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.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the summer of 1863, the Civil War reached a tense and dramatic turning point. After a string of victories in the East, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under General Robert E. Lee, pushed north across the Potomac and into Pennsylvania — carrying the war onto Northern soil in a bold bid to shift the conflict's momentum.
For the towns of south-central Pennsylvania, this meant something that had seemed unthinkable: columns of Confederate soldiers marching through their streets. Communities that had experienced the war mostly through newspapers and absent sons suddenly found the army of the enemy at their doorsteps, requisitioning supplies and setting the pace of daily life.
Waynesboro, in Franklin County, sat squarely in the path of this invasion. In late June 1863 the broad Confederate advance swept across the region, and quiet farm towns became waypoints in one of the most consequential campaigns of the entire war.
People & events
On June 23, 1863, Confederate troops under General Jubal Early occupied Waynesboro as part of Lee's northward thrust. The next day they were on the move again, marching by way of Mont Alto toward Greenwood — a spot also known as Black Gap.
It was there, on June 25, that Early received orders from General Richard S. Ewell, his corps commander, to march on to York. These were not random wanderings but deliberate maneuvers, the methodical spreading-out of an army across the countryside as it probed deeper into Pennsylvania.
Early's column was one finger of a much larger hand. Across the region in those same days, Confederate units fanned out, gathering supplies and seizing key towns. The crisp sequence recorded here — occupy, march, receive orders, move on — captures the rhythm of an invading army in motion, days before everything would come to a head.
Its place in the American story
Those late-June marches were the prelude to Gettysburg, the battle that would become the bloodiest of the war and a hinge on which the nation's future turned. The movements through Waynesboro and on toward York were part of how the two great armies groped toward the collision that no one had yet chosen to fight at Gettysburg itself.
This marker does something valuable: it reminds us that the Gettysburg Campaign was not a single battlefield but a sweep across an entire region. Before the armies converged, the war was lived out in dozens of towns, along countless roads, by soldiers and civilians alike. The campaign unfolded across a whole countryside.
By tracing the footsteps of Early's men, the site connects a specific Pennsylvania town to the largest story of the Civil War. The roads through these communities were, for a few momentous days, the arteries of an invasion that would decide much about the country's course.
If you visit
Waynesboro and the surrounding Franklin County landscape let you follow history at ground level. The roads and gaps named here — Mont Alto, Greenwood, Black Gap — still thread through the countryside, and driving them gives you a feel for the terrain an army had to move through.
This is a fine stop for anyone making a broader pilgrimage to Gettysburg. Before you reach the famous battlefield, you can trace the quieter approach routes and appreciate how the campaign rippled across the region in the days beforehand. It turns a single destination into a richer, more textured journey.
Stand in town and imagine late June of 1863, when these ordinary streets briefly carried an extraordinary and frightening weight. The drama here is understated, but knowing what came just days later — and just miles away — gives every road and ridge a deeper resonance.
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
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Monterey Pass Battlefield Museum4.9 mi away
- Frederick County Fire Museum13.3 mi away · 300 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD
- Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Visitor Center13.5 mi away
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · Jubal Early
- · Richard S. Ewell
Related events
- · Gettysburg Campaign
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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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.
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