Recently in Emigsville Category

York County photographer Dianne Bowders sent me a photo of one of her ancestors, Ellen Busey Roland of Emigsville. Ironically, just a couple of days before then, I had downloaded the following article from newsinhistory.com.

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.

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.

amazon.com is now taking pre-orders from the upcoming October 2009 publication of my latest book, The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863. This book contains perhaps the most detailed account written yet of the Tigers' smashing assault that doomed the Union defenses at the Second Battle of Winchester, and, of course, as one would expect from my books, there are a lot of human interest stories scattered throughout the narrative. Included are several brand new stories from here in York County, as the Tigers paid their respects to York merchants and to Spring Garden Township and Manchester Township residents. The book covers the Tigers two attacks at Gettysburg (July 1 and July 2), and the subsequent retreat into Virginia.

To place an order, or to read more about this book, please visit amazon's webpage.

My new book on one of the most famous brigades in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Gettysburg Campaign will be published (as was my recently released Flames Beyond Gettysburg) on archival quality, acid-free premium book paper from Glatfelter. Click on the icon above to learn more about the permanent, library-quality paper used by many leading printers and book publishers across North America.

I received formal notification today from LSU Press that my upcoming book, The Louisiana Tigers in the Gettysburg Campaign, June-July 1863, will indeed appear in their Fall 2009 book catalog.The book will be 352 pages, with a footprint of 6"x9". It will have 8 maps, some of which I am using under license from Brad Gottfried (maps of the Second Battle of Winchester). The forward to the book is by noted New England author Brent Nosworthy, who wrote the classic Civil War book Bloody Crucible of Courage.

ISBN 978-0-8071-3479-5

Cloth-bound hardback, dust jacket. October 2009.

$34.95 MSRP.

Here is a snippet...

Confederate forces in June 1863 were quite active in York County, Pennsylvania, trying to destroy the logistics and communications infrastructure. Telegraph lines were a particular target, and telegraph stations were often raided, including those at Hanover and Hanover Junction. Another military objective were the railroad bridges. Upon entering Pennsylvania, Confederate cavalry on June 15 and 16 of that year raided the Cumberland Valley Railroad, which was to become a repeated target over the next two weeks. The Gettysburg Railroad was the next Pennsylvania line to receive damage, when a couple bridges between Gettysburg and New Oxford went up in flames. Finally, on June 28 and June 29, the focus shifted eastward to the Hanover Branch Railroad and the Northern Central Railway.

Among the many bridges torched or otherwise wrecked along the NCR's line was its longest bridge, the 324-foot span over the Codorus Creek near the P.A. & S. Small flour mills.

The aerial photograph of the modern York Flour Mills, Inc. is courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth, and shows the location of one of the old P.A. & S. Small mills nestled between the railroad and the Codorus Creek. In 1863, the railroad line was the Northern Central's tracks that led from Baltimore to Harrisburg, and Confederate troops camped in and around the mill yard. Armed guards made sure no one broke into the mill.

Earlier in the war, thousands of Union soldiers crossed by the landmark mill on troop trains headed south to join what became the Army of the Potomac.

Philip Albright Small and his brother Samuel were among the leading citizens of York, Pennsylvania, during the mid-19th century. They inherited mills, land, and wealth from their industrious father, George Small, who built the original mill on the Codorus Creek in Manchester Township. They owned comfortable homes in downtown York, were well respected by most of the citizenry, and well networked within both the social and business fabric of York County and the region.

During the Gettysburg Campaign, the Small brothers were also known to the invading Confederate army. In fact, their mills were a particular target for Major General Jubal A. Early.

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).

The Myers grist mill was one of several similar establishments that once dotted the banks of the Codorus Creek north of York, Pennsylvania. The old mill is in excellent condition today, and is privately owned. It is next to the York Heritage Rail Trail and Locust Lane Park off of Emig Mill Road in Manchester Township.

In late June 1863, this peaceful setting was the site of a break-in and robbery. The perpetrators were infantrymen from the famed (and much feared) "Louisiana Tigers" of veteran Brigadier General Harry Thompson Hays of New Orleans.