From its beginnings, Harrisburg’s location astride the Susquehanna River and Appalachians made it a significant hub for transportation from all directions. This significance was even more evident when the Pennsylvania canal, and later Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania and Northern Central railroads constructed bridges around the city.
Owing not only to its stature as the Capitol of the Commonwealth, but also to this network of roads, railroads and canals, it was a logical location during the Civil War for Camp Curtin, the largest mustering and training camp in the north during the war. Despite the location, importance and presence of Camp Curtin, Harrisburg was scarcely defended when compared with other important military targets.
One reason for this might be the initial consensus that the war would be short, therefore there was no real hurry to fortify the bluffs across the river. After this myth was dispelled by the First Battle of Bull Run, military resources were largely focused southward and no one believed the city could be a legitimate target, until the north’s military set-backs of July and August 1862.
By early September 1862, Robert E. Lee’s army was on the move northward. Quickly, Pennsylvania emergency militia troops were formed to help repel the invasion. Fortunately, Lee’s army was fought to a draw at the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day in American history. Ideally, this dramatic and bloody battle, in which the Union claimed victory, should have alerted state and city officials to the need for increased forts and earthworks west and south of Harrisburg, but again, nothing was done until early June of 1863.
In June, victorious after smashing the Union army at Chancellorsville, Lee’s rebels again marched north. This time there was little to impede their march. Harrisburg, like the rest of south-central Pennsylvania, was in turmoil and stood open to invasion. President Lincoln called for another 100,000 emergency troops, but only 30,000 responded. General Darius N. Couch, head of the newly created Department of the Susquehanna now at Harrisburg, finally began creating a series of earthworks opposite the city. It also prepared to fire or dynamite most of the bridges crossing the Susquehanna River near the city. As the Confederate’s approached and captured York, the bridge at Columbia/Wrightsville was burned on June 28th. The next day Lee’s army was ordered to concentrate around Gettysburg, saving Harrisburg from potential capture.
After Gettysburg, the Department of the Susquehanna moved back to Chambersburg and Camp Curtin returned to the business of sending troops and supplies to the front. It also was used as a prisoner-of-war camp. Some of the Confederate POW’s who died as laborers are buried in Harrisburg Cemetery, as well as other cemeteries around Dauphin County.
The Gettysburg campaign was the last time during the Civil War that Harrisburg was in peril as the war continued to rage in southern Virginia. Camp Curtin lasted until November of 1865 when it was officially closed.
