Recently in York County sites Category

This impressive statue stands in the midst of a special circular section of the Prospect Hill Cemetery on North George Street near York, Pennsylvania. Scores of Union soldiers who died at the U.S. Army Military Hospital in downtown York are buried in concentric circles around the statue, and their names are carved into curved flat marble stones. Most are from Pennsylvania or New York regiments, and a fair number of those interred were mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg.

During the Civil War, more than 14,000 wounded or ill men were treated at the military hospital, making it among the largest in Pennsylvania. Many of those who expired at the hospital (or at the train station while awaiting transport to the hospital as in the case of three men critically wounding at Gettysburg) were sent home to their families, but in several cases, either no word came from the family as to the body's disposition, or they could not afford to have their loved one sent home. Hence, the dead ended up in York's main cemetery at the time.

In 1886, York author, lawyer and judge John Gibson penned what at the time was the "official" history of York County, Pennsylvania. Much of his section on the Civil War was taken from research and notes by George Reeser Prowell, who would in 1907 publish his own, larger history of York County.

The York County Heritage Trust has hard copies of Gibson's and Prowell's works, and they are well worth perusing for the history buff interested in learning more about York County, Pennsylvania, during the Civil War. From an Internet genealogy dealer a few years ago, I picked up a fully searchable, downloadable copy of Gibson's history in CD format, and I have used it quite often as a reference to this area's local history. I have found Gibson and Prowell to be very useful, although they clearly have several errors when it comes to the Civil War information.

Here is the bulk of Gibson's information on York County in the Rebellion, which I have slightly edited for clarity and rearranged the order to make a little more sense (the original text is not well organized). I have also changed a couple of Gibson's titles and subtitles. I have also italicized the names of most York countians in case you spot an ancestor's name.

The Charge
Photo by Thomas M. Mingus. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

If you have a particular favorite Civil War photograph and would like to share it with other Cannonball readers, please send me an e-mail with a digital copy of that photograph, as well as giving me written permission to use that photo in this blog. Photos can be of battlefields, reenactors, sunsets at Gettysburg, monuments, buildings, or anything else that is photogenic and is directly related to this general area's Civil War history. Send them in, and I will publish them over the next few weeks!!

All entries become eligible for a drawing for an autographed copy of my book Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition when it gets in print.