On June 27, 1863, three days before the Battle of Hanover, Confederate Lt. Col. Elijah White's 35th Virginia Battalion, about 260 men, entered Hanover to destroy Pennsylvania railroad bridges and telegraph lines, targets whose loss would badly disrupt Union transportation and communication. Daniel Trone, telegraph operator of the Hanover Railroad since 1860, worked from Hanover's rail depot, which also served as the town's telegraph headquarters, and when White's men arrived to create chaos and re-supply, he removed his telegraph instruments, carried them to an attic, hid them under the floor, and escaped with a fellow employee as Confederates raided the depot. After fleeing to Baltimore, Trone wrote on June 30 that he had seen Confederates pursuing Abdiel Gitt and another man and that he had hidden his instruments in the garret of the railroad warehouse. Days later, after returning to Hanover, Trone telegraphed news of the Battle of Gettysburg to major northern cities, and newspapers including The New York Tribune and The New York Herald relied on him to report the decisive results. During the Battle of Hanover on June 30, fragments of several Union and Confederate cavalry regiments fought a running battle on Frederick Street and nearby alleys and streets, where Confederate bands retreated and weakened their defense. Among the Union 5th New York Cavalry officers, Major John Hammond, Major Amos White, and Adjutant Alexander Gall showed bravery as they chased Confederates past the houses there; Gall was struck by a bullet through his left eye and killed instantly, while White suffered a severe bullet wound and later recovered.

Photo: Courtesy New York State Library

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Photo: Courtesy Guthrie Memorial Library

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Pennville, Pennsylvania · USA