Yankees: August 2008 Archives

Bronze bust of Brig. Gen. Jacob G. Lauman at the Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi. Lauman was one of the few men with York ties to fight in the Siege of Vicksburg.

York is most noted as being the birthplace and residence of Major General William B. Franklin, who played a prominent role in the Army of the Potomac early in the Civil War before being caught up in the political backbiting and frenzy that so often accompanied the star-crossed army during its long succession of misfortunes and defeats. Like so many other early generals whose names dot the orders of battle for the 1862 engagements, his name was missing from the muster rolls by the time of the Gettysburg Campaign.

Another general who called York his boyhood home had a similar fate in terms of playing a leading role early in the war, albeit in the Western Theater. Jacob G. Lauman was not born in York, but was raised here and graduated from the York County Academy before moving to Iowa as a young man.

Here is General Lauman's brief biography, adapted from a new article just published on Wikipedia. He is a good example of what we in the business world call "the Peter Principle," referring to someone who is successively good at a their jobs, but are promoted to at least one level beyond their true capabilities and limitations.

Artist Lewis Miller's depiction of the occupation of downtown York by the Confederate army in late June 1863. (YCHT).

Francis Wallace was a veteran newspaper editor in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. When the Confederate army marched down the Shenandoah Valley toward the Potomac River, Wallace and several of the employees of his paper enlisted in one of the emergency militia regiments, the 27th Volunteer Militia. Wallace sent back frequent reports to the remaining newspapermen, which were later published in the local paper in Pottsville, PA. These accounts are often colorful, spiced occasionally with humor, and present the thoughts and opinions of one participant in the Gettysburg Campaign.

Here are Lieutenant Wallace's initial thoughts when he and his colleagues (stationed in Columbia just east of the Susquehanna River) first learned from refugees crossing the toll bridge that York had surrendered to the Confederates.

I am fortunate to have several Civil War veterans in my lineage, including my great-great-grandfathers William Sisson of Dover, Ohio, who fought in the 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and John Fauley of Fultonham, Ohio, who fought in the 5th U.S. Regulars. My great-uncles, the Chambers boys, fought in the 7th West Virginia on East Cemetery Hill at Gettysburg and participated in the famed charge on the Sunken Road at Antietam.

Another great-uncle, Aaron Barnhill, was in the 141st Ohio, a National Guard regiment that served for 100 days in the summer of 1864 when the U.S. War Department enrolled tens of thousands of men for temporary duty for an all-out push to win the war. These "Hundred Days Men" in the 141st served on garrison duty at Charleston, West Virginia, allowing the release of veteran troops to man the front lines.

Author Scott Mingus signs copies of his latest book at a store in Gettysburg

The August meeting of the York CWRT will feature Scott Mingus as the guest speaker, telling true tales and Human Interest Stories from the Gettysburg Campaign - many of which are taken from the manuscript for Volume 3 of this series, which is being compiled currently.

The meeting will be in the auditorium of the York County Heritage Trust at 250 East Market Street in York, Pennsylvania at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening, August 20. There will be a PowerPoint slide show in conjunction with the talk.