Early in the Civil War, regiments were all-volunteer, including the 7th New York, shown here in this old woodcut marching off to the South in front of cheering citizens.

As the Civil War progressed and the need for manpower increased, the U. S. government resorted to conscription in 1863 to raise additional troops with the passage of the Enrollment Act on March 3. It was not a new practice in military circles, with many European countries having widely used forcible means to ensure compliance with orders to join the army or navy. However, the draft was new to America, and many citizens resented the concept. It had been tried earlier in the war to fill the ranks of drafted militia regiments, including here in York County, Pennsylvania.

The controversial 1863 act required the enrollment of every male citizen and those immigrants who had filed for citizenship between ages twenty and forty-five. The War Department did provide a way out. If a man was drafted and ordered to report to the service, he could legally avoid the order by providing a willing substitute who would serve in his place.

The catch?

The draftee had to pay a bounty to the "volunteer" replacement, a fee that ranged in York County from $200 to $1000 for the 1862 drafted militiamen according to an article written some time ago by Dr. Mark Snell. If you were relatively wealthy, you could afford to hire a sub and stay home. If you were poor, welcome to the Union Army. Even President Abraham Lincoln hired a substitute, John Summerfield Staples from rural Monroe County, Pennsylvania, as a gesture of support for the measure. Staples received a bounty of $500 and served in various rear lines posts until the end of the war.

I was in several places in Maine this week on business. By chance, I happened by the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain memorial in his hometown of Brewer, Maine (Chamberlain was in southwestern York County, PA on July 1, 1863 en route to Gettysburg and his actions on Little Round Top). In a fog and drizzle early in the morning, I snapped some quick photos using a disposable camera I bought at an adjacent gas station, so I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. However, they should give the Cannonball reader a sense of the impressive and innovative memorial, which evokes images of Little Round Top).

Background post: The Union V Corps visits southwestern York County (account of the 118th Pennsylvania near Hanover)

I am up in upstate Maine on business this week (after a very active Civil War weekend in York County, PA). The weather is lousy (chilly, drizzle, fog), but the people are friendly and the scenery beautiful, particularly along the coast. Maine during the Civil War provided significant numbers of sailors to the Union Navy, as well as several regiments of infantry, a little cavalry, and some artillery. Perhaps the most famous (at least today to the modern casual Civil War buff) is the 20th Maine Infantry, which gained recognition from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Killer Angels and the later Ted Turner financed movie, Gettysburg. Commanding colonel Joshua "Don't Call Me Lawrence" Chamberlain's image to most people is the face of actor Jeff Daniels, who also portrayed the colonel in the prequel Gods and Generals.

But, what is the connection between the venerable Chamberlain, his regiment of woodsmen, fishermen, and townspeople from Maine, and York County, PA?

On July 1, 1863, the Union V Corps under Maj. Gen. George Sykes marched through extreme southwestern township, coming up from Maryland on the Hanover-Westminster Road (the same road used on June 30 by J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry to approach Hanover from Westminster). Much of the general area just a couple of days before had seen maneuvering of troops during what became the Battle of Hanover.

The V Corps camped on several farms near Hanover, but they did not stay very long (perhaps three hours, according to Hanover expert and Licensed Battlefield Guide John Krepps). By 7 PM, they were on the march for Gettysburg, having been ordered to move in that direction as the battle raged. Shortly after Sykes' men, including Chamberlain and the Maine boys, tramped through York County, the regiment entered Adams County, where their unknown destiny would take them to Little Round Top, where many would die or be wounded, and the rest achieve everlasting fame as one of the chief stops on the modern tourist route.

As soon as my photos I took today in Brewer, Maine, are developed of the mock "Little Round Top" hilltop memorial to Chamberlain and the 20th, I will post them here on Cannonball.

Following the cessation of the fighting at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in early July 1863, a huge issue emerged - how to deal with the thousands of wounded men left behind by the two armies as they left for Maryland and Virginia? Most houses, barns, churches, and public buildings in and around Gettysburg for several miles had become temporary field hospitals, but more permanent solutions were needed for those men able to be moved to formal hospitals in Baltimore, Washington, York, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and New York City. When the railroads damaged by the Rebels were repaired in the week after the battle, trainloads of wounded were taken from Gettysburg to Hanover Junction, PA, where they would be transferred to the north-south running Northern Central Railway for shipment to the designated hospital.

Representatives of the United States Sanitary Commission arrived in Hanover Junction and began tending to the comforts of the wounded men, as well as the throngs of relief workers headed into and out of Gettysburg.

Here are a couple of contemporary accounts from old books that shed some light on the workings of the USSC at Hanover Junction.

Dawn Roser of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society unveils the newest Pennsylvania state historical marker, this one in the historic center square of Jefferson in southern York County. The CVAHS and the borough of Jefferson's combined efforts led to the installation of this marker, which commemorates the three separate times within a week in the early summer of 1863 that the town and the surrounding region were victimized by passing combatants during the Civil War.

The color guard of the 16th Pennsylvania Infantry reenactment group was among the participants in the hour-long ceremony, which occurred on the 146th anniversary of the first Confederate raid on Jefferson. On June 27, 1863, 250 troopers from Maryland and Virginia that comprised the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry rode into the square. Commanded by Lt. Col. Elijah V. White (whose descendant attended the ceremony and spent some time talking with me about her ancestors in that battalion), the Confederates raided the region for horses. One trooper spotted a little girl along the square and handed her a brooch he had stolen from a Hanover jeweler that the Rebels had chased into the countryside before robbing him.

Col. Matthew S. Quay was one of the Civil War heroes from northern York County. Born and raised in Dillsburg, he took command of the 134th Pennsylvania when it was first organized in August 1862 at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg. The regiment was taken by train through York and Hanover Junction down to Baltimore, where it changed trains for the ride to the nation's capitol. In Washington's defenses, Quay and the 134th were attached to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac.

They marched into Maryland from September 1-18, but did not see action at the Battle of Antietam. Along with the rest of George McClellan's army, they remained inactive at Sharpsburg until October 30. After a quick reconnaissance mission to Smithfield in what is now West Virginia, they marched to Falmouth, Virginia, where Quay's career reached a sudden unexpected crossroads...

Author Dennis W. Brandt, an expert on the 87th Pennsylvania Infantry, was one of the speakers at the June 25, 2009, Civil War Symposium at York College of Pennsylvania as part of the annual Patriot Days celebration.

According to Dennis, the 87th Pennsylvania was the only 3-year regiment raised primarily in York County during the American Civil War (some of its men came from Franklin and Adams Counties as well as York). Recruited and organized in early 1861, the 87th's main task early in the war was to guard railroads, including a stint in western Virginia (now West Virginia). In late 1862, they found themselves serving in the scenic Shenandoah Valley and by the end of the year, the 87th was part of the garrison at Winchester, Virginia.

Little did they know as they celebrated Christmas in the midst of one of the most rabid pro-Confederate towns in the Valley that, for many of the boys, the following summer WInchester would be the gateway to life as a prisoner of war. For some, December 25, 1962, would be their final Christmas on Earth.

This old farm at the intersection of Baker Road and East Berlin Road in West Manchester Township was among the hundreds of similar farms visited by patrols from Confederate Major General J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry division during its sojourn through York County, Pennsylvania, on June 30 - July 1, 1863. More than 450 different residents of the county later reported losing horses to Stuart's column.

Among Stuart's diverse regiments was the 2nd North Carolina Cavalry, which had lost its commander as a prisoner or war during the Battle of Hanover. The regiment had been severely depleted in manpower during the earlier battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville in the Loudoun Valley prior to Stuart's Ride around the Union Army, and the fighting at Hanover had not helped the matter, nor had the grueling retreat northward toward Dover. Horses played out, soldiers rode together on the remaining horses, and patrols scoured the countryside for fresh horses and mules.

Included in the saddle weary ranks was James A. Buxton, an 18-year-old soldier who had only joined Company H of the 2nd North Carolina in February of that year. Already he had seen considerable combat action and was now a seasoned veteran. He had been slightly wounded at the June 9 Battle of Brandy Station and had been reassigned to General Stuart's headquarters as a special courier while he recuperated. He was still serving in that capacity as the division rode through Maryland and southern Pennsylvania during the early stages of the Gettysburg Campaign. He would remain as one of Stuart's couriers throughout the Battle of Gettysburg and the rest of the summer campaign, returning to his regiment in September prior to the Bristoe Campaign.

Years later in the pages of the Confederate Veteran magazine, Jim Buxton, by then a senior citizen living in Newport News, Virginia, recalled his brief visit to York County...

There are more than 1,000 books that have been written on the Battle of Gettysburg, the majority (including my three) in the past 20-30 years. Yet, there remains a strong market for new material on the battle and campaign, or for fresh, creative approaches to present and interpret well known, time honored material. Pennsylvania Civil War authors J. David Petruzzi and Steven Stanley have succeeded on both counts with their excellent new book, The Complete Gettysburg Guide.

Blending some of the best maps and color graphics ever seen in a Gettysburg battlefield guidebook with crisp, concise and enjoyable text, Stanley and Petruzzi have generated what will surely come to be regarded as the ultimate Gettysburg overview and guide. Already scores of battlefield trampers have used this book to help them interpret what happened on the hallowed grounds of the Gettysburg National Military Park, as well as some obscure sites outside the park limits that the authors include in their well crafted series of automobile tours of the area.

The Stouffer name (in various spellings) is well established and well known within York County, Pennsylvania, particularly with the Stauffer cookie and cracker company, as well as a popular local grocery store. The rosters of Civil War soldiers by that name from Pennsylvania is long and varied, with Stouffers, Stoufers, and Stauffers abounding in various regiments, including York County's very own 87th Pennsylvania.

That regiment was the subject of an excellent book penned by Dennis Brandt, who will join Jim McClure, Terry Latschar, and me in presenting a special FREE symposium on the Civil War in York County at York College this Thursday from 6:30 until 9:00 PM as part of the annual Patriot Days celebration. (The symposium will be held in DeMeester Hall, which is the auditorium inside the MAC building, or Wolf Hall. It is on the left as you enter from Country Club Road. There is a parking lot right next to the building.)

Albert D. Stouffer was born in Carlisle into a farming family originally from York County. His parents eventually moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, where his father died and his mother remarried. According to enlistment records, Stouffer was 5' 9" tall, blue-eyed, light haired and dark complected.

He was seventeen years old when he was pressed into the Confederate military service at the start of the war in April 1861. Stouffer soon made his escape, swam the Potomac River, and was wounded by the Rebels as he fled. He made it back to his native Keystone State, found work as a laborer in York, and celebrated his 18th birthday north of the Mason-Dixon Line. In late September of that same year, he joined the Union Army as a private in Company E of the 87th Pennsylvania. He served throughout the war in the 87th, mustering out with his regiment on June 29, 1865.

He was one of the very few men in York County to be able to claim that he served in both the Confederate Army and the Union Army during the Civil War!