Hosting the Invader - Wrightsville, PA
N 40° 01.525 W 076° 31.922
18T E 369271 N 4431702
This portion of the Lincoln Hwy which passes through Wrightsville, called Hellam St. (Rt. 462), has strong connections to the Civil War. Many markers recall specific moments in the war which happened on this hwy. This marker reveals one such story.
Waymark Code: WM97K6
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/09/2010
Views: 4
This Sign of History is part of a wonderful interpretive series called Pennsylvania Civil War Trails. This beautiful interpretive is located on historic Lincoln Highway, the same highway on which the Confederates marched over 150 years ago. This part of the Lincoln Highway along the east coast is replete with stories and history of the Civil War. The Lincoln Highway was a very integral component of the War Between the States.
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. Locally speaking, this is a HUGE Civil War site and the actions taken by the citizens during that time are of significant import. I particularly like this Civil War site as it recalls someone's own recollection from that time period and relies on first hand accounts to retell the story of the burning of the bridge.
The marker is in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, in York County. Marker is at the intersection of Hellam Street (State Highway 462 aka Lincoln Highway) and North 3rd Street, on the right when traveling west on Hellam Street.
The sign reads:
Hosting the Invader
Four decades after the Civil War, the June 1863 fire at Wrightsville still loomed in Confederate General John Brown Gordon's memory. "The Union Troops stationed at Wrightsville had," he wrote, "after their retreat across it, fired the bridge which I had hoped to secure .... I called on the citizens of Wrightsville for buckets and pails, but none were to be found. There was, however, no lack of buckets and pails a little later, when the town was on fire."
Gordon's men could not save the bridge but did protect the home of Mary Rewalt, daughter of Wrightsville's chief burgess. Mary invited Gordon and some of his staff to breakfast at her house. Gordon inquired "as to whether her sympathies were with the Northern or Southern side...." She replied, "You and your soldiers last night saved my home from burning, and I was unwilling that you should go away without some token of my appreciations. I must tell you however, that, with my consent and approval, my husband is a soldier in the Union Army, and my constant prayer to Heaven is that our cause may triumph and the Union be saved."
