Though Emmitsburg was a small town, it was home to a Catholic boy’s college and girl’s academy that attracted students from both Union and Confederate states. While many of the boys returned to their homes to join their country’s army, many of the girls remained at the college.
“War was a forbidden topic of discussion in the classroom, at the table or during recreation, but there ways and means of avoiding the ban, for “feelings” ran high,” wrote Sis. Mary Bernard McEntee in the booklet, The Valley (Emmitsburg, Md., 1972, pg. 44).
The Northern Army Arrives
In general life was quiet in town until June 1863.
“On the afternoon of June 25, 1863, word reached Emmitsburg that General Lee’s Army was somewhere on the other side of the Catoctin Mountains, beyond Indian Lookout, massing for an all-out attack on the Union troops. Eyes were strained towards the mountain to detect any movement of Rebel scouts; hearts and hopes beat high,” wrote McEntee (pg. 44).
However it wasn’t the Confederate army that entered Emmitsburg but the Union army. On June 27, 1863, 80,000 troops commanded by Gen. George Meade began entering the town and camping on the surrounding lands.
“Sound sleepers (if there were any that night) awakened to find themselves in the midst of an armed camp, and Emmitsburg as well as the Valley was under martial law. General Meade’s headquarters was set up in the Priests’ House in town,” McEntee wrote (pg. 44).
General Carl Schurz and his staff were quartered in the home of the foundress of the Daughters of Charity just to the south of Emmitsburg. General Dan Sickles kept his troops somewhat further south.
According to McEntee, “It was during this famous encampment around Saint Joseph’s that occurred one of the most romantic and daring adventures in its long history. A nameless Southern girl, devoted to the cause of the South, climbed into the cupola atop the Square building and signaled to Rebel scouts the position of the Yankee troops and the exact moment of their withdrawal.” (pg. 44)
That moment was the morning of June 30. Once the order was given to strike camp, the Army of the Potomac was marching out of town within half an hour. From Emmitsburg, they headed up the northern road, across the Mason-Dixon Line to Gettysburg.
The Southern Army Arrives
“Hardly had the last bluecoat disappeared from their deserted campsites when the Confederate Army moved into their positions. There were fewer than ten thousand men, but they received a reception fit for a king. Ladylike decorum vanished down the Emmitsburg road on the heels of the blue clad Yankees. These troops were “our boys” and they must be treated as ‘family,’” McEntee wrote (pg. 45).
Despite the warm welcome, the Confederates stayed only a short time before heading north themselves.
Gettysburg
Had the Union army delayed its departure or the young girl not warned the Confederate army, two great armies might have clashed in Emmitsburg. Yet, it was on July 1, 1863 that the calm of the day was shattered by the booming of distant cannon. The Battle of Gettysburg had begun.
