HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil War

Gettysburg Campaign

Waynesboro, Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Gen. Jubal Early's Confederate troops occupied Waynesboro June 23, 1863. Next day they marched by Mont Alto to Greenwood, or Black Gap, where, June 25, they were ordered by Gen. Ewell to march to York.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

On June 23, 1863, Confederate troops under General Jubal Early occupied Waynesboro as Lee's army swept into Pennsylvania. The next day they marched by Mont Alto toward Greenwood, and on June 25 received General Ewell's order to press on to York. These movements were part of the wide Confederate sweep across south-central Pennsylvania in the days before the armies converged at Gettysburg.

Why it matters

It traces the footsteps of Lee's invading army through Pennsylvania towns, showing how the Gettysburg Campaign unfolded across an entire countryside before the climactic battle.

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Related people

  • · Jubal Early
  • · Richard S. Ewell

Related events

  • · Gettysburg Campaign

Themes & tags

Civil WarLandmark

Nearby & related markers

John Brown Raid

Mont Alto, PA · est. 1947

After John Brown's failed raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in October 1859, several of his followers scattered north in a desperate bid to escape. Captain John E. Cooke was run down near here on October 25, nine days after the raid collapsed, and was returned to Virginia, where he was hanged on December 16—two weeks after Brown himself went to the gallows. The manhunt reached well into Pennsylvania as the nation reeled from the raid.

Gettysburg Campaign

Antrim Township, PA · est. 1997

In the tense weeks before the guns opened at Gettysburg, Confederate columns poured north through the Cumberland Valley on their way to the largest battle ever fought on American soil. General Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps used this route in June 1863 to spearhead Lee's second invasion of the North, with Jubal Early's division peeling off toward Waynesboro. Within days these same forces would converge on a small crossroads town to the east, where three days of fighting decided the campaign.

Captain Ulric Dahlgren

Greencastle, PA · est. 1954

On July 2, 1863, as the armies clashed just miles away at Gettysburg, young Union cavalry officer Ulric Dahlgren led a bold raid into the square at Greencastle and struck a larger body of Confederate horsemen. His troopers captured couriers carrying dispatches intended for General Lee, seizing papers that offered a glimpse into enemy movements at a decisive moment of the campaign.

Gettysburg Campaign

Antrim Township, PA · est. 1964

On June 22, 1863, the 1st New York Cavalry clashed here with the Confederate advance guard under General Albert G. Jenkins, one of the first armed encounters as Lee's army entered Pennsylvania. In the fighting Corporal William H. Rihl of Philadelphia fell—the first Union soldier killed in action on Pennsylvania soil. He was buried near where he died, and this ground became his memorial.