150th Civil War anniversary sparks scholarship into York County war history
Signs stressed the importance of a sterile work area for Civil War-era laundry cleaners, in this York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News file photo from 2008. Reenactors and living historians will be busy in activities honoring the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, 2011-2015. Background posts: Invaders put off by earthy Pennsylvania women, Owner seeks info on old toll house and York County Civil War, by the numbers.
When York County Heritage Trust archivist Lila Fourhman-Shaull made discoveries that led to the identification of the girl who played a role in the Battle of Wrightsville, she found it invigorating.
“The hairs were up on the back of my neck,” she recalled about her discovery.
For years, students of history have wondered about the girl who handed a bouquet of flowers bearing a note to Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon about troop positions in Wrightsville… .
A division of the Confederate Army moved through York County, reaching York borough on Sunday, June 28, 1863. John B. Gordon’s brigade proceeded that day to the banks of the Susquehanna River, where the blazing Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge stopped that unit’s advance.
Gordon then went into fighting to secure the Columbia-Wrightville Bridge with full knowledge of the Union’s defense thanks to young Margaret Small.
In my York Sunday News column (8/15/10) this week, I use this example and others to show the growing body of research – and a growing interest from the general public – as the nation approaches the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
For the whole thing, visit Civil War anniversary.
Also of interest:
All Civil War posts from the start.
All York Town Square posts from the start. (Key word search by using “find” on browser).
