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During the months prior to the Gettysburg Campaign in June-July 1863, south-central Pennsylvania was filled with spies, rumors of spies, secret agents, Southern sympathizers, and con men, who preyed on the fears of the populace to sell the farmers golden tickets and secret signs that allegedly would protect their farms from Confederate raiders in the event of an invasion of the North. These shysters claimed to have been authorized agents of the Knights of the Golden Circle, but it's not likely they had any connection to the real operatives.

Some of the spy stories proved true (a few men were captured and taken to prison at Fort Delaware or in Harrisburg; one was executed after being seized in Gettysburg a week before the battle). Others were dramatized (a one-armed door-to-door Bible salesman, for example, was later reported to have been guiding one of Jubal Early's columns through York County) or exaggerated (a drunken man in a York bar boasted of being a Confederate soldier from Alabama personally sent to Pennsylvania by Bobby Lee; after he sobered up he turned out to be just another local wino looking for attention).

Now, was the Dillsburg man (whose identity I am still chasing) actually the York County agent for the K.G.C., or was he another lonely soul looking for some last minute "five minutes of fame." Or, was he confessing his traitorous activities in a soul cleansing final moment?

Keep in mind that much of the purported activity and membership of the Knights of the Golden Circle is still wrapped in innuendo and myth; a definitive account of their dealings in south-central Pennsylvania is on my agenda of "to do" book ideas.

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.

York County, Pennsylvania, was a valuable source of war materiel, woolen blankets, supplies, and perhaps most of all, fresh troops. As the war progressed, the need for additional manpower caused the Lincoln Administration to institute the first mass conscription in U.S. history, a controversial move that led to riots in several places, including a large scale civil disturbance in New York City in the summer of 1863. By the following year, the draft resistance had somewhat calmed down, but the Overland Campaign and the subsequent Siege of Petersburg, created the need for manpower in the Eastern Theater, while William T. Sherman's activities in Tennessee and Georgia also demanded soldiers by the tens of thousands.

"Hundred days regiments" helped fill the void, providing temporary manpower to guard bridges, railroads, and supply lines, thereby freeing veteran troops for combat duty. Additional front line troops were also being raised, including the 209th Pennsylvania.

In northwestern York County's Franklin Township, a prominent carpenter and builder stepped up to do his civic duty...

Heritage Day will be celebrated October 18th at St. John's Franklin Lutheran Church for the community and the three churches comprising Faith United Lutheran Parish near Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. The public is welcome to this celebration.

Among those groups participating in the historic traditional worship service at 10:30 AM will be members of the 11th Pa. Volunteer Fife and Drum Corps from Gettysburg, members of the 42nd Pa. "Bucktails," and others visiting in the Dillsburg area this weekend. In tribute to early members who continued their native language service into the latter 19th century, a portion of the readings will be in German. About 11:30 attendees will gather at the gravesite of some Civil War soldiers for a short memorial service.

The old Clear Spring Mill in Franklin Township in York County, Pennsylvania, was targeted by passing Confederate troops during the Gettysburg Campaign.

July 1, 1863 was a momentous day for northwestern York County, Pennsylvania. More than 600 horses were stolen by the 5,500-man Confederate cavalry division of Major General J.E.B. Stuart as it passed through the region between Dover and Dillsburg (following parts of today's route 74 and several parallel routes). Stuart had left one brigade under Brigadier General Wade Hampton III behind at Dillsburg and had taken two other brigades into Cumberland County, where he attacked the Union defenders of Carlisle. Late in the night, he received orders to march to Gettysburg, where the Army of Northern Virginia was engaged with the Union Army of the Potomac in a great battle. Stuart relayed orders back to Hampton, who roused his veteran troopers and had them on the road southwesterly by 1-2 AM.

Their path first took them through Franklin Township in northwestern York County.

It would not be a good night and early morning for the residents of the region. Hampton's weary men, though exhausted by the grueling, sleepness night march that one cavalryman deemed the worst march of the war, had enough energy to canvass the township and steal every good horse that could be found.

They also paused to raid the village of Clear Spring, Pennsylvania, as they plodded toward Gettysburg...

...where the old mill was among the businesses and farms raided. (Photo from Art and Donna Bert's excellent website for the award-winning restored mill).

The Maple Shade barn on the old Harrisburg Pike in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, serves as the headquarters, meeting room, and gift shop for the local historical society. Confederate raiders are known to have camped nearby on the old John Mumper farm along Logan's Run. The small sign to the right advertises my talk on J.E.B. Stuart's Ride to Dillsburg."

Not much has previously appeared in books and historical documents regarding the June 28-29, 1863, raid through extreme northwestern York County by of a portion of Confederate Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins' brigade of mounted infantry. I am currently assembling materials for an article I plan to submit to the Gettysburg Magazine regarding this incursion, and have found some interesting new material. Recently I spoke at the Northern York County Historical and Preservation Society on the topic of "J.E.B. Stuart's Ride to Dillsburg," and I included a few snippets from my recent research into Jenkins' {West} Virginians and their earlier raid, including the near-miss between Dillsburg and Franklintown between the retreating 26th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia and Jenkins' advance guard.

After the talk, Martin and Connie Trostle were among the attendees who paused to share the stories they had heard concerning the two separate Confederate raids through the Dillsburg area. Connie, the secretary of the NYCHAPS group, was kind enough to send me a copy of a transcript generated in 1930 by an older lady from Dillsburg who had been an 8-year-old girl named Anna Mumper when the Rebels came through Carroll Township in June and July of 1863. The account is fascinating, albeit heavily colored by time and dimming of memory (and the mixing up of the various raids, events, timeline, and officers). Still, much of her basic recollections corroborate other earlier accounts of events in Dillsburg (that brief account can be purchased at the NYCHAPS gift shop in the Maple Shade Barn).

Here is one anecdote with its genesis from the Anna Mumper account, with historical facts added from my research...

This old hilltop barn sits alongside York Road between Dover and Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. Thousands of cars drive past it every day, with almost none knowing (or caring I presume) about its historical significance.

Back in 1863, more than 1,000 Confederate cavalrymen under Brigadier General Wade Hampton III of South Carolina slowly rode past this massive wooden edifice in the mid-afternoon of Tuesday, July 1, 1863. They were escorting a captured Union wagon train of 125 loaded supply wagons, each pulled by a brace of mules. Another 250 or so extra mules were being herded behind the column (Stuart had cut the mulepower in half to shorten his column's length, although it also cut its speed). Also in the entourage was fabled Confederate cavalry Major General J.E.B. Stuart, who was likely the biggest star in the galaxy of Rebel generals who visited York County that summer.

The barn sat on the farm of Aaron Firestone, who very much rued Stuart's ride past his farm, for a patrol peeled off the column and rode into the farmyard, with mischief on their minds.

Thursday September 3, 2009 from 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Maple Shade Barn
35 Greenbriar Lane
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania 17019

Civil War author and tour guide Scott L. Mingus, Sr. presents a PowerPoint presentation on Confederate Major General J.E.B. Stuart's controversial ride through western York County to Dillsburg while the Battle of Gettysburg raged to the west. The talk is FREE and open to the public!

Sponsored by the Northern York County Historical and Preservation Society.

Mingus will have copies of his latest book, Gettysburg Glimpses: True Stories from the Battlefield available for purchase and autographs.

On July 1, 1863, concurrent with the afternoon fighting on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, more than 5,000 Confederate cavalrymen passed through Carroll Township in northwestern York County, Pennsylvania. They were commanded by Major General J.E.B. Stuart, who was marching toward Carlisle and a hoped for rendezvous with the infantry of Ewell's Corps. Stuart, hoping to get some definitive word on the location of the Army of Northern Virginia, sent out various scouting parties.

He also sent out foragers, scouring the countryside for horses, mules, and supplies. They were hard to come by in this largely rural region. A previous raid by Rebel cavalry under Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins had taken some of the horses, while hundreds of other animals had been taken to safety or hidden in the woods. A half dozen or so Carroll Township farmers had taken their horses down to Warrington Township to supposed safety on the imposing heights of Round Top mountain, but the Southerners had already found them. Several men had hidden their horses in the thick woods owned by John Cook on a farm off today's Route 74 just north of the township line; they were among the first horses discovered and seized by Stuart's column as it entered Carroll Township.

The Rebels weren't finished.

Col. Matthew S. Quay was one of the Civil War heroes from northern York County. Born and raised in Dillsburg, he took command of the 134th Pennsylvania when it was first organized in August 1862 at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg. The regiment was taken by train through York and Hanover Junction down to Baltimore, where it changed trains for the ride to the nation's capitol. In Washington's defenses, Quay and the 134th were attached to the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac.

They marched into Maryland from September 1-18, but did not see action at the Battle of Antietam. Along with the rest of George McClellan's army, they remained inactive at Sharpsburg until October 30. After a quick reconnaissance mission to Smithfield in what is now West Virginia, they marched to Falmouth, Virginia, where Quay's career reached a sudden unexpected crossroads...