Gettysburg battlefield: December 2008 Archives

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The Hanover Branch Railroad's station house at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, has been restored to approximate its 1863 appearance.

Background post: The Hanover Junction cavalry countermarch, an account of William Miller of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry.

Among the Union cavalry troops in David M. Gregg's division who visited Hanover Junction on July 1, 1863, was the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as the 60th Pennsylvania regiment. One of the earliest cavalry regiments to be mustered from the commonwealth, it was recruited during the spring and summer of 1861, under the direction of Colonel William H. Young. It was initially known as Young's Light Kentucky Cavalry. Companies A, C, F, K and M were recruited in Philadelphia, with the majority of the rest of the men from Chester, Clinton, Allegheny, Delaware, and Schuylkill counties. Company D wasn't from Pennsylvania at all; it had been recruited in Washington D.C. from residents of the District of Columbia.

A few years after the war, the regimental historian briefly discussed the troopers' activities in southwestern York County. This is one of the very few accounts that mentions the Union vanguard encountering stragglers from J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate column and capturing them at Hanover Junction. Other stragglers from Stuart's column had reached Gettysburg on July 1, where they were spotted by Jubal Early's men.

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The National Park Service has announced the winter schedule for the series of lectures lon the Gettysburg Campaign and the Battle of Gettysburg ed by park rangers from the Gettysburg National Military Park. These lectures and presentations are free of charge, and will be held in the meeting rooms in the new Gettysburg Visitors Center.

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I snapped these two photos last Sunday of the wayside markers commemorating the old Camp Letterman field hospital near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It's bad enough that the historic campsite is now a trailer park and a grocery store, but now, a vandal has further desecrated the site. I hope whoever did this idiocy is soon brought to justice.

A harmless prank? No.

Stupidity? Absolutely!

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Grazr



About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Gettysburg battlefield category from December 2008.

Gettysburg battlefield: November 2008 is the previous archive.

Gettysburg battlefield: January 2009 is the next archive.

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