"The road to Pennsylvania lies invitingly open"

In the late summer of 1862, after a string of impressive successes against the Union armies in the East, General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia were riding a large wave of momentum and high morale.  Lee decided that it was, "...the most propitious time since the commencement of the war to enter Maryland."  One of Lee's objectives for commencing the Maryland Campaign, and moving northward, was to relocate the seat of war out of Northern Virginia, and allow that region, which saw nearly constant fighting and occupation for more than a year, a chance to recuperate.  After widespread loss and destruction of agriculture and private property, the region could no longer support his hungry army.    

The Confederate population was also feeling the rejuvenating momentum gained by Lee's army.  They believed strongly in the invincibility of their Southern legions, and understandably so.  Throughout most of the summer they had read colorful newspaper accounts of the withdrawal of Gen. George McClellan's army from the outskirts of Richmond, and of the thrashing of Gen. John Pope's force at 2nd Bull Run.  The citizens also began to express a growing anger and resentment toward the North, specifically toward Pope's treatment of Confederate civilians and their property.  For many in Virginia, these feelings, coupled with Lee's push into Northern territory, had grown into a fevered demand for ruthless retaliation.  This can be plainly seen in the following editorial, which was printed in the Richmond Dispatch on September 17, 1862. 

"The road to Pennsylvania lies invitingly open.  There are no regular soldiers on the route, and it would be a task of little difficulty to disperse the rabble of [Emergency] militia that might be brought to oppose them.

The country is enormously rich.  It abounds in fat cattle, cereals, horses, and mules.  Our troops would live on the very fat of the land.  They would find an opportunity, moreover, to teach the Dutch farmers and graziers, who have been clamorous for this war, what invasion really is.  If once compelled to take his own physic, which is a great deal more than he ever bargained for, Mynheer will cry aloud for peace in a very short time.  For our own part, we trust the first proclamation of Pope, and the manner in which his army carried it out, will not be forgotten.  We hope the troops will turn the whole country into a desert, as the Yankees did the Piedmont country of Virginia.

Let not a blade of grass, or a stalk of corn, or a barrel of flour, or a bushel of meal, or a sack of salt, or a horse, or a cow, or a hog, or a sheep, be left wherever they move along.  Let vengeance be taken for all that has been done, until retribution itself shall stand aghast.  This is the country of the smooth-spoken, would-be gentleman McClellan.  He caused a loss to us, in Virginia, of at least thirty thousand negroes, the most valuable property that a Virginian can own.  They have no negroes in Pennsylvania.  Retaliation must therefore fall upon something else, and let it fall upon every thing that constitutes property.  A Dutch farmer has no negroes, but he has horses that can be seized, grain that can be confiscated, cattle that can be killed, and housed that can be burnt.  He can be taken prisoner and sent to Libby's Warehouse, as our friends in Fauquier and Loudon, Culpeper, and the peninsula have been sent to Lincoln's dungeons in the North.  Let retaliation be complete, that the Yankees may learn that two can play at the game they have themselves commenced. 

By advancing into Pennsylvania with rapidity, our army can easily get possesion of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, and break it down so thoroughly that it cannot be repaired in six months.  They have already possession of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the York River Railroad.  By breaking down these and the railroad from Philadelphia to Baltimore, they will completely isolate both Washington and Baltimore.  No reenforcements can reach them from either North or West, except by the Potomac and the bay."

Although it was printed on the same day that Lee's campaign reached a dramatic climax at the terrible Battle of Antietam, the article's frightful tone and description of a potential Rebel invasion of Pennsylvania does allow us to understand the fear and anxiety that must have been felt by the citizens of the Keystone state during the Emergency.  What they feared in Pennsylvania was what many in the South were hoping for.  Whether or not Lee ever anticipated invading as far north as Pennsylvania, by September 19, the Rebel army had retreated back across the Potomac River and into Virginia.  The campaign was over.

[It is also worthwhile to point out that the war was not just being played out in Southern newspapers.  On September 13, 1862, the Shippensburg News, in Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley, had just as harsh words when it printed, "The rebel who hopes to have an easy conquest of this valley will in due time wake up to a 'welcome with bloody hands to hospital graves'.  A free people thus aroused - fighting upon their own soil - for their own firesides, for their own alters, for their freedom, and for truth and rights, will put to flight the ruthless invader and send to their last account the slave minions who fight for death of human freedom and the perpetuity of human slavery."]

sources:
Harsh, Joseph L., Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee and Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1999.

Moore, Frank, ed. The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc. Vol. 5, New York: G. P. Putnam, 1863.

Shippensburg News, September 13, 1862

"A Welcome With Bloody Hands To Hospital Graves"

From the Shippensburg News, September 13, 1862, we gain a glimpse into the events, hysteria, and "fires of patriotism" that were sweeping up through the Cumberland Valley in those late summer days.  The writer appears to have a harsh tone towards his "skedaddling" neighbors, and those looking for excuses to avoid the coming fight.  Yet, at the same time, the article offers an even harsher tone for any rebels who might threaten invasion.  Having lived for several years in the historic town of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, quietly nestled in the middle of the Cumberland Valley, I hope you find this article as fascinating as I do.  It has been many generations since Pennsylvanians have had to scan the horizon for invading armies.  The American Civil War unleashed this country's greatest tragedy, and turned it's citizens' lives upside down.  We will never be able to experience or understand the emotions of the day, but newspaper articles such as this, and letters and diaries left behind offer us our greatest opportunity to feel and understand.   

This week has been one of unusual excitement.  On Thursday it rose to fever heat.  The alarming news of the morning by a company of refugees from imaginary danger, threw the community into a state of feeling - The rebel raid into Maryland has been followed by a "skedaddle" in considerable numbers from all points along the Pennsylvania line.  With every fugitive comes a different story, the magnitude of which depends upon the stage of the fever or degree of alarm, and its credibility can be measured by the narrator's pulsations.  To heighten the interest of the day, and perhaps the alarm, scores of maimed, half deaf blind and withered, crowded around the Commissioners and Surgeon's office claiming exemption from the coming draft.  The impression upon the mind of the stranger must have been the Infirmary had disgorged itself upon our square.  It would have afforded a rare field of usefulness to the self sacrificing philanthropist and a splendid market to the dealer in nostrums.  We were reminded of the philosopher's allegory where in all the people of the world bring their infirmities into one great heap.  O, the degeneracy of the race! and how pitiable these invalids in the necessity of a universal skedaddle.

But we glory in announcing that amongst sound and healthy remaining, the zeal in our country's cause is still earnest and cheering.  The fires of patriotism are still alive.  The flame of love of country still burns with unabated warmth.  On the morning of that day - in the midst of the interest, and after a few telling and patriotic remarks by Revs. Gotwalt and Nevin -  two volunteer companies were formed for state defense.  It is understood that the company of infantry will be composed of men in the vigor of early manhood - the cavalry company of those past the age of forty five, or who are not subject to military duty.  This latter will act as scouts night and day.  With this vigilance our people may go to their beds with some feeling of security.  This community is not alone in this earnest demonstration.  The rebel who hopes to have an easy conquest of this valley will in due time wake up to a "welcome with bloody hands to hospital graves".  A free people thus aroused - fighting upon their own soil - for their own firesides, for their own alters, for their freedom, and for truth and rights, will put to flight the ruthless invader and send to their last account the slave minions who fight for death of human freedom and the perpetuity of human slavery.

source:
Shippensburg News, September 13, 1862