Other places: December 2008 Archives

A view of the exterior of the Schultz house on Emig Street in Hallam, Pennsylvania. This heavily modified stone house dates from the early 19th century, and is shown in this U.S. government photograph taken in the 1980s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

On Sunday afternoon, June 28, 1863, nearly 2000 Confederate soldiers marched through the tiny village of Hallam, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Hellam Township in eastern York County. Led by pre-wear Georgia attorney and businessman John Brown Gordon, the Rebels were marching from York to Wrightsville, where they were supposed to seize the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge and control access to Lancaster County.

It would not work out as General Gordon hoped.

A view looking north at what in 1863 was the Henry Fishel farm just east of Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania. This was among the scores of farms in Adams and York counties visited in the Gettysburg Campaign by Elijah V. White's 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (later nicknamed the "Comanches" for their war cries). The Rebels burned the railroad bridge over Fishel Creek (seen in the upper center). CLICK TO ENLARGE these photos for a better look at the farm.

Lt. Col. Elijah White's men split off from John Gordon's Confederate brigade shortly after leaving Gettysburg on June 26, 1863. They had stolen dozens of horses at Gettysburg, became drunk on local whiskey, and killed an Adams County cavalryman, George Washington Sandoe. They "widely scattered" upon leaving Gettysburg on the 27th, with some of the battalion accompanying Gordon as far as Abbottstown on the turnpike (now U.S. 30) before turning southward to Hanover. Others followed the railroad, burning bridges and heading into McSherrystown. Evidence exists that at least part of the battalion took Hanover Road (today's S.R. 116) to reach McSherrystown and then Hanover (horses were stolen along the way from farms on 116). Later, they raided Hanover Junction and some visited Seven Valleys.

Here is one of their stories from their afternoon of merriment at the expense of York Countians...