Perry County at Gettysburg: Summer of 1863

Perry County at Gettysburg: Summer of 1863. Perry County Bicentennial.

1862-1863: Prominent Perry Countian A. L. McClure advised President Lincoln. , 1863: Emancipation Proclamation issued. , 1865: Robert E. Lee surrendered and Civil War ended.

, As the end of June 1863, refugees with their animals and belongings crowded the dusty roads of Perry County, escaping Robert E. Lee's army pressing into the Cumberland Valley. Volunteers gathered at Sterrett's Gap to prevent a Confederate invasion of Perry County., On July 1, the Perry County men with Co. I, 17th PA Cavalry held up the Confederates on the Chambersburg Road west of Gettysburg until the infantry arrived. Later, the men halted several flanking attempts by the Southerners., Arriving in Gettysburg the next day was the 42nd PA Regiment, more famously known as the "Bucktails". In this regiment of expert riflemen under the command of Captain Thomas Lewis was Company B, all recruited at Duncannon. At 4:00 p.m. on July 2, the regiment moved to Little Round Top where they pushed the Confederates into the woods beyond a stone wall. They pressed on into a wheat field where they remained until the next day. At 3:00 p.m. on July 3, they charged the Confederates again. In hand-to-hand combat, the Bucktails captured almost the entire 15th GA Reg. Killed at Gettysburg were Thomas Belton and Samuel Spear., Perry Countians also fought at Gettysburg with the 41st PA Reg. Arriving on July 2, they, too, spent much of the day at Little Round Top. Although this unit did not fight on the third day, they remained under fire from Confederate sharpshooters., Near the end of June 1863, Pennsylvania Governor Curtin called for 60,000 men for emergency service to protect the state. The 36th PA Militia, including Co. B, all Perry County men, helped with the clean-up for six weeks. These men transported wounded to hospitals, buried the dead including hundreds of horses, and gathered thousands of pieces of army equipment. Fifty years later, Newport veteran Mahlon Bretz wrote, "Time has failed to dim or in any way obliterate the mental photograph of that [battlefield].", [Sidebar:] , Ben Huber's Famous Ride , On June 26, 1863, Ben Huber left Chambersburg, rode across the mountain near New Germantown, dashed east through Blain to Newport, caught the train to Harrisburg, and reported to Governor Curtin's office that Confederate troops were advancing into Pennsylvania.