Making History Come Alive offers Metro Philadelphia’s Mobilization in Against an 1863 Invasion.

By: Michael Thomas Leibrandt

During the summer of 1863, Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia marched north across the Maryland Border into Pennsylvania. His columns of Confederate Infantry, artillery, and cavalry then began marching north. Among Lee’s objectives was to force out the Union Army of the Potomac, engage the army in battle, and destroy it.

In Central Pennsylvania, the Confederates were advancing. The town of York surrendered, Carlisle was bombarded by JEB Stuart’s artillery, and Hanover saw a battle between Stuart’s Cavalry and Union Cavalry.

News of the Army of Northern Virginia was reaching Philadelphia. Lulled into a false sense of security with Lee’s assumed objective being over 100 miles away in Harrisburg, Philadelphia had made almost no preparations. When Major-General Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana was placed at the head of Philadelphia’s Military District, he was appalled that Philadelphia was virtually defenseless. As preparations were made, Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin traveled to Philadelphia to increase the urgency. 

In towns like Hatboro, calls went out for an emergency militia to defend the Pennsylvania suburbs. Other Pennsylvania citizens like Samuel W. Pennypacker from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania enlisted when Governor Curtin called for volunteers.

Ten miles away in Cheltenham, Camp William Penn was almost complete as a training ground for Union soldiers. The land for William Penn was leased by the Mott family, and the construction of the camp was being completed with the Confederate invasion underway.

Not far away, residents of Abington did not want a repeat of 1777. Unlike the Civil War, Montgomery County PA was a battleground during the Revolutionary War when British soldiers marched out of Philadelphia multiple times while attempting to engage George Washington’s army between 1776–1778.

During the Battle of Whitemarsh (also known as the Battle of Edgehill) the British Army even controlled Abington Village when English and Hessian troops advanced up Old York Road and despite a brave attempt to repel the advancing troops by the Continental soldiers ultimately had to retreat leaving the town to the British.

In 1863, eighty-six years later, Abington residents didn’t want history to repeat itself.

On July 3rd, Lee’s Army lost a battle with the Union Army of the Potomac at Gettysburg, ending the Confederate invasion into Pennsylvania and forcing a retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia.

A large Confederate army would never set foot on Pennsylvania soil again.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington, PA.