"For the residents of the Gettysburg area, however, the impact of the Confederate invasion continued. Both sides had wrecked farms and fields... In July 1864 Confederate forces invaded Pennsylvania one last time. Outraged at the burning and looting of farms in the Shenandoah Valley, a brigade of 2000 soldiers passed... into Franklin County and set fire to the town of Chambersburg... Rebels had occupied the city in October 1862 and again in June of 1863, soon before the battle of Gettysburg. On both occasion Southern troops had behaved reasonably well, although they had burned military supplies and railroad equipment during Jeb Stuart's raid of 1862... Earlier that summer, [Union] General Hunter had allowed his troops to loot and burn private property in the Valley... [General] Early decided Chambersburg would be the object of his retribution. [He] gave its residents a chance to hand over $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in currency to compensate the people of the Valley for the loss of their homes... [the city could not pay and was looted and] 550 buildings went up in flames... the Masonic hall was spared when an officer who was a Mason posted guards to prevent its burning. A Colonel of the 21 Virginia Cavalry refused to obey the order... Other Confederates tried to help frantic citizens retrieve household goods before their homes were burned... only one civilian was killed..." [exploreahistory.com] ------- I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. --Daniel Boone To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html