Civil War people: September 2007 Archives

In this second installment of a series of articles on Civil War personalities from York County, I want to shift the attention from officers such as Granville Haller to the enlisted men. Hundreds of boys and men from York County fought in the Civil War, the vast majority serving as common infantrymen. They were pre-war farmers, store clerks, mechanics, and students whose lives were "touched with fire" through their military service. Most came home to tell about their exploits around Grand Old Army (G.A.R.) halls and at other social gatherings. However, some gave their last full measure of devotion to their country. Others were wounded, maimed or invalided by the war.

Here is the story of one Paradise Township teenager, who was present at some of the war's fiercest combat. He escaped significant injury from Rebel bullets on Virginia battlefields, only to indirectly become a casualty of the Confederate invasion of York County.

G. O. Haller, courtesy of USAMHI.

Several York Countians played important roles in the Civil War, the majority supporting the Union side, but with a few serving as officers in the Confederate army. Most of these men and women have receded into obscurity in today's consciousness, but in the mid-1860s were well known and prominent. In the months to come in the Cannonball blog, I will introduce you to a few of these 19th Century personalities and provide resources for further study should you desire to dive a little deeper into these folks' lives.

One of these long ago celebrities was Granville Owen Haller, a York native who became a postbellum leading citizen in Seattle, Washington. A fashionable and intelligent man who loved the challenge of chess, Haller had a checkered military career that reached its apex during the first two years of the Civil War. The Gettysburg Campaign would be his final active service.

So, who was Granville Haller, and why was he important to York County during the Civil War?