During a visit to the area last week, David Whelchel stopped at the monument to his great-grandfather Lt. Gen. James Longstreet at the battlefield in Gettysburg. Whelchel is married to a York County native. Background links: Local Civil War Roundtable gets new digs, Noted writer to blog on local Civil War scene and Unsung farmhouse loud symbol of a shaping moment for York.
Jubal A. Early commanded the 6,000-plus Confederates who overran the York area and reached the banks of the Susquehanna River in Wrightsville in late June 1863.
He was part of Richard Ewell's corps.
James Longstreet was another of Robert E. Lee's corps commanders (A.P. Hill was the third.)
Longstreet's men never made it farther east than Cemetery Ridge during Pickett's charge, also known as Longstreet's assault, during the Battle of Gettysburg.
Had Longstreet's men broken through and won the battle, they might have kept going east to York County on their way to capture Harrisburg, the prized Northern state capital... .
Continue reading Years after Civil War, (a) Longstreet steps onto York County soil .
