Category: Civil War (1861-1865) Page 1 of 2

“In Old Bellaire”

Old West, 1860

D. W. Thompson, In Old Bellaire (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

D. W. Thompson explains Carlisle’s connection to Mary Dillon’s novel In Old Bellaire (1906). While set in the fictional town of Bellaire during the Civil War, Thompson describes how Dillon based her story on people, places, and events in Carlisle. “In Old Bellaire’ will always be the novel about old Carlisle in Civil War days, with allusions to actual local scenes and charters on every page,” as Thompson notes. Dillon’s family lived in Carlisle during the Civil War because her father, Herman Merrills Johnson, was the President of Dickinson College from 1860 to 1868. You can read In Old Bellaire online at the Dickinson College Chronicles Reading Room.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

43 Baltimore Street – Carlisle, PA


Peggy Garrett, “Forty-three Baltimore Street,” Cumberland County History 13 (1996): 63-76.

Peggy Garrett tells the story of a family who lived at Forty-three Baltimore street in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for three generations. When Jonas and Mary Foulk Kee bought the property in the 1890s, they had lived in Carlisle for more than three decades. Jonas Kee, along with several other members of his extended family, served in the United States Colored Troops and moved to Carlisle after the Civil War. Garrett also examines some of the difficulties that the family faced in their new community. In addition, Garrett provides extensive information on the family’s history and highlights a number of interesting details. Researchers can access the documents and other material that Garrett used in the Johnson Family Collection at the Cumberland County Historical Society.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Carlisle Women in the War Effort

Central Square, Carlisle, PA (1860)

Lenore E. Flower, Women in the War Effort (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

Lenore E. Flower’s essay discuses the letters that two sisters wrote after Confederates shelled Carlisle on July 1, 1863. “We never dreamed that by evening the Rebel demons would attempt to shell the town, and that too without giving the usual warning,” as seventeen year old Margaret Murray noted in a letter to her brother. In addition, Flower includes a letter that Sara A. Myers wrote to Union General William Farrah Smith’s wife. “I am indebted to the exertions of Gen. Smith and his brave soldiers – I wish I could something for each of them – that I still have a home,” as Myers explained.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Civil War Times in Carlisle

Central Square in1860 - Carlisle, PA

William E. Miller, Civil War Times In Carlisle (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1931).

Merkel Landis provides an overview of what happened in Carlisle, Pennsylvania during the Civil War. After a review of the political conditions in Carlisle in 1860, Landis describes key events that took place in the town during the Civil War. Landis starts in November 1860 with the election returns and ends with the celebration in Carlisle after General Robert E. Lee surrendered. The essay also includes a number of photographs of people and places in Carlisle during this period.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Grand Army of the Republic – Posts in Cumberland County, PA

G. A. R. Parade - Washington DC, 1892

Jacob M. Goodyear, The GAR Posts of Cumberland County (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1951).

After the Civil War, many Union veterans joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and established posts in their communities. Seven posts were set up in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania between 1880 and 1890 and Jacob M. Goodyear provides a short history for each one. Each post, as Goodyear explains, had “its own life story.”

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Harrisburg’s Civil War Patriot and Union

Harrisburg, PA

Richard L. Dahlen, “Harrisburg’s Civil War Patriot and Union: Its Conciliatory Viewpoint Collapses,” Cumberland County History 15 (1998): 115-127.

Richard L. Dahlen’s essay explores the shifts and eventual “collapse” of the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot and Union’s editorial stance during the Civil War. As the editors were “staunchly Democratic,” Dahlen explains that “[they] printed dispatches calculated to prove that the Republican administration’s military performance was a failure.” In addition, the Patriot and Union supported George McClellan in the 1864 election based on the idea that he would quickly end the war if elected. Yet by September 1864 the editors faced a crisis as events seemed to prove that their positions were wrong. The Union army won several key victories and McClellan rejected the idea of a truce. The paper’s “credibility [was] shattered,” as Dahlen notes. The “collapse” of a prominent Democratic newspaper had an important impact on the results of 1864 election. As Dahlen argues, “the Patriot and Union helped drag the famous General George Brinton McClellan down.”

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Locust Grove African American Cemetery – Shippensburg

Stephen Burg, “Shippensburg’s Locust Grove African-American Cemetery,” Cumberland County History 26 (2009): 33-47.

Professor Stephen Burg explores the history of the Locust Grove African-American Cemetery in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in this article. The grandson of Shippensburg’s founder gave the land, which had been used as a slave burial ground, to the town’s black residents in 1842. Burg also provides details on some of the individuals buried in this cemetery (also known as North Queen Street Cemetery), including several of the twenty six United States Colored Troops veterans. In addition, Burg includes an index of the headstones in this cemetery.

This article has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Mechanicsburg, PA – Summer of 1863

North Ward - Mechanicsburg, PA

Norman D. Keefer, Mechanicsburg: Civil War Centennial (Mechanicsburg, PA: Mechanicsburg Area Chamber of Commerce, 1963).

Norman D. Keefer’s essay provides a detailed overview of what happened in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and the surrounding area during the Confederate invasion in June 1863. While this essay’s title includes “Centennial,” the focus throughout the article remains on what happened in 1863 rather than how Mechanicsburg commemorated the war in 1963. After Confederate troops captured Mechanicsburg on June 28, 1863, Brigadier General Albert G. Jenkins established his headquarters in the town. Two days later his troops left the town and marched towards Gettysburg. Some historians argue that Mechanicsburg was “the northern-most town to have been captured…during the Civil War,” as Keefer explains.

This essay has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Shelling of Carlisle, Pennsylvania

William E. Miller, Local History: Troops Occupying Carlisle, July, 1863 (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1902).

William E. Miller’s essay offers an overview of the events surrounding the Confederates’ occupation of Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1863. Miller describes in detail the Confederate advance through Pennsylvania in June 1863 and provides the order of battle for Confederate General Richard S. Ewell’s second corps. In addition, the essay includes an article (“Came Near Being Hung: What Happened to Two Cumberland Countians in the Rebel Invasion”) that was originally published in the Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer.

James W. Sullivan, Boyhood Memories of the Civil War 1861-’65: Invasion of Carlisle (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1933).

While in Hereford, England in July 1932, J. W. Sullivan writes a letter to a family friend and recalls his experiences in Carlisle, Pennsylvania during the Civil War and other related topics. Before the war Sullivan notes that political tensions were high. “From my earliest years I was accustomed to hearing among our neighbors the high notes of political arguing,” as Sullivan explains. Sullivan was 13 when Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in April 1861 and he provides an overview of what happened in Carlisle during the war as well as how the community reacted to news from the front. In addition, Sullivan offers a detailed account of the Confederate shelling of Carlisle in 1860. Sullivan also reflects on the ways that Americans commemorated the Civil War, including visiting Gettysburg and the establishment of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Charles Gilbert Beetem, Experiences of a West Ward Boy (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

Charles Gilbert Beetem’s article discusses James W. Sullivan’s recollection of the Confederate Invasion of Carlisle. (Sullivan’s original account was published in 1933 and has also been posted on Library Divided). Even though “there was far more action around the Public Square and in Carlisle’s eastern parts,” Beetem notes that this account from someone who lived in the West Ward remains an “interesting” story. Beetem includes excerpts from Sullivan’s letter and provides additional information about people and events in Sullivan’s account.

Robert Grant Crist, Confederate Invasion of the West Shore – 1863 (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

Robert Grant Crist provides a detailed overview of the Confederate advance in June 1863 to the West Shore of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. His article ends with the Confederate withdrawal from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on June 30. While “Harrisburg was safe,” Crist notes that “the storm was about to break in Adams County.” Crist uses a wide range of materials to write his account, from Pennslyvania nad New York newspapers to solders’ letters and the Official Records. His essay also includes several photographs and maps.

George M. Diffenderfer, Notes on Rebel Routes and Artillery (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

George M. Diffenderfer’s essay discusses several questions about Confederate artillery units that participated in the shelling of Carlisle on July 1, 1863. After explaining why Confederates shelled the town, Diffenderfer reviews military records to determine how many cannons were involved, the location of artillery during the bombardment, and the number of times that Confederate artillery fired.

Milton E. Flower, Wednesday, July 1st 1863 (Carlisle, PA: Hamilton Library Association, 1963).

Milton E. Flower’s short essay offers a relatively concise overview of the events that took place in Carlisle on July 1, 1863.

James D. Flower, “Physical Remains of the Confederate Invasion of 1863,” Cumberland County History 15 (1998): 73-78.

Even though Confederates invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, James D. Flower explains that one can still find physical remains from that event today. Flower describes several places in Carlisle that were damaged when Confederates shelled the town as well as the remains of two defensive fortifications (Fort Couch and Fort Washington). The essay includes photographs of these locations.

Simpson K. Donavin, “The Invasion: Rebel Occupancy of Carlisle, 1863,” Cumberland County History 15 (1998): 34-50.

Simpson K. Donavin’s account of the Confederate’s operation in Carlisle, Pennsylvania was originally published in July 1863 in three local papers (American Volunteer ; Carlisle Herald ; Carlisle American). As Confederates approached Shippensburg, Carlisle residents began to realize that General Robert E. Lee’s advance was a major operation. “The threats so often made by the Southern papers were to assume reality, and the States of Maryland and Pennsylvania were indeed to be made the battle-field,” as Donavin explained. As Confederates entered Carlisle on June 27, 1863, Donavin recalled that “every man carried his gun to a position to use it on the instant with his hand on the hammer.” Donavin described in detail what happened between this initial encounter and the Confederate shelling of the town on July 1, 1863. Historians have been unable to figure out many details about Donavin’s life before or after this article appeared in July 1863. This essay also includes several photographs.

Barbara Houston, “Narrow Escapes: Two Original Accounts of Civil War Shells in the Hands of Carlisle Civilians After the War,” Cumberland County History 24 (2007): 48-52.

Barbara Houston’s article includes two accounts of Carlisle residents’ encounters with unexploded artillery shells after the Civil War. Frank Wetzel recalled one incident that involved a Civil War veteran who worked at his father’s shop on North Bedford Street. In addition, an article from the Carlisle (PA) Herald described what happened at a house on South Hanover Street in May 1868 after a conical shell was accidentally “shoveled into a bucket of coal and from thence carried to the cook stove where the contents of the bucket were thrown upon the fire.”

These essays have been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

Union Soldiers – Cumberland County, Pennsylvania

John Cantilion

Patricia Coolmeyer, “Southern Sentiments: A Look at Attitudes of Civil War Soldiers ,” Cumberland County History 7 (1990): 68-79.

Patricia Coolmeyer’s essay explores the different ways that soldiers and residents of southern Pennsylvania saw the South during the Civil War. Coolmeyer uses a wide variety of sources in her account, including letters, diaries, local newspapers, and other nineteenth-century publications.

James A. Holechek, “From Carlisle and Fort Couch: The War of Corporal John Cantilion,” Cumberland County History 10 (1993): 71-80.

James A. Holechek’s article focuses on Corporal John Cantilion’s experiences in central Pennsylvania during the summer of 1863. Cantilion served in the 4th United States Cavalry and was stationed at Carlisle Barracks in early June 1863. This essay includes transcripts of letters that Cantilion wrote from Carlisle Barracks on June 19 and from Fort Couch on June 23. Holechek also provides the transcript of a letter that Cantilion’s wife, Sarah, wrote in early November 1863. However, Cantilion died on November 12, 1863 and never received that letter. In addition, photographs of John and Sarah Cantilion are reproduced in this essay.

These articles has been posted online with permission from the Cumberland County Historical Society.

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