Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

=== Civil War era ===
[[Image:BurntCourtChambersburgPA1864.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Franklin County Courthouse following the 1864 McCausland raid.]]

==== Underground Railroad / John Brown ====

[[File:ChambersburgStatue.jpg|right|thumb|120px|Statue of a Union soldier on the main square.]]
By 1859, Chambersburg's active community of free and enslaved blacks and sympathetic whites had attracted a stop on the [[Underground Railroad]]. Several schools taught black children, although such activity was illegal in [[Virginia]] and other [[slave states]] further south. [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] stayed in an upstairs room at Mary Ritner's boarding house between June and October, 1859 while preparing for his raid on [[Harpers Ferry]] (then in Virginia).<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.familytales.org/results.php?city=chambersburg| title=Collection of letters from Chambersburg, Familytales.org| access-date=2008-02-26| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607120405/http://www.familytales.org/results.php?city=chambersburg| archive-date=June 7, 2007| df=mdy-all}}</ref> 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, shipped, and stored weapons under the guise of mining equipment.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/pa2.htm| title=John Brown House| publisher=nps.gov| access-date=2007-09-21| archive-date=April 6, 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406070408/http://www.cr.nps.gov/NR/travel/underground/pa2.htm| url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/jbrown/fdlife.html|title = Excerpt from The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass pp. 350–354|publisher=Reprint New York: Pathway Press|  year =1941 |  access-date = 2007-09-21 }}</ref>  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.

==== First two Confederate occupations, selective burnings ====
{{Main|Chambersburg Raid}}
During the [[American Civil War]] on October 10, 1862, [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[Major General|Maj. Gen.]] [[J.E.B. Stuart]], with 1,800 cavalrymen, [[Chambersburg Raid|raided Chambersburg]], destroying $250,000 of railroad property and taking 500 guns, hundreds of horses, and enslaving "eight young colored men and boys."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-841|title =Map of Stuart's Raid|publisher=ExplorePaHistory.com|  access-date = October 12, 2012 }}</ref> They failed, however, to accomplish one of the main targets of the raid: to burn the railroad bridge across the Conococheague Creek at Scotland, five miles (8&nbsp;km) north of town.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-5A|title =Stuart's Raid|publisher=ExplorePaHistory.com|  access-date = October 12, 2012 }}</ref>

During the early days of the 1863 [[Gettysburg Campaign]], a [[Virginia]] cavalry [[brigade]] under [[Brigadier General|Brig. Gen.]] [[Albert G. Jenkins]] occupied the town and burned several warehouses and [[Cumberland Valley Railroad]] structures and the bridge at Scotland. From June 24–28, 1863, much of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] passed through Chambersburg<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/gettyscampaign.htm|title =The Gettysburg Campaign |publisher=civilwarhome.com|  access-date = 2007-09-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/education/es5/es5.pdf| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818232134/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/education/es5/es5.pdf| url-status=dead| archive-date=August 18, 2000|title =Geology and the Gettysburg Campaign|publisher=Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources|  year = 1962|  access-date = 2007-09-21 }}</ref> en route to [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania|Carlisle]] and [[Gettysburg, Pennsylvania|Gettysburg]], and General [[Robert E. Lee]] established his headquarters at a nearby farm.

==== July 30, 1864 devastation ====
[[File:View of the ruins of Chambersburg by Charles L. Lochman.jpg|thumb|800px|center|View of the ruins of Chambersburg, by Charles L. Lochman, 1864]]
The following year, Chambersburg was invaded for a third time, as cavalry, dispatched from the [[Shenandoah Valley]] by [[Jubal Early]], arrived.<ref name="Valley">{{cite web | url = http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/frhome/home.html| archive-url = https://archive.today/20070713121740/http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/HIUS403/frhome/home.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2007-07-13|title = War Comes Home, Chambersburg 1864|publisher=[[The Valley of the Shadow]]|  access-date = 2007-09-21 }}</ref> On July 30, 1864, a large portion of the town was burned down by Confederate [[History of Confederate States Army Generals#Brigadier general|Brig. Gen.]] [[John McCausland]] for failing to provide a ransom of $500,000 in U.S. currency, or $100,000 in gold. The local bank had sent its reserves out of town for safekeeping.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/chambersburg_war_damages/998581|title=Chambersburg War Damages|publisher=www.portal.state.pa.us|date=1866-03-19|access-date = 2015-05-05 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150210140651/http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/documents_from_1776_-_1865/20424/chambersburg_war_damages/998581|archive-date = February 10, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/memory/search/browseMemory.php?xml=/db/valley/memoryarticles/FM0066.xml| archive-url=https://archive.today/20070713164308/http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/memory/search/browseMemory.php?xml=/db/valley/memoryarticles/FM0066.xml| url-status=dead| archive-date=2007-07-13|title =Franklin County: "The Burning of Chambersburg,"|publisher=valley.vcdh.virginia.edu|  date =1870-08-27|  access-date = 2007-09-21 }}</ref><ref name="JeffersonDavis">
{{cite book
  | last       = Davis  | first      = Jefferson  | author-link = Jefferson Davis
  | title      = Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Volume II)
  | publisher = [[Da Capo Press]] | orig-year = 1881, published by D. Appleton and Company |year = 1990
  | location   = New York  | pages      = [https://archive.org/details/riseandfallconf03davigoog/page/n591 532]–533
  | url        = https://archive.org/details/riseandfallconf03davigoog
  | quote      = Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.  | isbn        =  0-306-80418-2}}</ref>
Among the few buildings left standing was the [[Masonic Temple (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania)|Masonic Temple]], which had been guarded under orders by a Confederate member of the Masons.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-202|title =Burning of Chambersburg|publisher=explorepahistory.com|  access-date = 2012-02-21 }}</ref>  ''Norland'', the home of Republican politician and editor [[Alexander McClure]], was burned although it was well north of the main fire. Early had ordered the ransom as compensation for those residents of the [[Shenandoah Valley]] whose homes has been burned by Union Brig.-Gen. [[David Hunter]]. He also burned the [[Virginia Military Institute]].<ref>[https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-202 Burning of Chambersburg Historical Marker]</ref>
According to McCausland report the only death occurred when one of his soldiers was killed in the vicinity of the town after his troops left and no citizens lost their lives.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyoffrankli00bate/page/382/mode/2up History of Franklin County .p.383]</ref> One black Chambersburg resident was burned to death when Confederates set his house on fire and then refused to allow him to leave, trapping him in the flames. Another man was asked by the Confederates if he had ever educated "niggers"; after replying that he had, the Confederates burned his house down.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadconfederates.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/slavehunt.pdf |title=A Regular Slave Hunt |first=Ted |last=Alexander |access-date=April 29, 2015 |volume=4 |number=7 |work=North & South |date=September 2001 |page=88 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429030950/https://deadconfederates.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/slavehunt.pdf |archive-date=April 29, 2015 }}</ref> Subsequently, "Remember Chambersburg" became a Union battle cry.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1973/5/1973_5_36.shtml |title=Burning of Chambersburg |magazine=[[American Heritage (magazine)|American Heritage]] Magazine |date=August 1973 |author=Liva Baker |access-date=2007-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102522/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1973/5/1973_5_36.shtml |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The Property damage was $713,294.34 + Personal Property damage was $915,137,24 totaling $1,628,431.58 of which 50% was paid by State approbation, first by an Act of Legislature  Feb 15, 1866, $500,000.00 and the second under the Act of Legislation May 27, 1871; under the last named act claiments [numbering 650] each had a certificate for amount of his loss but claims payable only when said claims were paid by the  United States Government <ref>[https://archive.org/details/historyoffrankli00bate/page/390/mode/2up History of Franklin County Pennsylvania .p.390]</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" heights="165px">
File:John Brown portrait, 1859.jpg|John Brown in 1859
File:Alexander Kelly McClure (cropped).jpg|Alexander K. McClure
File:The photographic history of the Civil War - thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities (1911) (14782791043).jpg|J.E.B. Stuart
File:JMcCausland.jpg|Gen. John McCausland
File:JubalEarly.jpeg| Lieut. Gen. Jubal Early, who ordered Chambersburg burned
</gallery>