BEFORE GETTYSBURG

This work, Before Gettysburg, has been a long-time coming. Since childhood, the history of the Harrisburg Area has always been near and dear to me. Combined with frequent trips to Gettysburg throughout my life, passion for the Civil War era in and around south-central Pennsylvania has been my passion. Early involvement in the planning for the National Civil War Museum here in Harrisburg, establishing the Camp Curtin Historical Society, and conducting tours dealing with the push to Harrisburg during the Pennsylvania Campaign have all led me to the need to document all the tales and tidbits of the area that I have been able to accumulate. With help from authors Dr. Bradley M. Gottfried, Don Madar, and Scott Mingus, Sr., the dream of documenting this knowledge comes to life in this book. To each of them, I am grateful and deeply appreciative. I wish to especially thank Don for all the new discoveries that he has made that only help to add to this legacy and make this project even more that I had dreamed of. Through these tales and tidbits, I hope to leave a legacy of the history of Civil War Before Gettysburg and after!

Before Gettysburg came about after lengthy discussions at my place of business, the "Civil War and More Bookstore," in Mechanicsburg. The many facts, people and places that I speak of and dreamed of capturing in words became a reality after Scott, Brad, and Don, all encouraged me to do this book. We are all honored to have been able to have been a part of this legacy project that is now put to words.