York: June 2009 Archives

Maj. G. O. Haller, courtesy of USAMHI, Carlisle.

Background posts: Major Granville Haller, To Surrender York or Not, Part II, York native orders civilians to blockade mountain passes near Dillsburg, Book chronicles York native dismissed from the U.S. Army for alleged disloyalty, York army officer's career destroyed by USN officer from Reading

Major Granville O. Haller of the 7th U.S. Infantry was the "Defender of the Susquehanna," the Federal officer in charge of the defenses of Adams and York counties and the vital river crossing at Wrightsville during the Gettysburg Campaign. Haller's actions were not without controversy, and some period observers such as Chambersburg storekeeper and author / writer Jacob Hoke and Professor Michael Jacobs of Gettysburg blamed Haller for his command decisions at Gettysburg in ordering untrained militia to resist the oncoming veteran Confederates. By contrast, some in York equally blamed Haller for his passive non-resistance in that town.

Cannonball reader Guy Breshears is a published author who has studied the life of Granville Oewn Haller. A few years ago, he wrote an interesting account of the July 1863 dismissal of the major for alleged improper remarks about the President and the fall of the Federal government, comments made in a toast that a rival officer trumped up into formal charges. It took Haller years to clear his name in a formal inquiry after the war.

Mr. Breshears, who visited York a couple of years ago to further research Haller, e-mailed me some photos related to Haller's career in the Pacific Northwest, where he was posted before the war at Fort Dalles.

Photo of a page of resolutions passed in September 1863 condemning President Lincoln and his war policies. These were a result of a convention of leading peace Democrats and Copperheads in downtown York, Pennsylvania.

1863 was perhaps the most momentous year of York's history, at least from a military perspective. More than 10,000 Confederate soldiers marched or rode through the county shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg, inflaming the passions of both the pro-Union and pro-Confederate (or Copperhead) elements of the county. York resident Cassandra Morris Small, part of a large prosperous family of merchants and millers, had a few observations on the local Copperheads in a letter she wrote in July.

"Our next neighbor has proved himself a Secessionist! We all liked him and his family so much before. We couldn't believe it -- but then he proved himself one. He entertained the officers all the time. His sister (Mary Campbell's friend) waved her handkerchief to them, until our clergyman rushed to her and stopped her, saying, "If you have no respect for yourself, have some for the people you live among." Now we have nothing to do with them; but only think that after his numerous entertainments, an officer deliberately walked through his office and through the yard to the stable and took his horse. Oh, we have many such persons, but nobody speaks to them... though real Southerners are more bearable than these traitors."

Barely three months after the Confederate invasion of York Country, the Copperhead element of York hosted a convention in the town. Among the resolutions was a letter drafted by the attendees and delivered to President Abraham Lincoln. The secretary of the convention would officially ratify the resolutions in February of the following year.

This plaque on the north side of Penn Common depicts the Civil War-era U.S. Army Hospital that once was on the premises of what is now the park. The hospital was a sprawling complex that treated more than 14,000 patients during the war. The buildings were dismantled following the conflict and the cessation of military medical services in York.

Background post: York's Penn Common Civil War memorial

This graceful figure of Columbia tops the central column of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Penn Common.

Fame commentator Paul Harvey used to close his popular radio show with the tag line, "And now you know the rest of the story." Most of us are well aware that York was occupied by Confederate forces during the early summer of 1863, but how many of us know the rest of the story? Come to the York Civil War Round Table's June 17 meeting to find out!

As a prelude to the annual Patriot Days in York and the Battle of Gettysburg, the York Civil War Round Table has scheduled York native, author and historian, Scott D. Butcher to speak at its June 17th meeting. His PowerPoint presentation is called "York: Prize of the Confederacy." He includes in his talk the residents of York in June 1863, specific York landmarks, numerous first-person accounts and quotes from both sides and the newspaper headlines from the days of the Confederate occupation.

He is also going to include information he has collected on the Underground Railroad in York County, a topic that has not often been discussed in any detail.

One of downtown's York's most interesting places for the Civil War buff is the Penn Common (or Penn Park). It was the site of the U.S. Army Hospital which treated more than 14,000 wounded and ill soldiers during the war. Among them were hundreds of patients brought to York from the battlefield at Gettysburg.

Recently the state installed a series of historical wayside markers throughout southern Pennsylvania to commemorate the region's Civil War history. Among the Pennsylvania Civil War Trails sites is Penn Common.