Dover: March 2009 Archives

This well maintained old 19th century farmhouse and associated outbuildings are located at the intersection of Butter and Bull roads (a.k.a "Eastmont") in northeastern Dover Township in York County, Pennsylvania. During the American Civil War, Confederate cavalry patrols from Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton III's brigade of Jeb Stuart's cavalry corps passed by this home and foragers likely wandered around the barn and stable looking for horses. It is probable they found none, as farmer E. Gross did not file a formal damage claim with the state to recover any losses for personal property taken by the Rebels. Of course, not every York Countian whose horses or other possession were stolen bothered to file a claim after the war.

Stuart divided up his force, with the brigades of Col. John Chambliss, Jr. and Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee heading northwesterly via Harmony Grove Road to Wellsville, where they too apparently split up on parallel roads for a short period before rendezvousing south of Dillsburg.

Press Release:

DOVER -- Glatfelter scientist and local historian Scott L. Mingus Sr. will give a presentation at the March meeting of the Greater Dover Historical Society, 7:00 p.m. Thursday. March 19, 2009, at Calvary Lutheran Church on the square in Dover (near the intersection of Carlisle Road (Route 74) and Canal Road).

Mingus will discuss the trails of Civil War generals Early, Stuart, Hampton and others as they led their troops through Dover Township and Dover, and east to York or northwesterly toward Dillsburg.

He will speak on Dover-area families whose lives were directly touched by the troops while they camped on local farm properties and helped themselves to horses and crops. Some family names he will touch on are Meisenhelter, Bowersox, Kinsey, Laucks, Daron and Weigle.

The public is invited to the free program. Refreshments will be served following the presentation. For details, call president Madelyn Shermeyer at 292-2018 or e-mail mmshermeyer@ddogcom.net.

The society will meet again at 7 p.m. April 16, May 21, June 18, July 16 (picnic), Aug. 20, Sept. 17, Oct. 15 and Nov. 19, all at Calvary Lutheran Church.

On July 1, 1863, Confederate cavalry under J.E.B. Stuart, most likely patrols from the brigade of Brigadier General Wade Hampton III, foraged far and wide in north-central Dover Township in York County, Pennsylvania. They were looking for horses, and, more often than not, they discovered that the residents had taken their animals to safety. However, more than 260 horses were collected by Stuart (and earlier Rebels parties) in Dover Township alone, according to state border claim records in Harrisburg.

Among the farms hit by the Rebels was this one off Nursery Road. George Wintermeyer reported losing a three-year-old black mare from his stable in his barn.

The southeastern corner of Canal Road (foreground) and Bull Road (a.k.a "Motter's Corners") in northern York County, Pennsylvania, has been a site for a country store for more than 150 years. Heavily modified and expanded, the original frame building can be discerned within the newer structure. On June 29, 1863, Confederate raiders from the 17th Virginia Cavalry visited the store and cleaned it out. They took large quantities of coffee, sugar and some wearing apparel, and left worthless Confederate cash with the owner, Elias S. Quickel.

Youthful Eli Quickel opened the shop in extreme western Conewago Township in the early 1860s. Born November 3, 1837, in York, Quickel came from a large and old Pennsylvania German family. On December 1, 1859, he married Mary A. Bear in York and they established a household. They raised a daughter, Mary Magdalena Quickel, and were active in their community.

The Confederate raid on his shop did not deter Quickel, as he soon rebuilt his inventory and resumed business.

Quickel died on his wedding anniversary, December 1, 1914, at the age of 76 in York. He is buried in the city's Greenmount Cemetery.

The southern approach to Mount Royal, Pennsylvania, along the old Carlisle Road as seen in this February 28, 2009, photograph. On the afternoon of July 1, 1863, Major General J.E.B. Stuart led a column of Confederate cavalry into this tiny village nestled in the Conewago Mountains of northern York County. Those forces most likely consisted of the cavalry brigade of Brigadier General Wade Hampton III, the divisional wagon train, and a captured 125-wagon Union supply train that had been taken near Rockville, Maryland, a few days before Stuart's passage through Mount Royal.