encampment, music, cooking, learning how to drill as soldiers, and a Calvary competition.

Each Scout needs a mock Springfield rifle to have a true-to-age experience. These are great fun to make. A spectacular fireworks show is also planned for the event.  It is highly recommended that participants wear blue jeans and a long-sleeved flannel shirt. Field uniforms will NOT be required at any part of the weekend, including religious services.

Council Commissioner Tom Steckbeck will serve as the overall chair for this event. He is assembling an outstanding volunteer team that includes many of the same leaders who brought you Wizard Safari ’23 and Rendezvous Dragons Quest ’21.

Your unit won’t want to miss out on this event, so mark the date on your unit calendar and look for news and information on the council website, newsletters, and social media.