As we head toward late June, the York historical community again turns its attention to the Civil War, and the brief period in June 1863 when York became the largest Northern town to be occupied by the Confederate Army. In the days leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg, York was occupied by the 6,000 battle-hardened soldiers of General Jubal Early's Division of the Army of Northern Virginia. I recently had the opportunity to present the York story to the York Civil War Roundtable, and asked the following question in the process: could the battle have taken place in York?
So much of present-day Civil War scholarship is arm-chair quarterbacking - or perhaps, more appropriately, arm-chair general-ing - so why not have a little fun speculating where York is concerned? To do that, we need only look at the writings of Confederate officers, both during and after the war.
But first, a statement from York resident Cassandra Small, who wrote about the occupation in letters to her cousin: "Now we know why we were spared; they told themselves they expected to make this their headquarters. The battle was to be here and that was the reason they guarded our warehouses and mills so well."
Why would Cassandra write such a thing? Did her father, prominent businessman Philip A. Small, tell her this? If so, who told him?
According to Jubal Early, "General Ewell ordered me to move with my command across the South Mountain, and through Gettysburg to York, for the purpose of cutting the Northern Central Railroad (running from Baltimore to Harrisburg), and destroying the bridge across the Susquehanna at Wrightsville and Columbia on the branch railroad from York to Philadelphia."
No indication of a major Confederate concentration can be found in these post-war comments from Early.
However, Corps commander A.P. Hill makes an interesting statement in his official report of the Battle of Gettysburg: "On the morning of June 29, the Third Corps ... was encamped on the road from Chambersburg to Gettysburg, near the village of Fayetteville. I was directed to move on this road in the direction of York, and to cross the Susquehanna, menacing the communications of Harrisburg with Philadelphia, and to co-operate with General Ewell, acting as circumstances might require."
There is a contradiction here. Why would Corps commander General Richard Ewell order Early to destroy the Susquehanna River bridge when General A.P. Hill was ordered to proceed across it?
General Jeb Stuart, often criticized for not providing intelligence to Lee about movements of the Army of the Potomac, and for not arriving at Gettysburg until the end of the second day of fighting, wrote this in his official report: ""It was expected that I would find (Early) at York, Pennsylvania. It is believed that had the corps of Hill and Longstreet moved onward, instead of halting near Chambersburg, three or four days, that York could have become the point of concentration instead of Gettysburg."
So here we have some indication that the Army of Northern Virginia may have been planning to concentrate in York.
Early's 6,000-man strong division had arrived in York on June 28. A.P. Hill claims he was ordered to proceed to York and beyond on June 29, meaning another 20,000 soldiers were in route. And Jeb Stuart was heading toward York on June 30 with over 3,500 men; he ran into the Union cavalry in Hanover, resulting in the first significant fighting on Pennsylvania soil during Lee's northern campaign. (There had also been a skirmish in Wrightsville on June 28 as Confederate General John B. Gordon's brigade arrived and attempted to take the bridge over the Susquehanna River).
Next we have a quote from Major H.B. McClellan, the Confederate cavalry chief of staff. He discusses a letter that was sent to from Robert E. Lee to Jeb Stuart at the beginning of Lee's campaign northward: "The letter ... informed General Stuart that General Early would move upon York, Pa., and that he was desired to place his cavalry as speedily as possible with that, the advance division of Lee's right wing... and York, Pa., was designated as the point in the vicinity of which he was to expect to hear from Early, and as the possible (if not probable) point of concentration of the army."
McClellan's letter corroborates Stuart's account, and adds a bit more intrigue to the question of whether or not the Army of Northern Virginia was heading to York, the possible, if not probable, point of concentration.
Further evidence supporting this comes from Colonel W.H. Swallow, an officer in General Rodes' Division: "General Ewell, and Colonel Turner of his staff, both told me in confidence at Berryville, before crossing the Potomac, that York, Pennsylvania or that vicinity, was the ground where General Lee expected to concentrate his army. I believe that if Longstreet had not tarried so long at Chambersburg, York would have been the point of concentration on the 30th, instead of Gettysburg."
What is notable here is that both Col. Swallow and Gen. Stuart note Longstreet's delay in leaving Chambersburg - does that mean that they also expected him to move toward York?
General A.L. Long was Robert E. Lee's military secretary. After the war, he wrote several times about the reason for Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania; furthermore, he notes that Gettysburg and York were not just identified as locations to concentrate the Army of Northern Virginia, but also locations for a major battle with the Army of the Potomac: "I will repeat in substance the remarks of General Lee, when the invasion of the North was under consideration...should we draw (the enemy) far away from the defenses of his capital, and defeat him on a field of our own choosing, his army would be irretrievably lost, and the victory would be attended with results of the utmost importance. Gettysburg and York were designated as points suitable for such a battle."
One of the first great historians of the Battle of Gettysburg, Jacob Hoke, recognized the movements of the Confederate Army, and identified York as a potential location of battle in his important work, The Great Invasion: "That either a battle at that place (York) or crossing the river and marching upon Harrisburg by its east bank, was expected, is clear from the fact that up to the night of Monday, 29th, when the plan of the campaign was suddenly changed, the movement of troops were nearly altogether in the direction of York."
Finally, we have one other piece of evidence for The Battle of York: General George Meade.
On June 30, 1863, he sent two telegraphs indicating his intelligence as to the whereabouts of the Army of Northern Virginia as well as his plans moving forward: "Our reports seem to place Ewell in the vicinity of York and Harrisburg ... I shall push on tomorrow in the direction of Hanover Junction and Hanover, when I hope by July 2 to open communication with Baltimore by telegraph and rail, to renew supplies."
At Hanover Junction, Meade would be along the important Northern Central Railway, which was critical for resupplying the Army of the Potomac. He would also be located roughly ten miles south of York - and perhaps ten miles south of a massing Confederate Army.
What would have or could have happened is, of course, mere speculation and far more important is what did actually happen on the battlefields of Gettysburg. Still, it is an intriguing thought. Could the battle have been fought in and around York? If so, would any of the town been damaged or destroyed? Would the outcome have been different if the Confederate Army had a full day or two to scout out the area and work on their battle plan? Would the neighborhoods around greater York instead be historic battlefields filled with markers and monuments?
