Civilians: November 2008 Archives

This anti-Lincoln pamphlet, published in 1864 by J.F. Feeks of New York City, is typical of the strong anti-war, anti-Lincoln rhetoric that pervaded many places in the North, including southern Pennsylvania and my native southern Ohio.

Pennsylvania's southern tier of Franklin, Adams, and York counties was a mixture of personalities, ethnic backgrounds, and political beliefs. Some pockets (including the Hanover, Codorus Township, and North Codorus Township area in southwestern York County) had fairly high concentrations of Southern sympathizers. Other enclaves were strongly Unionist, and another large group of residents were totally ambivalent and just wanted to be left alone.

E. A. Paul was a New York Times correspondent who was "embedded" (to use a modern term) with the Army of the Potomac as it traveled northward. Specifically, he accompanied the V Corps into southwestern York County on July 1 en route to Gettysburg. His comments and opinions regarding York County's Copperheads were recorded after the war in Frank Moore's Rebellion Record, a postbellum anthology of Civil War stories. Keep in mind as you read this account, Paul is biased and bases much of his article on hearsay and second-hand information. Still, there are some sentiments in here that have some authenticity, as York County indeed had a fair amount of Copperheads.

A lone Confederate supply wagon passes down a back country road somewhere in York County, trailing a patrol of Virginia cavalry who are going from farm to farm seeking forage, supplies, food, and, perhaps most importantly, fresh horses and mules. From a Civil War diorama / 15mm wargaming layout by Scott Mingus.

Maj. Gen. Jubal Early stripped his division of its encumbrances for the march from Greenwood, Pennsylvania (just west of South Mountain on the Chambersburg Pike). He left behind all his wagons loaded with tents, supplies, personal baggage, and non-essentials, leaving each regiment with an ambulance and a cooking wagon, as well as extra ammunition. What he did bring along was a vast train of empty wagons to be filled with the plunder he took from the region. The materiel would be sent back to the Old Dominion and used for future military needs. Few wagons returned empty, as Early's men, particularly his cavalry, were very efficient in scouring the county for these supplies. Here are some of their stories...

The cover art for the upcoming new book on the June 1863 Gordon / Early expedition into York County, Pennsylvania. Artwork by Mike Stretch; painting by Bradley Schmehl used under license.

The graphics and files have been sent to the printer, and we expect proof copies in December. Once OK, we should be on press within a few weeks. A national roll-out is expected in Q1 '09. I will have autographed, first edition copies for sale before then, and we expect a York County kick-off celebration at the York Emporium.

For more info on the book, as well as photos, see the official website for Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863.

H. Judson Kilpatrick in September 1863, scarcely two months after his encounter with York industrialist A. B. Farquhar. (Library of Congress)

You could not imagine two more different men. Both were young, self-confidant, well connected, and ambitious. That's where the similarities stopped.

Arthur Briggs Farquhar was the son of a Quaker family from Maryland, Educated at the Hallowell School in Alexandria, Virginia, he counted Confederate general Fitz Lee among his personal friends. He bought a company in York, Pennsylvania, and expanded it into a profitable farm implement manufacturing form that lasted for nearly 100 years. During the Gettysburg Campaign, he openly negotiated with Confederate generals John B. Gordon and Jubal Early, repeating an unauthorized visit to Fitz Lee during the Maryland Campaign. In both cases, he was trying on his own initiative to spare his factory (and the town of York) from potential harm. He went on to meet President Lincoln and later became a powerful voice for labor laws in Washington, D.C., serving as Secretary of Labor.

Hugh Judson Kilpatrick was a New Jersey-born son of an Irish farmer. He graduated from West Point in 1861 and became a lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery. By the time of Gettysburg. he commanded a division of Union cavalry. Fond of mistresses and fine living, he was caught napping with a lady friend in a surprise attack by Rebels at Monroes Crossroads. Later a diplomat to Chile, his descendants include CNN reporter Anderson Cooper and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt.

Here is A. B. Farquhar's account of his visit during the Battle of Gettysburg...

Background post: Gettysburg wounded soldiers entrained for York army hospital

"On the day that the railroad bridge was repaired (July 7) we moved up to the depot, close by the town, and had things in perfect order; a first rate camping ground, in a large field directly by the track, with unlimited supply of delicious cool water. Here we set up two stoves, with four large boilers, always kept full of soup and coffee, watched by four or five black men, who did the cooking, under our direction, and sang (not under our direction) at the tops of their voices all day.

Then we had three large hospital tents, holding about thirty-five each, a large camp-meeting supply-tent, where barrels of goods were stored, and our own smaller tent fitted up with tables, where jelly pots and bottles of all kinds of good syrups, blackberry and black currant, stood in rows. Barrels were ranged round the tent walls; shirts, drawers, dressing-gowns, socks, and slippers (I wish we had more of the latter,) rags and bandages, each in its own place on one side; on the other, boxes of tea, coffee, soft crackers, tamarinds, cherry brandy, etc. Over the kitchen, and over this small supply-tent we women rather reigned, and filled up our wants by requisitions on the Commission's depot. By this time there had arrived a "delegation" of just the right kind from Canandaigua, N.Y., with surgeon dressers and attendants, bringing a first-rate supply of necessities and comforts for the wounded, which they handed over to the Commission.

Twice a day the trains left for Baltimore or Harrisburg, and twice a day we fed all the wounded who arrived for them."

One of the Licensed Battlefield Guides at Gettysburg National Military Park maintains an outstanding blog on the modern battlefield, as well as including historic photographs. Among his recent entries is a nice montage of photos of the Henry Winebrenner house in Hanover, PA, here in York County. This home played a role in the June 30, 1863, Battle of Hanover.

See the Hanover entry on Gettysburg Daily here. Scroll down past the photos of the Washington Monument (which are interesting in their own right).