Stuart leaves Dover
More than two thousand Confederate cavalrymen rode past the site of Harmony Grove Church, a landmark in Dover Township, York County, Pennsylvania. The present white frame building was constructed sometime about 1870 I believe.
Jeb Stuart‘s Confederate cavalry filed northwesterly from Dover, Pennsylvania, toward Carlisle in neighboring Cumberland County. Stuart did not turn west to follow the trail of Jubal Early‘s division, but elected to head to Carlisle, where it was rumored the bulk of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell‘s Second Corps was located.
Just north of Dover, in early afternoon, Stuart split his column to make better time and to scour a wider region of the countryside for fresh horses. He kept Wade Hampton‘s brigade and the wagon trains with him on the State Road, and sent Fitzhugh Lee and John Chambliss, Jr. to the left on Harmony Grove Road toward Wellsville.
The dust clouds kicked up by the cavalry and wagon train could be seen for miles.
Modern satellite view of a portion of northwestern York County, Pennsylvania. The routes of several various Confederate Army columns are shown.
Fitzhugh Lee sent out 5-man patrols in various directions, raiding nearby farms for horses and mules. Among the farmers in the vicinity who lost horses or mules were John Coxen (who lost four animals), Peter Leas, Edward Leathery, Samuel Leathery, George Linebaugh, Peter Myers, George Schaeffer, and Henry Smith.
A little farther north, as the column neared Conewago Creek, Adam Seifert‘s son was busy plowing in a field near Conewago Road; Rebels paid a courtesty call and rode away leading the team of horses. His neighbors were also visited, and more than one hundred horses were collected by Fitz Lee’s column as it passed through the region between Harmony Grove and Wellsville.
