Yankees: September 2009 Archives

York County Heritage Trust sanctioned Civil War tour guide Scott L. Mingus, Sr. stands in front of the historic Strickler farmhouse off the Lincoln Highway near Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. Confederates under Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon deployed near this farm for their attack on the Union earthworks protecting the crossing over the Susquehanna River about a mile from this spot.

Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guide Bobby Housch is a school teacher in Hanover PA when he's not guiding tourists around the sprawling battlefield. A couple of weeks ago, he and I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon filming a series of a dozen or so short video clips covering the June 28, 1863, Civil War skirmish at Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. The fight was the second largest military encounter in York County during the war, behind the Battle of Hanover.

Part 1 of the multi-part Wrightsville tour series is now on-line for your viewing pleasure at Bobby's very popular blog, Gettysburg Daily. In the weeks to come, he will post the rest of the videos, which include stops at Bair's Mill, the Union skirmish line, the line of the Confederate advance through the picturesque George D. Ebert farm, the riverfront and canal, the "heroine of the Susquehanna" feeds breakfast to the Rebels, and the African-American cemetery in neighboring Columbia.

Viewing these videos and reading my book Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863 should give you a good grasp of the strategic importance of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, deemed so important by the Confederate high command that Robert E. Lee sent one of his finest divisions to go take it by force.

The scenic Kreutz Creek in Hellam Township, York County, Pennsylvania. This creek roughly parallels the old rail bed of the Northern Central Railway and played a role in the June 28, 1863, Skirmish of Wrightsville. This was the line of approach used by a portion of the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry to screen the movements of three regiments of Georgia infantry under Col. Clement A. Evans.

Cannonball reader Gerry Boehm is a history buff from Berks County, Pennsylvania. He has had a special interest in the June 28, 1863, Skirmish of Wrightsville, a subject that of course has special meaning to me. Gerry is working his way through my recent book, Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863, which focuses on the expedition of part of Jubal A. Early's Confederate division to seize the mile-and-a-quarter-long covered bridge spanning the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia.

Copyright 2007, Scott Mingus and Tom Poston, all rights reserved. Map of the June 28, 1863 skirmish of Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. No reproduction without written permission.