Mills: January 2009 Archives

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.

Philip Albright Small and his brother Samuel were among the leading citizens of York, Pennsylvania, during the mid-19th century. They inherited mills, land, and wealth from their industrious father, George Small, who built the original mill on the Codorus Creek in Manchester Township. They owned comfortable homes in downtown York, were well respected by most of the citizenry, and well networked within both the social and business fabric of York County and the region.

During the Gettysburg Campaign, the Small brothers were also known to the invading Confederate army. In fact, their mills were a particular target for Major General Jubal A. Early.

The Myers grist mill was one of several similar establishments that once dotted the banks of the Codorus Creek north of York, Pennsylvania. The old mill is in excellent condition today, and is privately owned. It is next to the York Heritage Rail Trail and Locust Lane Park off of Emig Mill Road in Manchester Township.

In late June 1863, this peaceful setting was the site of a break-in and robbery. The perpetrators were infantrymen from the famed (and much feared) "Louisiana Tigers" of veteran Brigadier General Harry Thompson Hays of New Orleans.

View of the old Henry Myers mill located on Green Valley Road northeast of Jefferson, Pennsylvania. On the afternoon of June 30, 1863, Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's Confederate cavalry of Stuart's division rode past this once thriving mill en route to Hanover Junction (they would pause near John Epley Zeigler's house and his father's old tavern before changing course for New Salem).

Some of Lee's troopers paid a visit to the mill, but found it not to be the lucrative prize they had hoped. Nearby Cold Spring shopkeeper Conrad Myers reported losing 50 bushels of flour he had stored in the mill, but his losses pale compared to millers and farmers elsewhere in York County.

A view taken December 28 of the historic Detters Mill in northwestern Dover Township in York County, Pennsylvania. A lengthy column of Confederate soldiers passed by this mill, watering their horses in the nearby Conewago Creek. The old mill has been converted into apartments.

On July 1, 1863, as J.E.B. Stuart's column continued it march from Dover, Pennsylvania, to Carlisle, a portion of the division under Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and Col. John Chambliss, Jr. turned off the main road (State Road / Carlisle Road; portions of which are today's State Route 74). and headed down Harmony Grove Road. Shortly after passing the white frame country church, they reached the Conewago Creek, dividing Dover Township from Warrington and Washington townships.

This covered bridge spanned Little Conewago Creek east of Dover, Pennsylvania. Photo from an old postcard.

Confederate horsemen were quite active in Dover Township visiting farms and mills collecting horses, mules, grain, and flour. On June 28 and 29, Col. William H. French's 17th Virginia Cavalry roamed the region, raiding more than forty farms and taking horses. Recruited in the mountain region of what had since become West Virginia, they were proficient foragers, and scores of York Countians were paid a visit by these troopers. At the same time, Major John Campbell of the First Louisiana Brigade (the famed and feared Louisiana Tigers) and a large contingent of infantrymen and wagons were raiding mills and nearby farms north of York, including roaming into Dover Township.