The marker below describes the activity of Lee’s army in the area. The marker is within walking distance of stop #8 on the tour below. Text from the marker – “By mid-June 1863, communities in Cumberland County knew the Confederate Army was approaching. Residents began to flee to relative safety across the Susquehanna River. Freight cars came from Harrisburg to help move goods out of reach of the Rebels. On June 28, two Confederate scouts on horseback arrived at the home of Burgess (Mayor) George Hummel in Mechanicsburg. Threatened with bombardment, Hummel had no choice but to surrender the town. Between 700 and 800 cavalrymen soon rode through Mechanicsburg’s streets, encamping a mile east. Their commanding officer, Brigadier General Albert Jenkins, demanded that the townspeople deliver 1,500 rations to the town hall within 90 minutes. Mechanicsburg residents provided the food, for which they received Confederate script. During their two-day occupation, the Confederates tore up railroad tracks and skirmished with Federals just east of town. Jenkins had captured Mechanicsburg to reconnoiter the approaches to the state capital just eight miles away. Jenkins and his superior, Lieutenant General Richard Ewell, hoped to capture Harrisburg, but before they could act on those plans General Robert E. Lee ordered his troops to concentrate near Gettysburg. Mechanicsburg, free once more, went down in history as the northernmost town to surrender formally to the Confederacy.”

The marker has a lot of weather damage.

Below is a map for a Civil War driving tour of the area (Link). I also visited the Civil War and More Bookstore- an excellent shop for Civil War Books.

Stop 1- Fort Washington; area around Cumberland Road, Lemoyne. Fort Washington was the main earthwork fortification guarding Harrisburg. It was manned primarily by New York State Militia). It
 covered about sixty acres on Hummel’s Heights (now called Washington Heights) and mounted 25 pieces of artillery. As you look toward Harrisburg’s skyline, you can easily see the military importance of this position.

Stop 2- Fort Couch; 8th Street and Indiana Ave, Lemoyne. Fort Couch was a small artillery position about a half mile west of Fort Washington. It is the only surviving example of Harrisburg’s once extensive Civil War defenses. These earthworks will give you a good idea of how Civil War fortifications were constructed. The ground was excavated to create a “dry moat” and the dirt used to build ramparts. The fort was named for Major General Darius Couch, commander of the Union forces defending Harrisburg.

Stop 3- White Hall Orphan School Monument; 24th Street and Walnut Street, Camp Hill. The White Hall Orphan School was part of a statewide system of 46 orphanages created by Governor Andrew Curtin for the children of deceased soldiers. The school was located in the 2100 block of Market Street and operated from 1866 until 1890. The alumni of the school were called “Sixteeners” because that was the age they were graduated. Sixteeners erected a monument in Willow Park in 1926.

Stop 4- Oyster Point; 31st Street and Market Street, Camp Hill. The skirmish at Oyster Point on June 28 and 29, 1863, was the
farthest advance of the Confederate Army toward Harrisburg. The
purpose of the attack was to divert attention from General Jenkins’
reconnaissance of Harrisburg from Slate Hill and New Cumberland.

Text from the marker below- “Fighting at Oyster’s Point commenced in the early afternoon of June 28, 1863. Confederates lobbed artillery shells into the vicinity from the Peace Church and the Samuel Albright House on East 36th Street. Confederate skirmishers were countered both north and south of the Pike by Union pickets, and the lines moved back and forth throughout the afternoon, with skirmishing primarily between the 3100 and 3300 blocks of Market Street. On June 29, General Jenkins was under orders to scout the defenses of Harrisburg and inform the infantry in Carlisle, and therefore devised a ruse. For about two hours he bombarded the Union position, and then some Confederates on horseback charged down the Pike, driving back frightened Union militia, and getting as far as Limekiln Lane (present-day 28th Street, Camp Hill). They remained under fire for at least another hour, effectively occupying the Union attention while General Jenkins rode south to observe the defenses of Harrisburg.”

The Samuel Albright House

Stop 5- Peace Church; St. John’s Church Road and Trindle Road, Camp Hill. The Peace Church was used by the Confederates as an artillery position and outpost during June 28 and 29, 1863. Several local civilians were detained in the church so that they could not provide information about the Confederates to the nearby Union troops.

The image of the marker below is from the Historical Marker Database. This picture shows the marker at the church, but it has been moved to 40.2321582, -76.9547938. I on the day I visited it was removed for maintenance.

Stop 6- Sporting Hill; Sporting Hill Road and Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg. The skirmish at Sporting Hill on June 30, 1863, around the Eberly farmhouse (which became the McCormick farmhouse in 1864) was the largest action in the Harrisburg area and the northernmost engagement of the Gettysburg Campaign. Unfortunately, recent development destroyed most of the remnants of the battlefield. There are 2 tablets here- one describing the action on a June 28th and the second details the action on June 30th.

Text from the June 28th tablet- “Spearheading the Confederate advance on Harrisburg, Confederate General Albert G. Jenkins captured Mechanicsburg on the morning of Sunday, June 28, 1863. From there, Jenkins split his 1,200 man cavalry force—sending some 300-400 northward via the Hodgestown Road to the Carlisle Pike. At the request of his fearful fellow citizens of Hodgestown, Jacob Otstat destroyed 45 gallons of brandy so that the incoming invaders could not indulge themselves. From Hodgestown, this band of Confederates, led by Lt. Col. Vincent A. Witcher, continued east on the Carlisle Pike until he reached a commanding ridge which was the home to the former Salem Church. The church, located on the 6200 block of Carlisle Pike, is the final resting place for numerous Civil War veterans and features many unique gravestones. From there he eyed Union General Joseph Knipe’s force of two New York infantry regiments (the 8th and 71st New York State National Guard) and a Philadelphia artillery unit a little more than a mile and a half away, near the Samuel Eberly barn at present-day 5100 block of Carlisle Pike. Witcher deployed two Confederate cannons at the church, and the two sides engaged in artillery fire around noon. According to a Confederate lieutenant, General Jenkins rode north to the church from Mechanicsburg where he surveyed the action from atop his horse. After about half an hour, Knipe left his advanced position and headed back towards Oyster’s Point (present day Camp Hill) and the safety of the Union lines. The New Yorkers reported an orderly withdrawal; a local, however, less politely recounted: “They [Knipe’s men] were fired on by rebel pickets or imagined they were, when they took to their heels dropping blankets, knapsacks, canteens, guns and haversacks never looking back till within the fort.” The truth may lie somewhere in between. The New Yorkers fell back to about the present-day 3100 block of Market Street in Camp Hill, at a road junction then popularly known as Oyster’s Point. Witcher’s Confederates continued their probe towards Harrisburg, and cautiously pursued the New Yorkers eastward on the Carlisle Pike, until setting up camp in the vicinity of the 4700 block of Carlisle Pike, on the high ground above Orr’s Bridge.”

Text from the June 30th tablet- “After an eventful two days of probing Harrisburg’s defenses, Confederate General Albert G. Jenkins had received the welcome orders to stand down. Lieutenant General Richard Ewell’s two Confederate infantry divisions currently in Carlisle, numbering some 15,000 men, would be marching on the state capital on the morning of June 30, 1863, or so Jenkins had been told. But later on, the fateful orders from Robert E. Lee arrived for Ewell to turn back and link up with other Confederate forces near Gettysburg. Inexplicably, Jenkins had not been informed; he merely withdrew a short distance west to the cover of Silver Spring Creek, where he and his men waited for Ewell’s troops to overtake them and perhaps undertake an assault on Harrisburg’s defenders. In the meantime, Union General Darius Couch had reports from scouts of Ewell’s new course, and he decided to turn the tables, probing to find, and perhaps cut off, Jenkins. For the mission he chose the inexperienced General John Ewen and his similarly green regiment of New York State National Guardsmen. Like Ewen, most of these New Yorkers were businessmen and store clerks from the streets of New York, and few had ever been tested in battle. In the early afternoon, some Union cavalrymen had clashed with Jenkins’ outer picket posts. Jenkins panicked as he learned simultaneously that Ewell was no longer supporting him in Carlisle. He dispatched his largest regiment with some 500 men to Carlisle to protect his retreat route. Fearing a large Union force would soon be bearing down on him from the east, Jenkins ordered Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Witcher and a motley assembly of 300 men and two cannons to “hold the enemy in check at all hazards.” Marching sluggishly on the Carlisle Pike, Ewen’s 1,400 New Yorkers did not arrive at Sporting Hill until around 3:30 p.m. on the afternoon of June 30. Once there, they were welcomed with a volley of musketfire from 50 Confederates taking cover in Moses Eberly’s barn (see map). Witcher and his main contingent of Confederates had positioned themselves in the rear in Gleim’s grove (see map). Pinned down on the Carlisle Pike, two companies of New Yorkers were moved into the woods near the Confederate position (along present-day Van Patten Drive). Later, Ewen deployed his full brigade, with about 400 men south of the Pike, and even more north of the Pike, directly fronting the barn. Several men, including a drummer boy, were wounded in the northern wing. Witcher’s Confederates held their own, remarkably, until a Philadelphia artillery unit, commanded by Captain Henry Landis (brother-in-law of General John Reynolds of Gettysburg fame) arrived. They commenced to load their piece fuze-first (essentially backwards), but were stopped, given a brief lesson, and their first shot struck the barn square in the center. The bothersome Confederates evacuated the barn and eventually left the field after a brief artillery duel. Some 16 dead Virginians were left on the field of battle, and Witcher brought 20-30 wounded with him, some of whom died on the retreat. Ewen’s New Yorkers suffered no fatalities, but 11 men were slightly wounded.”

Stop 7- Jenkins’ Headquarters; 5115 Trindle Road, Mechanicsburg. The Rupp House served as headquarters for Confederate General Albert G. Jenkins, commanding the brigade of cavalry that came closest to Harrisburg. The monument commemorating Jenkins and the Confederate troops that was at this site was removed. (The house is privately owned and not open to the public).

On the day I visited the Gettysburg Campaign marker in front of the house had been removed for maintenance.

The image below is from the Historical Marker Database

Stop 8- Mechanicsburg Museum; 2 West Strawberry Alley, Mechanicsburg Wed-Sat 12pm-3pm. Mechanicsburg was the northernmost town to surrender to the Confederate Army. General Jenkins’ troops arrived outside of town on Sunday morning, June 28, 1863, and demanded 1,500 rations to spare the town. With no troops to offer a defense, Burgess (Mayor) Hummel surrendered the town and citizens collected food. The museum was closed the day I visited. Pictures of the museum at the old train depot and its surrounding area are shown below.

The Mechanicsburg Cemetery- 40.2068889, -77.0081389. This stop is not in the tour brochure.