151st Camp Curtin Commemoration

Camp Curtin - Harper's Weekly

On April 18, 1861, while boarding trains headed to Washington, five companies of Pennsylvania volunteers, forever known as the "First Defenders", became the first Keystone men to be mustered into military service, and eventually the first Northern soldiers to arrive in Washington after President Lincoln's call for troops.  As the First Defenders continued their trip to Washington that day, more and more volunteer companies arrived.  The First Defenders, and several other companies, had occupied several hotels and boarding houses throughout the city.  It soon became clear to Gov. Andrew Curtin that Harrisburg needed to find a proper location for these men to camp, organize, and train.  Several companies from Johnstown had made camp at a fairgrounds about a mile north of the city.  It was soon determined that this spot, with it's wide open fields, proximity to the Susquehanna River,  and easy access to both the Pennsylvania Railroad and Pennsylvania Canal, was the best possible location.





layout of Camp Curtin - William J. Miller

Throughout the day, more and more volunteers began to arrive at, what had been named, "Camp Union".  Harrisburg native, major in the Pennsylvania Militia, and later the Col. of the 46th Pennsylvania at Antietam, Joseph Knipe was responsible with constructing and organizing the new camp of instruction.  Approaching one of the buildings at the old fairgrounds, "Major Knipe, apparently a man with a good sense of drama, climbed a ladder and appeared on the roof of the building clutching a national flag.  He wrestled with the halyards on the flag pole for a few moments, but soon had the flag attached to the ropes.  He turned to the crowd below and shouted, 'What shall we name the camp?  I propose the name of Governor Curtin!'  The suggestion was a popular one.  While Knipe ran the colors up the pole, the growing crowd cheered and sent hats sailing into the early twilight sky of that Thursday, April 18.  Camp Curtin was born."

Gov. Andrew Curtin

Maj. Joseph Knipe

Over the course of the bloody American Civil War, Camp Curtin would see over 300,000 soldiers pass through it's gates, including those of the Pennsylvania Emergency Militia, as well as large amounts of food, supplies, and equipment.  Pennsylvania and Camp Curtin became vital for President Lincoln, and the Union war effort.  For the soldiers, Camp Curtin would change their lives forever.  "It was in Camp Curtin," writes historian William J. Miller, "that volunteers learned that the life of a soldier was one of discomfort and frustration.  There, amid the disease and discomfort, in leaky tents and on the sun-baked parade ground, boyish illusions died.  Men learned to tolerate and work with other men.  They made strong friendships, some of which ended on battlefields, some of which survived and endured for decades.  There, also, they said farewell, often tearfully, to friends and comrades and to the life of extreme excitement, danger and boredom they had lived in the army.  For these men, Camp Curtin was as much a part of their war experience as were the marches, battlefields and hospitals."

Almost immediately at the end of the Civil War, and with the closing of the Camp, the Harrisburg neighborhood, fittingly known as Camp Curtin, sprang up.  However, it wasn't until 1922 that Union veterans were finally able to place a fitting memorial to Camp Curtin, and the Pennsylvania Governor for which it was named.  Even though it was memorializing the nation's largest and most productive Civil War camp, Camp Curtin Park, at 6th & Woodbine Sts. became the country's smallest state park.

Gov. Curtin monument - Camp Curtin Park

151 years after Joseph Knipe's theatrics, and proclamation in which he named Camp Curtin, on April 18, 2012, nearly 100 people gathered in Harrisburg's Camp Curtin Park to honor the history made there.  Attendees and speakers included: Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson, Harrisburg City Council, James Schmick of the Camp Curtin Historical Society, David Demmy of the Sons of Union Veterans, Jean Cutler of the Bureau for Historic Preservation, Wayne Motts of the National Civil War Museum, members of the Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell United Methodist Church, a military honor guard from Fort Indiantown Gap, living historians portraying Camp Curtin's soldiers and carrying reproduction flags on loan from the Pennsylvania Capital Preservation Committee, and residents of the Camp Curtin neighborhood.  Organized by Jeremy Young, of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission - Bureau for Historic Preservation, the ceremony not only honored the history of the Camp, but also celebrated the listing of the neighboring Camp Curtin Memorial-Mitchell United Methodist Church in the National Register of Historic Places. 

The Camp Curtin neighborhood has experienced hard times in recent years, but it is the hope of everyone who attended Wednesday's ceremony that through a re-discovery and promotion of the city's rich history, and proper planning and historic preservation efforts, that this neighborhood, as well as the city and region, can reclaim the prominent and respected status that it is justly deserved.  The preservation and remembrance of Camp Curtin and it's surrounding neighborhood is much more than simply a local issue.  Camp Curtin's role in Pennsylvania and United States history is undeniable, and the pride seen on the faces of everyone who attended speaks volumes.  Let us hope that the remembrance of the sacrifices of Pennsylvania's Civil War generation will be the catalyst for remembrance, recognition of, and pride in, Harrisburg's (and beyond) other historically/culturally rich resources.

LOCAL NEWS STORIES ON THE EVENT:

FOX 43:

http://www.fox43.com/videogallery/69465803/News/4-18-Camp-Curtin-Anniversary#gl-0%20%20

ABC 27:

source:
Miller, William J. The Training of an Army: Camp Curtin and the North's Civil War. Shippensburg, PA: White Mane Publishing Co., 1990.

Mechanicsburg's Irving Female College

When the 2nd Pennsylvania Emergency Militia left Harrisburg for the "seat of war", they, like other regiments, were speedily transported along the Cumberland Valley Railroad.  At each of the small towns along the route, hordes of townspeople turned out to cheer on the defenders of the Commonwealth.  Located about 8 miles west of Harrisburg, the small town of Mechanicsburg (originally named for the abundant amount of mechanics and machinists who lived in the area) turned out at the railroad station, and along the tracks, in droves that mid September in 1862.  The sights of their journey would be forever etched into the "green" soldiers' minds.  Louis Richards, a Reading militiaman in Co. G, remembered one particularly pleasing sight for the young men while passing through Mechanicsburg:

Crowds of people came out to the stations to meet us, and black and white, old and young, all joined in the heartiest demonstrations of welcome.  Were also greeted from the houses and roadsides all along the line by people waving their handkerchiefs and swinging their hats.  At Mechanicsburg a whole girls' school was out to see us.  This was a specially engaging sight to some of our number, who thought that that village would be a good place to camp.  The elite of the town were at the station, and S. pointed out to me the leading beauties of the place - I mean the ladies.  Soldiers of a day, we already began, in the midst of these inspiring scenes, to feel like real veterans.

An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania



Founded in 1856, the Irving Female College was named for famed author Washington Irving, who served on the board of trustees until his death in 1859.  It became the first female college in the nation to grant degrees in arts and science.  Irving Hall, a large Italianate building, was soon constructed, "amongst a beautiful grove and grounds" located along the Cumberland Valley Railroad tracks, and on the eastern end of town (an area soon known as Irvington).  Irving Hall could house "forty students, as well as supply the classroom, the parlor, the library, and the college offices."  In the early days of the school, the average enrollment was 91 students (many of which were day students who lived in the surrounding region).

By the end of the 19th Century, the College was prospering; a second building was needed.  Known as Columbian Hall, the new building, "contained 40 additional dormitory rooms on the upper floors and a large auditorium on the first floor."  In 1901, an expanded wing was constructed onto the eastern wing of Irving Hall, creating rooms for music, a kitchen, a cafeteria, and a gymnasium.  In it's hey-day, Irving Female College had buildings that were, "...imposing in appearance, substantially built of brick, conveniently arranged, and comfortably fitted up with the modern conveniences, and every thing calculated to make it an attractive and safe home, with full and thorough educational advantages for young ladies."  Some of Irving's "young ladies" would go on to be accomplished alumnae, including Ida Kast, Cumberland County's first female attorney, and Jane Deeter Ripon, President of the Girl Scouts of America. 

postcard of Irving Female College ca. 1901. Columbian Hall is located on the right.



postcard of Irving Female College ca. 1901. Expansion can be seen at left-rear of Irving Hall.



The presence of Irving was not just enjoyed by the young men of the Emergency Militia, but by the town itself, as it, "...provided Mechanicsburg with a source of culture, music, great literature and drama that the rural town would not have experienced otherwise."  An alumna later said "The college meant a great deal to the community.  It was a social center."

Sadly, the College's brighter days would soon be behind it. Suffering from a combination of the economic downturn due to the Great Depression, and increased competition from larger private universities and state funded colleges, the College was closed and its buildings sold off by 1937.  Irving and Columbian Halls would soon be renovated on the interior, and converted into apartment space, which they still remain as to this day. 



President's Hall ca. 1982 (built 1911, since demolished)

In 1954, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission placed a historical marker in front of the College along Main St., and in 1983, Irving Female College was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  Through adaptive reuse and historic preservation, these historic buildings have stood, and continue to stand, as silent observers of our past. 



Irving Hall as seen today - Dave Maher

sources:

Egle, M.D., William H. An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Civil, Political, and Military, From it's Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Including Historical Descriptions of Each County in the State, Their Towns, and Industrial Resources. Harrisburg, PA: De Witt C. Goodrich & Co., 1876.

Richards, Louis. Eleven Days in the Militia During the War of the Rebellion; Being a Journal of the "Emergency" Campaign of 1862. Philadelphia: Collins, Printer, 1883.

Rose, Sarah, "Irving Female College National Register of Historic Places nomination form", 1982.  on file at the Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office, or online through the Cultural Resource GIS.

Harrisburg, PA: Then & Now

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather we had in Harrisburg today, I took the opportunity, on my lunch break, to take a stroll over to Capitol Park to reconnect with some "Emergency" history.
 
Created in 1810, Capitol Park, located adjacent to the Pennsylvania Capital building, was originally set aside by Harrisburg founder John Harris "for use by the state".  In the late summer of 1862, the state found another use for the park as a camp and parade ground for the thousands of Emergency Militiamen that were flooding into the city.  These citizen soldiers were answering Governor Curtin's alarm for defenders of the Commonwealth from the northward moving Rebel army of Robert E. Lee.  The scene below was captured by artist Theodore R. Davis, and was printed in the October 4, 1862 issue of Harper's Weekly.  In the picture, militiamen, donning civilian "uniforms", can be seen marching and drilling in the park, as well as marching northward along 3rd Street. 

The scene 150 years later has changed somewhat.  The park has undergone landscape changes, most notably during the construction of the Mexican War memorial (built 1869, out of frame to the right), and Harrisburg's own "City Beautiful Movement" in the early 20th Century.  Most recently there has been construction of a sidewalk and retaining wall along 3rd St.  The original capital building, which burned in 1897, was later replaced by the current Capital, which was built in 1906.  Many of the buildings along 3rd St. have been removed, but the Pine St. Presbyterian Church (built in 1860) can still be seen standing as a witness to those troubled times in our history.

sources:
Frew, Ken. Building Harrisburg : the architects & builders, 1719-1941. Harrisburg, PA: Historical Society of Dauphin County and Historic Harrisburg Association, 2009.

"John Harris' Gift". Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission historical marker, located near corner of 3rd & Walnut Sts., Capitol Park, Harrisburg, PA.

February 27, 1860: Abraham Lincoln & the Cooper Union




Abraham Lincoln, photographed February 27, 1860, just before speaking at Cooper Union    
- Library of Congress -



I realize that a 152nd anniversary doesn't seem as glamorous as a 150th, the mighty Sesquicentennial, however this evening marks the 152nd Anniversary of one of our country's most notable, and one of my personal favorite speeches.  While in grad school, I had the opportunity to research Abraham Lincoln's pivotal speech given at the Cooper Union in New York City on February 27, 1860.  Scouring over every word and line, again and again, I had an increased respect for the man (if that was possible).  Considered lengthy by today's standards and attention spans, Lincoln's speech is, among many other things, a finely crafted example of sound historical research, honed oratory skills, and sharpened debate tools.  It  is widely considered to be the speech that elevated Lincoln to the nomination, and ultimately the Presidency of the United States.

Rather than droning on and on, please take the time to view the excellent video below.  In the video, filmed live at the Cooper Union in 2004, Lincoln historian Harold Holzer provides an excellent narration of the events leading up to February 1860, and actor Sam Waterston gives a powerful reading of Lincoln's words that will transplant you back 152 years.  Enjoy!

Winter at Antietam

Despite the rather mild winter that we in the Mid-Atlantic region have been experiencing this year, winter did indeed make an appearance at Antietam National Battlefield a couple of weeks ago.  Luckily, this peaceful winter storm hit while I was volunteering for the day.  With little to no visitors in the park that day to assist, I took the unique opportunity to venture out from the Visitor Center, and drive around photographing and filming the beautiful scenery.  I put my images together into a film, and posted it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

I hope you enjoy it!

Also, check out another film I put together last year in which I drove a portion of Antietam's Auto Tour route.