This Civil War poster can be accessed at http://www.inyork.com/gettysburg. Readers can pan or scroll to read the presentation. Background posts: Gettysburg Visitors Center gets buzz but courts to decide about old cyclorama, Gettysburg battlefield produces steady supply of news and History making evening on rebel surrender of York.

Several things came together to inspire the York Daily Record/Sunday News to produce the poster "A soldier's life."

The opening of the new visitors center at Gettysburg is one. And it's the 145th anniversary of the battle. Interest grows on these fifth-year anniversaries.

And York County's interest in the Confederate occupation is increasing. (See the beefed up York Daily Record/Sunday News Web site East of Gettysburg... .

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Events Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Quizzes & (fun) tests War York Town Square

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Confederate Gen. Jubal Early issued this handbill touting his magnanimity in not burning the town. Some people in York saw the address as an attempt to undermine the authority of the U.S. government. Background posts: The horrors of Civil War struck York after Sumter, Chambersburg seminars spread awareness of south central Pennsylvania Civil War history, Was York's surrender justified?

A large crowd attended a panel presentation this week on the Confederate occupation of York - the invasion that commenced 145 years ago today.

A suggestion that seemed to resonate was to hold a daylong symposium on various aspects of the town's surrender and occupation. With more time, we could present a true pro/con on the surrender decision, something beyond the scope of this week's panel.

Stay tuned for all that.

The following (to be published in the York Sunday News - 7-29) is adapted from my opening and closing remarks as moderator of the panel made up of Mark Snell, Scott Mingus, June Lloyd and Scott Butcher:

Posted in A.B. Farquhar Civil War Events Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Local landmarks War York Town Square

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The Big Mount house in Paradise Township where Confederate Gen. Jubal Early stayed on June 27, 1863, was up for sale when this photo was taken in 2004. The next day, the three rebel brigades accompanying Early tramped through along the countryside on Canal and other roads, including those in the Admire and Davidsburg area of Dover Township before hitting the Carlisle Road at Weigelstown. Background posts: Owner seeks info on old turnpike toll house, York County photo collection adds to historical record, Jubal Early heard booming of Battle of Hanover's guns.

The 145th anniversary of the Confederate occupation of York County brings to mind the fortunes of those villages in the path of the rebel horde.

Dover Township's Admire is one of those settlements that Gen. Jubal Early's men marched through on their way to York. Like most villages in York County, Admire has interesting stories attached to it.

It was originally known as Slabtown and then Newport.

According to historian George Prowell, when storekeeper Swiler Kunkle was selected postmaster, Voltaire was selected... .

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Explanations/controversy Farms & fields For photo fans Genealogy/research Local landmarks Nostalgia & memories Small-town life War York Town Square

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Brad Smith, dressed as a Confederate corporal, took part in the 2005 dramatization of York's surrender to rebel forces in June 1863. The re-enactment is scheduled again this year, along with a panel presentation on the occupation of York and other Patriot Days activities. Background posts: The Four Bloggers write, Panel to explore pre-Gettysburg rebel occupation and Pro/Con: Should York's leaders have surrendered to the rebels?

The York-area's link to the Civil War has been the topic of extensive research and writing in the past five years.

For decades, the best book-length references on York County in the Civil War - and particularly Jubal Early's occupation of York in the pre-Battle of Gettysburg days of 1863 - came as chapters in W.S. Nye's "Here Comes the Rebels!" and Edwin Coddington's "The Gettysburg Campaign."

So in preparing remarks as moderator for Wednesday evening's panel discussion on Confederate occupation of York (7 p.m., June 25, York County Heritage Trust), I inventoried some of the work done on the Civil War since about 2002.

There's a lot... .

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Events Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web War Women's history York Town Square

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A trolley car crosses the Conewago Creek bridge near Manchester in this undated photo appearing in the York Sunday News years ago. To see how the scene look sans trolley and bridge, see below. Ed Beck of York Township provided these photos. Background posts: Building off-peak trolley ridership: Build a park, Research offers insight into York County's trolleys and Transportation of workers fueled York County's trolley system.

The point where trolleys crossed the Conewago Creek has been the scene of many events over the years. Today, it's a quiet river crossing area... .

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local landmarks Nostalgia & memories Small-town life Unsung/obscure sites War Wheels of York York Town Square

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East King Street's Aquilla Howard School, named after the early black leader of York, was one of two segregated elementary schools opened in 1931 to educate Southern black people who had come north for jobs in industrial York. Smallwood School was the other. It was sold in 1962 and later demolished. Background posts: A short test of your black history knowledge, Freedman Aquilla Howard kisses earth as canal boat passed Mason-Dixon Line and York, Pa.'s Crispus Attucks Center scores intriguing start.

Shirley Proctor Poindexter, SPPoind1171@aol.com, wrote with questions about Aquilla Howard, the freedman, honored as York's representative to place flowers on the bier of Abraham Lincoln's funeral train, and a longtime superintendent of York's A.M.E. Zion Church.

He came to York in about 1856 and died at the age of 87 in 1923.

Posted in Black history Books & reading Civil War Explanations/controversy Famous York visitors For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Mail bag Nostalgia & memories People Presidential stops School days War York Town Square

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When the Harper's Weekly artist captured this scene at York's Camp Scott early in the Civil War, many thought the conflict would be shortlived. Even so, the presence of the camp was no picnic from the beginning. Men died from disease and accidents during drills. And stressed townspeople provided nursing and other resources for the camp and accommodated soldiers in their homes. Background posts: 'One of the shells found its mark'', Both Yanks, Rebs camped at old York Fairgrounds, In search of proof that the York Fair is the oldest.

Despite the pagentry associated in drawings of Camp Scott - the old York Fairgrounds converted to military camp - its presence gave many York County residents early first-hand knowledge of the horrors of war.

Just after the firing on Fort Sumter, the fairgrounds took on a martial air soon after sabotage of the Northern Central Railroad between York and Baltimore and unrest in Baltimore - both by Southern sympathizers - meant Northern troops could travel no farther south.

They settled at the fairgrounds, then southeast of the King and Queen street intersection, the first of tens of thousands to camp and train there. Soldiers slept on straw in sheds designed for livestock... .

Posted in Civil War Events Explanations/controversy Farms & fields For photo fans Local landmarks Small-town life War York Town Square

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Cassandra Morris Small experienced the Confederate occupation of York in late June 1863 and wrote letters to a cousin giving an account of the horrors of the invasion. She will be among the people discussed in an upcoming panel exploring the rebel invasion.
Background post: Tale of a headless soldier, Headless soldier regains its noggin and Years after Civil War, (a) Longstreet steps onto York County soil.

For years, the York area virtually ignored its Civil War history.

The wrenching surrender to the invading Confederates overshadowed the hosting of a Civil War hospital, community support of a large basic training camp and the courage of the thousands of fighting men who served and the probable hundreds who died... .

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Events Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research People War Women's history York Town Square

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A slow-moving tractor tows bales of hay along Grandview Road in Jackson Township in 2007. The township has long been agricultural in nature. "The land of Jackson Township is fertile and productive, and its owners are industrious and prosperous," historian George Prowell wrote in 1907. But the township's location along the turnpike - later the Lincoln Highway and Route 30 - and the Western Maryland Railroad also meant it has played host to its share of industry. Soon, an Arm & Hammer plant is expected to operate there. Background posts: Part of York County's past goes on the auction block, York County railroading: 'Something that gets in your blood' and Old Lincoln Highway pulled 'Americans out of the mud'.

Jackson Township, carved from Paradise Township in 1857, is slated to be home to a new Arm & Hammer laundry detergent plant and distribution center.

Though a longtime farming township with a productive limestone and red shale soil, its position along the former York-Gettysburg Turnpike and the presence of the Western Maryland Railroad meant that businesses have long been operated there... .

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Events Explanations/controversy Famous York visitors Farms & fields For photo fans Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Made in York Presidential stops Small-town life War York Town Square

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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... .

Posted in Civil War Events Explanations/controversy Famous York visitors For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web People War York Town Square

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