Where was the Camp Security Cemetery Located?
For many years, historians have wondered about the exact layout of Camp Security in Springettsbury Township. The farm(s) that were once the camp are well documented; however, the exact layout of the camp - including the huts, stockade, and cemetery - is not definitively known.
For background on the Camp, read these posts by Jim McClure and June Lloyd.
What is known is that David Brubaker purchased a tract of land in present-day Springettsbury Township in 1776. It was over 200 acres, and formerly owned by John Schultz, the son of Johannes and Cristina Schultz, who constructed one of York County's earliest stone homes that still stands today. John Schultz and his family continued to live on the property. In 1781, a portion of the property was taken for construction of Camp Security and the Schultz family moved to York Town. Land was cleared, and trees were cut down to build the stockade. Additional land was used for farming to feed the prisoners and guards.
Brubaker sold the land to the Groff brothers in 1802, and they split the land. Over the next 100 years, the properties changed hands several times, and the associated acreage increased and decreased. Mills were constructed and torn down. Today the eastern portion of the former Brubaker tract is known as the Rowe Farm and the western portion is known as the Weist Farm. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, they were known as the Glatz and Kauffman properties, respectively.
The image above exhibits the general outline of the Brubaker tract in the late 18th century as well as the Glatz and Kauffman farms in the early 20th century.
Camp Security is a national landmark, though not officially designated as one. Several thousand British and Canadian soldiers were prisoners of war here. Most lived in small huts - many stayed with their wives and children. Others were confined to the stockade. Camp Security has been designated as one of the 11 Most Endangered sites in the United States by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and recently made news again when it was listed in a report to congress as one of the most endangered Revolutionary War sites in the country. The number of dead interred below the farmland is not known; however, it is known that in the winter of 1782-1783 a bad fever struck inhabitants of the camp and that several hundred may have died from it. Some accounts put the number as high as 1,000, though there is simply no way of knowing.
As for the location of the cemetery, we have some tantalizing clues. Accounts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries make reference to the location of the cemetery. They are also consistent with one-another.
In 1916, Dr. I.M. Betz wrote the following:
"To the southwest (of the Schultz house), up toward the brow of the hill, on the Kaufman farm, may be seen the sites of the Hessian stockades, which was once a noted place, but of which the faintest tradition prevails among the residents of the vicinity."Going up to the brow of the hill may be seen the so-called Hessian or stockade graveyard, in which it is said about 1,000 British prisoners were buried. Stones rudely set up some years ago indicate the places of interment, but the ground is now farmed over."
This narrative indicates that the cemetery was still marked, and located on the farmland near the top of the hill on the Kauffman property.
In the History of York County, Pennsylvania, written in 1907 by George Prowell, the author makes a profound statement: "This historic spot, though very rugged, has been farmed over, so that unless it is marked, its exact site will be known to future generations only by tradition."
Prowell locates the camp on the Kauffman farm:
"The farm upon which it was situated was owned for half a century by Jacob Holtzinger, and later by Isaac Kaufman."
As for the cemetery, Prowell offers few details:
"During the winter of 1782, the camp fever broke out among the prisoners and a large number of them died. They were buried in a small valley to the east."
Yet another source is the October 1902 edition of a publication entitled The Pennsylvania German:
"We pass up a little farther (from the Schultz House) in devious private roads and pass over the Kauffman farm up the ridge and view the site of the famous stockade and encampment of the Hessian and British prisoners. The views to be had of the beautiful Kreutz Creek Valley from its summit are charming. Everything is now quiet and almost every trace has been removed. We pass over the brow of the hill and come upon the site of the Hessian graveyard, which is a token of so much forgotten misery. The ground is now farmed over. We view the famous "Hessian Thal" and take pictures of these surroundings."
One of those pictures is of a gentleman wearing a boller hat. He stands in a field, with a line of tall trees in the background. From the angle of the photograph, it appears that the farmland rises to the treeline. The caption reads, "THE HESSIANS' BURIAL GROUNDS - Containing over 1,000 bodies." The land looks suspiciously like the upper field of the former Brubaker property.
John Gibson's 1886 History of York County also makes reference to the location of Camp Security:
"This land is now owned by Isaac Kauffman. For nearly three-fourths of a century it was owned by Jacob Holtzinger."
Elsewhere in the book is a brief description:
"...about twenty acres of woodland were cleared and cultivated by them (British prisoners), surrounded by a picket fence fifteen feet high. The huts were mostly of stone. Some of the timber of the fence and stones of the huts yet remain. While there a plague of some kind broke out among them, and a large number of them died. Their graves are still visible, marked with stones. Until within some thirty years past, a scaffold, consisting of two trees cut off, with a cross piece, was standing there."
There is also a more contemporary account linking the Kauffman farm and the Camp Security cemetery. In 1991, Springettsbury Township published a history book in celebration of their centennial. In it is the account of a former resident on the Kauffman farm:
"Mr. Frank Paules (born 12-7-1895) lived on the Kauffman Farm. He played croquet in the area where Camp Security had been in operation. He remembers, when they worked the farm, there was a fence and a tree in the area. They threw stones removed from a circle in this area. There was no writing on these stones. He believed these stones were unmarked grave markers from the war."
So what do we know? All five sources reference the Kauffman (or Kaufman - it is spelled both ways) farm. The Kauffman farm later became the Weist farm, and is today slated for development.
Two of the sources specifically identify the "brow of the hill" on the Kauffman farm as the location of the cemetery. In 1886, grave markers were still visible; by 1916, only "rudely set up" stones remained to indicate the location of the cemetery.
Based upon these narratives, there is some evidence to support the location of the Camp Security cemetery being located on the upper field of the Kauffman/Weist property, as identified below.
