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Hanover in York County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

The Center of the Storm

A Heart of Hanover Trail Stop

 
 
The Center of the Storm Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, May 2, 2022
1. The Center of the Storm Marker
Inscription.
Mayhem and Melees
In 1863, charming brick and wooden homes, many of them still standing, lined both sides of Frederick Street from Center Square to the Winebrenner Tannery and the Karl Forney Farm. The Karl Forney residence was directly in front of you. Looking beyond Karl Forney's stately house in 1863, you would have viewed miles of rich farmland. Karl Forney and his son owned much of it.

Right here, as the initial attack by the 13th Virginia and 2nd North Carolina Cavalry Regiments gained momentum, the Confederates charged along Frederick Road (present-day Frederick Street) and through the Forney fields. To your left, buzzing past the Winebrenner tannery, the fleeing Union rear guard reached members of the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment on Frederick Road.

Then, pursuing Confederate cavalry plunged into the midst of the Union Pennsylvania column. This clash set off a chain reaction that soon pushed Union cavalry back through town and north to the railroad tracks on Abbottstown Road (present-day Broadway). Union counter-attacks followed, driving the Rebels back through here to high ground southwest of Hanover.

By the time the counter-attack on the 5th New York Cavalry Regiment had reached here, the center of Hanover was once again under Union control.

The New Yorkers continued
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along Frederick Street, but gunfire from Confederate reinforcements soon halted their advance.

This turbulent center of confusion saw cavalrymen from New York and Pennsylvania fight face-to-face against those from North Carolina and Virginia. Historian John Krepps wrote, "Because of the fluid nature of the battle, unit cohesion was lost as the fighting degenerated into a whirlwind of hand to hand melees in the streets, alleys and surrounding fields."

The arrival of Union Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth with elements of the 1st West Virginia and 1st Vermont Cavalry Regiments tipped the balance of power to the Union.

With these additional reinforcements, Union cavalrymen made another charge, "driving the rebels in confusion along the road and through the fields." During this surge, Union Private Thomas Burke of the 5th New York Cavalry captured the colors of the 13th Virginia Cavalry Regiment. Two companies from the 1st Vermont Cavalry captured about twenty prisoners of the worn-out 13th Virginia and 2nd North Carolina Cavalry Regiments during the second advance.

Also, an unidentified Union private of the 1st Vermont Cavalry Regiment claimed to have captured Confederate Lt. Col. Payne, commanding officer of the 2nd North Carolina. Union Private Abram Folger of the 5th New York Cavalry also claimed to have captured Payne and stated: "We captured one of their
Marker detail: Karl Forney residence, Frederick Street image. Click for full size.
2. Marker detail: Karl Forney residence, Frederick Street
Central point around which the Battle of Hanover was waged.
colonels in an old tan vat, into which his horse had fallen. His gray uniform with its velvet facing and white gauntlet gloves, his face and hair had all been completely stained."

Forney Farms
"I engaged for some minutes in a confused melee, in which I remember nothing but firing pistols, clouds of dust, and occasional thump of a saber; a sudden collapse of my horse tumbling dead headlong ahead of me; jumping to my feet and being knocked down by a Yankee's horse, crawling out on my hands and knees as the crowd swept by. One of my head ran ahead of me into a tan house and I, under some vague hope that a countercharge would recover us, followed him."
—Confederate Lt. Col. William H. F. Payne,
commanding officer of the 2nd North Carolina.

Old Uncle Sam
Last Enslaved Person in York County (died in 1840)

Farmer Karl Forney owned much farmland, and his home on Frederick Road was at the epicenter of the back-and-forth fury and chaos during the first battle on free soil. Karl followed in the farming footsteps of his father, Marks Forney. Historian Scott Mingus, Sr. writes, "After farmer Marks Forney had freed all of his family's slaves years earlier, several of them had settled in small, rudimentary cabins near Mudtown, a rural settlement just southwest of Hanover on the public highway to Littlestown and Frederick,
Marker detail: CSA Lt. Col. William H. F. Payne image. Click for full size.
3. Marker detail: CSA Lt. Col. William H. F. Payne
Maryland. One of the inhabitants, 'Old Uncle Sam,' was a free man who became the last former York County slave to die when he finally expired of old age in 1840."
 
Erected 2022 by Main Street Hanover; and Heart of Hanover Trails.
 
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African AmericansWar, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the Pennsylvania, Battle of Hanover Walking Tour series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1863.
 
Location. 39° 47.78′ N, 76° 59.304′ W. Marker is in Hanover, Pennsylvania, in York County. Marker is on Frederick Street (Pennsylvania Route 194) just east of North Forney Avenue, on the left when traveling east. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 283 Frederick Street, Hanover PA 17331, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. The Forney Farms (within shouting distance of this marker); Hanover (approx. 0.2 miles away); The Winebrenner House (approx. 0.2 miles away); Search and Destroy, Hide and Seek (approx. 0.2 miles away); Fisher Place (approx. ¼ mile away); J.E.B. Stuart's Jump (approx. ¼ mile away); Gettysburg Campaign (approx. ¼ mile away); The Confederates Invade Pennsylvania (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Hanover.
 
Related markers.
Marker detail: Winebrenner Tannery image. Click for full size.
4. Marker detail: Winebrenner Tannery
Taken in the 1890s, this photo shows part of the original Winebrenner Tannery (on the left) at the southeast corner of Frederick Road (now Frederick Street) and Forney Avenue.
Click here for a list of markers that are related to this marker. Heart of Hanover Trail
 
Also see . . .  Battle of Hanover.
Colonel Payne did not fare quite so well. Payne, who had commanded the famed ‘Black Horse Cavalry’ earlier in the war, found himself caught up in the melee near the Winebrenner tannery. He was captured by Abram Folger of Company H, 5th New York Cavalry, in a most unusual way. ‘While charging at the edge of town and getting separated from our regiment, I was made prisoner by Colonel Payne and was being taken to the rear on the main road,’ Folger recalled. ‘Just outside the town was situated a tannery, the vats of which were not covered and very close to the street. I was walking along beside the colonel’s orderly, and as we came near these tannery vats, I saw a carbine lying on the ground. When I came up to it, I quickly took it, and seeing it was loaded I fired and killed Payne’s horse, which in its death struggle fell over towards the vats, throwing Payne head first into one of them completely under the tanning liquid. His gray uniform with its velvet facing and white gauntlet gloves, his face and hair had all been completely stained, so that he presented a most laughable sight.’
(Submitted on May 4, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.) 
 
Marker detail: Forney Barn, illustration, R. Babette Montgomery image. Click for full size.
Courtesy Guthrie Memorial Library
5. Marker detail: Forney Barn, illustration, R. Babette Montgomery
To the right of today's convenience store, this barn was at the site of the current strip mall. Known as "Old Uncle Sam," the last known enslaved individual in York County labored at the Forney Farm. He later died in 1840 in nearby Mudtown, a rural settlement on Frederick Road later known as Pennville.
The Center of the Storm Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Cosmos Mariner, May 2, 2022
6. The Center of the Storm Marker
(looking southwest along Frederick Street toward Forney Avenue)
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on May 8, 2022. It was originally submitted on May 2, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 276 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos:   1. submitted on May 2, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.   2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on May 4, 2022, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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Mar. 28, 2024