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jdudick
Harrisburg, PA, USA
Posts: 2
 | | JEB Stuart's 1862 ride into PA (Question about CVRR bridge) | | Posted on: 1/27/2013 2:51:31 PM | One of the principal reasons why JEB Stuart went into Pennsylvania in September of 1862 was to destroy the Cumberland Valley Railroad bridge over the Conococheague Creek near Scotland, Franklin County, PA. (See: Lee to Stuart, October 8, 1862, OR Ser 1, Vol 19, Part 2, page 55. "You will, therefore, form a detachment of from 1,200 to 1,500 well-mounted men, suitable for such an expedition, and . . . proceed to the rear of Chambersburg and endeavor
to destroy the railroad bridge over the branch of the Conococheague." As Stuart left Chambersburg, PA, and began to turn back to Maryland, he sent a detachment to destroy the bridge. The bridge was not destroyed and there seems to be confusion about why it was not destroyed at this time (it was destroyed for sure in 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign).
One story was that it was literally a dark and stormy night when the detachment was sent out. According to this story, the detachment ran across some locals who said the bridge was made of iron. Not having the right tools or explosives to destroy an iron bridge, the detachment turned away and joined the main body on its trip back into Maryland. (There are other versions of this story.) The "iron bridge" scenario became the official reason why the bridge was not destroyed. (See: Stuart's report, October 14, 1862, OR Ser 1, Vol 19, Part 2, Page 52, "Colonel Jones' command was sent up the railroad toward Harrisburg to destroy a trestle-work a few miles off. He, however, reported that it was constructed of iron, and he could not destroy it;" See also: Lee's report to the Confederate War Department, October 14, 1862, OR Ser 1, Vol 19, Part 2, page 51, [Stuart's force was] "unable to destroy the railroad bridge over the Conococheague in consequence of its being of iron." D.S. Freeman repeats this story in his biography of Lee (Vol 2, page 423) and in Lee's Lieutenants (Vol 2, page 288).
Apparently, however, the bridge was not primarily made of iron and could have been destroyed in 1862 as it indeed was in 1863. Nonetheless, there are many conflicting versions of this story.
Can anyone shed any light on this puzzle? Was the construction of the bridge such that the detachment from Stuart's force could have destroyed it in 1862? Did the detachment actually make it to the bridge in 1862 to determine the actual facts, or did they depend on the information provided by locals, which would have been a case of misinformation? In the final analysis, why all of the confusion?
Thanks for any light anyone can shed on this matter.
PS: Obviously this took place in 1862, not 1962 as indicated in my original post. To my knowledge, Stuart has not been seen roaming around southern PA in recent times!
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| littlepowell
SC, USA
Posts: 731
| | Re: JEB Stuart's 1962 ride into PA (Question about CVRR bridge) | | Posted on: 1/27/2013 5:07:39 PM | This is an interesting subject that I was not familiar with; I look forward to the replies. I'm afraid I can't offer anything to the discussion, however you may want to check the date in the title. 
---------------
http://www.scourgeofwar.com/ - Gettysburg PC game from Norb Software Development.
Also checkout the Antietam and Chancellorsville expansions.
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| tom ryan
Bethany Beach, DE, USA
Posts: 1187
| | Re: JEB Stuart's 1962 ride into PA (Question about CVRR bridge) | | Posted on: 1/27/2013 8:47:02 PM | There does not seem to be a lot of coverage on the bridge incident. Blackford and Henry McClellan fail to mention the bridge in their memoirs of Stuart's Chambersburg expedition. Longacre in "Lee's Cavalrymen" states, "Jones had not even reached the bridge, which he mistakenly believed had been constructed almost wholly of wrought iron and thus impervious to matches, axes, and other agents of destruction." (p. 147)
Walsh in "Those Damn Horse Soldiers" has a similar explanation. He says, "The Confederates...failed to destroy the rail bridge over Conococheague Creek, which Grumble Jones, who was assigned the task, found to be made of iron. His axes were useless, and he lacked explosives." (p. 75)
To find out more about the bridge, you may want to contact the Chambersburg Historical Society.
Tom Ryan
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