“All had one thought in mind,…were these soldiers to be our conquerors, and if so, what will be our fate?” The Gettysburg Campaign and Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Date of Award

5-11-2010

Document Type

Thesis

Department

History, Politics and International Relations

Abstract

Franklin County, Pennsylvania is a relatively quiet region in south central Pennsylvania. Much of it sits within the Cumberland Valley, an extension of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The area possesses a deep and rich history. During the days of the French and Indian War this region was considered a frontier. Members of the Shawnee and Delaware Tribes resided in the area and at times would clash with the British colonists. One such violent episode took place in the settlement that would later become known as Greencastle, Pennsylvania. The story, as it is told by local historian William Conrad, is that, “In 1764 Enoch Brown and ten of his pupils were massacred by three Indians who were on the war path as a part of a campaign to pillage the Conococheague Settlement [a community that existed prior to the founding of Greencastle].”[1] Those who first settled the region were aware of the dangers of living on the frontier. Nearly one-hundred years would pass before residents of this region would once again be confronted with an enemy force with the (potential) of committing acts of retribution against them.

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