Chapter 11
Section 11 of A Guidebook of Art, Architecture, and Historic Interests in Pennsylvania, edited by Marguerita Archambault. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Read by Tatiana Cicilla. York County. Formed August 9, 1749, named for the House of York, England, an agricultural region of great fertility. First authorized settlements were made in 1733.
Before the white settlers came, the territory west of the Susquehanna River was hunting ground for the Conestoga Indians, a branch of the Mohawks, who migrated to New York State about 1750, also for the Susquehannocks and Conwaygos, who had their village at present site of York Haven. When a treaty with the Indians at Albany in 1736 gave Penn's heirs right to the territory from west of the Susquehanna to the South Mountain, immigrants from Europe flocked into York County in vast numbers and proved a strong and influential part of the population.
During the colonial period, four companies of soldiers from this county assisted in driving the French and Indians from the western part of the province before 1758. At beginning of the Revolutionary War, it is said that the first military company from Pennsylvania that arrived at Washington's headquarters, Siege of Boston, in 1775, shortly after Battle of Bunker Hill, were from York County. This company, and one commanded by Captain Morgan of Virginia, were first American troops to use rifles.
They became the terror of the British regulars, who still use the old-time flint musket. When the British attacked New York City and the Battle of Long Island followed, Pennsylvania troops camped at Perth Amboy. Here, two regiments from York County were formed out of the militia and became a part of the Flying Camp, a body of 10,000 men from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, which joined Washington before the Battle of White Plains. They were also in the battles of Princeton and Trenton.
Colonel Thomas Hartley, a member of York County Bar, commanded a brigade under Washington at battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and after the Revolution, he represented York County in Congress for 12 years. He was first member of the Pennsylvania Bar to be admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. President Washington was entertained in his house in 1791, site marked by tablet. Shortly before the Battle of Brandywine, September 27, 1777, the Continental Congress adjourned from Independence Hall to meet in Lancaster.
They were there one day, then crossed the Susquehanna and made Yorktown the seat of government until June 27, 1778, when they returned to Philadelphia. Twenty-five congressmen came on horseback over the old Monocacy Road and took up quarters in the town and vicinity. The personnel of Congress was constantly changing. No less than 64 different members were present from first to last. The mansion, corner of Center Square, where the Colonial Hotel now stands, had been rented to General Robert Doe. Quarters were found there for the leading congressmen, Adams, Lee, Harrison, Lawrence, and others.
John Adams, in letters to his wife Abigail, complained of his straightened quarters and the Dutch cooking. James Smith, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, gave his law office in Center Square to be used by the Committee of Foreign Affairs and the Board of War. The noted chest of papers belonging to Congress, which John Adams declared was worth more than Congress itself, was kept by Thomas Paine at the Cook's House, a house of entertainment still standing in the bend of Coterus Creek, then away from town. Here he wrote parts five and six of The Crisis.
On September 30, 1777, with John Hancock as President of Congress, the first session was held in the Brick Courthouse, built 1756, site marked by Yorktown chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Soon after Congress assembled here, news was brought of the surrender of Burgoyne to General Gates, with 6,000 British and Hessian troops at Saratoga. A motion, made by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, to set apart a day for Thanksgiving was unanimously adopted. Thursday, December 18, 1777, was appointed, and a few days later this historical document was written and sent by post writers to the governors of each of the 13 original states.
This was the first national Thanksgiving proclamation in America in the sense of its observation on the same date by the 13 states. Soon after, General Lafayette arrived in Yorktown and was received in open session by Congress. The victory of General Gates had made him a hero of the hour. Washington had been defeated at Brandywine in Germantown and gone into winter quarters at Valley Forge, knowing that a large number of the delegates in Congress at Yorktown favored a plan to displace him from the head of the army and promote General Gates to that position.
Washington never visited Congress here. He wrote a private letter to Robert Morris, saying, If Congress adjourns, CND, I wish it understood, I will oppose British invasion in the mountains of Pennsylvania and Virginia, rather than give up our cause for independence, promulgated July 4, 1776. This historic letter was read at an open meeting in Zion Reform Church. Congress called General Gates to York and made him president of the Board of War.
He gave a banquet at his headquarters. Among the guests was Lafayette, 21 years of age. Speeches were made favoring the promotion of Gates to position of general in chief of the army when Lafayette arose and offered the following toast. To General George Washington, head of the American army, may he continue to hold that position until a treaty of peace is signed with England, acknowledging the freedom of this country in whose cause I am listed for its defense.
It was this incident that caused the collapse of the Conway cabal, instigated by General Conway, opponent of Washington and friend of Gates. Lafayette visited York in 1825, then 68 years old and last surviving major general of the revolution. He stopped overnight at McGrath's Hotel on the site of the Rupp building, where a reception and banquet were given him. Among the toasts was, Lafayette, we love him as a man, hail him as a deliverer, revere him as a champion of freedom and welcome him as a guest. To which he responded, the town of York, the seat of our American Union in our most gloomy time, may her citizens enjoy a proportionate share of American prosperity.
At request of Washington, Baron Steuben came to Yorktown early in 1778 and was immediately appointed to the rake of major general. From here he went to Valley Forge and began to drill and discipline the army in the military tactics used by Frederick the Great. In May 1778, a nephew of General Putnam, who crossed the Atlantic in the Mercury, a fast-flying vessel of Congress, which landed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, brought a letter to Henry Lawrence of South Carolina, president of Congress, from Benjamin Franklin, saying, The King of France has resolved to send $600,000 in silver, an army and a fleet, to aid the Americans in their struggle for liberty.
The Articles of Confederation were formed here and adopted in Philadelphia the following June. Much continental money was ordered by Congress, which was printed in a house at the corner of Market and Beaver Streets, marked by a tablet. Penn Park has a soldiers monument to men of York County in Civil War. This has been the scene of many military gatherings. Several insubordinates of the Pennsylvania line were shot here by order of General Wayne before the forces under him marched to Virginia,
and large hospitals were built here during the Civil War when York County was the high watermark of the Southern Confederacy. On June 28, 1863, General Jubal Early of Virginia, with 10,000 Confederate troops, took possession of York. John B. Gordon, leading a brigade of Georgia troops, was first to enter the town. He marched on to Wrightsville with 2,800 men, where a skirmish took place, and when the bridge across the Susquehanna was burned by the Union forces on the Lancaster County side.
Early remained in York two days, with four brigades, and received word to fall back immediately to Gettysburg. The first engagement took place in the streets of Hanover, between Confederate cavalry under Stewart, who were defeated by Union cavalry under Kirkpatrick. They were prevented from reaching Gettysburg until evening of Second Day of Battle, which probably turned the tide in favor of the Union. This event is commemorated in the center square by a statue that ranks with the best art in Pennsylvania,
a cavalryman, bronze, sculptor Cyrus E. Dallum, Boston. York County seat, population 47,512, is oldest town in Pennsylvania west of the Susquehanna. The general plan embraced streets forming perfect squares with widened space and center of town, junction of Market and George Streets for market purposes. These privileges are still used. Courthouse and East Market Street, classic, porch with granite-ionic columns, built 1903.
Architect J.A. Dempwolf contains portraits of York County judges. Museum of York County Historical Society, open every afternoon except Sunday, has large collection of Indian implements of war and peace, and etchings by Rosenthal. An annual art exhibition is held in York. Post office, classic, ionic.
Among the many places of worship, several now standing were erected more than 100 years ago, including St. John's Episcopal, in which is a tablet to Colonel Thomas Hartley. In burial ground of First Presbyterian Church is tomb of James Smith, the signer, who died 1806. Another signer, Philip Livingston of New York, who died while Congress was in session here, is buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery, where also are the tombs of General William B. Franklin of the Civil War.
His brother, Rear Admiral Samuel R. Franklin, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, and several hundred Civil War soldiers. In mentioning the notable men of York, we must include Colonel Hans Hamilton, First Sheriff of York County in 1750, Colonel Richard McAllister, Founder of Hanover, First President Justice of the County Courts under the Constitution of 1776, and later President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.
James Ross, born 1762, served two terms in the United States Senate, making there an eloquent speech favoring Louisiana Purchase, which led to its result, and Senator Matthew S. Quay, born in Dillsburg, 1833, whose father was pastor of the Presbyterian Church. Other places marked by tablet are, sighted building of the Franklin Press, where valuable papers were published during the Revolution, and building of General Anthony Wayne's headquarters.
In 1761, the Mary Ann Furnace was built on Furnace Creek. At the same time, a road was cut from there to connect with the road to the Conaway Go settlement leading to Baltimore. The furnace was started by George Ross of Lancaster, the signer, his brother-in-law George Stevenson, a lawyer of York County, and William Thompson, later a general in the Revolution, and continued for 50 years under other owners.
Besides making pig iron, stoves, and household ironware, cannonballs and grapeshot were cast here. The Spring Creek Forge was erected by George Ross, previous to 1772, and was active many years. End of section 11.
