Chambersburg
Chambersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Settled 1734 by Benjamin Chambers, who laid out "Chambers Town" in 1764. Seat of Franklin County since 1784. Scene of Civil War events: Raided by "Jeb" Stuart, 1862; occupied by Confederates in 1863; and burned by them in 1864.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Benjamin Chambers settled at the forks of the Conococheague in 1734 and laid out "Chambers Town" in 1764; two decades later it became the seat of the newly formed Franklin County. During the Civil War the town sat squarely in the path of Confederate operations—raided by J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry in 1862, occupied by Confederate troops in 1863, and finally put to the torch in 1864 when residents refused a ransom demand.
Why it matters
Chambersburg was the only major Northern town burned by Confederate forces during the Civil War, a stark reminder of how the conflict reached deep into Union soil.
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Related people
- · Benjamin Chambers
- · J.E.B. Stuart
Related events
- · Burning of Chambersburg, 1864
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Gettysburg Campaign
Guilford Township, PA · est. 1947
Chambersburg felt the Confederate invasion early: General Albert G. Jenkins' Southern cavalry rode in on June 15, 1863, well ahead of the main army, and returned to lead the advance a week later. On June 26, Robert E. Lee himself entered the town at the head of the Army of Northern Virginia. From this staging ground the Confederates fanned out across south-central Pennsylvania in the days before Gettysburg.
Martin Delany (1812-1885)
Chambersburg, PA · est. 2003
Educated in Chambersburg as the son of a free mother and an enslaved father, Martin Delany became one of the most formidable Black voices of his century. He published the antislavery newspaper The Mystery, joined Frederick Douglass in the abolitionist cause, and in 1865 became the first African American commissioned as a field officer in the United States Army. Physician, editor, and activist, he pressed for freedom on many fronts.
Suesserott House
Chambersburg, PA · est. 1969
This Federal-era house, built around 1807, later served as the home of Dr. Jacob Suesserott, a well-regarded physician and surgeon. Its place in history was sealed on July 30, 1864, when Confederate cavalry under orders to extract a ransom set fire to Chambersburg; the flames that consumed much of the town were halted at this point. The burning of Chambersburg remains the only major Northern town destroyed by Confederate forces during the Civil War.
Israel Benevolent Society Cemetery
Chambersburg, PA · est. 2002
Consecrated in 1844, this Chambersburg burial ground was established by a Jewish Holy Burial Society so that the area's small but growing Jewish community could bury its dead according to Jewish law. It stands as the first Jewish cemetery west of Philadelphia, opened during the wave of mid-19th-century migration that carried Jewish families inland from the coast. Among those interred is Isaac Burgauer, remembered as the only Southern Jewish soldier who fell at Gettysburg to rest in a Northern Jewish cemetery.