USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of the Nineteenth Congressional District, Pennsylvania > Part 6
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86 men. Capt. J. B. King and 30 men were in the One hundred and fifty-second; and in the One hundred and sixtieth regi- ment Capt. Jamies Lashell and 40 men from Adams county. The 165th regiment of drafted nine months' men was partly from Adams county. It was commanded by Col. Charles H. Buehler and numbered 800 men. Its companies and captains fronı Adams were: C, Ebenezer McGin- ley; D, J. H. Plank; E, George W. Shull; G, Jacob E. Miller; H, W. H. Brogunnier; I, Nash G. Camp; and K, W. H. Webb. In the One hundred and eighty-second regiment were 40 men in different compan- ies and Company B, Capt. Robert Bell which went out 80 strong and reenlisted numbering 131 by new recruits. Company I, of the One hundred and eighty-fourth commanded by Capt. W. H. Adams, was from Adams and numbered 82 men; and in the Two hundred and second was Com- pany C, Capt. J. Q. Pfeiffer, 102 men. The Two hundred and fifth regiment had in Company I, Capt. I. R. Shipley and 50 men from Adams county; while in Two hundred and ninth, as Company G, Capt. G. W. Frederick, 100 men; and in the Two hundred and tenth, Capt. P. J. Tate and 40 inen of Company I, came from Adams. There were 25 Adams county men in In- dependent Battery B; 15, in the signal ser- vice and 50 colored men were attached to different regiments.
Adams county furnished four companies of emergency men to repel invasion: Capt. E. M. Warren's Cavalry Company, 100 men; Company A, Twenty-sixth regiment of militia, Capt. Frederick Kleinfelter, 90 men: Company I, Twenty-sixth militia, Capt. John S. Forest, 50 men; and Capt. A. H. Creary Company, 60 men.
Battle of Gettysburg. The most im- portant event in the history of Adams county, and one that will give it place for-
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
ever in the story of the nation, is the field of Gettysbury where the fate of the Union trembled in the balance of battle.
Lec's legions ragged, tired and hungry entered Adams county during the last week of June, 1863, and on the 26th Early with 5,000 infantry marched into Gettysburg, which was unable to comply with his re- quisition for provisions and clothing but re- ceived no damage at his hands. The next day Early moved eastward but was recall- ed, and five days later Lee and Meade com- menced at Gettysburg, the great battle which broke forever the offensive power of the Northern army of Virginia. In the early days of June, 1863, Lee swept northward into the Cumberland Valley with the most magnificent army that the Southern Con- federacy ever raised, and having Harris- burg as an objective point from which to threaten Philadelphia, New York, Balti- more or Washington as circumstances might dictate. Stuart's cavalry had been left in Virginia to prevent or delay Hooker in crossing the Potomac into Maryland until Lee's army could reach Harrisburg but failed and sought by a detour through Maryland to rejoin Lee in his march to Harrisburg. Hooker crossed the Poto- mac, and his cavalry first baffled Stuart at Westminster and then drove him out of Hanover, causing him to march all night to reach Carlisle which he found Lee had abandoned summarily and was massing his troops for battle near Gettysburg. Lee had sent Early over the South Mountain and through the west Susquehanna valley to- wards Harrisburg, and Hill and Long- street's corps were concentrated at Hagers- town to march through the Cumberland Valley, when Lee received word that Hooker had crossed the Potomac and had his army well in hand between Harper's Ferry and Frederick. Hooker had crossed the Potomac and reached Frederick one
day too soon for Lee's plan to reach Har- risburg free of attack, and he was compelled to concentrate liis scattered army or be at- tacked and destroyed. Leaving the Cum- berland Valley-narrow enough for a trap and not broad enough for a successful Con- federate battlefield-Lee commenced the concentration of his army in the vicinity of Gettysburg, and on the evening of June 30th the Confederates stretched from eight miles west of Gettysburg to Chambersburg twenty-five miles distant.
In the meantime, on June 27th, General Hooker resigned because Halleck would not allow him the use of 10,000 troops and Harper's Ferry, and General Meade assum- ing command of the Union army the next morning moved his headquarters from Frederick to Taneytown near the Pipe Creek Heights which his engineers repor- ted as a proper place for a general battle. On the night of June 30th Meade's line of troops, comprising the Ist, 3d, 11th, 5th and 12th corps and Kilpatrick's cavalry, stretched from Hanover to Emmitsburg and thence 10 miles north to Gettysburg, while in the rear of this line was the 2d corps at Uniontown, 20 miles south of Get- tysburg, the 6th at Manchester 34 miles southeast, Gregg's cavalry at Westminster 24 miles southeast and Merritt's brigade (regulars) at Mechanicstown, 18 miles south forming a second line it might be said with the Pipe Creek Heights between both lines.
Thus lay the two mighty armies on the eve of a great battle. The moment for fu- ture supremacy had arrived, and "the un- born generations of a hundred centuries would turn with breathless interest to the history their success or failure would here make." Two hundred thousand men were spread over an area of twenty-five square miles eager for the opening struggle of the coming day. Lee lacked his cavalry, and Meade had his corps too far apart, in order
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
to protect Washington, while an accidental battlefield was forced on both by the force of circumstances. The last June sun of 1863 sank behind the South Mountain, the gates of light were barred and the stars looked down on the valley beneath where orchard and meadow, and ripening fields of grain stretched around the college town of Gettysburg with its near by seminary and its not far distant city of the dead, but the succeeding day was to usher in a storm of war beneath which the very earth was to tremble and whose result would largely shape the future destinies of the mightiest republic of modern times.
With the first rays of the morning sun Buford's dismounted cavalry were in line along Willoughby's run, and made so deter- mined a resistance against the advancing Confederate column that they halted to bring up their batteries. Reynolds then arrived, and after sending an aid to Meade to state that the heights of Cemetery Ridge was the place for the coming battlefield, so placed arriving reinforcements as to con- tinue a stubborn resistance to the increas- ing Confederate forces until he fell by a rifle ball. Doubleday assumed command and held Seminary Ridge against great odds until Howard arrived, who was finally driven back with heavy loss by overwhelm- ing numbers to Cemetery Ridge where Hancock had arrived to take command. He approved Reynold's selection and Howard's fortification of Cemetery Ridge for the coming battle and so reported to Meade who accepted it and ordered his whole army to concentrate as rapidly as possible at Gettysburg. The Confederates were rap- idly concentrating along and fortifying Seminary Ridge, and made an unsuccess- ful attack on Hancock's line which he was extending southward along Cemetery Ridge. The first day's fight ended with the Confederates successful, but left the un-
ion forces holding a stronger line of de- fense than the one from which they were driven, and this struggle of the vanguards made Gettysburg and not Pipe Creek the battlefield.
At half-past twelve o'clock on the second day Meade, who had arrived in the night, had his line of battle formed in shape sim- ilar to a fish hook; Cemetery Ridge, the shank, Cemetery Hill, the curve-and Culp's Hill the end of the hook. The Un- ion line was about 43 miles in length and the Confederate line in similar shape over- lapping each wing extended about six miles while between these lines, lay a valley from a mile to a mile and a half in width, enclos- ing the afterwards famous Wheat Field, Peach Orchard and Devil's Den. During the afternoon of the second day Sickles moved forward of his connecting position and was driven back with heavy loss, to his original position which was held by aid of reinforcements while Little Round Top was overlooked and nearly captured by the Confederates. On the center the Louisi- ana Tigers 1,700 strong, charged and gained Cemetery Hill, but being unsup- ported only 300 returned to the Confed- erate lines. On the right the Confederates won a part of the intrenchments whose oc- cupants had been sent to reinforce Sickles' line, but failed to advance on the unpro- tected rear and capture the reserve artil- lery and hold the only road by which Meade could have retreated in case of de- feat. The second day closed in favor of Lee who had driven back the extreme of both the Union wings although defeated in advantage on the Union right.
Elated with his advantages and having been joined by Pickett's veterans and Stu- art's cavalry, Lee against the view of Long- street determined to make one great effort to break the Union left center and annihi- late the Army of the Potomac. On the
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
morning of the 3d of July Geary returned with his troops to the right and by II o'clock had driven the Confederates out of his entrenchments. In the meantime Lee was perfecting his plan of battle. A terri- ble cannonade of the Union left center was to be followed by heavy storming columns of infantry, and Stuart's cavalry after sweeping round the Union right flank was to attack in the rear. At I o'clock 150 cannon opened on the Union left center and was replied to by 71 Union guns. The earth shook for two hours beneath the ter- rific storm of shot and shell and then the Union fire slackened so heated cannon could cool, disabled batteries be replaced and ammunition husbanded to meet an ex- pected attack. Lee was deceived by this and thinking he had silenced his enemy's guns ordered the charge of Picketts' divis- ion, the flower of his army. Sweeping in- to view in splendid array and under perfect discipline the storming column of 18,000 men won the admiration of the Union army. The fire of 71 cannon ploughed through but they closed up each gap and swept across the valley with unbroken front until a rain of lead from the infantry greeted them and blinded the two support- ing columns, yet through it all the charging column made its way and broke the Union line only to be broken to pieces in a hand to hand fight within the Union lines, at the Bloody Angle or the high water mark of the rebellion. On the left the Union cavalry attacked Longstreet and preven- ted two brigades from assisting Pickett, while Stuart in trying to pass the Union right was stopped by Gregg's cavalry, and the greatest cavalry battle of the war took place with the result that Stuart was de- feated and Lee's cavalry attack in the Un- ion rear was foiled. Defeated at every point on the third day, Lee sullenly with- drew his shattered forces to their entrench-
ments and commenced his preparations for retreat.
Gettysburg was the decisive battle of the war and crushed all further Southern hopes of Northern invasion, while it placed Euro- pean recognition of the Confederacy be- yond all possibility, yet if Lee had made his grand charge on the first or second day before the 2nd, 5th and 6th corps had ar- rived or if Stuart's cavalry had gained the Union rear on the third day Meade would have in all probability lost the battle and likely a large part of his army.
Over 30,000 killed and wounded covered the gory field of Gettysburg where slavery and secession received their death-blow, and Lee's broken, crushed and bleeding columns reeled back to their entrench- ments; but they were not disorganized and there lay fully 20 or 25 thousand men who had taken no part in the third days battle. Meade showed wisdom in not attacking Lee on Seminary Ridge on the 4th, for the Confederates would have fought with des- peration and behind entrenchments, and the Union army badly battered and needing rest might have met a second Fredericksburg.
The immortal Union line that stood against Pickett's charge was "a human breakwater against which the great tidal wave of rebellion was to dash in vain, and be thrown back in bloody spray and broken billows."
Gettysburg was the Saratoga of the late Civil war. Burgoyne failed to reach New York and so did Lee. Arnold and Morgan were the rocks in the former's way and Reynold's and Hancock were the walls that stayed the latter.
York county responded promptly to the President and Governor's call for troops in 1861. The Worth Infantry, Capt. Thomas A. Ziegle, and the York Rifles, Capt. George Hay, reported for marching orders by April
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
18th. The citizens of York at a public meet- ing subscribed $2,000 in aid of the fam- ilies of those who volunteered. To this fund the borough added $1,000 and the commis- sioners of the county at the request of the grand jury appropriated $10,000 which lat- ter amount the legislature afterwards reini- bursed. Judge Fisher had recommended to the grand jury the propriety and neces- sity of calling on the commissioners for aid, and Hanover and Wrightsville gave $2,000 to the fund which was expended judiciously. In April, Camp Scott was established at York, where some six thousand men were gathered, and the Sixteenth regiment con- taining 4 York county companies and the Second with one York company, were or- ganized. The camp was broken up in June, and the Second and Sixteenth served for three months with credit under Patter- son. At Williamsport Albertus Welsh, one of the nine York soldiers in the Mexican war died, being the first man, the county lost in the rebellion. Battery E, of the First Artillery, was raised in York county and served with distinction in the Army of the Potomac, being the first battery to en- ter Richmond where it drove out the guard left to fire the city. One company entered the Thirtieth and another the Forty-first regiments, and their record is the record of the Reserves whose many battles would largely make up the history of the Army of the Potomac, two companies went into the Seventy-sixth and were in the assault on Ft. Wagner, the battles of Grant before Richmond and Petersburg and the capture of Ft. Fisher. Eight companies from York with two from Adams county formed the Eighty-seventh which served as a railroad guard, did duty in West Virginia and fought gallantly under Sheridan and Grant. Two companies were raised in the county for the One hundred and third, one com- pany each for the One hundred and seventh
and One hundred and eighth and four companies for One hundred and thirtieth regiment. The One hundred and seventh and One hundred and thirtieth regiments fought bravely in the Army of the Po- tomac. The One hundred and sixty-sixth regiment consisting of 10 companies and eight hundred men was formed of men drafted in York county, and did good ser- vice in North Carolina, where nine were killed and 25 died of wounds and disease. One company of the One hundred and eighth and one company of the One hun- dred and eighty-second, both cavalry regi- ments were recruited principally in York county as well as one company of the One hundred and eighty-seventh, and all served in the Army of the Potomac. Four com- panies of the Two hundredth, one of the Two hundred and seventh and two of the two hundred and ninth regiment came from York county and served in the armies of the James and Potomac with the usual bravery that distinguished all the compan- ies front the county. Among the distin- guished West Point graduates from the county that fought in defense of the Union were: Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin; and Brevet Brig. Gens., H. G. Gibson, Edmund Shriver and M. P. Small. The county also furnished commanders C. H. Wells, S. R. Franklin and William Gibson, who were naval academy graduates and served with distinction on the iron clads in blockade ser- vices and in bombardments and battles in Charleston harbor and on the Mississippi and James rivers.
The following list gives the names of the companies raised in York county. together with their captains and the number of the regiments of which they were a part:
No. of Reg. Company. 2d K
16th A F
Captain. George Hay.
John Hays.
Horatio G. Myers.
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BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA.
No. of Reg. Company.
16th,
G
H
30th
D
4Ist
G
76th
D
I
87th
A B
C
D
E
G
H
Io3d
K C D
107th
A
108th
I
I 30th
B C
I
166th
K A B C
D E F G H
182d
K A
187th
B
200tl1
A
D
D. L. Stoud. John A. Bell. D. Z. Seipe. Adam Reisinger. W. H. Duhling. Jacob Wiest.
207th
209th
E B I
H K H. A. Glessner. Lewis Small. H. W. Spangler. John Klugh.
Some York county men served in Com- pany B, Second regiment, and Company E, Ninth Cavalry, and Battery E, First Artil-
Captain. Cyrus Diller. T. D. Cochran. George W. Hess. C. W. Diven. Cyrus Diller. H. C. McIntyre. J. A. Stalıle. Jacob Detwiler. A. C. Fulton. N. G. Ruhl. Solomon Myers. V. G. S. Eckert. Ross L. Harman.
J. W. Schall. George Shipp. Emanuel Herman. Jacob Dorsheimer. Daniel Herr. H. A. Glessner. J. S. Jenkins. Lewis Small. Levi Maish. A. L. Ettinger. R. J. Winterode. P. Z. Kessler. G. W. Branyan. S. E. Miller. J. A. Renaut. G. W. Reisinger. T. G. Gauss. Michael M'Fatridge. I
lery was raised in the county. When Lee invaded Maryland in 1862, independent companies were raised in York county by Capts. Jacob Wiest, Jacob Hay, D. Wagner Barnitz, W. H. Albright, John Hays and Charles M. Nes. A year later when Lee came into Pennsylvania, one emergency company was raised by Capt. John S. Fos- ter.
Not only did York county furnish hund- reds of men for the Union army, but she felt all the horrors of war in 1863 when Lee's army invaded Pennsylvania. On June 28th, General Early occupied York and vicinity with four Confederate brigades, and de- manded $100,000 and a large amount of provisions only a part of which could be furnished. Early sent a brigade in pursuit of Major Haller, who had retired with 350 soldier and militia from York. Haller es- caped across the Susquehanna at Wrights- ville and burned the bridge before the reb- els came in sight of his force. Early spared the public buildings when appealed to and suddenly withdrew on June 30th to join Lee at Gettysburg.
In the meantime Stuart had entered Pennsylvania, and his advance had passed through Hanover on the 27th. Gen. Kil- patrick on the 30th passed through Han- over where his rear guard was attacked by the main portion of Stuart's command. This brought Kilpatrick back and the two great cavalry chieftain's contested the pos- session of the place from Io a. m. till noon when Stuart withdrew and commen- ced his detour through York county, tak- ing Jefferson, Salem, Dover, and Dillsburg in his way to Carlisle, which was the open- ing really of the battle of Gettysburg. Kil- patrick lost 1I killed and 42 wounded while Stuart's loss was about the same. Early and Ewell respected private property, and their hungry brigades were well trained and orderly, but some of their subordinate
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
commanders and a part of Stuart's force were not so mindful of the property of non- combatants and pillaged the settlements through which they passed.
In 1861 the ladies of York opened a tem- porary hospital in a building on the fair ground to accommodate the sick of Camp Scott. Next the Duke street school build- ing was used for hospital purposes, and in June, 1862, the barracks on the public commons was fitted up and the York gen- eral hospital established in them. From 1862 until 1865 hundreds of wounded were cared for in this hospital which often had as high as 1500 patients at a time.
Subsequent Military History. Since Lee surrendered to the "Silent Man of Ga- lena" there has been but little of military event or importance in the Nineteenth Congressional district to record. The or- ganization of Grand Army Posts and com- panies of the National Guard are worthy of record and the formation of the latter are evidences of the continued patriotism of a generation whose fathers upheld the flag on a hundred battlefields of the Great Re- bellion, and whose forefathers were with Washington from Valley Forge to York- town.
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CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURE-TURNPIKES AND HIGHWAYS-MILLING AND MERCHANDIZING- MANUFACTURES-BANKS-RAILROADS-MINOR INDUSTRIES.
I T IS a matter of gratification that the enterprising farmers of the Nine- teenth Congressional district have been fully in sympathy with the progressive agricultural spirit of the age for over three quarters of a century and that their efforts have won for thein a most successful and very flattering record as agriculturalists. It is also worthy of record and comment that the increase of the principal agricult- ural products of the district has been in the same ratio as the increase of its population, while every indication warrants a large supply for all future contingencies. The promptness of the peo- ple of the district to employ labor-saving machinery and their tendency to increase instead of diminishing their grain produc- ing areas, have developed agriculture to such an extent that it is not only a leading element of present prosperity, but rises into prominence as a potent factor in the future wealth and progress of the district.
In comparing the past with the present of agriculture in Cumberland county an eloquent writer says "The advancement of science as been seen in the improvements which characterize the cultivation of the soil, and the progress that has marked the introduction of agricultural implements" and that the intelligent modern farmer "rises above the narrow selfishness that too often characterizes his fellow-laborers, and becomes a philanthropic scientist whom the future will rise up and call blessed."
Cumberland county farmers during the Co- lonial period of farming tilled their fields by the hardest of manual labor and with the clumsiest of tools, and in the next or awakening period had introduced clover and learned something of the use of lime, The introduction of the iron plow about 1825 was the commencement of a third period terminating in 1840, when the grain reaper was brought into the county by Judge Frederick Watts, of Carlisle. Judge Watts the preceding year procured from Lt. William Inman some Mediterranean wheat which was thus not only introduced into Cumberland county, but into the Uni- ted States. When Judge Watts, in 1840, set up in his harvest field the first McCor- mick reaper ever used in Pennsylvania, nearly a thousand persons were present to see "Watt's folly," and when the man who was raking was unable to keep the grain raked as fast as it was cut, a well-dressed stranger, took the rake and showed that it could be raked by one man without calling for any stoppage of the team. This stranger proved to be Cyrus H. McCor- mick and agriculture went forward rapidly from that day. In 1854 Judge Watts suc- ceeded in founding the Cumberland County Agricultural Society, of which he served two terms as president. The society, in 1855, purchased a six acre tract and im- proved it so that it became a first class fair ground in a short time. In 1873, R. H. Thomas was instrumental in an agita-
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NINETEENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
tion that resulted in the founding of the Grangers Inter-State picnic institution in Williams' Grove on an island, in Yellow Breeches creek, thirteen miles southwest from Harrisburg. This picnic now is of national reputation and there the farmers and manufacturer bring together their pro- ducts for inspection by as high as 150,000 people for which ample accommodations are provided on a forty acre tract of land and who are charged no admittance fee The developing period commencing in 1840 closed in 1876, when the Centennial exhibition ushered in a period of agricul- tural progression marked by a practical labor-saving machinery, improved elevator storage, perfected systems of grain trans- portation and specialization of productions.
The history of agricultural growth in Adams has been similar to that of Cumber- land county, and its representative farmers are fully abreast of the times in all that per- tains to their useful and honorable occupa- tion. The Adams County Agricultural Society has been in operation for many years.
But little different in soil and climate from her surrounding counties, York like them grew slowly in agriculture during the pioneer and early settlement days. The sickle and the flail prepared the wheat and rye and barley for the "pioneer mill," a hollowed stump and pestle, where corn was also ground. Hemp and flax were also raised. Long-wooled sheep and long- horned cattle were first brought into the county. Merino sheep were introduced about 1800; short-horned cattle about 1830 with Devons much later and Jerseys be- tween 1861 and 1865. Artificial seeding to grass came in use about 1800 when red clover and timothy grasses were introduced into the county. Spelt-wheat and barley were prevalent until 1828 when red wheat and blue-stem wheat took their places. The
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