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The farm of Henry Hoff III during the Civil War; all photos by Scott Mingus taken in November 2009. Taken from Zeigler's Church Road looking west.

This typical Pennsylvania German farm is tucked in a shallow valley paralleling Zeigler's Church Road (foreground) in North Codorus Township in southern York County, Pennsylvania. Many of the old 19th century farms in this region still have the original houses, summer kitchens, and the characteristic huge bank barns which are often painted red. Other than electricity, indoor plumbing, and the cars and trucks parked in the farmyards, not much has changed since Major General J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalrymen rode through this scenic and tranquil rural region on Tuesday, June 30, 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign.

During the Civil War, the prosperous farm was owned and occupied by Henry and Rosanna Hoff and several of their children. A portion of Stuart's lead brigade, that of Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee of Virginia, passed by this house in the afternoon. When a squadron peeled off from the dust-clouded column and rode down to the Hoff property, the family knew trouble was approaching.

Here is the story of Rosanna Hoff, excerpted from an article I wrote for The Gettysburg Magazine.

York County photographer Dianne Bowders sent me a photo of one of her ancestors, Ellen Busey Roland of Emigsville. Ironically, just a couple of days before then, I had downloaded the following article from newsinhistory.com.

During the months prior to the Gettysburg Campaign in June-July 1863, south-central Pennsylvania was filled with spies, rumors of spies, secret agents, Southern sympathizers, and con men, who preyed on the fears of the populace to sell the farmers golden tickets and secret signs that allegedly would protect their farms from Confederate raiders in the event of an invasion of the North. These shysters claimed to have been authorized agents of the Knights of the Golden Circle, but it's not likely they had any connection to the real operatives.

Some of the spy stories proved true (a few men were captured and taken to prison at Fort Delaware or in Harrisburg; one was executed after being seized in Gettysburg a week before the battle). Others were dramatized (a one-armed door-to-door Bible salesman, for example, was later reported to have been guiding one of Jubal Early's columns through York County) or exaggerated (a drunken man in a York bar boasted of being a Confederate soldier from Alabama personally sent to Pennsylvania by Bobby Lee; after he sobered up he turned out to be just another local wino looking for attention).

Now, was the Dillsburg man (whose identity I am still chasing) actually the York County agent for the K.G.C., or was he another lonely soul looking for some last minute "five minutes of fame." Or, was he confessing his traitorous activities in a soul cleansing final moment?

Keep in mind that much of the purported activity and membership of the Knights of the Golden Circle is still wrapped in innuendo and myth; a definitive account of their dealings in south-central Pennsylvania is on my agenda of "to do" book ideas.

During the week before the Battle of Gettysburg, the attention of the Union Department of the Susquehanna's commander, Major General Darius N. Couch, was on protecting vital railroad bridges and other transport and communications routes in south-central Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and the Mason-Dixon Line. Among his particular areas of interest were the bridges on the Northern Central Railway in York County.

Couch dispatched the newly raised 20th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia under Colonel William B. Thomas to protect the NCR. Thomas, one of the earliest backers of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, was a political ally of President Lincoln and through patronage had received the coveted and influential post or Port Collector of Philadelphia, in charge of the Customs House and the tax revenue collection. He raised a regiment of nearly 1,000 emergency militiamen in mid-June 1863 and obtained arms and uniforms from the state at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg before entraining for York County.

Colonel Thomas made his headquarters in a hotel in downtown York and scattered his men in an 18-mile line on several farms from York Haven in northern York County down past Seitzville well to the south. Their positions can be determined from a study of York County Border Claims in Harrisburg and from the records of known troop movements.

Several companies were assigned to patrol the railroads south of York, including protecting bridges near Reynolds Mill, Hanover Junction, and Glen Rock, as well as the Howard Tunnel. Lt. Colonel William H. Sickles set up a campsite on the sprawling Jacob Bowman farm along today's state route 616 south of Hanover Junction at a place later known as Larue.

Here are some photos of the general area, as well as a description of the damage claim of farmer Bowman...

Major General Jubal Anderson Early, CSA, commanded the division of infantry and cavalry that devastated much of Manchester Township in central York County, Pennsylvania in the days immediately before the Battle of Gettysburg. (Library of Congress)

Manchester Township Civil War historian and author Scott L. Mingus, Sr. will present a free PowerPoint presentation and talk on Tuesday evening, October 27 at Otterbein United Methodist Church, 3241 N. George Street in Emigsville, Pennsylvania. For directions or information, call the church office at 717-764-0007.

The talk will include considerable new information on Manchester Township during the Gettysburg Campaign, including an examination of the scores of damage claims filed by local residents for horses and personal property stolen by the Confederate army during its occupation of central York County in late June 1863. Among the highlights of the talk will be a discussion of the exact locations of several Confederate campsites, including that of the Virginia brigade of Brig. Gen. William "Extra Billy" Smith, the governor of Virginia.

This old farm along North George Street near Emigsville was raided by troops under the command of General Early. Photo courtesy of York County photographer and historian Dianne Bowders, whose ancestors lived on the farm in the early 1900s.

Dr. Mark Snell of the George Tyler Moore Center for Civil War Studies at Shepherd University is involved with the planning of the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission's inaugural events. The kick-off event take place on Thursday, October 15. Among the many events being planned is a panel discussion titled "Madman, Martyr, or Myth: John Brown's Portrayal in Film." The panel will be showing and discussing video clips from films and miniseries, including, among others, the Santa Fe Trail and North and South. Each clip will be followed by panel comments and discussion.

Dr. Snell, a York County PA native and well respected educator and author, will be moderating a distinguished panel, which will consist of Dr. Charles Niemeyer of the USMC University; Ron Maxwell, director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals; Dr. Walter Powell, a cultural historian who also is adjunct professor of historic preservation at Shepherd University and past president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association; and Beth White, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Charleston and a member of the WV Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission.

The event takes place from 6-7:30 pm this Friday, October 16 on the second floor of the John Brown Museum in the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. It is FREE and open to the public but seating is very limited.

The WV Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission also will have an information table set up in HFNHP on Friday and Saturday.

The identity of this southern Pennsylvania "Copperhead" farmer is unknown, but during the Civil War the majority of pro-Southern sentiment in York County was in Dover, Codorus, and North Codorus townships. A few farmers in those rural regions filed damage claims for multiple horses taken by the Rebels, but it is impossible to know exactly who the reporter was describing.

Interestingly, in reading through more than a thousand border claims from Cumberland, Franklin, Adams, and York counties, commonplace merchandise such as pencils and personal goods such as key chains were allowable claims, but livestock such as cattle, chickens, and pigs were not allowed to be listed as legitimate damage caused by either army. Foodstuffs such as jelly, flour, crackers, and even barrels of mackerel were allowed, but a herd of cows did not qualify for recompense.

The Louisiana Tigers were one of the most publicized (and feared) brigades in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Author Scott L. Mingus, Sr. has assembled many of the stories of the Tigers' invasion of southern Pennsylvania (including York County) in this major new work from Louisiana State University Press.

Background posts:

Pleasureville merchant receives visit from the Louisiana Tigers
A Louisiana Tiger describes York
Loucks Mill was a major Confederate campsite

The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign: June-July 1863 is the latest book from long-time Civil War author, wargamer, and tour guide Scott Mingus. It includes a significant section dealing with the Tigers march into York County, the interactions of the soldiers with the local populace, their campsites north of the town of York, their exploits as they raided stores in downtown York, the "drunk pen", and their perceptions of York Countians. Drawn from a myriad of contemporary sources including letters, diaries, journals, newspaper accounts, and similar primary accounts, the book contains many human interest stories and anecdotes. The book is now in stock and for sale at the York Emporium, the first stocking location in York County.

The York Emporium is located at 343 West Market Street (the Lincoln Highway) in York, Pennsylvania, just a couple of blocks west of the Codorus Creek. Call the owner, Jim Lewin, at 717-846-2866 for more information.

Here are a couple of excerpts from this new book, which offers the first sweeping narrative of the Louisiana Tigers in the entirety of the Gettysburg Campaign and has been called the "definitive work" on the brigade's activities in Pennsylvania.

York County, Pennsylvania, was a valuable source of war materiel, woolen blankets, supplies, and perhaps most of all, fresh troops. As the war progressed, the need for additional manpower caused the Lincoln Administration to institute the first mass conscription in U.S. history, a controversial move that led to riots in several places, including a large scale civil disturbance in New York City in the summer of 1863. By the following year, the draft resistance had somewhat calmed down, but the Overland Campaign and the subsequent Siege of Petersburg, created the need for manpower in the Eastern Theater, while William T. Sherman's activities in Tennessee and Georgia also demanded soldiers by the tens of thousands.

"Hundred days regiments" helped fill the void, providing temporary manpower to guard bridges, railroads, and supply lines, thereby freeing veteran troops for combat duty. Additional front line troops were also being raised, including the 209th Pennsylvania.

In northwestern York County's Franklin Township, a prominent carpenter and builder stepped up to do his civic duty...

"The Rebels have come! The Rebels have come!"

As news spread throughout southwestern York County, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon, June 27, 1863, that Confederate cavalry was raiding f arms and stealing horses in the region, hundreds of residents went into their barns, stables, and fields and made preparations to take their horses and livestock to safety. Some hid their animals in out-of-the way woods, ravines, or hollows. Others took to the roads in an attempt to make it to Lancaster County or deeper into rural southern York County, correctly (as it turned out) assuming the Rebels would concentrate their raiding to those towns and farms along the railroad.

This snippet from a period Baltimore newspaper is illustrative of the chaos and migration caused by the raid of Lt. Col. Elijah V. White and the 35th Battalion,Virginia Cavalry.