HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Gettysburg Campaign

Reading Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Part of General Jubal Early's Confederate Division, marching by Mummasburg and Hunterstown, passed here June 27, 1863, on the way to York. Returning June 30, they passed a little to the north, toward Heidlersburg.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

In the last days of June 1863, as the armies converged on Gettysburg, part of Confederate General Jubal Early's division tramped past this ground on its march toward York. Passing by Mummasburg and Hunterstown on June 27, the troops returned two days later along a route just to the north, heading toward Heidlersburg. Their movements were part of the sweeping maneuvers that set the stage for the war's most consequential battle.

Why it matters

These roadside marches mark the approach to Gettysburg, the turning-point battle of the Civil War fought only miles away.

The story behind this marker

AI context

The era

By the last week of June 1863, the Civil War had reached a fever pitch, and for the first time the fighting was spilling deep into the North. General Robert E. Lee had marched his Confederate army out of Virginia and up through Maryland into Pennsylvania, hoping a victory on Northern soil might shake the Union's will to keep fighting. The rolling farmland of Adams County — quiet fields, stone barns, and country crossroads like this one — suddenly found itself on the path of a great army.

This corner of Reading Township sat within a web of local roads linking small towns: Mummasburg, Hunterstown, Heidlersburg, and the county seat at Gettysburg. To the soldiers tramping through, these were simply routes on a map. To the farmers who lived here, the passing columns were an astonishing and unnerving sight — thousands of armed men moving through country that had never before seen war up close.

What looked like ordinary marching was in fact the opening of the campaign that would climax just a few miles away, in the first days of July 1863.

People & events

The men who passed this ground belonged to the division of Confederate General Jubal Early, one of Lee's hard-driving subordinates. On June 27, part of Early's division moved through here on its way east toward York, one of the larger towns in the region and a target for the Confederate advance.

A few days later, on June 30, the tide of movement reversed. Early's troops came back through the area, this time passing a little to the north and turning toward Heidlersburg. These were not random wanderings but part of the concentration of Lee's scattered forces as word spread that the Union Army of the Potomac was closing in.

Within a day or two of that return march, the armies collided at Gettysburg. The same roads that carried Early's men past these fields would soon carry them, and tens of thousands of others, into the largest battle ever fought on American soil.

Its place in the American story

The Battle of Gettysburg is widely remembered as the turning point of the Civil War — the high-water mark of the Confederacy's push into the North, and the beginning of a long retreat that would end nearly two years later. But great battles do not appear from nowhere. They are the product of countless smaller movements: columns marching, generals guessing at one another's positions, armies groping toward a collision neither side had precisely planned.

This quiet marker captures one thread of that larger maneuvering. The unremarkable act of a division marching past a country crossroads, and then marching back, was part of the choreography that placed two enormous armies within striking distance of each other outside Gettysburg.

It is a reminder that the history-making moments at Gettysburg were set in motion across a whole countryside, on ordinary roads through ordinary farmland, in the tense final days of June 1863.

If you visit

Stand here and take in how gentle and rural this landscape still is. The power of a place like this is in its quiet — there is no battlefield drama at this spot, just the roads and fields across which an army once moved. Picture the dust of a marching column, the creak of wagons, and farm families watching from their doorways as the war came within sight.

This marker rewards travelers who like to understand a great event from its edges rather than its center. If you're touring the Gettysburg area, consider weaving these approach routes into your trip: the roads toward Mummasburg, Hunterstown, and Heidlersburg trace the paths soldiers actually used, and following them gives you a feel for the countryside as the armies experienced it.

From here, the famous battlefield is only a short drive away. Seeing this humble roadside spot first, then standing on the fields of the battle itself, lets you experience the campaign the way it unfolded — as movement building toward a collision that would echo through American history.

Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

Places to stay

Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · Jubal Early

Related events

  • · Gettysburg Campaign

Themes & tags

Civil WarLandmark

Nearby & related markers

Gettysburg Campaign

Berwick Township, PA · est. 1948

In late June 1863, as Robert E. Lee's army spread across southern Pennsylvania, Confederate divisions under Jubal Early swept eastward toward the Susquehanna. Troops led by John B. Gordon marched past this spot on June 27 bound for York, while Early's main column moved along a parallel road through Hampton and East Berlin. Both wings converged on York the next day — the deepest penetration the Confederacy would make into the North before the armies collided days later at Gettysburg.

Civil War

Gettysburg Campaign

Hamilton Township, PA · est. 1947

Late in June 1863, before the armies met at Gettysburg, Jubal Early's Confederates swept east toward the Susquehanna. John B. Gordon's brigade passed here on June 27 bound for York, while Early's main force took a parallel route through Hampton and East Berlin. Both columns entered York the following day, part of the deepest Confederate thrust into Pennsylvania.

Civil War

Gettysburg Campaign

Tyrone Township, PA · est. 1947

Robert Rodes led his Confederate division back from Carlisle to rejoin Lee's concentrating army, camping here on the night of June 30, 1863. The next morning his men marched west toward Biglerville — then called Middletown — and on toward the developing fight at Gettysburg. Rodes' troops would strike the Union line from the north on the battle's first day.

Civil War

Gettysburg Campaign

Tyrone Township, PA · est. 1947

As Lee gathered his far-flung divisions, Jubal Early's Confederates marched back from York to rejoin the main army. They camped three miles east of here on June 30, 1863, then turned south the next morning toward Gettysburg on orders from corps commander Richard Ewell. Early's men would arrive in time to help drive Union forces through the town on the battle's first day.

Civil War