United States Army despatch riders entered Perry County through this pass, known as Sterrett's Gap and originally Croghan's Gap, named for George Croghan, a pioneer trader and Indian interpreter, then crossed the Juniata River at Reider's Ferry, now Newport, carrying War Department orders to forces on the Canadian border during the war with Great Britain from 1812 to 1814. During the Civil War, the farthest advance into the North by Confederate soldiers reached this road to Carlisle, one and one-fourth miles southwest of here, on June 27, 1863, four days before the Battle of Gettysburg, when Perry Countians swarmed to the mountain pass, hastily fortified it, and awaited the Confederates.