More than 700 York County residents suffered losses to the passing armies during the Gettysburg Campaign. In a few cases, they were victimized more than once, and at times to both the Union and Confederate forces. One such multiple unfortunate was wealthy Hanover merchant and land owner Josiah W. Gitt, whose properties were in the wrong places at the wrong times.
The Hanover Branch Railroad's station house at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, has been restored to approximate its 1863 appearance.
Background post: The Hanover Junction cavalry countermarch, an account of William Miller of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry.
Among the Union cavalry troops in David M. Gregg's division who visited Hanover Junction on July 1, 1863, was the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry, also known as the 60th Pennsylvania regiment. One of the earliest cavalry regiments to be mustered from the commonwealth, it was recruited during the spring and summer of 1861, under the direction of Colonel William H. Young. It was initially known as Young's Light Kentucky Cavalry. Companies A, C, F, K and M were recruited in Philadelphia, with the majority of the rest of the men from Chester, Clinton, Allegheny, Delaware, and Schuylkill counties. Company D wasn't from Pennsylvania at all; it had been recruited in Washington D.C. from residents of the District of Columbia.
A few years after the war, the regimental historian briefly discussed the troopers' activities in southwestern York County. This is one of the very few accounts that mentions the Union vanguard encountering stragglers from J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate column and capturing them at Hanover Junction. Other stragglers from Stuart's column had reached Gettysburg on July 1, where they were spotted by Jubal Early's men.
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