Summary:
In this August, 1864, dispatch, Union Sergeant Will Kochersperger reports on the
burning of Chambersburg by raiding Confederate forces under the command of Jubal
Early. Kochersperger, a clerk at the headquarters of the Department of the
Susquehanna at Chambersburg, reports in detail on the Confederate entry into the
town, their demands of reparations for the acts of Union General David Hunter
who had recently raided the Shenandoah Valley, conversations between Confederate
generals, looting and firing of the town, his brief imprisonment as a POW, and
the state of the Confederate troops during the occupation.
Maj. JOHN S. SCHULTZE,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
Harrisburg, Pa.,
August 9, 1864.
MAJ.:
I have the honor to report relating to the late invasion by the rebels in Chambersburg, Pa., on the morning of the 30th of July, 1864. Being on detached duty at headquarters of the department at that place, and unavoidably detained there, I was present both on the entree and departure of their force in and out of town, and was both an eye-witness and observator of the following, which came under my immediate observation:
The rebels entered the town with a force of (I do not think over) 500 mounted men, under the command of Gen.'s McCausland and Bradley T. Johnson, the main body being encamped on the fair grounds, about one and a half miles out of town, on the Pittsburg pike. Before entering the rebels fired two shells in the town. They then entered by almost every alley and by-street by small squads prior to the advance of the main body, which came up directly in the rear. On arriving into town, Gen. McCausland informed me personally that if I had any self-interest at stake it would be well for me to listen to the order he would read and get the municipal authorities together to hold a meeting and comply with their desires. The order itself was handed me, which I read myself, the purport of which was as follows:
That in retaliation of the depredations committed by Maj.-Gen. Hunter, of the U. S. forces, during his recent raid, it is ordered that the citizens of Chambersburg pay to the Confederate States by Gen. McCausland the sum of $100,000 in gold; or in lieu thereof $500,000 in greenbacks or national currency was required to ransom the town, otherwise the town would be laid in ashes within three hours.
The order was signed by Gen. Early. After reading the order I started to find the town council. Meeting one of them I informed him of the facts, when he told me that the citizens would not pay them 5 cents. I returned and met Gen. Bradley T. Johnson on the portico of the Franklin Hotel. The rebels were by this time dismounted and breaking in the doors of stores and houses, and had already commenced plundering. When they entered it was 5.30 a. m., from which time I was in company with both Gen.'s McCausland and Johnson (being in citizen's dress they did not know me). Gen. McCausland was appealed to by Johnson to relent or at least give the citizens more time, but he was determined. At 9 o'clock McCausland ordered the town burnt. In a few moments the commissary store-house was in flames, during which time McCausland and Gilmor were riding through town notifying the citizens, pointing to the flames, that he intended to carry his threat into execution. He returned to the Franklin Hotel and had a consultation with Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, during which I overheard McCausland say that Gen. Averell was only four miles out of town with a force of 2,000 cavalry, and that he would now burn the town and return the way they came. In a few moments the court-house and town-hall were in flames, when simultaneously on the right and left sides of the main street was in one mass of flames; but little time elapsed when the houses on both sides of the by-streets were in the same condition. I repaired to the hotel and found a party of rebels ransacking the trunks of the boarders, and donning the clothes contained therein. In my trunk was my uniform, other clothes, and letters, &c., by which they learned that I was connected with the headquarters of the department. They immediately took me prisoner, when they confined me in a tin store adjoining the hotel, where they dressed themselves in my clothes, destroying the emblems of the U. S. service. I was thus confined until the houses on both sides the one in which I was imprisoned were in flames, when I escaped through a window to the rear of the building. At this time (about 12 m.) the rebels were mounted and on their return, leaving only a small number as stragglers and pickets. When they left nearly two-thirds of their party were in a state of intoxication, hardly capable of sitting on their horses. I remained in Chambersburg until midnight of Saturday, when I walked to Shippensburg, arriving in Harrisburg on Monday.
I have the honor to be, major, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WILL. S. KOCHERSPERGER,
Sergeant, Company L, Twentieth Regt. Penn.
Cavalry, Indorsement
Clerk at Hdqrs. Dept. of the Susquehanna.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 37, Serial No. 70, Pages 334-335, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
