Photo of Scott Mingus's 15mm wargame of the Battle of Monocacy; click on the photo to enlarge it for better viewing.

Gettysburg, for the final time in the foreseeable future, hosted the annual Fall-In wargaming convention at the Eisenhower Resort and Conference Center on Business 15. More than 1000 gamers spend 2-3 days rolling dice and moving tiny model soldiers on model railroad / diorama quality tabletop terrain using rules that loosely simulate the tactics of combat.

The convention is moving from Adams County to Lancaster in November 2010.

For more photos, see my CHARGE! wargaming blog.

During the week before the Battle of Gettysburg, the attention of the Union Department of the Susquehanna's commander, Major General Darius N. Couch, was on protecting vital railroad bridges and other transport and communications routes in south-central Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and the Mason-Dixon Line. Among his particular areas of interest were the bridges on the Northern Central Railway in York County.

Couch dispatched the newly raised 20th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia under Colonel William B. Thomas to protect the NCR. Thomas, one of the earliest backers of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, was a political ally of President Lincoln and through patronage had received the coveted and influential post or Port Collector of Philadelphia, in charge of the Customs House and the tax revenue collection. He raised a regiment of nearly 1,000 emergency militiamen in mid-June 1863 and obtained arms and uniforms from the state at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg before entraining for York County.

Colonel Thomas made his headquarters in a hotel in downtown York and scattered his men in an 18-mile line on several farms from York Haven in northern York County down past Seitzville well to the south. Their positions can be determined from a study of York County Border Claims in Harrisburg and from the records of known troop movements.

Several companies were assigned to patrol the railroads south of York, including protecting bridges near Reynolds Mill, Hanover Junction, and Glen Rock, as well as the Howard Tunnel. Lt. Colonel William H. Sickles set up a campsite on the sprawling Jacob Bowman farm along today's state route 616 south of Hanover Junction at a place later known as Larue.

Here are some photos of the general area, as well as a description of the damage claim of farmer Bowman...

Harrisburg Evening Telegraph, June 18, 1863. Courtesy of NewsinHistory.com.

It is quite possible this capture took place in West Manchester Township just outside of York. The event occurred on June 17, making these four men from Albert G. Jenkins' brigade quite possibly the first Rebels to reach York County during the Gettysburg Campaign. The rest of the regiment arrived in the Dillsburg vicinity on June 27, the same day that Elijah White's 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry entered Hanover. Prior to my discovery of this old newspaper clipping, I was unaware of any CSA scouts physically in York County until a week later.

My cousin's daughter sent me this cool old family portrait taken in the decade or so after the Civil War. This is the Barnhill clan, and the seated woman is my great-great-grandmother, Eliza Jane (Keegan) Barnhill. My great-grandmother Susan Barnhill Brown is in the second row. I had never seen this photograph before, and I am thrilled to see this connection with my family's rich Civil War heritage.

My great-great uncle Aaron Barnhill is on the right wearing a GAR medal. He was a "hundred days" man, serving in Company C of the 141st Ohio in the summer of 1864 when President Lincoln called for volunteers for three months to guard bridges, railroad lines, supply depots, etc. to free up the veteran troops for the all out push that summer (Grant in the Overland Campaign / Siege of Petersburg and Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign).

I had many ancestors in the Civil War on both side of my family. Among Dad's ancestors were Aaron Barnhill shown above, as well as Dad's great uncles the Chambers boys from the 7th West Virginia who fought at Antietam and Gettysburg. My mother's grandfather John D. Sisson was in the 51st Ohio and fought at the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House).

If you have photos of your Civil War ancestors (particularly if they are in uniform or wearing GAR medals or similar post-war shots), please send me an electronic copy and I will include them in future blog posts in this new "Our Civil War Heritage" series.

The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln stunned the residents of York County, Pennsylvania, despite the fact that most voters had twice cast their ballots for the Democratic opposition candidate in the elections of 1860 and 1864. Political differences were set aside in the national outpouring of grief and shock that swept through the county in the wake of the death of the controversial Chief Executive.

Lumberman and businessman John Stoner Beidler of Wrightsville was among those who expressed their opinions in their diaries and journals. A dedicated Republican, the 27-year-old father of two had twice previously voted for Lincoln, as well as for Governor Andrew G. Curtin.

Saturday, April 15, 1865

News came early this morning that Lincoln was shot last night, Seward badly stabbed. I have still some hope it is not so. 9½ P.M. It is only too true that Lincoln was shot. As soon as the news was confirmed, all the stores in town were closed and business suspended. All or nearly all business places throughout U.S. are closed and many a downcast countenance can be seen and even tears. Seward is reported still alive but his son is dead. Copperheads are as silent as the grave. They dare not open their mouth.

Beidler would later be in York on April 21, the day that Lincoln's funeral train passed through town, but for some reason, he decided to head home before it arrived shortly after 6:30 PM. His diary entry would show his regret at missing the historic passage of the steam train carrying the Railsplitter back to Springfield, Illinois for burial.

Here is a detailed newspaper account of the passage of the funeral train through York County.

Glatfelter is a $1.3 billion global paper company headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. The company now operates paper mills and paper converting facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as in Germany, France, England, Wales, and the Philippines. The company traces it roots to the Civil War era, having been founded during the first term of President Abraham Lincoln. Today, many first edition Civil War books are printed on Glatfelter paper because of its archival qualities that fully comply with Library of Congress standards for book permanence.

I have worked for the company as the Global Director of New Product Development since the summer of 2001 when I moved to York County from Cleveland's "Snow Belt." I knew the Spring Grove mill had been purchased by P.H. Glatfelter in 1863 and reopened in 1864 under new management, but I was determined to learn the "actual story behind the story."

Here is an excerpt from a book I wrote a few years ago in which I recount how Mr. Glatfelter built what became a leading international supplier of specialty papers and engineered products.

It's all because of the Battle of Gettysburg...

"How Lincoln Came to Be 'Under God' at Gettysburg" is the topic for the November 20 meeting of the Harrisburg Civil War Round Table. Charles Teague, a seasonal Ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park, will explore how the President, who as younger man was an avowed atheist, inserted the words "under God" into his Gettysburg Address.

During this sesquicentennial of his birth, Lincoln's profound thoughts continue to intrigue Americans. At various points in his life, he espoused almost every possible point of view on religion. Few people have ever gone through such a dramatic transformation in matters of philosophy and faith as did he. In his mature years Lincoln was circumspect about his deepest thoughts, but intimate acquaintances who closely observed him and listened to him during his presidency witnessed this change. When the evidence is viewed chronologically, a distinct pattern of growing conviction appears.

Major General Jubal Anderson Early, CSA, commanded the division of infantry and cavalry that devastated much of Manchester Township in central York County, Pennsylvania in the days immediately before the Battle of Gettysburg. (Library of Congress)

Manchester Township Civil War historian and author Scott L. Mingus, Sr. will present a free PowerPoint presentation and talk on Tuesday evening, October 27 at Otterbein United Methodist Church, 3241 N. George Street in Emigsville, Pennsylvania. For directions or information, call the church office at 717-764-0007.

The talk will include considerable new information on Manchester Township during the Gettysburg Campaign, including an examination of the scores of damage claims filed by local residents for horses and personal property stolen by the Confederate army during its occupation of central York County in late June 1863. Among the highlights of the talk will be a discussion of the exact locations of several Confederate campsites, including that of the Virginia brigade of Brig. Gen. William "Extra Billy" Smith, the governor of Virginia.

This old farm along North George Street near Emigsville was raided by troops under the command of General Early. Photo courtesy of York County photographer and historian Dianne Bowders, whose ancestors lived on the farm in the early 1900s.

Twice a year Gettysburg's All-Star Sports Complex on Emmitsburg Road hosts the Gettysburg Militaria, Relics, and Book Show, an event that usually is packed with all sorts of interesting Civil War artifacts. As usual, I perused the tables looking for a dealer might have one of the Knights of the Golden Circle membership tickets that so many Confederates wrote about after their invasion of southern Pennsylvania.

For $1, con artists from New York sold these worthless certificates to unsuspecting farmers who were told that the papers and a series of strange hand gestures would notify any Rebel invaders that the farmer was a friend of the Confederacy whose personal property would be protected. Quite the opposite actually occurred, as the Rebels mocked the farmers who performed the hand gesticulations and waved the KGC golden tickets. Their horses were taken with far higher frequency than Unionist neighbors who headed for the hills when Jubal Early's and J.E.B. Stuart's Southern soldiers came calling.

For more photos of the Gettysburg relics sale, please continue reading. Click on the pictures to enlarge them for better viewing of the artifacts.

Headstone erected in 1988 to mark the approximate spot of an earlier grave of a Confederate soldier who perished in the June 1863 Gettysburg Campaign. 2006 photo by Dr. Thomas M. Mingus, Civil War historian and author from Manchester Township, York County, PA.

This modern headstone is nestled between scenic River Road and the Susquehanna River about a mile north of the Accomac Inn in northeastern Hellam Township in York County, Pennsylvania. Of all the gravestones associated with the Army of Northern Virginia in the Gettysburg Campaign, this one is farthest east (excepting those soldiers who died in captivity or in hospitals). It is one of the three known graves of Rebel soldiers from the campaign who are buried in York County - the other marked gravesite is in York's Prospect Hill Cemetery where five Rebs are interred after dying at the temporary hospital in the local Odd Fellows Hall. An unmarked grave near Big Mount marks the final resting place of Charles Brown of the Louisiana Tigers (I recount that story in my recent book on the Tigers). And, not to forget, at one time there were several Confederate graves from the Battle of Hanover in southwestern York County, but these men were disinterred in the late 1800s and re-interred elsewhere..

So, who was this unknown Rebel who is remembered with a small headstone alongside the mighty Susquehanna?

Mt. Olivet Cemetery sprawls on a hilltop southeast of Hanover, Pennsylvania in extreme southern York County. During the Civil War, it was of course much smaller than today, and the heights became a platform for Confederate horse artillery during the June 30, 1863 Battle of Hanover. Following the war, the graveyard became the final resting place for many of the Civil War veterans of the Hanover region, and a stroll through the cemetery grounds yields dozens of headstones for these veterans.

Among those men buried in Mr. Olivet is Samuel Fitz, whose story can be pieced together from studying the rosters of Pennsylvania Civil War soldiers. The typical image of a Civil War soldier conjures up images of heroic charges across farm fields while bullets whistle past and shells explode overhead. For many soldiers, this indeed was the case. For tens of thousands of others, including Hanover's Sam Fitz, their military service was much more mundane and tedious.

Franklin Repository, Mar 9, 1864.

Isaac Fishel was born in Dillsburg in northwestern York County, Pennsylvania. A Lutheran in his religious convictions, he married Leah "Muzzie" Wolf and they eventually raised a family of nine children on his prosperous farm in Carroll Township.

At the age of 28, the general laborer was drafted into Company H of the 166th Pennsylvania Infantry on October 25, 1862, and was formally mustered into service on November 16. Family lore says he deserted from the army and "hid in the mountains" to avoid military service.

He was in the Dillsburg area when J.E.B. Stuart's column came through the region on July 1, 1863, during the Gettysburg Campaign. Unlike many other York Countians who were forced at gunpoint to serve as guides for Stuart's movments, Fishel volunteered his services to Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's column and helped pilot it to its destination.

Fishel was arrested, tried, and convicted. He was sentenced to be executed, but President Lincoln intervened and pardoned him. He was formally discharged in March 1864 on a surgeon's certificate of disability.

In 1863, this brick building in downtown Hanover, Pennsylvania, was the Central Hotel. It served as the nerve center for Union cavalry under Brigadier General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick during and after the Battle of Hanover.

Thousands of cars and trucks pass through downtown Hanover, Pennsylvania, each day, often creating a traffic jam that can back up the queue at the various signals. Patience is a must for the modern traveler visiting this historic town, as similar to the nearby town of Gettysburg, a network of roads converge in Hanover conveying traffic into downtown.

That network of roads led to the June 30, 1863, unplanned collision between Major General J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalrymen coming up from Maryland and a column of Federal troopers from H. Judson Kilpatrick's division.

Like the modern traffic flow, the point of congestion and contention was the intersection of the roads in downtown Hanover.

Dr. Mark Snell of the George Tyler Moore Center for Civil War Studies at Shepherd University is involved with the planning of the West Virginia Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission's inaugural events. The kick-off event take place on Thursday, October 15. Among the many events being planned is a panel discussion titled "Madman, Martyr, or Myth: John Brown's Portrayal in Film." The panel will be showing and discussing video clips from films and miniseries, including, among others, the Santa Fe Trail and North and South. Each clip will be followed by panel comments and discussion.

Dr. Snell, a York County PA native and well respected educator and author, will be moderating a distinguished panel, which will consist of Dr. Charles Niemeyer of the USMC University; Ron Maxwell, director of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals; Dr. Walter Powell, a cultural historian who also is adjunct professor of historic preservation at Shepherd University and past president of the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association; and Beth White, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Charleston and a member of the WV Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission.

The event takes place from 6-7:30 pm this Friday, October 16 on the second floor of the John Brown Museum in the Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. It is FREE and open to the public but seating is very limited.

The WV Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission also will have an information table set up in HFNHP on Friday and Saturday.

The York Civil War Round Table will feature James A. Hessler at its monthly meeting on October 21, 2009. The topic of the evening will be "Sickles At Gettysburg: The Controversial Civil War General Who Committed Murder, Abandoned Little Round Top, and Declared Himself the Hero of Gettysburg."

No individual who fought at Gettysburg was more controversial, both personally and professionally, than Major General Daniel E. Sickles. By 1863, Sickles was notorious as a disgraced former Congressman who murdered his wife's lover on the streets of Washington and used America's first temporary insanity defense to escape justice. With his political career in ruins, Sickles used his connections with President Lincoln to obtain a prominent command in the Army of the Potomac's Third Corps despite having no military experience. At Gettysburg, he disobeyed orders in one of the most controversial decisions in military history.

Licensed Battlefield Guide James Hessler has written the first balanced, deeply researched, and eminently readable biography of this colorful and wholly unique American icon. Civil War enthusiasts who want to understand General Sickles' tarnished life, Gettysburg's battlefield strategies, the in-fighting within the Army of the Potomac, and the development of today's National Park will find " Sickles at Gettysburg" a must read.

James A. Hessler works in financial services for Bill Me Later, Inc., is a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park, and has taught Sickles and Gettysburg-related courses at college level. He has published Civil War-related articles, and speaks regularly at Civil War Round Tables. A native of Buffalo, NY, Jim resides in Gettysburg with his wife and children.

The meeting will be held at 7:00 PM on Wednesday evening in the auditorium of the York County Heritage Trust at 250 E. Market Street in downtown York, Pennsylvania. There is no charge for admission and the public is welcome ! Parking is also free.