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The old Clear Spring Mill in Franklin Township in York County, Pennsylvania, was targeted by passing Confederate troops during the Gettysburg Campaign.

July 1, 1863 was a momentous day for northwestern York County, Pennsylvania. More than 600 horses were stolen by the 5,500-man Confederate cavalry division of Major General J.E.B. Stuart as it passed through the region between Dover and Dillsburg (following parts of today's route 74 and several parallel routes). Stuart had left one brigade under Brigadier General Wade Hampton III behind at Dillsburg and had taken two other brigades into Cumberland County, where he attacked the Union defenders of Carlisle. Late in the night, he received orders to march to Gettysburg, where the Army of Northern Virginia was engaged with the Union Army of the Potomac in a great battle. Stuart relayed orders back to Hampton, who roused his veteran troopers and had them on the road southwesterly by 1-2 AM.

Their path first took them through Franklin Township in northwestern York County.

It would not be a good night and early morning for the residents of the region. Hampton's weary men, though exhausted by the grueling, sleepness night march that one cavalryman deemed the worst march of the war, had enough energy to canvass the township and steal every good horse that could be found.

They also paused to raid the village of Clear Spring, Pennsylvania, as they plodded toward Gettysburg...

...where the old mill was among the businesses and farms raided. (Photo from Art and Donna Bert's excellent website for the award-winning restored mill).

The Codorus Woolen Mill near the tiny hamlets of Brodbeck and Glenville, Pennsylania, in southern York County was established in 1790. It operated for more than a century and now is used as a workshop and apartments. During the American Civil War, the mill owner had a contract to supply woolen blankets to the Federal government for the Union Army.

The mill's operator / owner lived in the adjacent mill house, which is now a private home.

This old grist mill on the banks of the Big Conewago Creek in extreme southern Washington Township, York County, Pennsylvania, has a long and storied history, including playing a role in feeding Confederate troops in the Gettysburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Known for many years as the "Eisenhart Mill" for a post-war owner, during the War Between the States, the mill was owned and operated by a miller named Emanuel Butt.

On June 28, 1863, Confederate troops of the veteran division of Major General Jubal A. Early marched through Adams County to East Berlin and subsequently camped in nearby York County at the hamlet of Big Mount. Along the way, dozens of residents were victimized by foraging patrols which were seeking supplies, food, and, most of all, fresh horses and mules.

The old Weigle grist mill is shown in this February 2009 photograph by SLM. During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, Confederates raided the region numerous times, taking horses from the miller and nearby farmers. In the early 21st century, this old mill housed a very nice country gifts and antiques shop, and I visited the place several times. A tattoo parlor now occupies the structure.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Weigle family was prominent in Dover Township and what later became West Manchester Township. Martin Weigle emigrated from Germany in the 1730s and built a small stone grist mill about 1739 along the Little Conewago Creek on the road from York to Dover (today's Route 74). When local Indians came to investigate, he gave them home-made whiskey and they then helped dig the millrace.

For years, his family maintained ownership of the mill. After the American Revolution, the family member who operated the mill was not very patriotic toward the new government and was censured several times for questionable remarks. In the next few decades, a 2.5-story larger mill (the one pictured) was constructed several hundred yards from the old stone mill.

By 1863, another revolution in America was in full swing, and Rebels swarmed over the Weiglestown, Dover, and Shiloh region, taking horses and mules.

On the evening of June 30, 1863, Confederate Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart was leading his weary column of more than 4,000 cavalrymen northeasterly away from the site of the Battle of Hanover. His destination? The prosperous town of York, where he expected to link up with the infantry of the Army of Northern Virginia following his daring ride around the Union Army of the Potomac.

History records that he and his staff paused at John E. Zeigler's place to convene a conference of his leading officers, and decided to head toward New Salem (and eventually, Dover, where he still hoped to locate the trail of Early's movements).

But exactly which Zeigler property did Jeb Stuart use for his temporary headquarters? There were a couple of possible sites.

This house along South Salem Church Road in Dover Township, York County, Pennsylvania, was once a three-story grist mill owned by wealthy miller George B. Emig. The historic mill closed in the 20th century and was heavily renovated to be used as private housing, with the top two floors and roof removed and a new roof put in place. The old mill equipment is long gone, although traces of the mill creek and race may still be seen along the Little Conewago Creek.

Emig's Mill was visited on multiple times during the Gettysburg Campaign by Confederate cavalrymen. Here are at three of those stories...

As I continue my series on old grist mills raided by the Confederate cavalry and infantry during the Gettysburg Campaign, today I turn my attention to William Dubs' grist mill, which sat along Codorus Creek which was dammed up by Glatfelter to create Lake Marburg (the Marburg designation came from a small hamlet that is now underwater). Dubs' mill was a local gathering spot for farmers in the region, who would bring their grain to be ground into flour.

At one time, scores of grist mills dotted the land along most larger creeks in York County, Pennsylvania. Many of these buildings are still in existence as private homes, storage buildings, or other uses, but unfortunately, a large number of old mills have been razed over the years since the decline of smaller private flour mills in favor of national brands.

Among those mills now long gone was the David B. Sprenkle mill near New Salem. He was particularly hit hard by elements of J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry in the early evening of June 30, 1863, when at least one group of Rebels paused from their northward trek toward Dover to take what they wanted from Spenkle's flour mill, stable, and country store.

The Civil War-era Loucks Mill along the Codorus Creek north of York, Pennsylvania, was destroyed in a fire in 1864 and was replaced by a larger facility. This old postcard shows the location of the mill and mill dam.

This 1938 aerial photograph shows the Codorus Creek to the left center, with Loucks Road running east-west and Loucks Mill Road and Sherman Street intersecting it from the south. Zachariah K. Loucks and Henry I. Loucks co-owned a large grist mill along the Codorus which was operated and managed by the Small brothers. The Loucks family also owned other mills and properties, including a chop mill along Mill Creek off of today's Loucks Mill Road.

Land owned by Z. K. Loucks and nearby property owned by Samuel Hively were the campsites of the First Louisiana Brigade, the much feared "Louisiana Tigers" of Harry T. Hays. This brigade's reputation for unruliness was so great that Jubal Early during the Gettysburg Campaign never allowed them to camp in a town - they were always kept on the outskirts.

The aerial photograph of the modern York Flour Mills, Inc. is courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth, and shows the location of one of the old P.A. & S. Small mills nestled between the railroad and the Codorus Creek. In 1863, the railroad line was the Northern Central's tracks that led from Baltimore to Harrisburg, and Confederate troops camped in and around the mill yard. Armed guards made sure no one broke into the mill.

Earlier in the war, thousands of Union soldiers crossed by the landmark mill on troop trains headed south to join what became the Army of the Potomac.