Cover art from a 1991 book, The Story of the Northern Central Railway, by Robert L. Gunnarsson, Greenberg Publications.

All over York County, from the outskirts of Abbottstown to the west across the turnpike to Wrightsville and from Hanover to the southwest up to Dillsburg (and dozens of other towns and hundreds of farms), residents took stock of their losses. For some, the damage was relatively light - as low as a single horse. For others, their livelihoods had been destroyed (for example, a large milling operation in Wrightsville that had burned down, displacing the workers). In the next few days, I will outline some of the damage in York County (and perhaps beyond) caused by the Confederates.

I thank York County railroad buff, author, and historian Ivan E. Frantz, Jr. (and a colleague of mine at work) for sharing the following very interesting information he has gleaned from the files of the Northern Central Railway, one of the hardest hit companies.

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Representative Civil War troops on the march, in this case, New York volunteers. Courtesy of Corbis.com.

Failing to find a way across the Susquehanna River with the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge now a smoldering wreckage, Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon retraces his steps and marches back to York. Cavalry under Elijah V. White burn a few more railroad bridges and terrorize farmers in the Hellam region, stealing or buying (with worthless CSA money) as many horses as they can find. Gordon's infantry march westward through York in the late afternoon and camp out near the Carlisle Road (today's Route 74).

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The 51st Penna. left their wooden winter quarters behind as they embarked on trains after being reassigned from Virginia to duty in Ohio. The soldiers were herded into wooden boxcars with rude benches to sit on for the long ride to the West.

Scores of Civil War regiments passed through York on the Northern Central Railway, particularly early in the war as they were being shuttled from training sites to the South to their designated assignments. Some trains steamed through town without stopping, making the run from Harrisburg to Baltimore as an express route. Others paused in York, but the men had to stay in the railcars. In other cases, the soldiers were allowed off the train to stretch their legs, use the depot's facilities, and perhaps grab quick bite to eat.

Some took the opportunity to tour the prosperous and attractive town of some 8,600 people. For a few soldiers, that sojourn made them AWOL.

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Post-war view of the Northern Central station and tracks at York Haven. The 5th Wisconsin passed through this village en route to York. For more photos of York railroad structures, see Greg Halpin's website.

The Civil War has been considered by some authors as the "first modern war." Innovations such as submarines, rifled muskets, entrenchments, aerial reconnaissance, rail-mounted artillery, and others were implemented, some for the first time on a broad scale. Among the many changes in warfare was the mass transit of troops. Instead of walking or riding on horses or in wagons, troops could be conveyed from point to point via the fledgling system of railroads, cutting down the time it took to arrive in key locations. This was dramatically emphasized early in the war when the Confederates moved an army from the Shenandoah Valley into position to participate in the First Battle of Manassas.

As the war progressed, hundreds of thousands of troops (mostly Union) were conveyed on the railroads, and a fair percentage of them passed through York County. For some, the ride was pure misery...

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By June 1865, the 112th Illinois Infantry was a battle-toughened veteran regiment. The starry-eyed recruits who had joined the regiment at its inception were now combat experienced and victorious, as the war was now over and it was time to head home. The regiment had participated in the Carolinas Campaign under William T. Sherman. The soldiers had boarded a train in Greensboro, North Carolina, for the long trip back to Chicago, where the men would receive their final pay and be mustered out of the army.

Instead of the hero's welcome in the WIndy City, one soldier would find himself in a Pennsylvania hospital.

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During the weeks following the Battle of Gettysburg, thousands of wounded soldiers passed through tiny Hanover Junction in southern York County, passing through the railroad intersection eastward on the Hanover Branch RR en route to Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Washington and other towns where they could receive medical care. A temporary medical facility at the junction provided assistance for soldiers in need of treatment before they could be reloaded onto cars of the Northern Central Railway. In addition, a few cars contained coffins of soldiers killed in the battle, men whose families had arranged for transport home for burial.

Hundreds of civilians also passed through Hanover Junction. Most were sightseers on an excursion to visit the now famous battlefield. Others were relief agents, medical personnel, nurses and aides, and newspaper correspondents seeking a story. Cars were overcrowded and unsanitary, with people often crowding into freight cars. Here's one story of how some clever sorts made a little extra room on one train from Hanover Junction as it passed through York County.

Posted in Civil War people Gettysburg Campaign Hanover Junction Railroads Yankees

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One of the Confederate objectives during the Gettysburg Campaign was to seize the long covered bridge across the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville in York County and Columbia in Lancaster County. Lt. General Richard S. Ewell ordered Major General Jubal Early to destroy the bridge, but Early instead decided to capture the bridge and keep it intact, cross into Lancaster County, and attack Harrisburg from the rear.

Among the defenders in the horseshoe-shaped line of earthworks just west of Wrightsville were the soldiers of the 27th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, an emergency regiment hastily raised in the counties northeast of Harrisburg (including many small towns along today's I-81). One Schuylkill County infantryman left a written record of his brief service in York County.

Posted in Gettysburg Campaign Railroads Wrightsville Yankees

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Background post - Fire on the Conewago!

During the Civil War, the railroad tracks of the Northern Central crossed over the Conewago Creek near York Haven on a pair of single span wooden bridges. If these bridges could be destroyed, direct rail access from Baltimore to Harrisburg would be severed. Major General Darius Couch, commander of the Department of the Susquehanna, ordered part of the 20th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia to safeguard the twin bridges against any Rebel attack. The Philadelphia-raised regiment had only been in the service for a few days when it was taken by train to York County and marched to to its various assignments. Little did they know, the Confederates were indeed coming for those bridges.

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Harper's Weekly woodcut of an 1865 train wreck in Connecticut.

On July 18, 1863, the 23rd New York Militia passed through York, enroute from Baltimore to Harrisburg, where they would catch another series of trains to take them home to Brooklyn. In a previous post, I mentioned their relaxing train ride through scenic southern York County, and their impression of the somewhat greedy street vendors of the borough of York. A little adventure lay ahead of the big city boys as their train steamed through the farmland of northeastern York County.

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During the early part of the Gettysburg Campaign, militia troops from New York and New Jersey were sent to Harrisburg to help defend the city. These soldiers arrived via a variety of trains from diverse garrisons throughout the East Coast. Following the Battle of Gettysburg, many of them marched into Maryland in pursuit of Robert E. Lee's army before being ordered to return home. On Saturday, July 18, the 23rd New York State National Guard entrained at Baltimore on the Northern Central Railway and headed northward through Maryland and southern York County. The regiment, almost entirely city boys from Brooklyn and New York City, would pause for a rest break at York's train station.

Private John Lockwood left his impressions of that day.

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