MOUNT GRETNA, Pa. –
Before there was Fort Indiantown Gap, there was Mount Gretna.
The quaint village in the hills of southern Lebanon County that today is known for its cozy cottages, nostalgic ice cream parlor and scenic lake was once home to the Pennsylvania National Guard’s primary training site.
For over 50 years, beginning in 1885, Pennsylvania National Guard Soldiers from across the state trained at a site in Mount Gretna that included rifle ranges, an artillery range, athletic fields and hundreds of buildings.
Known as the Pennsylvania State Military Reservation at Mount Gretna, the site also had several unofficial names over the years, and they sometimes changed from year to year. One of the most well-known was the 1898 iteration known as “Camp Hastings,” named after Pennsylvania’s governor at the time.
Mount Gretna was the state’s first dedicated permanent training area, and as such was an important site for the Pennsylvania National Guard, said Aaron Heft, a historian with the U.S. Army Center of Military History at Fort McNair, D.C.
“Annual encampments were held all over Pennsylvania, notably outside Philadelphia and at Gettysburg National Military Park,” said Heft, a Pennsylvania native who previously served in the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. “With the establishment of Mount Gretna, the state was able to consistently improve one area, central to many of its units, which could be used for more complex and long-lasting training.”
First Encampment
Military training at Mount Gretna began in the summer of 1885 after local iron magnate Robert H. Coleman cleared about 120 acres of land he owned for use by the Pennsylvania National Guard, then known as the National Guard of Pennsylvania, or N.G.P.
The site was chosen for several reasons, but it’s somewhat central location and access to rail lines made it desirable, Heft said.
“As we would see in the 1898 and 1916 federalizations, and multiple [Defense Support of Civil Authorities] mobilizations in the 1890s, it was a place that troops could gather quickly and had enough room for a large military footprint,” Heft said. “Willingness of landowners and the local community to rent property and support the National Guard also played a major role.”
The site was first used when the N.G.P.’s Third Brigade held its annual encampment at Mount Gretna in July 1885. The brigade’s commander, Brig. Gen. J.P.S. Gobin, described the site in the “Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania” from 1885.
“It was an elevated plateau, the ground of a dry sandy loam not readily affected by wet weather, perfectly pure air, an abundance of mountain spring water, excellent railroad facilities, and at a sufficient distance from any town to remove, to great extent, the temptations incident to camp life when located near a town,” Gobin wrote in his report.
Most of the brigade reported to what Gobin called “Camp Sigfried” by the morning of July 25, 1885, and the brigade was in camp for seven days.
“Notwithstanding the exceedingly hot weather, the men worked hard, and the improvement was very noticeable,” Gobin wrote. “The hearty cooperation I received from, and the disposition manifested by, both officers and men to increase the efficiency and standard of the command merits my highest commendation.”
The training included target practice by both infantry and artillery, Gobin reported.
“Battery C was enabled to use their six-pound guns and Gatlings, and their firing was remarkably accurate,” he wrote.
First Pennsylvania Division Encampment
Two years later, in the summer of 1887, the entire Pennsylvania Division – the predecessor of today’s 28th Infantry Division – held an encampment at Mount Gretna.
This time, the site was referred to as “Camp Winfield Scott Hancock,” after the Union general who played a key role in the victory at the Battle of Gettysburg.
According to the “Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania” for 1887: “The grounds occupied by the Division at Mt. Gretna were greatly improved by the owner, Mr. Robert H. Coleman, who, with great liberality and public spirit, expended a large amount of money in clearing portions of the territory, the erection of a large reservoir, and by a system of pipes, supplying an abundance of excellent water, all without and cost to the state.”
It was reported that discipline in the camp was excellent.
“The men were respectful, attentive and willing,” the report stated. “There was very little noise, nonsense or unsoldierly conduct, either by day or night. Thousands of visitors from all parts of the state were in daily attendance, and not a single complaint of a disrespectful or ungentlemanly word or act, on the part of any of the troops came to my knowledge.”
During its first few years as a training site, there were approximately 15 buildings on the reservation. As the reservation grew in land area, so did the infrastructure of the training grounds.
By the time the site was abandoned for Fort Indiantown Gap, there were 340 buildings, a sawmill, a complete sewer system and disposal plan with more than 10 miles of pipe, 14 miles of water pipe, and 7.5 miles of macadam roads on the reservation.
Spanish-American War Mobilization
In 1898, the entire Pennsylvania Division was mobilized and mustered into federal service at Mount Gretna for the Spanish-American War. After the United States declared war on Spain, Pennsylvania Gov. Daniel Hastings ordered the National Guard to report to Mount Gretna on April 25, 1898.
The camp was called “Camp Hastings” in the governor’s honor.
Troops began arriving on April 28, many in civilian clothes, expecting uniforms and shelter. However, tents from state arsenal had not yet arrived so the men lived in buildings in the area, including cottages in Mount Gretna, as well as an auditorium and in railroad cars.
By April 29, nearly 9,000 Soldiers were in camp.
Since the guardsmen were not required to leave Mount Gretna for federal service outside of the continental United States, they were asked to “volunteer” to serve as part of a volunteer expeditionary force. And they did: 97% of those enrolled in the NGP volunteered for federal service.
Pennsylvania was given a quota to assemble 10,800 men for war service, and between May 6 and July 22, 12,000 officers and men were mustered into federal service.
However, of those that volunteered, only a small percentage would see action in Puerto Rico and the Philippines.
Site Outgrown
By the late 1920s, the Mount Gretna training site had grown to about 2,800 acres. But, with advancements in weaponry – namely artillery – and the development of motorized armored vehicles, the training site needed more room to grow.
Nearby land was too expensive, so approval was given for the Pennsylvania National Guard to look for a new encampment location.
It didn’t have to look far: in 1931, authorization was made to acquire land in the northern end of Lebanon County that would eventually become Fort Indiantown Gap. This land was first used for training in 1932.
The 17,000-acre Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, as it was originally known, was completed in 1940 and leased to the U.S. Army that same year as a training base as the U.S. prepared to enter World War II. It was officially dedicated on March 3, 1941.
Military activity at Mount Gretna continued until 1940. During its last few years, about 300 buildings at Mount Gretna were either disassembled and then reassembled at Indiantown Gap or hauled intact and set in place.
Among the buildings that were moved was a Victorian-style range house constructed at Mount Gretna in 1890 that was moved to Indiantown Gap in 1938. The range house sat along Range Road for nearly 70 years before being moved to a site adjacent to the Pennsylvania National Guard Military Museum on Service Road and renovated in 2004.
Despite being used for over 50 years, Heft said it’s easy to understate the importance of Mount Gretna in the development of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
“The NGP era of 1867 to 1917 was an era of tremendous development for the National Guard, and Pennsylvania’s professionalism and organization set it above many other state organizations during this time,” Heft said. “One of the major factors in its success was standardized annual encampments and dedicated range space, something that many reserve component militia organizations lacked.
“Without the state’s development of Mount Gretna, and the participation of the local community there in supporting the NGP, the organization likely wouldn’t have rose to such prominence,” Heft added.
Few Visible Reminders
Not a whole lot remains today from the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 50-plus year presence at Mount Gretna. Most of the land that was used for training has been developed or reclaimed by nature.
A small monument and a field known as “Soldier’s Field” are about the only visible reminders of the village’s home to a military training site.
An organization known as the Pennsylvania Chautauqua Foundation is trying to change that. The organization purchased the 18.4-acre Soldier’s Field in 2019 to save it from development and in late 2024 began a project to revitalize it with the goal of bringing more attention to the National Guard’s history there.
The $470,000 project, which was dedicated in June 2025, includes a paved walking trail, a foot bridge over the Conewago Creek known as the 28th Iron Division Bridge and a parking area. It will eventually include signs containing historical information about the National Guard training site.
“We’re hoping … to establish summer programming through the Pennsylvania Chautauqua to highlight the encampment and what happened at Soldier’s Field,” said John Weaver, president of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua Foundation.
Weaver noted that Mount Gretna’s residential areas were laid out just a few years after the training site was established, and the two areas developed simultaneously. He said he’s not sure what Mount Gretna would look like today if the Guard never had a training site there.
“The National Guard encampment is one of the reasons why Mount Gretna is here,” Weaver said. “Robert Coleman almost simultaneously invited the National Guard and donated land to the Pennsylvania Chautauqua and to the Mount Gretna Campmeeting. So we’ve all grown up together.”
Weaver said he believes many people are unfamiliar with the National Guard’s history in Mount Gretna, but he’s hoping that changes with the Soldier’s Field project.
“I’m absolutely convinced that with every year that passes we just have to remind people the whole history of the area,” Weaver said. “Just like anywhere else in America, people are so focused on today and what’s happening today and recent history.”
Heft said he feels there should be more historical markers there today besides the one monument that’s there.
“There is always an opportunity for more interpretation and context at historic sites like Mount Gretna, and I know that the community and private residents care well for the markers left by the boys of the 1898 mobilization and later mobilizations,” Heft said. “It would be great to see additional markers there which highlight the transformative impact Mount Gretna played.
“Soldiers Field and other areas are great reminders of the sacrifices of the NGP and Pennsylvania National Guard,” Heft added.