Confederates: July 2009 Archives

As Major General J.E.B. Stuart's division of three brigades of Confederate cavalry departed Dover, Pennsylvania, on July 1, 1863, patrols fanned out in a wide swath to acquire fresh horses. More than 700 horses are known to have been taken in York County alone by Stuart's men, and another 500 by other Rebel troops that criss-crossed the county. Among Stuart's early victims as his troops left Dover was farmer Jacob Spangler, who owned this impressive characteristic red barn that still sits alongside Fox Run (not very far from two of my kids' houses in Dover Township). He lost a ten-year-old bay mare and a six-year-old black horse taken from his stable.

The Spangler clan was the hardest hit family in all of York County, as seventeen different men by that surname reported losing horses or trade goods to the Confederate raiders! In total, the Spanglers lost thirty horses, not to mention the contents of Charles Spangler's West Manchester Township store. Many of the Spanglers lived along Carlisle Road, the path that Stuart's column took to reach Dillsburg and then Carlisle. Fathers, sons, brothers, cousins, uncles - the interrelated group took a serious financial loss in terms of lost horseflesh right at the important summer harvest time.

Mount Olivet Cemetery is at 725 S. Baltimore Street in Hanover, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1859, the cemetery sits atop high ground southeast of downtown, and is a natural gun position from a military perspective. During the afternoon phase of the June 30, 1863, Battle of Hanover, horse-drawn Confederate horse artillery rumbled up the slope from the southwest and unlimbered. Gunners moved the cannon into position and sighted their distant targets, with a particular emphasis on a line of Union artillery on the heights immediately north of Hanover. Fuses were cut to the length appropriate for the distance, and the rounds loaded. Lieutenants sighted the target through field glasses, while crewmen prepared the guns for firing. The orders came, and the resulting detonation of the powder sent sound waves reverberating off houses, rattling windows and fraying nerves of the remaining citizens.

Mount Olivet Cemetery is in the foreground. Rebel guns placed there had to fire over the town of Hanover (note the church spire) to hit Yankee guns on the ridge north of town (the thin line of dark trees next to the spire and below the background Pigeon Hills). Some of the shells fell short and struck the town, or exploded over it. (Left click on the photo to enlarge it for better detail).

James E. B. Brown, CSA Major General, led three brigades of veteran cavalry through southwestern York County after a half-day battle at Hanover. Photo from the Library of Congress.

On July 13, 1863, even as Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was retreating to Virginia, cavalry commander Major General J.E.B. Stuart wrote a letter to his beloved wife Flora. Criticism about being tardy and joyriding notwithstanding, the cavalier recounted, "I had a grand time in Pennsylvania and we return without defeat, to recuperate and reinforce, when, no doubt the role will be re-enacted. I shelled Carlisle and burnt the barracks. I crossed near Dranesville and went close to Georgetown and Washington, cutting four important railroads, joining our army in time for the battle of Gettysburg, with 900 prisoners and 200 wagons and splendid teams." [That wagon train, according to one subordinate, had become an "embarrassment" by the time the column passed through western York County]

Undaunted by the results at the Battle of Gettysburg, Stuart added, "We must invade again--it is the only path of peace. We were received well in Pennsylvania and our troops treated the population better than our own." [Tell that to the 500+ farmers in York County who lost horses, mules, livestock, forage, and supplies to Stuart's invading column!]

He added this note on the strategic importance of the summer campaign, "General Lee's maneuvering the Yankees out of Virginia is the grandest piece of strategy ever heard of. If they had only sent 10,000 reinforcements and plenty of ammunition to him here our crossing would have been with banners of peace." [Indeed Lee did get the Yankees out of Virginia for nearly two months. However, the price he paid in men and officers, not to mention in rejuvenating the Northern morale and war effort, was substantial, perhaps fatal to the Confederate cause.]

This house sits at the northeastern corner of the intersection of N. Sherman Street and Druck Valley Road. It is located on the heights northeast of York near village of Pleasureville in what in today Springettsbury Township in York County, Pennsylvania. Back on Monday, June 29, 1863, the brick two-story structure housed the general store of a young merchant named Emanuel G. Keller.

In real estate, one often hears the term "location, location, location" in terms of desirability. The unfortunate Mr. Keller was in the wrong location at the wrong time.

Many of you know that a publisher has asked me to research and write yet another book in my popular series of human interest stories. In the never ending quest for fresh material, I was perusing an old copy of Confederate Veteran last night when I stumbled across a different account of John Gordon's brigade in Pennsylvania by an author I had previously used in Flames Beyond Gettysburg. Here are a couple of fresh anecdotes from Private Isaac G. Bradwell of the 31st Georgia Volunteers. The second one is particularly interesting, as it is the only known first-hand account from a Confederate of Gordon's campsite west of York on Monday night June 29, 1863.

Unlike other Rebel accounts, the young Georgian had some very positive things to say about the people of York...

Bradwell remembered, "At early dawn the rattle of the drum called us to ranks, and we set out on the march to York. This place was much larger than Gettysburg and the inhabitants did not shut themselves up in their houses through fear of us, but were so anxious to see us and converse with us that we had some difficulty in forcing our way through the city.

It was Sunday morning, and everybody was dressed in his very best. So great was the pressure that our officers marched us through the town in single column of twos. Handsomely dressed women extended their hands from each side, anxious to have a word with us; but our officers hurried us along as rapidly as possible. Among the men I saw several who were suffering from wounds, but these kept themselves well to the rear and did not seek to come in contact with us.

The people of York were the most refined and intelligent folk we met in the State and reminded us of our friends at home, both in manners and personal appearance. They did not seem to be a bit reserved, and if we had not known where we were, we might, from their conduct, have supposed ourselves in Dixie."

Bradwell and the brigade marched to Wrightsville, where they attacked Union militia entrenched west of town but failed to capture the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, which was burned by the retreating Yankees. On Monday afternoon about 4 PM, the Georgians marched back through downtown York and camped in the countryside along the Carlisle Road (Route 74 today).

The young private added some interesting details...

July 1, 1863, saw the opening actions of the Battle of Gettysburg in nearby Adams County, Pennsylvania. However, even while the artillery roared and musketry crackled from the fields and woods north and west of Gettysburg, thousands of troops from both armies were hustling to reach the scene.

Late in the afternoon the 146th New York Volunteer Infantry reached the picturesque town of Hanover, Pennsylvania. Near the crossroads were lying the bloated carcasses of half a dozen cavalry horses, slain in the brief skirmish between Judson Kilpatrick's and J.E.B. Stuart's cavalrymen the previous day. Close to the road, near the scene of the main cavalry fighting, stood an old farmhouse, at the gate of which was an old-fashioned pump and horse trough. The pump handle was in constant motion, as the weary, foot-sore soldiers flocked around it to quench their thirst with the delicious water that flowed into the mossy trough.

What follows is the memory of a veteran of the regiment, perhaps a bit fanciful, but it makes for a good human interest story...

Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early arrived in York on the afternoon of Sunday, June 28, 1863. He established his headquarters in the sheriff's office in the columned York County Courthouse on East Market Street. He ordered an aide, William Thornton, to transcribe a requisition for supplies--165 barrels of flour or 28,000 pounds of baked bread; 3,500 pounds of sugar; 1,650 pounds of coffee; 300 gallons of molasses; 1,200 pounds of salt; 32,000 pounds of fresh beef or 21,000 pounds of bacon or pork. All were to be delivered at the market house on Main Street at 4:00 p.m. Early's chief quartermaster, Major Charles E. Snodgrass, wrote a second requisition, calling for clothing - 2,000 pairs of shoes or boots, 1,000 pairs of socks and 1,000 felt hats and $100,000.

Chief Burgess David Small informed Early that the town's banks had already sent off their assets, and could not raise that amount of cash. Snodgrass eventually wrote a receipt for $28,610 collected from York's citizens, as well as the remaining goods that had been requisitioned. Attorney James W. Latimer "very foolishly gave them one hundred dollars" John Evans donated $50, W. Latimer Small $25, and the firm of P. A. & S. Small contributed $752. Gettysburg resident Sallie Broadhead wrote in her diary that the people of York were "dunce-like" in paying this ransom to the Rebels, "which they pocketed."

Following the Battle of Gettysburg, Union cavalry of Judson Kilpatrick's division captured scores of Confederate supply wagons retreating across South Mountain near Monterey Pass. Among the diverse items in the wagons were supplies taken from York to fulfill General Early's controversial ransom, as well as personal property stolen from York County residents. However, the goods were never returned to their owners. Instead, most received the torch.