Confederate camp sites: May 2009 Archives

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.

Woven basket filled with old canister balls that were discovered on a York County, Pennsylvania, farm.

York County has a rich and varied Civil War heritage. The county provided thousands of soldiers to the Union war effort, and a handful to the Confederate cause, including a brigadier general with ties to the town of York. Food, war materiel, suppliers, railroad cars, tents, blankets, and a myriad of other government purchases were transported to the troops. Trains passed through York County filled with soldiers from all over the North on their way to the front lines. Wounded soldiers (Union and Confederate) were treated at the U.S. Army Hospital or at the Oddfellows Hall in York. Three separate Rebel forces of varying sizes invaded York County during the Gettysburg Campaign. President Lincoln passed through the county at least a couple of times.

Yes, the county should rightfully be proud of its Civil War past. Sometimes, relics and artifacts of that era can still be discovered. When he was young, Dr. Mark Snell of Shepherd University and a York native found a rusty bayonet near where San Carlos' Lounge is now located near Route 30 and the Codorus Creek. Another native York Countian found a brass button from a VMI graduate while digging in her yard, possibly lost by a passing Rebel officer. Dozens of other residents in this area also have found artifacts associated with the Civil War, including Confederate money given to their ancestors by the Rebel troops. Several Hanover residents have relics from the cavalry battle fought there, and fellow blogger June Lloyd mentioned a sword that had been plowed up on a farm in that area.

The York Valley Inn once stood at 2805 E. Market Street near York in what is now Springettsbury Township (part of Spring Garden Township during the American Civil War). This photograph from the archives of the Library of Congress shows the stone structure in the middle of the 20th century. It was a popular resting spot for nearly two centuries, providing food, drink, and refreshment for weary travelers along the York-Wrightsville Turnpike (later the Lincoln Highway / Route 462 / Market Street).

Constructed of local field stone in the early 18th century, the York Valley Inn was a well known landmark in the York area. An English Quaker settler named John Griest originally built a two-story square limestone blockhouse in 1738 for protection against marauding Indians. It formed the basis for what became the York Inn. For part of the time, the building was known as the Beard Tavern (first licensed in 1754). In some early accounts, the inn was a favorite meeting house for the members of the Continental Congress in 1777-78, Abraham Hiestand bought the Inn in the 1790's. Some historians suggest the old German-style vaulted stone cellar was used as a hiding place for the Underground Railroad in the early 1800's.

On the early afternoon of Sunday, June 28, 1863, more than 1,000 road-weary Confederate soldiers camped in the fields surrounding the old inn. They had marched from their overnight camp around the hamlet of Farmers in Paradise Township through the town of York, not stopping to eat their noon meal until arriving at the prosperous inn.