After the Confederates' initial surge and seizure of Hanover's square, on June 30, 1863, a swift, steady Union attack drove them back from Broadway and down Frederick Street. General H. Judson Kilpatrick then repositioned the brigades of Generals George A. Custer and Elon J. Farnsworth into a defensive perimeter protecting the town's vital road junctions. Through the late morning and afternoon, Kilpatrick and Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart maneuvered against each other as Kilpatrick placed ten cannons near present-day Stock Street, Highland Avenue, Fourth Street, and both sides of Carlisle Street, while Stuart countered with six cannons southwest of town along a ridge running from present-day South Hills Golf Course to Mount Olivet Cemetery. The two sides exchanged artillery fire for up to two hours. During the shelling, Custer's dismounted 6th Michigan Wolverines moved along the railroad tracks from present-day Pennsylvania Avenue to Forney Avenue to Good Field north of Frederick Street, then turned left toward Frederick Street and advanced on the Confederate left flank while trading rifle fire with skirmishers. The Wolverines permanently secured the Littlestown-Frederick Road, a crucial route leading to the headquarters of General George Gordon Meade, commander of the Army of the Potomac, near Taneytown, Maryland. As long-range cannon fire, skirmishes, and probing actions continued, the fighting subsided by mid afternoon. Having lost the town and the junction of Westminster and Littlestown Roads, and unwilling to prolong the battle, Stuart began to disengage. General Wade Hampton's brigade, serving as Stuart's rear guard, left after dark and marched through York County to Carlisle, 20 miles from Gettysburg, searching unsuccessfully for Confederate infantry. Most artillery rounds fired at Hanover were not cannonballs but rifled projectiles or shells. During the afternoon artillery standoff, the Henry Winebrenner family sheltered in their cellar as a shell fired from the southwest tore through a balcony door on the second floor of their Frederick Street home, smashed part of a bureau, passed through the floor and ceiling, and struck a wall on the lower level.

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Courtesy York County History Center

Photo: Cosmos Mariner

Pennville, Pennsylvania · USA