Gettysburg Campaign: September 2008 Archives

Author and paper scientist Scott Mingus enjoys a recent Cincinnati Reds victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Great America Ballpark on Tom Browning Perfect Game Night.

I have spent much of this year on temporary assignment to our paper mill in my native southern Ohio. Ironically, I worked at this same mill (three ownership groups ago!) when I was a 19-year-old newlywed. Debi and I rented an old house for the summer between my junior and senior years at Miami University, where I was majoring in Pulp & Paper Science and Engineering. Little did I realize I would be back three decades later as an executive with a different company that bought the mill.

Author, editor and Licensed Battlefield Guide, Diana Loski, will speak to the Lancaster Civil War Round Table about the life and military career of Confederate General William Dorsey Pender at 7:00pm on Thursday, October 9th.

William Dorsey Pender was one of the youngest, and most promising, generals fighting for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Pender commanded a division of the 3rd Corps under A.P. Hill at Gettysburg where he received shrapnel in his leg. His leg was amputated but he died on July 18, 1863.

Local artist Bradley Schmehl's excellent depiction of the burning of the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge will be featured on the cover of an upcoming book on the event by author Scott L. Mingus, Sr. Used by written permission of the artist as fair use for marketing and advertising this new book. Prints of Mr. Schmehl's painting are available on the Internet from Somerset House.

The Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge was set ablaze on the evening of June 28, 1863, by retreating Pennsylvania state militia to prevent it from being used by Brigadier General John B. Gordon's oncoming Confederate troops. The lurid glow from the burning bridge was clearly visible to many onservers in and near Lancaster. Later, one local woman and her friends used the pen name "Patriot Daughters" to write a book about their service in the field hospitals of Gettysburg after the battle. She was among those Lancaster County residents who could see the flames from the distant nighttime spectacle along the river.

Author Jay Jorgensen wrote an excellent tour guide of the fighting at the Wheatfield in Gettysburg a few years ago. He reviewed my most recent book for Civil War News, andI am flattered by his kind words.

After an expensive renovation, the Gettysburg Cyclorama will be reopened for public viewing in its new custom-engineering theater within the new Gettysburg Visitors Center at Gettysburg National Military Park. I plan to see it in a couple of weeks, but don't plan to fight the crowds this Saturday (I will be at Dutch Wonderland with my grandson instead).

Many of you may not be aware that this particular painting is one of four very similar Gettysburg Cyclorama paintings done by the same overall artist and his team of assistants. There are also other Civil War cycloramas that were created in the same time period, including one depicting the Battle of Atlanta.

Frederick Street in downtown Hanover

Southwestern York County had seen the hand of war, with a cavalry raid on Hanover Junction on June 27 and the Battle of Hanover three days later. On July 1, the streets of Hanover were filled with members of the veteran V Corps of the Army of the Potomac, the first large body of infantry seen in the prosperous town during the campaign. Thousands of men from New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, and other eastern states walked through Hanover, or paused there for a brief rest break. Only a handful left their impressions of the town and its citizens.

Here is one such description from an officer in the 118th Pennsylvania, a regiment of city boys from Philadelphia recruited in the summer of 1862 under the sponsorship of the Philadelphia Corn [Stock] Exchange.

Major General Jubal Early exacted a steep ransom from the citizens of York, including money, food, and military supplies. News of York's fate swiftly spread through the Union army and soldiers debated the merits of the surrender. In at least one case, a regiment decided to exact a toll of revenge for Early's actions in Pennsylvania.

Dover's venerable Salem Church was the scene of a small skirmish in June 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign.

York County had a major cavalry battle at Hanover, as well as a skirmish at Wrightsville that easily could have been a more significant fight had the opposing commanders made other decisions. There were dozens of smaller engagements, often no more than a few cavalry scouts shooting at each other such as in the case of the 17th Virginia's brief exchange of potshots with the First City Troop west of York on June 27.

Here is a brief account of a short firefight on the ridges west of Dover on July 1.

The replanted Peach Orchard as seen from across the tree-lined swale on the George Rose farm at Gettysburg.

A few years ago, the National Park Service had all the trees cut down in the historic Sherfy Peach Orchard along Emmitsburg Road in the Gettysburg National Military Park. They applied nutrients to the soil and allowed the field to lay fallow for a couple of years before replanting fresh saplings. They also dramatically expanded the area covered by peach trees to more closely resemble the dimensions of the 1863 peach orchard that was defended by elements of Daniel Sickles' III Corps of the Union Army of the Potomac. The trees are maturing well, and nearly all have survived the Pennsylvania winter and the spring rains. In addition, the NPS has replanted nearly a dozen other historic orchards, including several along Emmitsburg Road (such as the Rose Farm just south of the Peach Orchard). This is part of the overall battlefield rehabilitation project that has drawn so much praise and criticism, depending upon one's environmental versus historical preservation mindset).

The commonwealth of Pennsylvania has erected a new wayside marker in Weiglestown on State Route 74 between Shiloh and Dover. It marks the spot where Confederate Major General Jubal A. Early turned off the Davidsburg Road and began his movement into York, as well as where he dispatched the 17th Virginia Cavalry under his antebellum friend Col. William H. French on a mission to destroy two railroad bridges at York Haven.

For a closer view of the text, please click on the link.

The Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Civil War Round Table is, once again, pleased to welcome historian and actor Patrick Falci to our Thursday, September 18, 2008 program., which will be held at 7:00 PM at the Lititz Public Library on Thursday, September 18th. Lancaster Civil War Round Table is free and open to the public. Anyone with an interest in the Civil War is welcome!

Come out and enjoy an evening with Patrick Falci! Registration for this free event is suggested by emailing your name, phone number and number attending to srihn@lititzlibrary.org or call the library at 626-2255. For more information, contact Micky Kraft at 392-4976, email lancastercivilwarroundtable@gmail.com.

Confederate cavalry from North Carolina and Virginia charged up Frederick Street in downtown Hanover, Pennsylvania, during the beginning phases of a cavalry engagement on June 30, 1863.

I am back from a business trip to historic Baden Baden, Germany, which was a madhouse of activity because of the annual horse racing series (picture being in Louisville during Kentucky Derby week and you get the idea of crowds, bands, great meals at restaurants, and other social events). I now return my attention to York County in the American Civil War and present a first person account of the Battle of Hanover.

George William Beale was an old man in 1918, but he wanted to share his reminiscences of his Civil War service through a book he wrote entitled A Lieutenant of Cavalry in Lee's Army. His memory was sharp and detailed of his years of service as a young lieutenant in the 9th Virginia Cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart. He picks up his narrative on June 30, 1863, following the Battle of Westminster in northern Maryland...