Results tagged “Jefferson” from Cannonball

Dawn Roser of the Codorus Valley Area Historical Society unveils the newest Pennsylvania state historical marker, this one in the historic center square of Jefferson in southern York County. The CVAHS and the borough of Jefferson's combined efforts led to the installation of this marker, which commemorates the three separate times within a week in the early summer of 1863 that the town and the surrounding region were victimized by passing combatants during the Civil War.

The color guard of the 16th Pennsylvania Infantry reenactment group was among the participants in the hour-long ceremony, which occurred on the 146th anniversary of the first Confederate raid on Jefferson. On June 27, 1863, 250 troopers from Maryland and Virginia that comprised the 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry rode into the square. Commanded by Lt. Col. Elijah V. White (whose descendant attended the ceremony and spent some time talking with me about her ancestors in that battalion), the Confederates raided the region for horses. One trooper spotted a little girl along the square and handed her a brooch he had stolen from a Hanover jeweler that the Rebels had chased into the countryside before robbing him.

The Codorus Valley Area Historical Association has sponsored a project to have Jefferson, Pennsylvania's Civil War heritage recognized and memorialized by the Pennsylvania Historical Marker Program. The efforts have paid off, and a suitable marker has been cast and painted, and will be installed shortly. The marker will be in the town square (intersection of PA 516 & SR 3041), which I featured in a past Cannonball blog entry.

Just before the Battle of Gettysburg, the town of Jefferson was forced to supply both Union and Confederate troops with supplies, horses, and cattle as they passed through the town. The marker emphasizes the impact of the Gettysburg Campaign on civilian populations.

The ceremony will begin at 1:00 PM on Saturday morning, June 27. Representatives from the state's historical commission will be on hand, as well as local dignitaries and members of the historical association.

The event is FREE and open to the public!

After leaving Jefferson Station in southern York County, Pennsylvania, the Hanover Branch Railroad's tracks headed northeasterly toward the Cold Spring Station. Very little remains of the roadbed in this stretch, because it has been heavily farmed over the past 145 years since Abraham Lincoln's train departed Jefferson Station for Hanover Junction and his return train to Baltimore and then Washington, D.C. However, there are a few vestiges remaining, including the piers of bridges burned on June 27, 1863, by Lt. Col. Elijah V. White's 35th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry during its mission to wreck the HBRR and the Hanover Junction rail yard.

Jefferson Station was located west of Jefferson, Pennsylvania, near the intersection of Krafts Mill Road and Jefferson Road (today's State Route 516). It was a railstop on the Hanover Branch Railroad serving the farmers of the Codorus region. The embankment in the right center marks the old track bed. Photo taken from the top of a hill along Jefferson Road / 516 looking to the southeast.

Click to enlarge the photos.

A Cannonball reader has asked me to do a series of posts on the Hanover Branch Railroad during the Gettysburg Campaign. In the first of these, we will look at the little known Confederate cavalry raid on Jefferson Station, an event not marked by any kind of commemorative historical wayside marker, unlike so many other incidents during "the Late Unpleasantness."

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.

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?

An early war etching of some of "Jeb" Stuart's Virginia cavaliers. From Harper's Weekly.

Add Jefferson area merchant Conrad Myers to the long list of York County merchants who felt the sting of the Confederate raiding parties during the Gettysburg Campaign. Stuart's cavaliers paused to rob more than a dozen shopkeepers from Jefferson to Dillsburg over a 24-hour period. Throw in those merchants in York, Wrightsville, and other locales visited by the cavalry and infantry of Jubal Early, and it was a bad week for several families who relied on the weekly income from these stores for their livelihoods.

John E. Cooke. Author's collection.

Captain John Esten Cooke was a Confederate staff officer serving under famed cavalryman J.E.B. Stuart. After the war, Cooke became a popular and well known writer, but in late June 1863, he was just another saddle-sore, dusty, tired soldier making his way northward through western York County in a futile effort to rendezvous with the Army of Northern Virginia. Stuart's cavalry, after riding almost around the Union army while collecting supplies and prisoners, was trying to locate Rebel infantry known to be operating near York.

After the Battle of Hanover, the vanguard of Stuart's column passed through the crossroads village of Jefferson, where Cooke paused for much needed rest and refreshment. He met a "pretty Dutch girl," who willingly prepared a bountiful supper. The captain later recalled, "She could not speak English--she could only look amiable, smile, and murmur unintelligible words in an unknown language." Cooke sat down at a table in a side apartment, where she presented him with a large meal of fresh bread, ham, and savory eggs fried with bacon, all washed down with fresh, cold milk and hot coffee. He blessed his good fortune.

However, before the captain could begin to eat, a courier arrived with news that General Stuart wanted Cooke to pass somebody through the picket line. He rose from the laden table and excused himself. When he returned to his young hostess's house, to his dismay, the entire feast was gone. A door in the apartment opened onto the street and, tempted by the aroma, a sneak thief had entered the house. Every morsel had vanished down some other hungry cavalryman's throat. Despondently, his belly still empty, Cooke mounted his horse and trotted ahead to catch up with Stuart's main column.

For more of Cooke's impressions of York County, please click HERE.