The Confederate Approach on Harrisburg: the Gettysburg Campaign's Northernmost Reaches (Civil War Sesquicentennial)

In June 1863, Harrisburg braced for an invasion. The Confederate troops of Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell steadily moved toward the Pennsylvania capital. Capturing Carlisle en route, Ewell sent forth a brigade of cavalry under Brigadier General Albert Gallatin Jenkins. After occupying Mechanicsburg for two days, Jenkins's troops skirmished with Union militia near Harrisburg. Jenkins then reported back to Ewell that Harrisburg was vulnerable. Ewell, however, received orders from army commander Lee to concentrate southward--toward Gettysburg--immediately. Left in front of Harrisburg, Jenkins had to fight his way out at the Battle of Sporting Hill. The following day, Jeb Stuart's Confederate cavalry made its way to Carlisle and began the infamous shelling of its Union defenders and civilian population. Running out of ammunition and finally making contact with Lee, Stuart also retired south toward Gettysburg. Author Cooper H. Wingert traces the Confederates to the gates of Harrisburg in these northernmost actions of the Gettysburg Campaign.

Other books in the Civil War Sesquicentennial Series include:Yorktown's Civil War Siege ? Civil War Baton Rouge ? The Battle of Brice's Crossroads ? The Battle of Antietam ? The Battle of Franklin ? The Chancellorsville Campaign ? The Battle of South Mountain ? Stonewall Jackson's 1862 Valley Campaign ? Charleston Under Siege ? Andersonville Civil War Prison ? The Civil War at Perryville ? The Battle of Okolona ? Fort Davidson and the Battle of Pilot Knobb ? The Two Civil War Battles of Newtonia ? The Battle of Port Royal ? The Confederacy's Secret Weapon ? Lee in the Lowcountry ? Defending South Carolina's Coast ? Facing Sherman in South Carolina ? The Battle of Brandy Station ? The Battle of Cedar Creek ? The Battle of Fredericksburg ? The Battle of Piedmont ? The Battle of New Market Heights ? Big Bethel ? The Battle of Mine Creek ? West Virginia in the Civil War ? Civil War Atlanta ? The Battle of Westport ? The Union is Dissolved ? The Battle of Fort Donelson