Results tagged “Gettysburg Campaign” from Cannonball

The farm of Henry Hoff III during the Civil War; all photos by Scott Mingus taken in November 2009. Taken from Zeigler's Church Road looking west.

This typical Pennsylvania German farm is tucked in a shallow valley paralleling Zeigler's Church Road (foreground) in North Codorus Township in southern York County, Pennsylvania. Many of the old 19th century farms in this region still have the original houses, summer kitchens, and the characteristic huge bank barns which are often painted red. Other than electricity, indoor plumbing, and the cars and trucks parked in the farmyards, not much has changed since Major General J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalrymen rode through this scenic and tranquil rural region on Tuesday, June 30, 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign.

During the Civil War, the prosperous farm was owned and occupied by Henry and Rosanna Hoff and several of their children. A portion of Stuart's lead brigade, that of Brigadier General Fitzhugh Lee of Virginia, passed by this house in the afternoon. When a squadron peeled off from the dust-clouded column and rode down to the Hoff property, the family knew trouble was approaching.

Here is the story of Rosanna Hoff, excerpted from an article I wrote for The Gettysburg Magazine.

During the months prior to the Gettysburg Campaign in June-July 1863, south-central Pennsylvania was filled with spies, rumors of spies, secret agents, Southern sympathizers, and con men, who preyed on the fears of the populace to sell the farmers golden tickets and secret signs that allegedly would protect their farms from Confederate raiders in the event of an invasion of the North. These shysters claimed to have been authorized agents of the Knights of the Golden Circle, but it's not likely they had any connection to the real operatives.

Some of the spy stories proved true (a few men were captured and taken to prison at Fort Delaware or in Harrisburg; one was executed after being seized in Gettysburg a week before the battle). Others were dramatized (a one-armed door-to-door Bible salesman, for example, was later reported to have been guiding one of Jubal Early's columns through York County) or exaggerated (a drunken man in a York bar boasted of being a Confederate soldier from Alabama personally sent to Pennsylvania by Bobby Lee; after he sobered up he turned out to be just another local wino looking for attention).

Now, was the Dillsburg man (whose identity I am still chasing) actually the York County agent for the K.G.C., or was he another lonely soul looking for some last minute "five minutes of fame." Or, was he confessing his traitorous activities in a soul cleansing final moment?

Keep in mind that much of the purported activity and membership of the Knights of the Golden Circle is still wrapped in innuendo and myth; a definitive account of their dealings in south-central Pennsylvania is on my agenda of "to do" book ideas.

Glatfelter is a $1.3 billion global paper company headquartered in York, Pennsylvania. The company now operates paper mills and paper converting facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as in Germany, France, England, Wales, and the Philippines. The company traces it roots to the Civil War era, having been founded during the first term of President Abraham Lincoln. Today, many first edition Civil War books are printed on Glatfelter paper because of its archival qualities that fully comply with Library of Congress standards for book permanence.

I have worked for the company as the Global Director of New Product Development since the summer of 2001 when I moved to York County from Cleveland's "Snow Belt." I knew the Spring Grove mill had been purchased by P.H. Glatfelter in 1863 and reopened in 1864 under new management, but I was determined to learn the "actual story behind the story."

Here is an excerpt from a book I wrote a few years ago in which I recount how Mr. Glatfelter built what became a leading international supplier of specialty papers and engineered products.

It's all because of the Battle of Gettysburg...

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.

In 1863, this brick building in downtown Hanover, Pennsylvania, was the Central Hotel. It served as the nerve center for Union cavalry under Brigadier General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick during and after the Battle of Hanover.

Thousands of cars and trucks pass through downtown Hanover, Pennsylvania, each day, often creating a traffic jam that can back up the queue at the various signals. Patience is a must for the modern traveler visiting this historic town, as similar to the nearby town of Gettysburg, a network of roads converge in Hanover conveying traffic into downtown.

That network of roads led to the June 30, 1863, unplanned collision between Major General J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalrymen coming up from Maryland and a column of Federal troopers from H. Judson Kilpatrick's division.

Like the modern traffic flow, the point of congestion and contention was the intersection of the roads in downtown Hanover.

You're invited to join the Lancaster Civil War Round Table as they welcome Licensed Battlefield Guide Roy Frampton.

Reverend Frampton has been a Civil War "buff" since the age of nine years old. He became a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg in 1968, and is currently the President of the Association of Licensed Battlefield Guides. The Gettysburg National Cemetery has been passionately studied by Roy for many years, and he concentrates on the personal lives of the soldiers buried in the cemetery. Roy Frampton is the co-author (with Licensed Battlefield Guide Jim Cole) of the book Lincoln and the Human Interest Stories of the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

Roy's topic for the evening will be "Battlefield Curiosities." Ever wonder if there could possibly still be living witnesses to the Battle of Gettysburg? Did you know that there are rock carvings left behind by Civil War soldiers all over the battlefield? Have you seen the 5-inch, three-toed dinosaurs foot print on one of the stone bridges on the battlefield? Licensed Battlefield Guide Roy Frampton will be your guide through the curious, little known secrets of the Gettysburg Battlefield.

Lancaster Civil War Round Table will meet on Thursday, October 15th at 7:00pm at the Lititz Public Library in Lancaster County. These programs are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Micky Kraft at 717-392-4976.

The identity of this southern Pennsylvania "Copperhead" farmer is unknown, but during the Civil War the majority of pro-Southern sentiment in York County was in Dover, Codorus, and North Codorus townships. A few farmers in those rural regions filed damage claims for multiple horses taken by the Rebels, but it is impossible to know exactly who the reporter was describing.

Interestingly, in reading through more than a thousand border claims from Cumberland, Franklin, Adams, and York counties, commonplace merchandise such as pencils and personal goods such as key chains were allowable claims, but livestock such as cattle, chickens, and pigs were not allowed to be listed as legitimate damage caused by either army. Foodstuffs such as jelly, flour, crackers, and even barrels of mackerel were allowed, but a herd of cows did not qualify for recompense.

Columbus (Ohio) Crisis, July 29, 1863, citing the Philadelphia Age, a long defunct newspaper. Several reporters from Philadelphia, Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Reading were in York during the Confederate occupation, along with some from out of state papers such as Baltimore and New York. Their reports provide a source of interesting eyewitness accounts of the town and its residents and their reactions to the invaders from Dixieland.

The popular Civil War blog "Gettysburg Daily" has now posted the second installment of my video tour series of the skirmish at Wrightsville and the Confederate approach to the Susquehanna River. Have a look!

Scott Mingus' tour of Wrightsville, Part 2

Cincinnati Daily Gazette, August 2, 1877. Courtesy of NewsinHistory.com

Sunday, June 28, 1863, was a bitter day for the residents of York, Pennsylvania. More than 1,000 Confederate soldiers from North Carolina occupied the town, with a couple thousand more in the environs. Virginians encamped along George Street on the Henry King and Thomas Schall farms in what is now North York with some troops stationed farther up the road toward Emigsville. The fabled Louisiana Tigers sat astride the hills and farms along the Codorus Creek near the site of today's Harley Davidson factory. Artillery crowned the hills north and south of town. And, to make matters worse, division commander Major General Jubal A. Early ransomed York for $100,000. Door-to-door solicitation failed to gather the requested cash, and Early began negotiating how York would pay the rest of its debt. A courier from his superior officer interrupted General Early's deliberations with the town fathers.

Years later, the former general was still trying to collect the debt, somewhat tongue-in-cheek perhaps, but tinged with the bitterness of losing the war and failing to collect the full amount of a ransom he believed the civic authorities has fully agreed to pay.

Salt Lake City Tribune, April 23, 1881.

April 2008 political rally in York, Pennsylvania, for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). York Daily Record - Jason Plotkin

York, Pennsylvania, received some national publicity for its efforts last year to recover city funds from the failed Hillary Clinton presidential candidacy as reimbursement for police and protective services when she was downtown for a political rally and speech on a public street.

However, this was certainly not the first time that York officials had pursued getting money back for civic expenditures caused by outside visitors to the town.

Back in 1863, another famous nationally known figure paid a visit to York. Not as politically ambitious as Senator Clinton, Confederate Maj. Gen. Jubal A. Early brought his own gun-toting entourage with him, a group far larger (and more dangerous) that Clinton's bodyguards and the York police that provided crowd control and security. Whereas Clinton's visit was in peace, Early's was to ransom the town for money and supplies (he collected $28,610 in tribute money collected by door-to-door solicitation). Early theatened to burn down the town's railroad station and associated rail yard structures, as well as nearby privately owned factories that manufactured rail cars and other supplies to the industry.

In March 1865, the city fathers took matters into their own hands in an effort to refill the coffers, sending a delegation down to Baltimore, Maryland, to meet with the Board of Directors for the Northern Central Railway Company. They asked for the exorbitant sum of $40,000 to cover expenses said to have been incurred by the town in protecting railroad property during the Gettysburg Campaign in 1863 (Early was not thwarted by anything the town provided in the way of protective services, but rather by his concern that a railroad fire might spread to the greater part of the town).

York received $2,500 from the Northern Central.

General Early's percentage of getting what he wanted from York was far higher than York's subsequent percentage from the railroad.

Baltimore Sun, March 23, 1865. Courtesy of NewsInHistory.com

This memorial plaque commemorating the Gettysburg Campaign activities in the Dover, Pennsylvania, region now sits in front of the local fire station on East Canal Street.

Background post: Old memorial plaque recalls J.E.B. Stuart's occupation of Dover PA

An old Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper article from November 1907 describes the ceremony in Dover to dedicate the Civil War marker.

Dover ceremony.pdf

This newspaper scan is courtesy of NewsInHistory.com, a fascinating new website that was reviewed in Cannonball recently.

The text of the newspaper article follows:

1852 image of the old train station in downtown York, Pennsylvania. From fellow York Daily Record blogger Jim McClure's York Town Square blog.

Saturday, June 27, 1863, was one of the most momentous days in the history of York, Pennsylvania. Confederate troops were encamped in several locations in the western part of the county, specifically at Spring Forge, Farmers, and Big Mount. Cavalry raiders had looted Hanover and stolen horses and whiskey from scores of farmers in southwestern York County before sacking the Hanover Junction rail yard. Union militia guarding the vital railroad bridges at York Haven in northeastern York County spotted distant Confederate scouts, a signal that the vital railroad bridges were certain to attract further attention on the morrow.

More enemy troops were just across the northern border in Cumberland County and would arrive in York County on Sunday, concurrent with the eastward sweep through the heart of the county and on to the banks of the Susquehanna River in multiple locations.

All throughout the day, a throng of refugees passed through York en route to Wrightsville and passage across the mile-and-a-quarter long toll bridge to presumed safety in Lancaster County and points farther east.

In downtown York in the late afternoon, the scene at the N.C.R.'s rail station was compelling and, at times, chaotic, as crowds clamored to board what would be the last train out of town before the Rebels came.

One quick-thinking Philadelphia reporter climbed up on a nearby rail car to get a better view as the train steamed into York after making a hasty escape from Hanover Junction, where it had been chased by pistol-firing Rebels.

Here is his long-forgotten account of that chaotic late Saturday afternoon as the troops of Major Granville O. Haller sought to maintain order and decorum.

The old adage was in play: "Women and children first!"

The Maple Shade barn on the old Harrisburg Pike in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, serves as the headquarters, meeting room, and gift shop for the local historical society. Confederate raiders are known to have camped nearby on the old John Mumper farm along Logan's Run. The small sign to the right advertises my talk on J.E.B. Stuart's Ride to Dillsburg."

Not much has previously appeared in books and historical documents regarding the June 28-29, 1863, raid through extreme northwestern York County by of a portion of Confederate Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins' brigade of mounted infantry. I am currently assembling materials for an article I plan to submit to the Gettysburg Magazine regarding this incursion, and have found some interesting new material. Recently I spoke at the Northern York County Historical and Preservation Society on the topic of "J.E.B. Stuart's Ride to Dillsburg," and I included a few snippets from my recent research into Jenkins' {West} Virginians and their earlier raid, including the near-miss between Dillsburg and Franklintown between the retreating 26th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia and Jenkins' advance guard.

After the talk, Martin and Connie Trostle were among the attendees who paused to share the stories they had heard concerning the two separate Confederate raids through the Dillsburg area. Connie, the secretary of the NYCHAPS group, was kind enough to send me a copy of a transcript generated in 1930 by an older lady from Dillsburg who had been an 8-year-old girl named Anna Mumper when the Rebels came through Carroll Township in June and July of 1863. The account is fascinating, albeit heavily colored by time and dimming of memory (and the mixing up of the various raids, events, timeline, and officers). Still, much of her basic recollections corroborate other earlier accounts of events in Dillsburg (that brief account can be purchased at the NYCHAPS gift shop in the Maple Shade Barn).

Here is one anecdote with its genesis from the Anna Mumper account, with historical facts added from my research...

The scenic Kreutz Creek in Hellam Township, York County, Pennsylvania. This creek roughly parallels the old rail bed of the Northern Central Railway and played a role in the June 28, 1863, Skirmish of Wrightsville. This was the line of approach used by a portion of the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry to screen the movements of three regiments of Georgia infantry under Col. Clement A. Evans.

Cannonball reader Gerry Boehm is a history buff from Berks County, Pennsylvania. He has had a special interest in the June 28, 1863, Skirmish of Wrightsville, a subject that of course has special meaning to me. Gerry is working his way through my recent book, Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863, which focuses on the expedition of part of Jubal A. Early's Confederate division to seize the mile-and-a-quarter-long covered bridge spanning the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville and Columbia.

Copyright 2007, Scott Mingus and Tom Poston, all rights reserved. Map of the June 28, 1863 skirmish of Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. No reproduction without written permission.

A view of the northwestern corner of the main intersection in Dover, Pennsylvania. In the 19th century, the town (and surrounding township) had a significant population of citizens with German heritage, including a Mrs. Forscht, who owned the white house.

The sturdy red brick building was the office of Dr. John Ahl, which was the Confederates' business office during their half-day stay in Dover on July 1, 1863. Here, Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton fired off dispatches via couriers, and later supervised the parole of 230 Yankees, including 21 men captured at the Battle of Hanover. Ahl's house was a beehive of activity, with a long line of Union prisoners lining the pavement awaiting their turn to sign the papers that promised they would not take up arms again until they were properly exchanged. They would be sent down into York, where they would be generously fed by the citizenry.

Dr. Ahl never filed any border claim for any damage to his property or theft, so it would appear that Hampton and his staff kept a tight rein on their men (and on the prisoners who paraded before them).

Who was Dr. John Ahl?

Hanover, Pennsylvania telegraph operator Daniel Trone heard on Saturday June 27, 1863 that Confederate cavalry was in the neighborhood, so he hid his equipment in a loft and left two broken sets on a table in his office as decoys before fleeing. He made it out the back door of his office just as members of the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (later famed as "White's Comanches") entered the front door.

Trone finally returned home after the Battle of Hanover. Upon visiting his office, he discovered that Rebel cavalrymen had smashed his decoy telegraph equipment, but they did not find the good set in the loft. Trone retrieved his hidden equipment, and for the next two days telegraphed information about the Gettysburg battle in an exclusive arrangement with the New York Tribune and its reporter A. H. Byington. Abraham Lincoln received his first news of the battle from reports that Trone sent to New York through Washington. Much of the news telegraphed to the major northeastern cities concerning the Battle of Gettysburg was done by Trone.

This impressive old stone mansion in downtown Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, has a storied history, once serving as a hotel and tavern. During the June 28 - 29, 1863, occupation of the town by a Confederate expeditionary force under Brig. Gen. John B. Gordon, the house was threatened by flaming embers from the conflagration that was engulfing the nearby Columbia-Wrightsville covered bridge. Rebel soldiers from an unidentified regiment labored to pass water uphill from the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal to help douse the flickering flames on the roof of this house, as well as several others in the immediate hilltop vicinity. They were successful in stopping the spread of the fire that eventually destroyed most of the lower riverfront portions of Wrightsville.

There are several accounts left behind by the Rebels of their efforts to save the private homes of Wrightsville. Some Confederates later grumbled about obeying these orders, preferring instead to have watched the town burn down in retribution for Union atrocities committed at Darien, Georgia (events depicted in the movie Glory). One embittered soldier from the Darien vicinity later commented that if he ever got back to Wrightsville, this time he would personally torch the town.

William Smith (September 6, 1797 - May 18, 1887) was a lawyer, U.S. and Confederate congressman, two-time Governor of Virginia and one of the oldest Confederate generals in the Civil War.

In the early 1831, Smith received a Federal contract from the administration of President Andrew Jackson to develop and oversee mail routes between Washington D.C. and the capital of Georgia, Milledgeville. On his own initiative, he set up numerous side routes, which generated extra income. A subsequent investigation revealed his shenanigans, and he became widely known as "Extra Billy." During the Gettysburg Campaign, he commanded the Virginia brigade led earlier in the war by his divisional commander, Major General Jubal A. Early. He left two of his five regiments back in Winchester, Virginia, to help process and guard thousands of Union prisoners after the Second Battle of Winchester.

General Smith was known for his unorthodox field uniform, which often included a tall beaver hat and a blue cotton umbrella. Personally brave, although requiring close supervision on the battlefield, Smith had a penchant for making loud speeches.One of these orations has become fairly common in Gettysburg Campaign overviews, appearing in several leading secondary sources that are among the best-selling tomes on the battle. An artillery major named Robert Stiles wrote a post-war account of "Extra Billy" Smith making a spectacle in downtown York, Pennsylvania, as Early's division first occupied the town. Stiles, whose battery (Carrington's Courtney Battery) camped in the old York Fairgrounds, was certainly in the column of troops that entered York.

However, was Extra Billy there to make the rambling speech that Stiles claimed he did in his classic 1904 book Four Years Under Marse Robert? So many talented authors, many of them quite well known in Civil War circles, take this somewhat questionable account as fact.

Here is Stiles' rather colorful account of the Virginian's pause in York:

Back in November of 1907, the citizens of Dover, Pennsylvania, commissioned a copper-plated cast iron plaque commemorating the July 1, 1863, raid by Major General J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry on the town and its environs during the Gettysburg Campaign. That plaque was later moved to the Dover Fire Hall when it was built and is now on one side of a small rectangular brick pillar, along with an old fire bell and a flag pole.

The Stuart marker was one of the earliest memorials to the events surrounding Stuart's Ride unveiled in southern Pennsylvania, and it remembers the suffering of the residents of that day while their small town was occupied by three full brigades of Rebel cavalry, concurrent with the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg some 30 miles to the southwest.