Warfare Engulfs Downtown

Warfare Engulfs Downtown. A Heart of Hanover Trail Stop. , Rebels Capture the Square , In the Battle of Hanover, the center of town was an up-for-grabs, back-and-forth crossroads that both sides wanted and occupied. Major roads radiated from the center of town. All went to destinations for which they were named: York, Baltimore, Frederick, Carlisle and Abbottstown (now Broadway). , If we think of the Confederate advance north of the square up Broadway and back again as a rising and receding tide, we can understand the swirling chaos that erupted in the late morning of June 30, 1863. , At 10 a.m., as the main body of Kilpatrick's 4,000-man division rode through the square, the crossroads were safely in Union hands. , As the battle erupted at the Frederick Street and Westminster Road junction, surprised soldiers on horseback rode in all directions, while artillery units of both sides dashed into position. , Hanover had many houses, barns, and hiding spots, so fighting in town was marked by confusion and surprise. The combat spread from farms and dirt alleys to main streets and back again. , Regiments were cut in two, men were separated from their own companies, and dozens of horses fell during the onslaught. Saber-to-saber and hand-to-hand combat broke out amid gunfire, shrieks and shouts. , During this chaos, the 2nd North Carolina cavalry surged north up Frederick Street through town. , The North Carolinians and the 13th Virginia cavalry captured the square, which featured a market shed that some mistook as a covered bridge. , The Confederates did not stop there. They rode their momentum north to the railroad tracks, located ahead of you on present-day Broadway, pushing the Union cavalry north in the process. This was the "high water mark" or "high tide" of the Confederacy in Hanover before the Union struck back to win the battle and win the day. , "On Broadway side, the cellar door under the drug store was entered through a large wooden door that lay flat or even with the pavement. Across this door the cavalry charged again and again. I recall how fearful my parents were, lest that cellar door should prove too weak to bear the weight of the horses." , , Rev. Ambrose M. Schmidt