One of downtown's York's most interesting places for the Civil War buff is the Penn Common (or Penn Park). It was the site of the U.S. Army Hospital which treated more than 14,000 wounded and ill soldiers during the war. Among them were hundreds of patients brought to York from the battlefield at Gettysburg.
Recently the state installed a series of historical wayside markers throughout southern Pennsylvania to commemorate the region's Civil War history. Among the Pennsylvania Civil War Trails sites is Penn Common.
Penn Common features a very impressive Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, one of the finest monuments in the area and one that would certainly stand out even at nearby Gettysburg.
Let's take a closer look at this large monument. Each of the four sides features a different bronze plaque featuring a different aspect of the Union military effort.
This plaque memorializes the artillery, a key branch that made the difference in dozens of Civil War battles. Some historians credit very effective work by Henry Hunt's cannons at Gettysburg for the victory by the Army of the Potomac, citing in particular the effect of the artillery in breaking up Pickett's Charge.
The Union Navy started the war as a very small regular Navy force, which Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles built into one of the most powerful navies on earth by the end of the Civil War.
Massed cavalry charges were a relative rarity in the Civil War, especially compared with the Napoleonic Wars and even the Mexican War. The Third Battle of Winchester (also known as Opequon) featured a successful assault by Phil Sheridan's horse soldiers.
The vast majority of Civil War fights were between infantry forces, and more than 90% of all casualties throughout the war were inflicted by the common foot soldier.
In my next post, I will post a few more photographs of Penn Common and its Civil War heritage.
I always heard "Penn Common" without the -s. Like Boston Common. As youngsters in the 50's, my friends and I would climb up on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. We'd work our way around the ledge from statue to statue. The dying sailor's head was a hand hold, and thus it was the only part of the bronze plaques that was shiny. There were four cannons surrounding the monument.
Thanks John! I have corrected the entry to Penn Common.
Has there ever been a "dig" at Penn Common to find Civil War artifacts?? Was there any pictures taken of the hospital during the war, or maybe a artist rendition?
Hi Robert!
I am not aware of any digs for Civil War artifacts, although I would think the refuse from the hospital might be present underground, and perhaps bullets taken from the wounded soldiers???
There are several photos of the hospital during the war, some of which are on my blog, as well as the bronze relief map of the layout of the wartime hospital.
The library of the York County Heritage Trust maintains a file on the old hospital with several other photos.
The great-grandfather of my grandmother was wounded at Antietam and treated at the General Hospital at York. He served in the 13th Regiment. This was their first military action after coming from training down in the Washington area. I have a framed copy of his "Certificate of Disability for Discharge" on my wall. First it has background on him, then a section where Dr. Henry Palmer finds him unfit for further duty on October 29, 1862. Then the section on the bottom discharges him from the army a month later, signed in Baltimore. He returned to Newark and is buried in the Veterans Section of Fairmount Cemetery.