Prelude to Gettysburg

[LCYingling3rd]

It's June 29th and that means I am immersed in my obsession of the Confederate activities in Maryland and Pennsylvania leading up to the battle of Gettysburg.

I stumbled on an original Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper from June 30, 1863. WOW, it's so filled with fascinating coverage of the "Invasion!" Fear, panic, calls to arms, reports of activities. It is so fascinating to hold in my hands and imagine what it was like reading it when it was new!

I was born off of Rt. 26 in Eldersburg, Carroll County, MD, south of Westminster. I'm sure Cavalry rode past the house at some point. My great grandfather George E, Yingling was living in Hanover, PA and working as a Carriage Trimmer in 1860. His brother, Silas, was living in Hanover at the same time and was a Painter. Neither were in the area before Gettysburg because they were in the 87th PA Infantry and George was captured at Winchester on June 15th and Silas was on the run somewhere working his way to Harpers Ferry eventually.

After the war George settled in Westminster, MD. He set up a Harness Maker's shop and that is where my grandfather was born. I feel extremely connected to that area through heritage. After High School I went to college in Williamsport, PA and have stayed in the area. Pennsylvania is my second home and I have been fascinated with Confederate activity in the State for years. My mother was from Martinsburg, WV and had an ancestor in the 2nd VA Infantry of Walker's "Stonewall" Brigade in Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps at the time of Gettysburg. He would have made it up to the Carlisle, PA area. She also had ancestors in the 3rd WV Cavalry (Union) and the 7th VA Cavalry (Confederate) and they would have both been in the area as well! To this day, when heading south through Pennsylvania and get on I-81 at Harrisburg, I start looking around and thinking how all these ghosts of the Civil War are haunting me! LOL As I am driving south on I-81 past the Scotland exit, just above Chambersburg, I "see" the tents of Johnsons' Division camped in the fields there; and I "see" a weary Sam Stuckey in the 2nd VA Infantry camp, trying to feed his hunger and get sleep at the same time.

I get tidbits from the grand narrative accounts of Gettysburg, and I got some great stories from my 1963 copy of, "Just South of Gettysburg: Carroll County Maryland in the Civil War" edited by Frederic Shriver Klein. Another well researched work on Confederate activity in Pennsylvania is Steve French's book, "Imboden's Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign." However, without a doubt the best historians I have read on the topic Confederate activity in Pennsylvania leading to Gettysburg are Scott Mingus with books like, "Flames Beyond Gettysburg," and "'Did You Fight Them Any': Hanover, PA in the Civil War" among others and James McClure with his, "East of Gettysburg" and other books. Scott Mingus and James McClure have teamed up as well, on books like, "The Dogs of War in Our Midst: Civil War Perspectives from York County, PA." My personal favorite though, is when Mr. Mingus teamed up with Eric J. Wittenberg and they wrote their comprehensive history of the Gettysburg Campaign from it beginning to June 30th with their two-volume set, "'If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania': The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg." Their Volume II follows the armies from June 22nd to June 30th with excellent, extremely well researched detail! I have my Volume II opened to page 255 and am reading the chapter "Monday, June 29, 1863" right now! All three of those superb historians have been instrumental in helping me frame what life was like for my ancestors and their friends and neighbors where I was born and raised and where my heritage is from on those fateful days leading to the battle of Gettysburg. I thank them very much!

The fighting at Oyster Point near Harrisburg on June 29th is historically important, being so close to the Pennsylvania Capital, however, I just love reading about the Cavalry battle (skirmish) at Westminster, MD on the 29th. The huge irony of that fight to me is how close J.E.B. Stuart was to Lee's Army on that date!!! He left Westminster and came to a fork in the road and took the northeastern route to Hanover and not the northwestern route to Gettysburg!

I understand that the battle of Gettysburg is probably one of the most studied military battles in history. It certainly deserves to be! So, most people are interested in discussing July 1st-3rd. However, how many of you are also interested in the fascinating story of the Confederate invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania leading up to the battle? These must have been some of the most wild and exciting days in northern Maryland and southern and central Pennsylvania 161 years ago! Do you have interesting stories or thoughts regarding this period? Who are your favorite historians of the period and what books do you like?

 

[infomanpa]

After studying the battle, itself, my interest moved on to the prelude. For some reason, I find it more interesting than the aftermath. You were fortunate to begin your life in Carroll County where you could study the days leading up to the battle. Beautiful country, too!

 

[LCYingling3rd]

After studying the battle, itself, my interest moved on to the prelude. For some reason, I find it more interesting than the aftermath. You were fortunate to begin your life in Carroll County where you could study the days leading up to the battle. Beautiful country, too!

Thanks, it is beautiful country.

I was also lucky because my folks were interested in history and genealogy as well. I remember going to Westminster with my father, visiting my great grandfathers grave and my father showing me where his harness makers shop was. I remember him taking me to the Carroll County Historical Society in Westminster and doing research, then going up to little villages like Silver Run and Union Mills and wandering cemeteries to find ancestor graves. We found where J.E.B. Stuart's Cavalry camped for the night after their day in Westminster.

The stories from that area are fascinating.

 

[gc45]

LCY- Very excited when reading your post, for the prelude has been a huge interest for me! Trying to follow
Gen Meade and all others along the journey to Gettysburg is no easy task! I lay awake at nights wondering what the roads looked like, the houses along them, the fields grass. How they interacted with civilians, especially the confederate armies as they came in contact with northerners..How the Generals could manage an army train 10 or more miles long, feed their animals and the troops, seems like a huge endeavor for sure...Thanks for posting your story, your family of old, please keep us informed of any progress!


gc45

 

[LCYingling3rd]

LCY- Very excited when reading your post, for the prelude has been a huge interest for me! Trying to follow
Gen Meade and all others along the journey to Gettysburg is no easy task! I lay awake at nights wondering what the roads looked like, the houses along them, the fields grass. How they interacted with civilians, especially the confederate armies as they came in contact with northerners..How the Generals could manage an army train 10 or more miles long, feed their animals and the troops, seems like a huge endeavor for sure...Thanks for posting your story, your family of old, please keep us informed of any progress!


gc45

I am the same way. I want to walk in footsteps. Know which roads were used. What the weather was like and, as you say, what the road conditions were like! Just the other day I was driving home on I-81 and between Hagerstown, MD and Chambersburg, PA and I would see old bank barns and old brick farmhouses that looked to be from the right period alongside the highway and I would think how Confederate soldiers had probably stopped at that exact spot and gathered forage for the army there. What did they say? Were the families afraid or supportive of them? What did the troops look like as they marched along. I could imagine squads of Cavalry galloping along the side roads I saw, with horse drawn wagons filled with goods following them.

If there is any way you can, I do highly recommend you picking up the two volumes of, "If We are Striking for Pennsylvania" by Scott Mingus and Eric Wittenberg. They get into that kind of detail. If you are like me, you will love them.

 

[Story]

I'm surprised no one's wargamed (in 15mm?) what would have happened if Lee had

1) swung east in late June instead of mucking around mid-state and
2) after forcing aside PA militia units along the Susquehanna,
3) drove past Harrisburg and onto Philadelphia.

Military map of Philadelphia 1861-1865

Scale not given. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 358.1 Important buildings and sites are keyed by number to the map. Hospitals are identified by letters. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.

www.loc.gov

Map of a reconnaissance of the approaches to Philadelphia showing the positions and lines of defence on the north front of the city

Topographic map of the northern part of Philadelphia County and small adjacent part of Montgomery County showing proposed 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-order Civil War batteries. Signed in handwriting: George Davidson, Asst. Engr. Fortifications. Pen-and-ink, red ink (contours), and watercolors. Former...

www.loc.gov

 

[LCYingling3rd]

I'm surprised no one's wargamed (in 15mm?) what would have happened if Lee had

1) swung east in late June instead of mucking around mid-state and
2) after forcing aside PA militia units along the Susquehanna,
3) drove past Harrisburg and onto Philadelphia.

Military map of Philadelphia 1861-1865

Scale not given. LC Civil War Maps (2nd ed.), 358.1 Important buildings and sites are keyed by number to the map. Hospitals are identified by letters. Description derived from published bibliography. Available also through the Library of Congress web site as raster image.

www.loc.gov

Map of a reconnaissance of the approaches to Philadelphia showing the positions and lines of defence on the north front of the city

Topographic map of the northern part of Philadelphia County and small adjacent part of Montgomery County showing proposed 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-order Civil War batteries. Signed in handwriting: George Davidson, Asst. Engr. Fortifications. Pen-and-ink, red ink (contours), and watercolors. Former...

www.loc.gov

Interesting. I am not good at "what if's" but many people are. I agree that it would be interesting to see it played out.
Two things stand out to me right off the bat and they are the burning of the Wrightsville bridge and the fact that the Rt 11 (I-81) corridor was Lee's supply line for getting his much-needed forage back to Virginia?
I think Harrisburg would be difficult to capture if Early couldn't cross at Wrightsville and assault it from the South? It would be difficult enough for Rodes and Johnson to cross the Susquehanna at Harrisburg. As it was Couch could have ordered a retreat of his Emergency and National Guard forces across those bridges and the burning of them too?
The further east Lee moved the farther he got from his supply line. His army could live off of the land during the campaign, but it was important for that forage to get back to Virginia too. Knowing where the Union army was, the supply line would have been cut easily and the Union army could have just shadowed Lee from the south and boxed him in? Food is one thing, but running out of ammunition would be a real problem in any battle.
Like I said, I am not good at these "what if's" and I am sure some of our other members are better at playing things out.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

It's June 29th and that means I am immersed in my obsession of the Confederate activities in Maryland and Pennsylvania leading up to the battle of Gettysburg.

I stumbled on an original Philadelphia Inquirer Newspaper from June 30, 1863. WOW, it's so filled with fascinating coverage of the "Invasion!" Fear, panic, calls to arms, reports of activities. It is so fascinating to hold in my hands and imagine what it was like reading it when it was new!

I was born off of Rt. 26 in Eldersburg, Carroll County, MD, south of Westminster. I'm sure Cavalry rode past the house at some point. My great grandfather George E, Yingling was living in Hanover, PA and working as a Carriage Trimmer in 1860. His brother, Silas, was living in Hanover at the same time and was a Painter. Neither were in the area before Gettysburg because they were in the 87th PA Infantry and George was captured at Winchester on June 15th and Silas was on the run somewhere working his way to Harpers Ferry eventually.

After the war George settled in Westminster, MD. He set up a Harness Maker's shop and that is where my grandfather was born. I feel extremely connected to that area through heritage. After High School I went to college in Williamsport, PA and have stayed in the area. Pennsylvania is my second home and I have been fascinated with Confederate activity in the State for years. My mother was from Martinsburg, WV and had an ancestor in the 2nd VA Infantry of Walker's "Stonewall" Brigade in Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps at the time of Gettysburg. He would have made it up to the Carlisle, PA area. She also had ancestors in the 3rd WV Cavalry (Union) and the 7th VA Cavalry (Confederate) and they would have both been in the area as well! To this day, when heading south through Pennsylvania and get on I-81 at Harrisburg, I start looking around and thinking how all these ghosts of the Civil War are haunting me! LOL As I am driving south on I-81 past the Scotland exit, just above Chambersburg, I "see" the tents of Johnsons' Division camped in the fields there; and I "see" a weary Sam Stuckey in the 2nd VA Infantry camp, trying to feed his hunger and get sleep at the same time.

I get tidbits from the grand narrative accounts of Gettysburg, and I got some great stories from my 1963 copy of, "Just South of Gettysburg: Carroll County Maryland in the Civil War" edited by Frederic Shriver Klein. Another well researched work on Confederate activity in Pennsylvania is Steve French's book, "Imboden's Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign." However, without a doubt the best historians I have read on the topic Confederate activity in Pennsylvania leading to Gettysburg are Scott Mingus with books like, "Flames Beyond Gettysburg," and "'Did You Fight Them Any': Hanover, PA in the Civil War" among others and James McClure with his, "East of Gettysburg" and other books. Scott Mingus and James McClure have teamed up as well, on books like, "The Dogs of War in Our Midst: Civil War Perspectives from York County, PA." My personal favorite though, is when Mr. Mingus teamed up with Eric J. Wittenberg and they wrote their comprehensive history of the Gettysburg Campaign from it beginning to June 30th with their two-volume set, "'If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania': The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg." Their Volume II follows the armies from June 22nd to June 30th with excellent, extremely well researched detail! I have my Volume II opened to page 255 and am reading the chapter "Monday, June 29, 1863" right now! All three of those superb historians have been instrumental in helping me frame what life was like for my ancestors and their friends and neighbors where I was born and raised and where my heritage is from on those fateful days leading to the battle of Gettysburg. I thank them very much!

The fighting at Oyster Point near Harrisburg on June 29th is historically important, being so close to the Pennsylvania Capital, however, I just love reading about the Cavalry battle (skirmish) at Westminster, MD on the 29th. The huge irony of that fight to me is how close J.E.B. Stuart was to Lee's Army on that date!!! He left Westminster and came to a fork in the road and took the northeastern route to Hanover and not the northwestern route to Gettysburg!

I understand that the battle of Gettysburg is probably one of the most studied military battles in history. It certainly deserves to be! So, most people are interested in discussing July 1st-3rd. However, how many of you are also interested in the fascinating story of the Confederate invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania leading up to the battle? These must have been some of the most wild and exciting days in northern Maryland and southern and central Pennsylvania 161 years ago! Do you have interesting stories or thoughts regarding this period? Who are your favorite historians of the period and what books do you like?

You are in the center of an important part of history. I have only been able to visit Gettysburg one time, about 6 years ago.

 

[Story]

Interesting. I am not good at "what if's" but many people are. I agree that it would be interesting to see it played out.

Like I said, I am not good at these "what if's" and I am sure some of our other members are better at playing things out.

Probably worthy of it's own thread at some point, in the appropriate folder.

 

[121st PA Vols]

Interesting. I am not good at "what if's" but many people are. I agree that it would be interesting to see it played out.
Two things stand out to me right off the bat and they are the burning of the Wrightsville bridge and the fact that the Rt 11 (I-81) corridor was Lee's supply line for getting his much-needed forage back to Virginia?
I think Harrisburg would be difficult to capture if Early couldn't cross at Wrightsville and assault it from the South? It would be difficult enough for Rodes and Johnson to cross the Susquehanna at Harrisburg. As it was Couch could have ordered a retreat of his Emergency and National Guard forces across those bridges and the burning of them too?
The further east Lee moved the farther he got from his supply line. His army could live off of the land during the campaign, but it was important for that forage to get back to Virginia too. Knowing where the Union army was, the supply line would have been cut easily and the Union army could have just shadowed Lee from the south and boxed him in? Food is one thing, but running out of ammunition would be a real problem in any battle.
Like I said, I am not good at these "what if's" and I am sure some of our other members are better at playing things out.

Personally, I think that was an excellent "what if" explanation of what could have happened. Ha! What often gets ignored is mentioning ammunition, especially with a supply line that would have to have been severed with any moves farther east.
We once got into so heated an argument in the guide room the front desk ranger (cyclorama) came in telling us to keep it down. Guides! That was my view that nearly all else could be supplied. My view is any lengthy stay falls apart for that very reason. Ammunition.
As Story mentioned, 'that might be worthy of its own thread.'

 

[rpkennedy]

Personally, I think that was an excellent "what if" explanation of what could have happened. Ha! What often gets ignored is mentioning ammunition, especially with a supply line that would have to have been severed with any moves farther east.
We once got into so heated an argument in the guide room the front desk ranger (cyclorama) came in telling us to keep it down. Guides! That was my view that nearly all else could be supplied. My view is any lengthy stay falls apart for that very reason. Ammunition.
As Story mentioned, 'that might be worthy of its own thread.'

Agreed. Lee's logistics line was stretched about as far as it could go when the army was spread across York, Adams, Franklin, and Cumberland Counties. Pushing east of the Susquehanna would be a bridge too far (pardon the pun) without significant preparations ahead of time.

Ryan

 

[LCYingling3rd]

You are in the center of an important part of history. I have only been able to visit Gettysburg one time, about 6 years ago.

Yes, I do feel so very fortunate to be close to the history I love. If you are able to plan a trip to Gettysburg in the future be sure to let us know on the website. Not only are there actual Licensed Battlefield Guides on this site that are wonderful, valuable resources, there are plenty of us that just love touring Gettysburg. I certainly tour alone and with family and friends, however, I really believe it is best when you are touring with like-minded people! There is nothing like sharing the excitement of history with other history buffs!

 

[infomanpa]

Interestingly, I just noticed that there is someone named Bethany Yingling, who is the current Friends Membership Program Manager for the Gettysburg Foundation.

 

[LCYingling3rd]

Interestingly, I just noticed that there is someone named Bethany Yingling, who is the current Friends Membership Program Manager for the Gettysburg Foundation.

That's awesome! The name is relatively common in the York and Adams Counties area. There is also the Yingling Auction on Rt 15 near Gettysburg. A Christian Yingling settled outside of Philadelphia and three of his four sons settled in the Hanover, Littlestown, Silver Run area. I will have to renew my membership and say hello! Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[infomanpa]

That's awesome! The name is relatively common in the York and Adams Counties area. There is also the Yingling Auction on Rt 15 near Gettysburg. A Christian Yingling settled outside of Philadelphia and three of his four sons settled in the Hanover, Littlestown, Silver Run area. I will have to renew my membership and say hello! Thanks for pointing that out!

Prior to your info given in this thread, the only Yingling that I knew is the beer brewery in Schuylkill County.

 

[Dr. Stephen Law]

Some of us are lucky to live here. I am also blessed by being the Commander and Past Commander of Gettysburg Camp 112 SUVCW. Our Camp meets in the Historic G.A.R. Hall on East Middle Street. Hope to see some of you come to visit us for Remembrance Day! FC&L

 

[4thMichigan]

Someday I hope to go to that hall and see if they have a ticket like this in their displays. It's not a real valuable item of course, but it is kind of neat......

 

[Dr. Stephen Law]

A perfect time to visit Gettysburg's GAR Hall is the Friday afternoon before Saturday's Remembrance Day activities: there is an open house sponsored by our Sisters from Tent #55 here in Gettysburg. It is called "The Daughter's Tea", but is open to all. The Sons and Daughters of Union Veterans have a lot of interaction with each other. Period dress is welcome, but not required. We dine in the Hall ... and have members who still make a fabulous Bean Soup!

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

We dine in the Hall

That is a particularly beautiful coal or wood burning stove in the right hand corner of your photo. The one in my grandparent's house was all black. But perhaps you have what is what was called a Franklin stove? Yours does not look "pot bellied" but is quite elegant.