Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had crossed through Maryland and entered Virginia, as shown in the map below of the Gettysburg Campaign from a Civil War Trails marker. Ewell was moving north through Carlisle toward Harrisburg and forces commanded by Jubal Early were headed east through York to Wrightsville.

General John B. Gordon’s brigade of General Jubal Early’s Division would head to Wrightsville. Their goal was to capture the covered bridge there that crossed the Susquehanna River to Columbia. Gordon would arrive on the outskirts of Wrightsville with 1,800 men where they would encounter about 1,500 Pennsylvania militia under Colonel Jacob Frick. The marker below is in the area where the initial fighting began.

From the Civil War Trails Marker below (Wrightsville Engagement)- “At 6:57 P.M. on June 28, 1863, the crack of a cannon sent a shell hurtling over the heads of the 27th Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia entrenched just behind you. Confederate General John B. Gordon’s hardened veterans had deployed in these fields “to move rapidly …to the bridge, seize it, and cross to the Columbia side,” as he later wrote. His objective was Harrisburg. Union Col. Jacob G. Frick’s men had thrown up earthworks to protect the town and stop the Confederates. The Pennsylvanians had been issued muskets only six days earlier, during what was called the “Emergency of 1863.” Another “emergency” regiment supported their right flank, while a company of African Americans from nearby Columbia held the left. The 31st Georgia Infantry deployed skirmishers in the fields across from you, and Gordon’s artillery moved closer. Two guns unlimbered in the Huber farmhouse (Hybla) yard. Half an hour after the first shot, as shells and bullets unnerved Frick’s men, he saw a Confederate regiment approaching the river on the right and ordered a retreat that quickly disintegrated into a panicked flight. The Georgians swept past here in pursuit. Twenty-year-old Sgt. Francis Hudgins, 38th Georgia Infantry, wrote, “We drove them pell-mell through the streets of Wrightsville.” Frick’s men raced across the mile-long railroad bridge, which had been mined. When the charges failed to blow it up, Frick ordered it burnt. As the fire spread from the bridge into town, Gordon’s men formed a bucket brigade and worked through midnight with townspeople to extinguish the flames.”

The Pennsylvania militia were overmatched and easily pushed back by Gordon’s hardened veterans to the bridge and across. In order to prevent the Confederates from crossing the bridge they burned it as they withdrew.

From the Civil War Trails marker below – “Thick smoke blackened the sky here on Sunday, June 28, 1863. The world’s longest covered bridge was burning to prevent Confederates from crossing the Susquehanna River into Lancaster County during the Gettysburg Campaign. In six hours, flames consumed the majestic span. Only the 20 piers you see before you in the river remained. General John B. Gordon led the Confederates. His 1,800 Georgia infantrymen, accompanied by cavalry and a four-gun battery of Virginia artillery, had arrived here at Wrightsville after occupying York. A motley force of 1,500 emergency militia and home guard, including more than 50 free Black men who worked in a Columbia rolling mill opposed Gordon. They delayed his advance, then retreated across the bridge. Attempts to destroy a section of the span with charges of gunpowder failed, and civilians then set fire to the bridge. The next morning, Gordon reluctantly withdrew to York.”

A picture of the modern-day bridge.

In the foreground of the following two pictures are abutments of the old bridge.

The marker below is badly damaged a clearer picture can be seen at the link.

The Wrightsville diorama (124 Hellam Street) depicts the history of the battle but it was closed on the day I visited. It is only open from April through October on Sundays from 1-4 PM.

A restaurant near the bridge.

The Wrightsville Museum on 309 Locust Street was also closed when I visited.

The Civil War Trails marker for the Magee House can be seen below.

The Mount Pisgah Cemetery is located behind this building at 400 South 2nd Street.

Buried in the cemetery is George W. Watson of company H of the 22nd U.S. Colored Infantry.

A plaque representing the furthest point east reached by Confederate forces.

The marker below is near Accomac on the Susquehanna River. A solitary grave of an unknown Confederate soldier.

The Confederate soldier died in late June during the Gettysburg Campaign. His body washed ashore in Hellam Township. It was thought by his dress that he was a cavalryman. The old grave and many of the bones washed away in 1972 during the flooding of Hurricane Agnes according to locals.