Items From Adams County Pennsylvania

From Suffering Comes Compassion

The flu epidemic had gotten so bad at Camp Colt that the facility was put under quarantine in late September of 1918.  The influenza had made it into Adams County. The military installation had the most cases since it was an efficient incubator and superb conduit of infection.

The epidemic thrived because the camp was in the process of being broken up.  Staffing was down and the hospital was a shadow of its former self and more significantly, the nursing staff was drastically cut.  The Gettysburg Times for 3 October reported that twenty-one soldiers died in a single day at Camp Colt.  The outbreak by now had affected the whole community.

The local Red Cross set up a temporary, one hundred bed hospital at Xavier Hall on West High Street, for the military's worst cases.  Volunteers assisted as aides and attendants and the public also supplied food and medicine.  With the increased exposure more civilians were affected by the disease.  Burgess William Weaver recalled, "...it seemed that our whole town was a hospital and morgue."

In a public statement, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of Camp Colt, thanked the local community for their support and sacrifices, "... during the recent regrettable epidemic."  Estimates vary but by the end of the year, close to 200 soldiers had died from the influenza.

One of the local volunteers who contracted the flu was Annie M. Warner, the sixty-five year old wife of local businessman John M. Warner. John was eighty-five years old..  Fortunately for the Warners, Annie survived her sickness and her recovery inspired John to have a hospital built in honor of his wife.

In 1918 there were no hospitals close to the Borough of Gettysburg.  The closest hospitals were located in York, Carlisle or Harrisburg.

In 1919, John Warner, with the assistance of local businessmen and concerned citizens, formed a corporation which aided in construction of the hospital.  The hospital was to be named the Annie M. Warner Hospital.  Its purpose was , "... for relieving the wants of the afflicted who may be suffering from accident or disease without distinction of race, color, creed or condition..."  John Warner contributed six acres of land and $25,000 to the project.

Money for construction, staffing and equipping the hospital came from many sources.  The funding ranged from money raised from food sales and dances to subscriptions from local citizens and assistance from the state legislature. 

On March 25, 1919, Annie Warner broke the ground at the site of the proposed hospital.  The cornerstone was laid on July 1, 1919.  Construction of the forty bed, two story hospital was completed in September of 1920 but due to another shortage of nurses, the building was not occupied.  Finally on March 17, 1921, the Annie M. Warner Hospital admitted its first patient.

In 1980 after fifty-nine years of service the original building was demolished so a modern and larger hospital could be built.  On July 1, 1982, the name was changed to The Gettysburg Hospital to better represent the community in which it serves. Today, the hospital is once again undergoing renovation.

Regardless of all the changes, the caring, selfless and compassionate legacy of John and Annie Warner will carry on forever in Adams County. 

Gerald J. Desko @ 2012.All rights reserved.

Items From Adams County Pennsylvania

An Icon of Adams County

In 1832 the economy was sound and the location of the town allowed easy access from a wide geographic area.  The need for the services the firm offered, had steadily increased.  These were the major factors that caused the enterprise to thrive. 

Practically from the beginning, they knew their original facility was too small to accommodate the number of people they would have. The building was woefully inadequate but lack of funding blocked expansion.

In  February 1834, the legislature, with the support of Thaddeus Stevens, provided funding for $18,000 over a six-year time frame.  In April1835, the institution purchased six acres of land on the north side of Gettysburg on the top of a small prominence amidst the open terrain, for their new building.

The designer of the building was architect and engineer John Trautwine.  It may have been the largest building in Gettysburg at that time,  measuring 150 feet long by 50 feet wide and was 4 stories high with a cupola centered on the roof.  It was Greek Revival in style sporting a portico on the south side of the structure, complete with four Doric columns.  Construction began in April of 1836 and it was completed in the fall of 1837. 

The Edifice, as it would be called, now had room for its enrollees.  It had classrooms, dining hall, staff offices, library, chapel and rooms for the steward and his family.  In the near future additional buildings were added to the institution.  Linnaean Hall was added in 1847 and the White House was added in 1860.  There were also some other support buildings on the grounds which included a springhouse, smokehouse, oven, stable, washhouse and privies.

The events of July 1, 1863, turned the institution upside town.  First, signalmen from the Union Army interrupted activities inquiring about and briefly occupying the cupola.  Because of the chaos, business was suspended until further notice.  By nightfall, members of the Confederate Army occupied the building from top to bottom.

During the battle the Edifice was used as a Confederate hospital, housing up to about 700 soldiers.  It remained a hospital well after the battle ended.  One person visiting the building during this time reported the rooms and halls full of wounded soldiers.  Moans shrieks and cries could be heard throughout the building and the sight of blood was evident on the floors and on books that were temporarily used as pillows. 

The dead were placed in temporary graves dug adjacent to the Edifice.  The bodies would be removed after a period of time but bits of human bone were periodically found in the area.  The last pieces found were in 1937, when the Beachem portico was added to the north side of the building.

The Edifice, the Old Dorm, or Pennsylvania Hall had survived the Battle of Gettysburg.  The building survived the institution changing its name from Pennsylvania College to Gettysburg College in 1921. It also survived a renovation, rather than a demolition, from 1969 to 1970, which transformed the building from an academic building into an administrative building. 

This iconic building and its hallowed halls was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1972.

The American flag atop the cupola of Pennsylvania Hall flies twenty-four seven and is a thirty-four star flag as it was in 1863. 

When you visit Gettysburg. please take time to walk the Old Quad at Gettysburg College and personally view, "Yonder beautiful and stately college edifice."

Pennsylvania Hall - view from the Old Quad, south side.

The Cupola with the thirty-four star flag flying.

The north side of Pennsylvania Hall showing the Beachem Portico.

 Gettysburg College Webpage

Old Postcards of the Old Dorm

"General" John Hammond, a Most Valuable and Worthy Officer

The waters of Lake Champlain are formed from tributaries of the Adirondack Mountains in New York State and the streams of neighboring Vermont.  As the water flows north it forms the Richelieu River in the Province of Quebec in Canada which empties into the St. Lawrence River.  This watercourse has served as a transportation corridor for centuries.  The headwaters of this water "highway" allows travelers to connect with the Hudson River  of upstate New York where they may continue to New York Harbor or to take the Mohawk River to Lake Ontario.  The strategic significance of this system in warfare has been commented on by British historian John Keegan,  "This Hudson-Richelieu corridor was to become the most heavily fortified and contested strategic route in American military history." The Town of Crown Point is nestled along the western shore of Lake Champlain in its southern reaches, situated just north of Ticonderoga.

 

John Hammond was born 17 August 1827 in Crown Point.  During the Seven Years War, his great-grandfather Daniel Hammond was in the British military and participated in taking Cape Breton from the French and in the siege of Louisburgh.  During the American Revolution, his grandfather Thomas Hammond was in the Continental Army and he also became a colonel in the Vermont State Militia.  Taking his ancestry into account and considering the strategic geography of the area which possesses such a storied marshal past, it is no wonder that this area of northern New York State produced patriotic citizen soldiers such as John Hammond, to assist in putting down the Rebellion of 1861.

As a child John Hammond attended school locally and also a school in Panton, Vermont, and later attend the St. Albans Academy in that same state.  He completed his higher education by graduating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

In early 1849, while clerking in his family's business, Hammond and Company, he decided to go west to California to seek his fortune during the Gold Rush.  The journey across the continent as he admits was truly an educational experience.  During the cross-country trek he was introduced to slavery, Indians, banditti and he even survived a cholera epidemic.  When he returned to Crown Point three years later, he had $500.00 less in his pockets then when he had left.  He had remained circumspect during the experience and said of it, "I then thought it a rather dear school, but a good one; but it has proved to be a very cheap one."  And as to slavery he commented, "What a curse and evil slavery is."

In 1861, in response to Lincoln's call for troops to suppress the Rebellion he played an integral part of forming Company H of the 34th New York Infantry,  recruited locally in Crown Point.  After the Union debacle at Bull Run, he decided that he himself should serve and recruited more local men to make up a company of cavalry.  This was an unusual "recruitment" since it was not sanctioned by any governmental entity.  Hammond thought that time was of the essence and he composed a compact for the men to sign which read, "We, the undersigned, hereby agree to serve the government of the United "States in the mounted service for three years, unless sooner discharged, subjecting ourselves to all the rules and regulations governing troops in that branch of the regular service."  In total, 127 local men signed up, mostly ranging in age from 20 to 31, and most of them being farmers or mechanics.  They all left Crown Point and ended up on Staten Island where they were all accepted as privates in Company H of the 5th New York Cavalry.  His service record shows he enrolled 17 September 1861 to himself and was mustered into federal service 18 October 1861 and he was eventually chosen as captain of Company H.

It is interesting to note that John's father, Charles F. Hammond, advanced funds to supply the entire company with 108 Morgan horses that cost $113.00 each.  Horses were a valuable commodity for the troopers and others in the regiment sought to procure the Morgans Mr. Hammond had supplied for Company H but to no avail, they had to wait for the federal government to supply them with their mounts.

The 5th New York Cavalry was made of companies recruited from across the state and it even contained men from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.  The regiment was formed at Camp Scott on Staten Island and prior to leaving the state on 18 November 1861 it had a strength of 1,064 men, excluding the officers.  It was assigned initially to the Department of Annapolis, MD where the regiment drilled and trained.  It's first active service began in March of 1862 in the Department of the Shenandoah.  The 5th's service included the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 and 1864; it battled and skirmished with Ashby's and Mosby's men;  the defenses of Washington;  the Gettysburg Campaign ; with the Cavalry Corps; the 5th Corps; The Overland Campaign and actions against the defenses at Petersburg to name a few.

During the Gettysburg Campaign, Major Hammond led the regiment in the field and they saw action in the Battle of Hanover, the Battle of Hunterstown, the cavalry actions against the Confederate right on Day 3 and actions on the Retreat all the way to and including Falling Waters.

John Hammond became colonel of the regiment on 3 July 1864 and he was discharged from duty at the term of his service on 3 September 1864.  The record indicates pressing personal and or family concerns at home.  His separation from service was reluctantly accepted by Generals Wilson and Torbert. "Col. Hammond is a most valuable and worthy officer and has served with great credit to himself and benefit to the service...",  stated General J. H. Wilson.  John Hammond was brevetted a Brigadier General of U. S. Volunteers 13 March 1865 for faithful and meritorious services.

John Hammond was lauded as a noble man, honest, cool headed under pressure, personally brave, a good horseman, a model soldier who possessed a fine physique and was an effective leader that was admired by the men under his command and his superiors as well.  During his service he was wounded twice, once by a pistol ball to the fore-finger of his right hand and the other a Minie ball to the leg bone just above the right ankle.  The injuries never interfered with his duties.

John Hammond returned to Crown Point, New York where he ran the family iron business and other enterprises.  He ran for Congress as a Republican and served in the House of Representatives from 4 March 1879 to 3 March 1883.  The "General" was a respected member of the community and died in Crown Point on 28 May1889.

The story of John Hammond has been repeated thousands of times in United States military history.  It is the story of a patriotic citizen honorably answering his call to duty during a national crisis.  His service should be remembered and honored by those who appreciate the sacrifices of our military service members.

As a prophetic and or fitting tribute, General Hammond was laid to rest on Decoration Day (Memorial Day) in 1889.  The funeral was attended by over 1,200 people and he was buried in Forestdale Cemetery in Crown Point.

Monument to the 5th New York Cavalry atop Bushman's Hill at Gettysburg.

Colonel John Hammond of the 5th New York Cavalry.

Educator, Engineer, Patriot

A CONNECTION TO ADAMS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

This young man appreciated the education he received at West Point and did well there.  But it was apparent that engineering was his real area of passion not the military.  He was accepted at the age of fourteen and graduated four years later on July 31, 1835.   Remaining true to his muses of mathematics and engineering, he resigned his commission of second lieutenant on September 30, 1835.

As Principal Assistant Engineer for the State of Pennsylvania he was charged with surveying a route for a railroad that was to run from Gettysburg to the Chesapeake. Passion of a different stripe now struck the young railway engineer in the form of Ann Keller of Gettysburg.  She was the 16 year old daughter of the Reverend and Mrs. Benjamin Keller.  The smitten man proposed matrimony and was given permission by all concerned but the reverend asked that they wait a year to see how the relationship would progress.

While he waited, he built a house on the western edge of Gettysburg, and using that as a base, started Oak Ridge Seminary, a school for girls.   Also that year he got a new job as Instructor for Engineering and Architecture at Pennsylvania College.  (The house he built is the present day Schultz House on Confederate Avenue.)

On August 30, 1838 the professor married Ann in a ceremony conducted by her father. It  was a good marriage that produced eleven children. In 1842 he opened an academy for boys with a curriculum centered around mathematics as applied to surveying and engineering.  This venture was merged with Pennsylvania College in 1845.  He was made Professor of Mathematics and also taught classes in drawing and French.  In 1847 he produced architectural drawings for the college's new building, Linnaean Hall.

Later in 1847 he left Pennsylvania College and returned to the field of engineering with the Pennsylvania Railroad.

He wrote two books on engineering.  In 1841 he anonymously published Hints on Bridge Construction and in 1851 he wrote, General Theory of Bridge Construction.

During the coming years he worked in several capacities for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He also worked for the Southern Railroad of Mississippi as the Chief Engineer and worked as an engineer on the Hoosac Tunnel project in western Massachusetts from 1856 to 1862.

In 1862, to assist in the war effort, he became the Chief of Construction and Transportation on the U. S. Military Railroads with the rank of colonel and aide de camp. Through his efforts in Virginia he was able to bring troops and supplies to the front and return the wounded to hospitals outside of the combat zone by wise management of the railroads.  On September 5, 1862, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers due to his meritorious services in operations against the enemy.  Although he accepted the authority, he declined the commission. He preferred to serve in his post without pay to satisfy his personal interests.  During the Maryland and Gettysburg Campaigns he once again used his organizational and logistical skills to bring forth supplies, evacuate the wounded and repair track and telegraph line.

The engineer resigned from his post on September 14, 1863.  Herman Haupt, engineering genius and patriot, died of a heart attack while riding a train traveling from Jersey City to Philadelphia on December 14, 1905.

The War of 1812 - Bicentennial in 2012

The following was written with specific reference to Adams County, Pennsylvania.

The United States declared war on the British Empire on June 18, 1812. President James Madison had asked Congress for the declaration of war for several reasons.

Tensions had grown between Britain and America for the past several years. The British were at war with France, so as a war measure, the British had been interfering in American shipping between Spain and France. At the same time, the British engaged in the impressment of American merchant mariners into the Royal Navy in order to maintain their levels of manpower.

The American government was also bothered by the fact that the British still had not abandoned all their forts in the Northwest Territories as stipulated in the Treaty of Paris. In addition to the presence of British troops on American soil, Tecumseh, a powerful Shawnee leader, was waging war against all whites in the territories. This left the northwestern border with Canada unstable.

                                                                           
                                                                                                         
Since the pro French Republicans had control of the government, Congress declared war on the British    Empire with President Madison's approval. The other political faction in America were the pro British Federalists. Although they opposed the war, they were politically unable to block the declaration.

Both pro and anti war factions were present in Adams County during the war. Even though there was a presence of a "strong peace party" in the county, militia units were formed and the U. S. Army recruited here through the war.

Recruiting notices for the United States Army appeared in the Adams Centinel in 1813, that listed Lieutenant Dominic Cronyn, of the 22nd Regiment of U. S. Infantry, as the recruiting officer. The inducements to join were a forty dollar bounty, eight dollars per month pay and 160 acres of land. If that was not enough, the soldiers would be "...well cloathed and well fed and treated with a generous and familiar friendship." The notice continued appealling to the recruits honor by the offer of, "...leading the gentlemanly and heroic life of a soldier, along with the immortal honor of conquering Canada-the ferocious Indians, and the bloody red coats of England."

Besides the regulars, many men enlisted in the militia units. Their service was wide ranging since some would go as far as the Niagara Frontier, in New York State. In April of 1813, some participated in the taking of York (present day Toronto), the provincial capital of Upper Canada. There they served under an up-and-coming officer, General Winfield Scott. Other Adams county militiamen answered the call and mobilized for action to fight near the Chesapeake. Many ended up participating in repelling the British from Baltimore in September of 1814.

Many Adams County men distinguished themselves with their service during the war. William Reed was appointed by Governor Simon Snyder as the Adjacent General of Pennsylvania and he served until his death in June 1813. William Gilliland was a major general in the militia while James Getty and Jacob Eyster both served as brigadier generals of militia.

The war ended on February 18, 1815, when the United States government ratified the Treaty of Ghent. The war was a victory for the U. S. since the border was stabilized and the British left American shipping alone. Though several battles were won in Canada, it was never conquered.

NEW YORK - THE KEYSTONE STATE

I am glad to see in the last year or so some history books appeared on the market that cover early American military history. It had seemed to me that many people interested in history had forgotten the strategic value of what is now modern New York State in the early formation of our country.

In our modern society many have lost the perspective that in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, geography and topography had greatly influenced the avenues of transportation used by armies. This meant that waterways and their associated valleys were the easiest routes to travel on land or on the water.

Others have forgotten that the western portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania were considered the "frontier". The general boundary line between civilization and the wilds were the Appalachian Mountains. East of this barrier was the area inhabited by the newly arrived Europeans and west of the mountains was generally the purview of the Indians. The Appalachians stretched through all thirteen colonies.

If you examine these mountains on a physical map you'll notice most of the major river systems east of the mountains naturally have a north-south orientation. Accordingly this dictated the easiest directions to travel (i.e. north and south). The only east-west break occurs in New York State where the Mohawk River drainage system nears the Wood Creek system. The Mohawk flows east and empties into the Hudson River while Wood Creek flows west and empties into Oneida Lake.

This strategic portage was known as the Oneida Carry. Depending on water levels it was a distance of one to five miles. The Oneida Indians settled in this area in a settlement know as Oriska and the Europeans eventually built Fort Stanwix to stand guard over this vital point. This cut through the Appalachian Mountains stands at only 450 feet above sea level. During the early history of the colonies into the formation of the United States this area made New York the Keystone State.

Soldiers and warriors would traverse the "Great Warpath" in a southerly direction by leaving the St. Lawrence River and going up the Richelieu to Lake Champlain then to Lake George or Wood Creek (a different one) and then portage to the Hudson River. Once on the Hudson, they had the choice of going west on the Mohawk River eventually to Lake Ontario or the central portions of the Iroquois territory, in what is now central New York State. The other option would be to continue down the Hudson River to New York City.

In 1777 the British tried to take advantage of these routes when they tried to implement a plan that would separate troublesome New England from the rest of the colonies. The thinking behind the strategy was that if the rebellious Yankees were isolated, the rebellion would be thwarted. The plan consisted of a three pronged, coordinated attack across New York State. General John Burgoyne would head south from Canada up the Lake Champlain valley and invest Fort Ticonderoga on his way to the Albany area. General Barry St. Ledger was to approach from the west, from Lake Ontario at Oswego and up the Oswego River to the Oneida River, Oneida Lake and across the Oneida Carry and down the Mohawk River. General Henry Clinton was to travel north up the Hudson River and meet the other British contingents in the area of Albany.

The plan when executed was not coordinated properly and all three British commanders failed in beating back the rebel forces. Although St. Ledger blooded the rebels at Oriskany he failed to take Fort Stanwix and eventually retreated due in part to Continental reinforcements. Clinton could not reach past the Hudson Highlands where he was halted by the enemy in this choke point of the Hudson River. Burgoyne met with failure largely due to the overextension of his lines of communication and met with disaster at Saratoga where over 6,000 British troops and Germanic mercenaries surrendered.

This British debacle in 1777 prompted the French to enter the war on the American side and as a result of the loss of Seneca warriors at Oriskany at the hands of the colonists and Oneida warriors, the Iroquois confederation was split. With civil war in both camps and the addition of new alliances, this was a pivotal moment in the American Revolution, all of which was precipitated by geography.

ECONOMICS AND HISTORY

Two governors of New York State have recently decided that the state was in such economic turmoil that they could not afford to provide money to set up the New York State War of 1812 200th Anniversary Commemoration Commission. The purpose of the commission was to plan and execute an organized series of reenactment tourism events during the 200th Anniversary of the War of 1812. Several years ago Governor Patterson vetoed the bill and most recently Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed a similar bill on September 23, 2011. Both chief executives thought that there would be sufficient money for such purposes from other sources. This was a sound decision in these times of economic uncertainty, or was it?

History tells us that such INVESTMENTS pay off in the long run through sales and marketing, which is inherent in the commemoration activities. These events increase tourism which thereby creates a boon to the local economy of the area that hosts these events. Most certainly the revenue generated by private enterprise and the state, via taxes and fees, would far outweigh the initial expenditure. This is why the legislators have proposed this on several occasions.

One should also keep in mind that the legislators acted on behalf of their constituents, the TAXPAYER! The bill was surely wanted by the people since the measure passed both the Assembly and the Senate, only to be vetoed by Governor Cuomo. He should be cognizant of the fact that the money he controls is the money of the PEOPLE, not the state's. The state gets that money by confiscation of the people's money, through taxes and fees paid. The money comes from New York State residents and all others who do business, travel through, purchase products and get an education, in New York State.

More important than the economic considerations are the sacrifices of the previous generations in our national and state history. Most of the War of 1812 was fought on the northern border of the United States and the adjacent area in Canada. New York State's border with Canada is about 450 miles long and fighting occurred at locations along that entire distance. The blood of New York citizens, the blood of federal troops and the blood of Iroquois warriors was spilled in New York State and Canada along that border. Their sacrifice of blood and treasure should be officially remembered and duly honored.

It is shameful that no commission was set up for the commemoration of the War of 1812 in New York State and equally shameful that similar legislation failed to pass in the United States Congress. The states of Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia and the federal government of Canada are all planning commemorations of the war.

In early 1814, $50,000 was given by New York State to assist in resettling refugees from the Niagara Frontier during The War of 1812. Maybe Governor Cuomo should take a lesson in history from one of his predecessors. Governor Daniel D. Tompkins was governor of New York State from 1807 to 1817.