Results tagged “Civil War” from Cannonball

York County, Pennsylvania, was a valuable source of war materiel, woolen blankets, supplies, and perhaps most of all, fresh troops. As the war progressed, the need for additional manpower caused the Lincoln Administration to institute the first mass conscription in U.S. history, a controversial move that led to riots in several places, including a large scale civil disturbance in New York City in the summer of 1863. By the following year, the draft resistance had somewhat calmed down, but the Overland Campaign and the subsequent Siege of Petersburg, created the need for manpower in the Eastern Theater, while William T. Sherman's activities in Tennessee and Georgia also demanded soldiers by the tens of thousands.

"Hundred days regiments" helped fill the void, providing temporary manpower to guard bridges, railroads, and supply lines, thereby freeing veteran troops for combat duty. Additional front line troops were also being raised, including the 209th Pennsylvania.

In northwestern York County's Franklin Township, a prominent carpenter and builder stepped up to do his civic duty...

The Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, railroad station in November 1863 during the Civil War. Rolling stock and trains that passed through this intersection northward from Baltimore followed tracks that led to the Pennsylvania Railroad, headed during the war by powerful businessman and politician Thomas Scott. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

When I was a kid, my grandparents being enjoyed listening to country and western singer Johnny Cash, whose star-crossed life was recently brilliantly portrayed by actor Joaquin Phoenix in the Hollywood movie "Walk the Line." Among his most popular (and haunting) songs was Folsom Prison Blues, which evokes memories of an era when the railroads were THE link between American cities and towns, and were the lifeblood of the nation's economy.

During the Civil War, the relatively young railroad industry began to come of age. It facilitated the mass logistics of moving large quantities of supplies, ammunition, war materiel, and troops to the front, and provided a transportation link for farmers, merchants, and business and social travelers. Perhaps no one has a better grasp of the critical role the railroads here in Pennsylvania played during the Civil War than native York Countian Ivan E. Frantz, Jr.

The Jackson Township resident will discuss "The Pennsylvania Railroad and the Civil War" at the monthly meeting of the York Civil War Round Table at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 in the auditorium of the York County Heritage Trust at 250 E. Market Street in York. Parking and admission are FREE, and the public is quite welcome!

This house along South Salem Church Road in Dover Township, York County, Pennsylvania, was once a three-story grist mill owned by wealthy miller George B. Emig. The historic mill closed in the 20th century and was heavily renovated to be used as private housing, with the top two floors and roof removed and a new roof put in place. The old mill equipment is long gone, although traces of the mill creek and race may still be seen along the Little Conewago Creek.

Emig's Mill was visited on multiple times during the Gettysburg Campaign by Confederate cavalrymen. Here are at three of those stories...

I am now accepting orders for my latest book, Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863 from Ironclad Publishing. Please see my website for this new book for details and a photo gallery of more than 100 pictures associated with the book and the historical locations and personages featured in Flames Beyond Gettysburg. I accept PayPal, personal checks, and money orders for this book. A portion of the proceeds will go for battlefield preservation efforts.

Copies of the book will be on sale at my upcoming talks at the York CWRT at the York Heritage Trust on March 18 and at the Greater Dover Historical Society on March 19. As soon as I know when my large shipment is coming in, we plan a talk and formal reception at the York Emporium (more details to come once Jim Lewin and I work out the details for this formal introduction of the book, and I am hoping to have some guests lined up for that event).

Citizens and veteran Federal soldiers lounge on the front porch of the Hanover Junction train station in this photograph taken in the spring of 1865. Less than two years before, inexperienced recruits of the 20th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia may have also stood on the same porch in the days before the Confederate raiders arrived on June 27, 1863. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Previous posts:
The Hanover Branch Railroad - Part 1 of a series
The Hanover Branch Railroad - Part 2

The third week of June brought excitement for the few residents of tiny Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania. A battalion of Union troops, clad in fresh, crisp new blue uniforms and carrying shiny Springfield rifles, marched through nearby Seven Valley and encamped on a hilltop near the camp. Some accounts suggest they had a small bronze cannon with them. Unfortunately, we have no contemporary records of the reception of the locals, nor any surviving letters from residents remarking on the Union occupancy of the Junction, or of the Howard Tunnel to the north. We do have some damage claims from a couple of farmers whose lands were used as campsites for the regiment in various places in the county.

The troops' job was simple -- protect Hanover Junction, the nearby railroad bridges, and the tunnel.

A view taken in December 2008 of the northwestern corner of the main intersection in Dover, Pennsylvania. In the 19th century, Dover had a town square, which accounts for the setback of the white frame building on the left. The town (and surrounding township) had a significant population of citizens with German heritage, including Mrs. Forscht, who owned the corner lot with the white house. The sturdy red brick building to the right was the office of Dr. John Ahl, which would be the Confederates' business office during their half-day stay in Dover on July 1, 1863. Here, General Wade Hampton fired off dispatches via couriers, and later supervised the parole of 230 Yankees, including 21 men captured at Hanover.

Dawn of July 1, 1863, saw Dover firmly in the grasp of the famed Southern cavalier, Major General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart. His men surrounded the town, with the brigade of the future Governor of South Carolina, Wade Hampton III, likely occupying the ground immediately west of Dover as it was the rear guard of the force, and it is known that Hampton's men later that day skirmished with Federal pursuers near Salem Church. What is less clear is the exact location of the brigades of Fitzhugh Lee and John Chambliss, Jr. although I am still combing through old records to see if a clue can be obtained. It is known that the main body of the Rebels camped near Fox Run, the main source of water in the Dover area, although picket posts were established well out the main roads.

For more photos of modern Dover and commentary, click the link.

A view of the town square in Jefferson, Pennsylvania, (also known as Codorus Post Office during the Civil War) looking to the northwest down Berlin Street. The unusual iron Napoleon cannon tube was the subject of an earlier Cannonball entry. William T. Crist's dry goods store once occupied the large brick building during the Civil War. Rebel troopers paid a visit to this building during Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's June 30, 1863, pause at Jefferson.

All photos taken by SLM on December 18, 2008.

Jefferson, a small village in southern York County, saw three different armed forces of cavalry pass through its town square during a single week in the Gettysburg Campaign. It was first visited on June 27, 1863, by Elijah V. White and the 250-man 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, which had trotted into town from Hanover Junction to the northeast and then took the road in the upper right of this photo northwesterly toward Spring Forge (now Spring Grove).

On June 30, twenty times the number of Confederate cavalrymen would ride through the town square... and then on July 1, it would be Union cavalry that passed through Jefferson, this time to the welcome of the townspeople.

Three brigades of veteran Confederate cavalry under Major General J.E.B. Stuart passed through scenic York County, Pennsylvania, on June 30, 1863, en route from the Battle of Hanover to Dover, PA where they camped for the evening near Fox Run.

Background post: Rebels visit Dover - Part 1 of a series.

Dover had managed to miss the big one so far, as Jubal Early's 5,000 infantrymen bypassed the town on June 28 and instead headed farther south to Weigelstown before cutting across York County to the Harrisburg Road near Emigsville and turning south to York. Now, on the afternoon of June 30, Stuart's three brigades, burdened by a slow moving captured Union supply train of 125 forage-laden wagons, began pulling out of the Hanover vicinity.

Their destination was York, where Stuart hoped to link up with Early, but circumstances would lead them to Dover.

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.

As the Civil War unfolded in the spring of 1861, neither the U.S. government or the fledgling Confederate States of America were fully prepared to go to war. One of the early problems that plagued both sides was keeping track of troop movements and creating a reliable supply and logistics network that fully functioned.The latter proved quite difficult at times, even for the established U.S. War Department.

In those early days of the Rebellion, the town of York, Pennsylvania, was a fairly significant training grounds and military depot for many new regiments, not just those from the Commonwealth. Major F. J. Porter was the assistant adjutant general at Harrisburg, and his name is prominent in a long string of telegrams and dispatches from Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Washington, and other military bases as he tried to ensure that the new troops in his jurisdiction were properly armed, clothed, and fed. In York, a 57-year-old citizen, Alexander Small, was trying to raise a regiment of men from York County.

Sometimes, men fell through the cracks, as happened to a group of volunteers who were "lost" at the Hanover Junction train station in early April 1861.

An old Civil War artillery tube sits in the traffic circle in Jefferson, Pennsylvania. In the background is a brick structure that was present when three separate cavalry forces passed through Jefferson during the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign. More on that in a future post.

I spent my lunch hour yesterday taking several photographs in the Jefferson area. This unique artillery piece will be removed from display in 2009 and transported to Georgia to undergo restoration, according to Codorus Valley Historical Society member Ray Kinard.

What makes this cannon tube so unique?

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...

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.

The above satellite photo shows the most likely route Colonel William H. French's 17th Virginia Cavalry took to reach the twin railroad bridges over the Conewago Creek near York Haven, Pennsylvania. CLICK TO ENLARGE THE PHOTO.

Background posts: Fire on the Conewago!; More on the York Haven bridges.

On June 28, 1863, Confederate cavalry from the mountains of West Virginia conducted a daring raid in unfamiliar enemy territory to destroy a pair of the Northern Central Railway's wooden railroad bridges over the Conewago Creek just south of York Haven in northeastern York County, Pennsylvania. The map shows the likely route, pieced together from surviving Confederate and civilian accounts, as well as from studying the postwar damage claims filed with the court system. These sworn testimonies were from farmers and residents who were trying to recoup their losses in horses and property taken by the Rebels.

Scenic Bath County, Virginia, was home to Company K of the 52nd Virginia, Its ranks were filled with hardy mountain men who were not strangers to guns, spartan lifestyles, or outdoor living.Their Civil War experience would take them to the vicinity of York, Pennsylvania.

More than 10,000 Confederate soldiers passed through York County, Pennsylvania, between June 27 and July 1, 1863. Very few left any written accounts of their brief visit, which was too lengthy for most Pennsylvanians of the day. Perhaps surprisingly, the fewest accounts that I have located to date come from the brigade of William "Extra Billy" Smith, a former Governor of Virginia who would resign during the Gettysburg Campaign to resume his political career. I have only uncovered a handful of references to York County, despite the brigade's two-day stay north of York along the road to Emigsville (now North George Street; then the turnpike to Harrisburg).

Here is one such story, used by written permission of Duke University, where the original letter is archived. The writer used flowery, outstanding penmanship, and was lucid and well educated, because the entire four-page letter has few spelling or grammatical errors, unlike many other rural soldiers on both sides.

While the Battle of Gettysburg raged on July 1, 1863, elements of David M. Gregg's cavalry division of the Union Army of the Potomac wasted several hours on a fruitless countermarch near Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, because of conflicting orders the general received from HQ. This was not uncommon in the Civil War (or today).

CLICK THE MAP TO ENLARGE IT FOR MUCH BETTER VIEWING.

Please read the background post first! Oh, Just make up your mind, general!

I spent part of the day yesterday down in Hanover Junction with my little grandson. We mapped out what I believe were the various routes elements of David McMurtrie Gregg's division of Union cavalry took in its series of countermarches, and took a few photographs. Refer back to the map above during this discussion.

The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion is a compilation of the majority of the official reports written by the senior generals, corps, division, and brigade commanders, and often regimental or battery commanders as well. They usually focus on the movements of the particular unit and its subsequent battle actions. Some reports are lengthy; others are quite terse. Some are simple matter-of-fact rehashes of the facts; others are pages of flowery prose that may at times be self-serving to the writer. Keep in mind that these reports were meant to be read by the chain-of-command and then archived by the respective War Departments, so they normally "white-wash" the events described. However, often the real story, or as commentator Paul Harvey termed it "the rest of the story," may at times can be found in the common foot-soldiers' accounts in letters, diaries, newspaper articles, or regimental histories.

Here's one such story behind the official report from William E. Miller, an officer in the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry who would be awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions at Gettysburg.

See also: Dueling carbines in Warrington Township for another local Civil War skirmish

Many York Countians are well aware of the Battle of Hanover, and some have heard of the engagement at Wrightsville. Few are aware that very minor skirmishes took place at several other locations within York County; minor encountered that left no or few casualties and have long since been forgotten. Even their exact locations are now hard to pinpoint, so don't plan on relic hunting.

Here's another example of these times when gunfire between the Blue and the Gray echoed through a section of York County.

Col. Edward W. Hinks commanded the 19th Massachusetts Infantry, which was among the scores of Union regiments that traveled through York County to Washington, D.C. in the autumn of 1861 as the new Eastern Theater Federal army coalesced. The regiment would stay in service for three years, losing some 300 men.

My friend Tyrone Cornbower from work is a fellow member of the York Civil War Round Table. He is a Civil War reenactor who plays the fife at local events. Ty tipped me off a few weeks ago to an unusual Thanksgiving story that I thought I would share with the Cannonball readership. This event took place in November 1861, the first Thanksgiving away from home for these soldiers, and they tried to make it as pleasant an experience as they possibly could.

This anecdote is taken from regimental history of the 19th Massachusetts Infantry, a regiment that earlier in the year had traveled through York County on the Northern Central Railway to Baltimore (on August 30), before being taken to Washington, D.C. The soldiers had "tasted the elephant" at the disastrous Battle of Ball's Bluff in October, and now, as Thanksgiving approached, they were in the process of constructing Camp Benton near Poolesville, Maryland.

Happy Thanksgiving, Cannonball readers!

I thought it would be appropriate to recycle one of last year's Cannonball blog entries, given the approaching holiday. Here again is the famous proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln penned on October 3, 1863, declaring the last Thursday of November as a formal "day of thanksgiving" for America. He traveled to Gettysburg on November 18, 1863, for the dedication of the National Cemetery and delivered his "few remarks," before returning to Washington via Hanover Junction. A few days later, he joined his fellow countrymen in prayer and thanksgiving for what blessings could be celebrated in the midst of the worst year of strife to that point in American history.

Take time this Thanksgiving to carefully read Lincoln's words - very carefully and thoughtfully. While we are not fighting a civil war, we still have conflicts and personal pains, and can reflect on Lincoln's words of encouragement. There is a lot to be thankful for, despite all that may be going on around us.

Here are the timeless words of the 16th President of the United States, penned seven score and five years ago this month...