Dover: January 2009 Archives

I will be speaking at the Greater Dover Historical Society at 7:00 PM on March 19, 2009, on Confederate general Jubal Early's march through Dover Township and J.E.B. Stuart's subsequent march through the township and Dover Borough. The meeting will be at Calvary Lutheran Church, which is nestled in between Civil War houses.

Making extensive use of the York County Border Claims and records, I will discuss the various Confederate campsites in and around Dover, and will touch on several farmers, merchants, and millers in the area whose personal property was taken by the Rebels. Colonel William French's 17th Virginia Cavalry was particularly active in Dover Township over a three-day period and racked up more than 100 horses by themselves.

That was an impressive feat for a single regiment that stripped a lot of horses away from Stuart's three brigades which camped around Dover the day after French headed west with Early's Division. So many current Dover Township residents' ancestors were raided by the Rebels, with local names such as Daron, Spangler, Bentzel, Leckrone, Meisenhelder, and more than 200 others being hit by the Southern visitors.

I am scheduling upcoming talks on East Berlin in the Gettysburg Campaign for the East Berlin Historical Preservation Society and one in Emigsville for the Emigsville Heritage Project. I will speak on the Columbia-Wrightsville bridge burning and the raid on Hanover Junction at the York CWRT meeting in March, and am lining up numerous other talks in the Mid-Atlantic region following the debut of Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863 (it's now printed and awaiting the release of funds from the publisher to the printer so it can be shipped! Let's hope it hits the shelves shortly).

A view taken December 28 of the historic Detters Mill in northwestern Dover Township in York County, Pennsylvania. A lengthy column of Confederate soldiers passed by this mill, watering their horses in the nearby Conewago Creek. The old mill has been converted into apartments.

On July 1, 1863, as J.E.B. Stuart's column continued it march from Dover, Pennsylvania, to Carlisle, a portion of the division under Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee and Col. John Chambliss, Jr. turned off the main road (State Road / Carlisle Road; portions of which are today's State Route 74). and headed down Harmony Grove Road. Shortly after passing the white frame country church, they reached the Conewago Creek, dividing Dover Township from Warrington and Washington townships.

This covered bridge spanned Little Conewago Creek east of Dover, Pennsylvania. Photo from an old postcard.

Confederate horsemen were quite active in Dover Township visiting farms and mills collecting horses, mules, grain, and flour. On June 28 and 29, Col. William H. French's 17th Virginia Cavalry roamed the region, raiding more than forty farms and taking horses. Recruited in the mountain region of what had since become West Virginia, they were proficient foragers, and scores of York Countians were paid a visit by these troopers. At the same time, Major John Campbell of the First Louisiana Brigade (the famed and feared Louisiana Tigers) and a large contingent of infantrymen and wagons were raiding mills and nearby farms north of York, including roaming into Dover Township.

A view taken in December 2008 of the northwestern corner of the main intersection in Dover, Pennsylvania. In the 19th century, Dover had a town square, which accounts for the setback of the white frame building on the left. The town (and surrounding township) had a significant population of citizens with German heritage, including Mrs. Forscht, who owned the corner lot with the white house. The sturdy red brick building to the right was the office of Dr. John Ahl, which would be the Confederates' business office during their half-day stay in Dover on July 1, 1863. Here, General Wade Hampton fired off dispatches via couriers, and later supervised the parole of 230 Yankees, including 21 men captured at Hanover.

Dawn of July 1, 1863, saw Dover firmly in the grasp of the famed Southern cavalier, Major General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart. His men surrounded the town, with the brigade of the future Governor of South Carolina, Wade Hampton III, likely occupying the ground immediately west of Dover as it was the rear guard of the force, and it is known that Hampton's men later that day skirmished with Federal pursuers near Salem Church. What is less clear is the exact location of the brigades of Fitzhugh Lee and John Chambliss, Jr. although I am still combing through old records to see if a clue can be obtained. It is known that the main body of the Rebels camped near Fox Run, the main source of water in the Dover area, although picket posts were established well out the main roads.

For more photos of modern Dover and commentary, click the link.

Typical York County farmland. Confederate columns criss-crossed the undulating region during the last week of June 1863. Rebel soldiers took more than 1,000 horses from county residents, at times leaving behind worn out nags and mules. Stuart's column freed 80 exhausted mules in one farmer's field, destroying his entire crop of oats. Many farmers hid their animals in ravines, hollows, brushy fields, orchards, woods, and on mountains. However, the Rebels often discovered the horses and mules and took them with them when they departed.

June 30, 1863, had been a trying day for J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry division. Many of the troopers had participated in an emotional battle against Union cavalry at the Battle of Hanover, and several men left friends and family members behind, dead or wounded. The Secessionist saddle soldiers had then endured a grueling ride through southwestern York County's undulating terrain, hampered by a captured train of 125 Yankee supply wagons. Most would march an average of 23 miles from Hanover.

The lead elements of Stuart's column, the Virginia brigade of Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, began arriving in Dover sometime about 2:00 a.m. on July 1.