Gettysburg Campaign
Dover Township, York County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
On June 28, 1863, part of General Jubal Early's Confederate Division neared York by this route. Here Early sent Colonel French to York Haven to burn bridges. Ordered to rejoin Lee's army, most of Early's men returned over this road June 30.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the last days of June 1863, part of General Jubal Early's Confederate division advanced on York along this road, spreading Lee's army across southern Pennsylvania. From here Early sent Colonel French toward York Haven to burn the Susquehanna bridges, hoping to sever the region's rail links. Then, ordered to concentrate with Lee, most of Early's men marched back over this same road on June 30 toward the fields at Gettysburg.
Why it matters
York County's roads witnessed the deepest Confederate penetration of Pennsylvania, days before the armies converged for the decisive battle at Gettysburg.
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Related people
- · Jubal Early
Related events
- · Gettysburg Campaign, 1863
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Gettysburg Campaign
West Manchester Township, PA · est. 1947
On June 28, 1863, General John B. Gordon's brigade of Early's division marched through York along this route on its way to Wrightsville and the Susquehanna. Early's main force lingered here in York until June 30, when it turned west to reunite with Lee's army. Within days those same soldiers would be fighting at Gettysburg, the greatest battle of the war.
Hanover Junction
North Codorus Township, PA · est. 1953
In November 1863, this rural railroad junction in York County was where Abraham Lincoln's train changed lines on his way to dedicate the national cemetery at Gettysburg. Months earlier the same junction had funneled wounded men from the battlefield onward to distant hospitals, and it served as a key relay on the military telegraph network that carried war news north and east. What looks like an ordinary spot where two rail lines met was, for a season, a nerve center of the war in Pennsylvania.
Gettysburg Campaign - Raid on Jefferson
Jefferson, PA · est. 2009
In the tense weeks before the Battle of Gettysburg in the summer of 1863, the war came to the doorsteps of ordinary York County families. As thousands of Confederate and Union troops marched through Jefferson, both armies seized horses, livestock, and food, and Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry occupied the town at the end of June. Days later those same roads funneled the armies toward the fields of Gettysburg, where the war's turning point would unfold.
Gettysburg Campaign
Reading Township, PA · est. 2008
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.