News Details (Posted: March 26, 2008):

The History of Chambersburg

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Native Americans living or hunting in the area during the 18th century included the Iroquois, Lenni Lenape and Shawnee "Falling Spring" was first settled by Colonel Benjamin Chambers, a Scots-Irish immigrant, in 1730, who started a grist mill and saw mill by a waterfall where Falling Spring Creek joined Conococheague Creek. The creek provided power to the mills, and settlement was known as "Falling Spring." European settlement in the area was illegal or of questionable legality until the treaty ending the French and Indian War. The area was officially part of Chester County, then Lancaster, and then Cumberland until it became part of the newly established Franklin County in 1784.

Chambersburg was incorporated on March 21, 1803, and declared the County Seat when the State Assembly established a formal government. The first courthouse was John Jack's tavern on the diamond (town square) in 1784, with a permanent courthouse built in 1793, and the first county jail built 1795. The "Old Jail" was built in 1818, survived the fire of 1864 and is the oldest jail building in Pennsylvania. It was originally used as the sheriff's residence and had the longest continuous use of any jail in the state, operating until 1971. Today the Old Jail is a museum and home to the Kittochtinny Historical Society of Chambersburg. The county's gallows still stand in the jail's courtyard.

The earliest church was established by Scots-Irish Presbyterians in 1734. Chambers gave land to the congregation in 1768, requiring only a single rose as annual rent. Later land was given to the First Lutheran Church (1780) and Zion Reformed Church (organized in 1780) under the same agreement, and these churches came to be known as the "Rose Rent Churches." A Catholic community organized in 1785. The Jewish cemetery dates back to 1840.

In 1748 a local militia was formed for protection against Indians, with Benjamin Chambers being named colonel.

Chambersburg was on the frontier during the French and Indian War. The area's population dropped from about 3,000 in 1755 at the start of the war to about 300, with most settlers not returning until after 1764 when the peace treaty was signed.Benjamin Chambers built a stone fort during the war, which was equipped with two 4 pounder cannons and fighting occurred nearby. The Forbes Road and other trails going to Fort Pitt passed nearby as well.

Fighting continued in the area after the war, most notably the Enoch Brown school massacre during Pontiac's Rebellion and the Black Boys rebellion against British troops at Fort Loudon.

In 1775, soon after the Battle of Lexington, local troops were raised to fight the British in the American Revolution under the command of Benjamin Chambers's eldest son Captain James Chambers, as part of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment. These troops were among the first non-New Englanders to join the siege of Boston. James Chambers fought for seven years during the revolution, reaching the rank of Brigader General. His two brothers, William and Benjamin, Jr., each served throughout the war and reached the rank of Captain. Local troops fought at the Battle of Long Island, and at White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.

During the Whiskey Rebellion, President George Washington led United States troops through town on the way from Carlisle to Bedford, staying overnight on October 12, 1794. According to tradition, Washington lodged with Dr. Robert Johnson, a surgeon in the Pennsylvania line during the Revolution. This march was one of only two times that a sitting president personally commanded the military in the field. (The other was after President James Madison fled the British occupation of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.) After sending the troops toward Pittsburgh from Bedford under General Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, Washington returned through Chambersburg sometime after October 20.

Civil War era By 1859, Chambersburg was a stop on the Underground Railroad. John Brown stayed in an upstairs room at Mary Ritner's boarding house between June and October, 1859 while preparing for his unsuccessful raid on Harpers Ferry. Several of his fellow raiders stayed in the house as well, and four of them escaped capture and briefly visited the house after the raid. The house still stands at 225 East King Street. While in Chambersburg Brown posed as Dr. Isaac Smith, an iron mine developer, and bought and stored weapons under the guise of mining equipment. Brown (using the name John Smith) and John Henry Kagi met with Frederick Douglass and Shields Green at an abandoned quarry outside of town to discuss the raid on August 19. According to Douglass's account, Brown described the planned raid in detail and Douglass advised him against it. Douglass also provided $10 from a supporter, and had helped Green - a future raider - locate Brown.

General John McCauslandDuring the American Civil War on October 10, 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart, with 1800 cavalrymen, raided Chambersburg, destroying $250,000 of railroad property and taking 500 guns and hundreds of horses. Chambersburg residents said that they were remarkably well behaved.

During the early days of the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign, a Virginia cavalry brigade under Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins occupied the town and burned several warehouses and Cumberland Valley Railroad structures and a nearby bridge. From June 24-28, 1863, much of the Army of Northern Virginia passed through Chambersburg en route to Carlisle and Gettysburg, and Robert E. Lee established his headquarters at a nearby farm.

Statue of a Union soldier on the main squareThe following year, Chambersburg was invaded for a third time, as cavalry dispatched from the Shenandoah Valley by Jubal Early arrived. On July 30, 1864, a large portion of the town was burned down under orders from Brig. Gen. John McCausland for failing to provide a ransom of $500,000 in US currency, or $100,000 in gold. Among the few buildings left standing was the Masonic Temple, which had been guarded under orders by a Confederate mason. "Remember Chambersburg" soon became a Union battle cry.

Memorial Fountain, built in the center of the diamond to honor the Civil War soldiers, was dedicated on July 17, 1878 with fifteen thousand people in attendance. A statue of a Union soldier stands next to the fountain facing south to guard against the return of southern raiders.

Source: Wikipedia®