Ham, Eggs, and Confederates

Ham, Eggs, and Confederates. War Creates Unusual Circumstances. , In the two-story brick building in front of you, newlywed Mary Jane (Rewalt) Magee, the daughter of Wrightsville’s chief burgess, served breakfast to Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon on June 29, 1863. Quite remarkable considering her new husband served as a doctor in the Union Army. , The night before, Pennsylvania militiamen filled this street as they retreated across the Wrightsville Bridge to your left into Lancaster County. Gordon’s 1,800 Georgia infantrymen had driven the inexperienced troops from their horseshoe-shaped earthworks east of town. The Union commander ordered the bridge set ablaze after the last militiaman crossed. As the flames crackled, the wind shifted and the growing inferno threatened the town. Gordon’s Southern soldiers worked well into the night to save residences and stores. , A grateful Mary Jane invited Gordon and other officers to breakfast at her house. There, Gordon inquired if “her sympathies were with the Northern or Southern side….” She boldly replied, “You and your soldiers last night saved my home from burning, and I was unwilling that you should go away without some token of my appreciation. I must tell you however, that, … my husband is a soldier in the Union army, and my constant prayer to heaven is that our cause may triumph and the Union be saved.” An admiring Gordon declared her “the heroine of the Susquehanna.”, “No Confederate left that room without a feeling of profound respect, of unqualified admiration, for that brave and worthy woman” , Gen. John. B. Gordon