Gettysburg Campaign
Ayr Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
During the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederate Army, raiding parties crossed into Fulton County to steal horses, live-stock, and supplies. On June 29, 1863, Union troops of the 1st New York Cavalry attacked the enemy soldiers, killing two, injuring several, and taking 32 prisoners, including the captain. These were the first Confederate soldiers killed in battle on Pennsylvania soil, and they were buried here by local residents.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
As Robert E. Lee's army pushed into Pennsylvania in June 1863, Confederate raiding parties fanned out into Fulton County to seize horses, livestock, and supplies. On June 29, troopers of the 1st New York Cavalry struck one such party, killing two enemy soldiers, wounding several, and capturing 32 men including their captain. The two Confederate dead were buried here by local residents.
Why it matters
These were the first Confederate soldiers killed in battle on Pennsylvania soil during the Gettysburg Campaign, a small but poignant marker of the war reaching the North just days before its climactic battle.
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Related events
- · Gettysburg Campaign
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Gettysburg Campaign
Ayr Township, PA · est. 1947
This corner of the Cumberland Valley changed hands repeatedly during the 1863 invasion, occupied three times by Confederate columns pushing north. General Albert G. Jenkins' cavalry came first on June 19, followed by General George H. Steuart's troops in late June and, after a brief skirmish with Union forces, General John D. Imboden's command on June 29. Each passage marked the shifting tide of Lee's campaign.
Fulton County
McConnellsburg, PA · est. 1982
Established from Bedford County in 1850, Fulton County honors Robert Fulton, the Pennsylvania-born pioneer of the steamboat. Its seat, McConnellsburg, was incorporated in 1814 in the ridges of south-central Pennsylvania. During the Civil War the county saw the first casualties of the Confederacy's Gettysburg Campaign, and in 1864 it hosted the last Confederate campsite on Pennsylvania soil.
Last Confederate Bivouac
Ayr Township, PA · est. 2021
In the summer of 1864, Confederate cavalry under General Bradley T. Johnson camped on this ground on July 31, just after McCausland's raiders had burned Chambersburg in retaliation for Union destruction in the Shenandoah Valley. They proved to be the last Confederate troops ever to camp on Pennsylvania soil. Union cavalry under General William W. Averell gave chase and routed the raiders a week later at the Battle of Moorefield in West Virginia.
James Buchanan
Peters Township, PA · est. 1955
James Buchanan, the fifteenth president, was born in a log cabin near this spot in 1791, in the Cove Gap country of the Pennsylvania frontier. He rose through law and diplomacy to the White House on the eve of the nation's greatest crisis, serving from 1857 to 1861. The humble cabin of his birth was moved more than once and today stands on the campus of Mercersburg Academy.