Mills: February 2009 Archives

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.