“Spies and Espionage in York County During the Gettysburg Campaign”

Spies and secret agents? No, we aren’t talking about 007 or Austin Powers!  During the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, both the Union army and Confederate army employed paid (and at times, unpaid volunteer) scouts. Some of these men are well known in Civil War lore. Others toiled in anonymity. Several Confederate agents operated in York County, particularly in the months before the invasion. Some were gathering intelligence from which to make professional maps showing the key roads, farms, and businesses in the county. These maps would be used by the generals to plan their movements, points of rendezvous, and places to gather supplies and fresh horses. More than 800 York Countians lost horses to the oncoming Rebels, despite often secreting the steeds in supposedly out-of-the-way locations such as Round Top in northern York County. The farmers could not imagine the extent of the enemy intelligence about south-central Pennsylvania, which the network of spies and scouts had carefully developed.  Author Scott Mingus has cobbled together many of the stories of these covert agents and will discuss what is known about their operations.

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