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From: "Cheryll Reed" <>
Subject: [PAFRANKL] Lee's retreat from Gettysburg through Franklin County
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 12:18:14 -0400


Switching wars for a change of pace. <g> 60 years after the
revolutionary war ended, Franklin County got "up close and personal"
during a second war of rebellion---the Civil War. I've heard family
stories through the years of the ancestors hiding livestock in their
cellars and burying family valuables up on the mountain to keep them
from the Confederate army the different times the Rebels occupied the
county. I'm going to be posting some excerpts from "Historical papers,
Franklin County and the Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania" by Jacob H. and
Lu Cole Stoner, which gives a nice local touch to the events of a few
days in July 1863. To see exactly where Monterey and Waynesboro are in
relationship to each other and Snow Hill, try mapping a route on
MapQuest between Gettysburg and Waynesboro---if you zoom in one level,
not only can you see Monterey and Waynesboro, Rouzerville, and the
Nunnery, it's also pretty obvious what route was probably the Monterey
Road at the time. According to the same source (MapQuest), the Nunnery
is 2.83 miles north of Waynesboro so I think we can be certain that the
Snow Hill neighborhood directly experienced much of what follows.
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LEE TOOK DIRECT ROUTE TO RIVER
In order to arrive at a proper understanding of the retreat of Lee's
army from Gettysburg one should remember that the operations on the
battlefield were spread over considerable territory. When the orders to
retire were given, the object of the various division commanders, no
matter where they were located, was to conduct their forces to the
Potomac River in the shortest possible time and by the shortest possible
route. Practically the whole of the Confederate army retreated from
Gettysburg through Washington Township and Waynesboro in southern
Franklin County and roughly speaking their passage covered the district
included by the road from Greenwood to Greencastle on the north and by
the road from Monterey to Waynesboro on the south. Of course the cavalry
forces spread somewhat beyond this area for the purpose of protecting
the trains containing supplies of various kinds and the large number of
wounded men.

Most of the wounded were sent by way of Cashtown, Greenwood, Turkey Foot
(now New Guilford), New Franklin, Marlon and Greencastle and composed a
train over fourteen miles long. What with the cries of the sick and
wounded, the shouts and
oaths of the drivers mingled with the rumble and rattle of the
springless wagons, a scene was enacted on this stretch of country road
that beggars all description. This hilly cross-country road over which
they moved, became almost impassable because of the heavy rains, It was
a piteous and heart-rending spectacle never to be forgotten by those who
witnessed it.

The main force of the Confederate army consisting of infantry and
artillery came by way of Monterey and Waynesboro. As has been related
the wagon train that had been captured by Kilpatrick came down the
Monterey Road in the evening of July Fourth. Early Sunday morning. July
5th, the advance guard of the Confederates had several guns posted on
Burns Mill not a cemetery then. They also had guns stationed on top of
the mountain. but no shots were fired from cemetery hill and these guns
were afterward brought down the hill and taken away.

As soon as the people of Waynesboro learned of the fortifying of Burns
Hill many of them, believing the town to be bombarded, became very much
excited and retired to their cellars. They soon learned, however, that
the cannon pointed eastward in order to protect, if necessary, the
retreating columns of the Confederates.

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continued***********************************************************


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