Civilians: May 2009 Archives

Columbia Spy, February 2, 1867

Jacob Deisinger, like so many of his fellow farmers in York County, Pennsylvania, during the Civil War had either ignored the repeated warnings in mid-June 1863 that the Confederates were coming, or did not receive them for some reason. Deisinger, born in 1818 in the county, owned a sprawling farm off Baker Road in West Manchester Township. He married, raised a large family, and was active in his church and community. As far as can be known, he lived a productive, industrious life.

On the evening of June 30, his peaceful, secure lifestyle was temporarily interrupted by a passing patrol of Southern saddle soldiers.

This very impressive homestead was in 1863 the Andrew J. Menges farm near Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, in Jackson Township, York County. It's located on Roth's Church Road near the modern school complex. It's just north of the June 27, 1863, campsite of the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (where the Spring Forge shopping center is now).

The A. J. Menges story is a good example of how the Civil War researcher must separate fact from fiction, or exaggeration.

The old Peter Bott, Sr. farm at 141 N. Emig Mill Road in West Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania. Bott filed a border claim after the war complaining that a large body of Confederate cavalry briefly camped on his land late on June 30, 1863.

Peter Bott was a member of a prominent family of farmers in the lower part of West Manchester Township. A small village, Bottstown, grew up around the turnpike gate on what is today U.S. Route 30 west of the city of York. Period maps are dotted with the Bott name or derivatives. Peter Bott's sprawling farm contained a hilltop cemetery that was filled with family members and nearby neighbors and distant relatives.

His farm was along the known path of J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry on the night of June 30, and was the first farm north of the turnpike (Route 30). It was (and is) prominent from the pike, and would have been a landmark in the moonlight.

Another picturesque York County farm that was visited by the Confederates during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign. This particular farm is on Taxville Road near Baker Road in West Manchester Township. The Knights of the Golden Circle operated in this region, but were most active in Codorus and North Codorus townships to the south and in Dover township to the north.

Background posts:
* The Knights of the Golden Circle
* 1863 Washington newspaper recounts outrages Rebels inflicted on York Countians

I have been fascinated by the June 1863 shenanigans of several New York con artists here in York County, Pennsylvania. These men traveled to York, set up headquarters there (presumably in a local hotel), and then canvassed the county to sell worthless certificates / tickets from the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret pro-Confederate organization with alleged ties to the Copperhead or peace movement. The buyer would pay a buck for the golden paper, and would in turn be instructed in secret hand signals similar in concept to the Masons or other secret societies of the day. Of more interest to the farmers and residents, the tickets came with the promise that the Confederates would leave their property and horses alone should war come to southern Pennsylvania. The same con game was played on residents of Franklin and Adams County, and both Jubal Early and J.E.B. Stuart commented on the unusual hand gestures in their post-Gettysburg reports.

In March and April of 1863, reports circulated in Berks County that the Rebels would be invading Pennsylvania at harvest time (mid-summer) and that the payment of $1 would protect the livestock and crops (the same con as was perpetrated in southern PA). I have also read of similar accounts elsewhere.

Here is a Harrisburg reporter's view on the situation (forgive the butchered Pennsylvania Dutch: I do not speak the language and it was hard to make out the words of the microfilmed old newspaper).

Confederate cavalrymen stole three horses from this old barn in West Manchester Township on July 1, 1863.

Background post: The Knights of the Golden Circle

A Washington, D.C. newspaper reporter visited York County and interviewed various farmers to here their tales of the Confederate occupation. His article first appeared the week after the Battle of Gettysburg, and is one of the earliest accounts of the human interest stories that comprised the Gettysburg Campaign in York County. The interesting article was reprinted by the Philadelphia Press and I have reprinted it, perhaps for the first time in 146 years, here on the Daily Record's Cannonball blog. It is emblematic of the interactions between the invading Confederates and the local residents.

Such stories were often repeated (and even worse) in the South. Both armies, blue and gray, had their share of vandals, thieves, and murderers.

This hand-carved Civil War soldier and his faithful dog stands guard at a house on Taxville Road in West Manchester Township in central York County, Pennsylvania. The pair of statues were carved in oak, and replaced an earlier set of statues that had been carved from an old tree that once stood in the yard.

The old farmhouse in 1863 was the Dr. Jacob Eisenhart house. He was related to Dr. Adam Eisenhart, whose Manchester Township farmhouse, raided by Rebel cavalrymen from Virginia, now serves as the offices of the church Debi and I attend, the Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene.

U.S. government photograph of the Billmeyer house at 225 E. Market Street in downtown York, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

As the infantry brigade of Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon marched through York, the main column followed Market Street (side columns marched on Philadelphia and King streets in parallel). East Market Street was lined with fashionable brick homes, including some of the wealthier and better known families such as various elements of the Small clan, the Latimers, and others.

Perhaps the single most impressive of these sturdy and attractive dwellings was the Billmeyer mansion, owned by a prosperous businessman who, among his other interests, co-owned a factory that manufactured railroad cars. The home was built in 1863, the same year that the Civil War took a more personal turn for York Countians when the area was invaded by the Rebels.

Rural York County pastoral scene. Exact location unknown. Marion Post Wolcott photograph from the 1930s; courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Often on weekends and during lunch hour, I enjoy traveling the byways and back roads of my adopted home of York County, Pennsylvania. Usually armed with period maps (either the 1860 Shearer & Lake map or the 1876 Atlas of York County) and modern Google maps, I hunt for farms known to have been visited by the Confederate army in the summer of 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign. Dozens of photographs of these house and barns have been previously posted on this Cannonball blog, and I have a healthy backlog of photos awaiting future publication.

In most cases, particularly in extreme southern and northern York County, the vintage farmhouses and barns are still extant, albeit in some cases heavily modified or modernized, and, in a few instances, modern barns have replaced the antebellum structures.

However, around York city, the old barns and houses in many cases are long gone, having been swallowed up by modern construction and urban sprawl. This is particularly true in Spring Garden, Springettsbury, and York townships.

At times, I have been lucky enough to find old photographs of these long ago farmhouses once visited by the Confederates. Here's one example...

Part of a panorama of York from an 1852 lithographic art print, looking south from the northern hills at George Street and the bridge over Codorus Creek.This peaceful scene of course cannot be duplicated today because of U.S. Route 30 and all the intervening construction from there to the now sprawling town.

For two days in late June 1863, York played host to more than 5,000 unexpected visitors from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, perhaps the largest group of uninvited visitors in the county's history. They did not come to take in the sights, but to take the area's resources and horses. The town was ringed by Confederate campsites, and artillery frowned from Shunks Hill south of town and Diehl's Hill north of town. Very little in the way of written memories has been found from the Confederates who camped on the hills south of town, but a few Rebels on the north side recorded their impressions of York and its citizens.

A part of the First Louisiana Brigade (the much feared "Louisiana Tigers") camped along the Codorus Creek near where today's San Carlos night club is located (the old barn is from a period mill that was being guarded by the Rebels). Nearby is Diehl's Hill, crowded by the Louisiana Guard Artillery. Still further east are the heights around Pleasureville / North Sherman Street, another major campsite for the Tigers.

One of them was Captain William J. Seymour. His father, a prominent New Orleans newspaperman, had been killed as a colonel in the Army of Northern Virginia while leading his regiment into action at the Battle of Gaines Mill on June 27, 1862. Almost exactly a year later, young Seymour paused on top of one of the northern hills and recorded his impression of York.

The old George Eyster, jr. farm is at 1760 Taxville Road near the intersection with Derry Road in West Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania.

For several hours on the evening of Tuesday, June 30, 1863, thousands of Confederate cavalrymen rode through a part of West Manchester Township en route from the Battle of Hanover toward Dover, Pennsylvania. Commanded by colorful Virginia-born Major General J. E.B. Stuart, the long column entered the township north of York-New Salem, crossed the Gettysburg turnpike (U.S. Route 30) and followed N. Emig Mill Road to S. Salem Church Road, where it turned and headed up to Dover. The troopers came into the township in three distinct brigades, with the final column, that of Brigadier General Wade Hampton III of South Carolina pausing at a particular farm to rest and regroup while the leader slept (more on that in an upcoming post).

Patrols from Stuart's division scoured the countryside to find horses. Among the many farms where they found success was the George Eyster, Jr. place.

The old Cicero G. Weigel house at 1931 Derry Road in West Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania, has witnessed a lot of York County's changes. it dates back to before the American Civil War, when the township was agrarian, dotted with mills and farms. Now, the township is marked by bedroom communities, sprawling shopping complexes, and at times maddening traffic. Photo courtesy of Mel Miller.

I met Mel Miller back before all my eye problems when I was speaking at the March meeting of the Greater Dover Historical Society. We had a pleasant conversation, and Mel remarked that he was the historian for the West Manchester Township Historical Society. I shared with him that portion of my county-wide database of all Civil War damage claims that I have compiled over the years (more than 800 claims), and Mel has since invited me to speak to his organization on Confederate activity in the township during the Gettysburg Campaign. He and I are working on a date to get together to combine our efforts and exchange knowledge (and to take photos for this blog and for an upcoming new book).

Mel graciously provided me with an article he wrote for the newsletter of the West Manchester Township Historical Society. The society is open to any interested persons, and they maintain a website with some historical information of use, particularly the cemetery information for those of you readers with ancestors buried in the area. If you are interested, membership in the group starts at only $20 a year.

Hanover, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War was a typical Pennsylvania town, with a town square marked by a public market shed where farmers could come to town once a week and sell their produce to townspeople and other shoppers. The sign for A. G. Schmidt's drugstore is on the right of this photograph. Courtesy of the Hanover Historical Society. If I recall correctly, Schmidt's wartime store was in a slightly different location.

June 27, 1863, was a day that the residents of Hanover would never forget. After days of persistent rain the skies brightened and the rain clouds went away. However, the day soon darkened in a different manner as a cloud of Confederate cavalry soon enveloped the regional commercial center. Lt. Col. Elijah V. White led his 200+ band of former partisans into downtown Hanover from Gettysburg, and troopers were soon busy destroying railroad track, severing telegraph wires, searching stables for fresh horses, and patrolling the streets. A handful of fleeing Hanoverians were chased out of town as bullets whizzed by. Several Rebels took the opportunity for a little shopping in downtown stores.

One thirsty officer entered A. G. Schmidt's drug store, hung his sword belt over a desk post, and demanded a pint of whiskey. Schmidt did not sell liquor, but he took an empty medicine bottle across the street to John Irving's hotel and purchased whiskey for the dumbfounded Rebel. Other cavalrymen came in later to buy soap, brushes, and combs for themselves, and several acquired fine-toothed ladies' combs to send home. The officer, still sitting in a chair savoring his whiskey, told Schmidt that he should only accept greenbacks. Schmidt declared that the soldiers could take whatever they really needed and not worry about payment. He did accept a few Confederate bills, keeping them as souvenirs.

Background posts:
In the Footsteps of J.E.B. Stuart: Rebels Ride from Hanover, Part 1
In the Footsteps of J.E.B. Stuart: Rebels Ride from Hanover, Part 2

As the advance elements of Maj. Gen. James E. B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry rode away from the Battle of Hanover in southwestern York County, Pennsylvania, they used a variety of roads to head toward Jefferson, a crossroads hamlet where Stuart would pause, set up artillery, and regroup. Thanks to research by Hanover author and Licensed Battlefield Guide John T. Krepps, we have a strong indication of the roads Stuart used and the various farms along the way that his men raided for horses and/or supplies. These findings originally appeared in the Holiday 2003 issue of Blue & Gray magazine.

In the last post, Stuart's column, likely Fitzhugh Lee's brigade, turned off the Baltimore Pike onto Fuhrman Mill Road, which in 1863 was a winding, hilly dirt road that served as a transportation artery for a variety of farms in the area. Many of the Keystone farmers would find Rebels riding around their barnyards and stables, hunting for horses.