Results tagged “Hanover Junction” from Cannonball

During the week before the Battle of Gettysburg, the attention of the Union Department of the Susquehanna's commander, Major General Darius N. Couch, was on protecting vital railroad bridges and other transport and communications routes in south-central Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and the Mason-Dixon Line. Among his particular areas of interest were the bridges on the Northern Central Railway in York County.

Couch dispatched the newly raised 20th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia under Colonel William B. Thomas to protect the NCR. Thomas, one of the earliest backers of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, was a political ally of President Lincoln and through patronage had received the coveted and influential post or Port Collector of Philadelphia, in charge of the Customs House and the tax revenue collection. He raised a regiment of nearly 1,000 emergency militiamen in mid-June 1863 and obtained arms and uniforms from the state at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg before entraining for York County.

Colonel Thomas made his headquarters in a hotel in downtown York and scattered his men in an 18-mile line on several farms from York Haven in northern York County down past Seitzville well to the south. Their positions can be determined from a study of York County Border Claims in Harrisburg and from the records of known troop movements.

Several companies were assigned to patrol the railroads south of York, including protecting bridges near Reynolds Mill, Hanover Junction, and Glen Rock, as well as the Howard Tunnel. Lt. Colonel William H. Sickles set up a campsite on the sprawling Jacob Bowman farm along today's state route 616 south of Hanover Junction at a place later known as Larue.

Here are some photos of the general area, as well as a description of the damage claim of farmer Bowman...

Bond certificate issued by the Northern Central Railway in 1917, not too many years after its long-time employee and chief engineer George Small retired from its service. He piloted the last train out of York, Pennsylvania, before elements of Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia occupied and ransomed the town.

With the threat of the Confederate infantry forces marching through south-central Pennsylvania the last week of week, the various railroads in the region began moving their rolling stock and locomotives to safety across the Susquehanna to Harrisburg or Philadelphia. Here in York County, the Northern Central Railway was still in the process of transporting its trains to Lancaster County and on to Philly when Major General Jubal Early's troops entered York County. Some of its rail cars (many of which were built in York) were still down by the Maryland line as Rebel cavalry began threatening the NCR's infrastructure. Railroad officials knew that the Confederates would destroy the bridges and cripple the route, as the Rebs had done to the Cumberland Valley Railroad a few days earlier.

For one York railroad engineer, Walnut Street resident George Small, the arrival of the Rebels coincided with a mad dash he was making to get the last of the NCR's cars to Philadelphia.

Here is his story, as told by the York Dispatch in 1905 (courtesy of the library of the York County Heritage Trust; many thanks to Ray Kinard of the Codorus Valley Historical Society for calling my attention to a transcription donated to the library early in the 20th century).

This old photograph is courtesy of theunfinishedwork.com, a website for a recent fictional book on the Gettysburg Campaign by Hanover native Frank Meredith. His well crafted novel includes the Battle of Hanover on June 30, 1863, and other York and Adams county venues.

The picture from the Hanover Historical Society shows an old, deteriorating rail car of the long defunct Hanover Branch Railroad, which was operational through the latter half of the 19th century into the early part of the 20th. Tradition suggests this is the exact car that Hanover Branch Railroad president A. W. Eichelberger deployed as the private car for President Abraham Lincoln and his traveling party during their trip to and from Baltimore to Gettysburg for the dedication ceremony of the National Cemetery in mid-November 1863. The director's car was eventually scrapped, according to some local sources.

Lincoln's party included his friend from his Illinois days, Ward Hill Lamon, who was serving as his personal bodyguard and advisor. Also in the party were members of his staff, including his private secretary John G. Nicolay, adviser John Hay, and a bevy of reporters and politicians, including Secretary of War Edwin McM. Stanton and Secretary of State William H. Seward.

Dignitaries, politicians, reporters, and soldiers all appear in this November 1863 photograph (courtesy of the Library of Congress). Taken facing north at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, it shows a part of the crowd that have arrived with Governor Andrew Curtin (R-PA) as the delegation changed trains at Hanover Junction to head west for Gettysburg and the dedication ceremonies for the new National Cemetery.

Among the people at Hanover Junction that day was a northern Ohio infantry captain named Azor H. Nickerson. Badly wounded on Cemetery Ridge during the Battle of Gettysburg, the 8th Ohio officer had spent four months in various field hospitals and Camp Letterman before being allowed to travel back home to recuperate. November found him in Washington D.C. awaiting a medical decision on when he could return to active duty. Nickerson decided to go to Gettysburg for the dedication of the cemetery, so he took a train to Baltimore, switched there to the Northern Central Railway, and then rode up to Hanover Junction, where he managed to get onto Governor Curtin's train and kibbitz with him and other leading politicians of the day.

The future Wild West Indian fighter left one of the few descriptions of his brief time at Hanover Junction and the ensuing train ride through Hanover to Gettysburg. Here is a portion of his out-of-print account from the popular 19th century magazine, Scribner's.

Following the cessation of the fighting at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in early July 1863, a huge issue emerged - how to deal with the thousands of wounded men left behind by the two armies as they left for Maryland and Virginia? Most houses, barns, churches, and public buildings in and around Gettysburg for several miles had become temporary field hospitals, but more permanent solutions were needed for those men able to be moved to formal hospitals in Baltimore, Washington, York, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and New York City. When the railroads damaged by the Rebels were repaired in the week after the battle, trainloads of wounded were taken from Gettysburg to Hanover Junction, PA, where they would be transferred to the north-south running Northern Central Railway for shipment to the designated hospital.

Representatives of the United States Sanitary Commission arrived in Hanover Junction and began tending to the comforts of the wounded men, as well as the throngs of relief workers headed into and out of Gettysburg.

Here are a couple of contemporary accounts from old books that shed some light on the workings of the USSC at Hanover Junction.

All photos courtesy of York County Civil War buff and webmaster Randy Drais.

A local reenactment group, including members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), provides the honor guard for the dedication ceremonies held this past Saturday May 9 at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania. The crowd had gathered to participate in or watch the formal dedication of four vintage Civil War artillery tubes, which have found a new home at the Hanover Junction rail stop, a popular stopping place on the York Heritage Rail Trail bicycle path.

February 12, 2009, marks the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. I attended the dedication ceremonies this afternoon at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, where Lincoln changed trains en route to deliver the Gettysburg Address (and again as he was returning to Washington, D.C.). Sculptor Joe Kelly created an impressive bust of Honest Abe, and it was formally dedicated today in a brief ceremony that included local politicians, York County Parks officials, local preservationists, and Lincoln / Civil War buffs.

Codorus Valley historian and preservationist Ray Kinard reads the Gettysburg Address to the crowd who braved some very windy conditions, with gusts over 40 miles an hour at times. Ray and I have frequently exchanged notes about the Hanover Junction and Jefferson area during the Gettysburg Campaign.

My battlefield tramping partner admires the bust of President Abraham Lincoln in the memorial garden at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania. This monument will be formally dedicated on February 12, 2009.

Linda from the Hanover Junction preservation group (and the Red Lion historical association) mentioned to me during the recent York CWRT meeting that the Lincoln monument at Hanover Junction will be dedicated at 1:30 PM on February 12, which marks the 200th anniversary of the birth in rural Kentucky of Honest Abe. The Hanover Junction museum / old train depot will be open from 1:00 PM until 7:00 PM for visitation and refreshments. A birthday cake will be served after the dedication. Lincoln changed trains at Hanover Junction before and after his dedication remarks at the Gettysburg National Cemetery - remarks that became immortal as the Gettysburg Address.

The event is free and open to the public.

See you there?

The John Scott Hotel, seen above in this December 2008 photograph, was among the small cluster of buildings that made up the hamlet of Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania, on June 27, 1863, as the veteran 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry approached following the railroad and nearby roads.

The junction was defended by Lt. Col. William Sickles, who was destined to have the worst week of his military career (perhaps of his entire life). Little did he know as the howling Confederates headed toward his line of nervous, inexperienced militia that within days, he would lose Hanover Junction, walk to Wrightsville, be captured there by John B. Gordon's Georgians, be censured by his superiors in the press and public record as a coward, and then break his leg when he fell off a railroad handcar after being paroled by the Rebels. It was certainly a bad few days for the star-crossed officer.

Before his eyes, the Rebel attack unfolded, and his men hit the panic button...

The final section of the Hanover Branch Railroad roughly paralleled Green Valley Road to its intersection with Junction Road, and turned easterly at that point to follow Junction Road into Hanover Junction. On June 27, 1863, Elijah White's Confederate cavalry rode toward the junction using this road and tracks.

Reader Bob Resig submitted this photo of the old trace of the Hanover Branch Railroad along Junction Road.

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.

Modern view of Hanover Junction from the approximate line of the Union defensive positions that "protected" the junction in June 1863.

With the rapid development of the railroad industry in the 1840s and 1850s, farmers in rural areas such as southern York County now had a convenient and reasonably priced way to get their produce and goods to markets in larger towns such as Baltimore and Harrisburg, as well as points beyond. Several new railroads were constructed in the county, and work crews were kept quite busy laying out and building the lines. Once the railroad tracks were finished and all the supporting buildings, signage, etc. in place, commercial service began. Small hamlets developed around many of the refueling stops / cargo / passenger stations, and York County maps became dotted with new names such as Hanover Junction, Smith's Station, Porters Sideling, and dozens of other waysides.

Among the new railroads was the Hanover Branch, which ran from Hanover Junction (where it connected with what became the Northern Central) and the bustling town of Hanover. Later, another railroad connected Hanover with Gettysburg to the west.

All three roads became targets of the Confederate raiders in late June 1863, with the vulnerable wooden bridges being particular objects of Rebel attention.

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.

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.

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.

For those of you who are wargamers, I am pleased to announce the impending publication of my latest collaboration with Chicago graphics designer and game author Ivor Janci. Entitled Brothers Divided: Skirmishes in the Gettysburg Campaign, the book presents several historical situations at various engagements during the campaign for wargamers to refight or try to change history.

Among the battles of local interest for gamers to play is the Skirmish at Hanover Junction (Elijah V. White versus the 20th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia). Illustrations and maps are by Ivor Janci and Colin Burke; dioramas by Dennis Morris, and other gaming photos by Gettysburg's own John Mayer. For more information, or to read about the hobby of miniature wargaming and see scores of photos of games in progress, please click here.