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Civil War Monuments
An abutment of the former Wrightsville Bridge is shown between Veterans Memorial Bridge (PA Rt. 462, foreground) and US highway Rt. 30 bridge (background).
I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. Last week, my wife and I took our kayaks to Wrightsville, PA, a small town on the Susquehanna River about 12 miles east of York. The Susquehanna River is about a mile wide there. On this gorgeous day in our kayaks, we saw incredible wildlife, including 2 mature bald eagles and 4 or 5 juveniles. Describing this area as bucolic would be doing it a disservice.
Crossing the river in this area between two currently-used state highway bridges is a line of abutments, now overgrown with trees and other vegetation. These abutments are what remains of Wrightsville Bridge. In late June, 1863, just before the battle at Gettysburg (about 40 miles west), the army of the Confederacy had invaded Pennsylvania, captured York, and began advancing east, eventually reaching the west bank of the Susquehanna here, at Wrightsville. Their goal was to seize Wrightsville Bridge and continue east to Lancaster, cut the Union rail lines, and cripple the North’s supply routes.
In Columbia, PA, on the east side of Wrightsville Bridge, about 1100 Union soldiers who had evacuated York and retreated east, many of them being members of the “Invalid Corps” (wounded soldiers from York General Hospital who wanted to continue defending the Union), faced 7000 Confederates and artillery with desires to cross the bridge and continue east. The defenders held off the advancing rebel army, burned the bridge, prevented the Confederates from continuing east, saved the Union supply lines, and we all know what happened about two weeks later at Gettysburg.
I’m glad the abutments of Wrightsville Bridge remain 154 years later. They are 26 Civil War monuments. They are overgrown with vegetation, still showing signs of the black soot from the raging fires that consumed the bridge, but they are monuments nonetheless. I hope they are never removed.
Published in General
Have you ever taken your Kayaks north of Harrisburg out to the Susquehanna Statue of Liberty?
No. I’ve heard of it, though. Dauphin County, correct?
I believe so. It’s right near the gap in the Blue Mountains.
Nice post Karl – I really enjoy snippets of history like that. I was ignorant of that battle and it’s importance to the outcome in Gettysburg.
Looks beautiful as well.
Thank you for your kind words. It is beautiful. I am overwhelmed by the beauty of this country (and my state) and, when also in the presence of the site of a historical event, I am even more so. We are all very blessed to be here.
I shared a car dealer shuttle with a young fellow from England yesterday. He is 35. He has been here for 15 years and will never go back. He spoke to me and two other passengers as to the natural beauty of our country as well as the intangible beauties. He was gushing. This went on for about 15 minutes. I was somewhat shocked when we left him off in a trailer park. I think most Americans would consider a trailer park on the lower end of our life styles but this guy was acting like he won the lottery and he has. America is the greatest in spite of all the trouble and turmoil.
That’s a great story – so many people in our don’t realize how good they have it.
I’ve noticed the remains of that bridge many times, but had no idea of its historic significance. Thanks much Karl.
You’re welcome @chuckenfield. Thank you for your comment. I had also noticed it many times without realizing its significance (I have driven by it everyday on my 50-mile commute from Reading to York) until our visit last week. After our kayaking sojourn last week, we had lunch at a great riverside place in Wrightsville (for any locals, I highly recommend the John Wright Restaurant…the grounds owned by John Wright in the late 1700s and having its own, separate, Revolutionary War historical significance). While at lunch I looked up the information while looking out at the river and the bridge remains (and sipping a local pale ale). I was enthralled.
I grew up in Reading, but haven’t lived there for 25 years. Now I’m in State College. (One of those higher-ed leeches.) I’ll definitely try the restaurant next time I’m in the area.
They really don’t.
I’ve lived most of my life in Michigan, and in the last few years I’ve been to Gettysburg 3 times. We don’t have many reminders of the country’s early history, and I didn’t realize how much it means to go to places, that are also representative of time, that we only briefly reviewed in school. After all the monuments are destroyed, then what? I don’t really understand the endgame or the purpose of these actions. I am glad I live in America, and I think most Americans take for granted how good it has been.
Been there. Saw that. Had no idea. Very familiar with the “left” hook. Never heard this story. Well done.
All it will take is for a dozen SJWs to start a campaign to remove them.
On what possible grounds? I don’t think anyone is trying to remove all monuments of the Civil War, rather, they are specifically targeting monuments of Confederate leaders.
Not all the Union generals were anti-slavery. Who knows what the SJWs will next pretend to be upset about if they’re successful here.
Wright privilege.
To be clear, while I was indeed partially inspired to write this post by the recent controversy over removal of Civil War statues depicting Confederate generals, this inspiration was only tangential. I was mainly inspired by looking at these things everyday, doing some research about them, and finding the history fascinating.
My last line doesn’t presume that these structures would be the subject of protests leading to their removal (first, it would be a significant – both financially and physically – undertaking, and second, they are simply ruins that remain from a “victory” – small as it was – by the North).
Oh the will go after Lincoln himself soon enough….frst it will be Jefferson but Lincoln’s views weren’t acceptable to modern sensibilities either.
Great post however, thanks for the interesting story. I love stuff like that (except the part where the yankees won. Lol)
Never by Kayak but we always look for it every summer driving north to Sullivan County. Missed it when it went down. Glad to see the replacement.
I’ve driven past it on my way from Harrisburg to Watkins Glen NY – in fact, as recently as the July 4th weekend. Haven’t managed to stop and take a photo yet – or to have taken the time to find out this statue’s background.
What didn’t he like about England? Which part of England was he from? Was he running away from something?
Stephen, he didn’t spend anytime knocking GB as much as much as lauding the US. He did say he grew up near London. As for running away from something,it felt more like he was running to something and someone. He married a South Carolina girl. He did say something derogatory about all the immigrants but nothing specific.
I’m not to familiar on the background as well, but my Dad told me that somebody once put a smaller one out on the pylon as an April Fools prank and people liked it enough they didn’t bother to take it down. The original fell into disrepair in the late nineties and people put up the money and effort to erect a more permanent one on the spot.
I have heard from a variety of immigrants (several of them Southeast Asian refugee offspring) who also extoll the USA in gushing terms. They are eternally grateful for this nation, and they all agree that many, who were born and raised here, don’t have a clue how good we’ve got it!
These are monuments that were consumed in the process of the war. They are evidence of what happened, evidence of historical happenings. As such I assign them a higher place. Men’s lives were lost in the making of that artifact. This monument was not erected later in the memory of some part of the Confederacy to that fought for the right to be able to continue denying the dignity of those souls who were bought and sold as property. Likewise, I hope monuments of the former type are never removed. But monuments of the latter type I find questionable.
@raykujawa – Thank you for your comment. I agree with your characterization of these structures. Apropos your comment, as I noted in #18 , my inspiration to write this post was really only partially inspired by the current controversies over removal of Civil War statues/memorials in the South. It certainly isn’t intended to be an advocacy for either viewpoint on that issue. It was actually intended to be a reflection of my interest in history. And in particular, my interest in historical sites that I am fortunate enough to live in local proximity to.
On the subject of the controversy, however, I think I would take the same viewpoint as did Robert E. Lee himself. That is, that it would have been best if none of them were ever erected (from Lee Family Digital Archive):
That they were erected, however, and since the decision to do so was likely upon consensus at the time of citizens and civic representatives at the local level, they should probably not be removed except on reaching the same consensus to do so from the same (contemporary) citizens and civic representatives at the localities where they exist.