A Desperate Plan - Columbia, PA
N 40° 02.325 W 076° 30.349
18T E 371534 N 4433144
This Sign of History is part of a wonderful interpretive series called Pennsylvania Civil War Trails. This beautiful interpretive is located in front of and to the left of the entrance of the Susquehanna Valley Visitor Center.
Waymark Code: WM96X4
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/06/2010
Views: 2
There are a few of these signs in the immediate area, scattered between the Columbia and Wrightsville sides, separated by the old bridge. They are hugely informative, very beautiful and a wonderful attraction to an already historic area.
The sign reads:
A Desperate Plan
It was June of 1863, The Confederate Army has taken York, and was preparing to cross the Susquehanna River by capturing the bridge that linked Wrightsvile and Columbia, overtake Lancaster and advance to Harrisburg. Several hundred Union troops in retreat from York, a number already wounded, joined the Pennsylvania Militia and set up defenses near the Wrightsville bridge on the western side of the Susquehanna. Their force was strengthened by a valiant Black militia company. Still, they were outnumbered by more than a thousand men and had to abandon their defenses and retreat across the bridge.
A desperate plan was put into action. The Wrightsville-Columbia Bridge, key to local commerce and communications, would be sacrificed. Union forces wired a span of the structure to blow up, but the explosion was not strong enough to do the task. The order to burn the bridge was then given by Colonel Jacob Frick, and proved effective. The efforts of the Pennsylvania Militia at the Susquehanna River towns spared Lancaster and slowed the advance of the Confederates towards Harrisburg.
