The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-11-30
Ex-Governor Curtin L,tely Disoove ers the
Unknown Scout Who Reported Lees
March from Ohambersburg.
Rev. Stephen W. Pomeroy.

The latter part of June, 1868, ,rj
sented the darkest days of the great
civil war in Pennsylvania. General
Lee had gathered the strongest army
that he ever commanded for aggressive
campaign to transfer the ravages of
war from Virginia to Pennsylvania,
and he confidently counted on the de-
feat OF the Army of the Potomac that
could then, for the first time, be met
with equal numbers and guns, and on
the open field. 1t had just suffered a
dispiriting defeat at Chancellorsville I;
It was demoralized by want of conf
dence in its commander, and Lee ex.
pected that his army, flushed with vic
tory, would surely defeat an army whose
spirit was greatly impaired and that
would be compelled to face an equal
force of the enemy.
As is well remembered, Lee marched
the major portion of his army to Cham
bersburg, where he made his head
quarters for several days, and Generals
Early and Rhodes pushed his wings
down as far as Carlisle and York, and
the insurgents flag came so near Har-
risburg that it was visible from the Gu
pola of the Capitol. Lee, of course,
cut off all communications with the
hostile country that surrounded him,
and the government at Harrisburg was
for nearly a week in painful suspense
as to his objective point, and the gov
ernment at Washington was in equal
Ignorance of the purposes of Lee. 1t
was evident that he intended to deliver
or receive the decisive blow of the war,
and his movements enlisted the intens-
est interest of the governments and
people. He guarded with scrupulous
care all his lines about Chambersburg,
to conceal as far as possible his plans.
There were no telegraph lires in oper-
alton at any point in the Cumberland
Valley east of Chambersburg, and the
passage of Lees lines was regarded as
next to an impossbility.
The painful anxiety about Lees in.
tended movements had been borne for
nearly week, when dispatch dated
Port Royal, up the Juniata some fifty
miles from Harrisburg, was brought to
Governor Curtins Executive Office,
about one o'clock in the morning, sta
ting that Lee had just commenced the
movement OF his army to concentrate
toward Gettysburg. The dispatch was
unsigned, but it gave details of the au,
thor's journey from inside of Lees lines
in Chambersburg, over the North
Mountain and down Tuscarora Valley
to Port Royal, and assured Governor
Curtin, to whom the dispatch was ad-
dressed, that Lee was on the march to.
ward Gettysburg. There were present
with Governor Curtin in his office, Gen
eral Couch, Commander of the Depart
ment Colonel John A. Wright, of the
Governors staff Colonel Coppee, now
of Lehigh University Mr. Mcclure,
now of the Times and probably one
or two Others. Attorney General Mer-
edith and Secretary Slifer were in Phil
adelphia, ostensibly to prepare for the
removal of the government to that city,
but in fact to get Mr.. Meredith away
from danger. He was quite infrm,
but he refused to leave the Capital, re-
gardless of the danger of capture, and
he left only under orders from the Gov
ernor to perform a public duty. The
long absence of news of Lees move
ments made anything on the subject
profoundly interesting but the dis
patch was unsigned all efforts to get
information of the scouts identity fail
ed ; the distance he claimed to have
travelled was startling, and there were
grave discussions as to the reliability of
the news. Rumors were thick as leaves
on the trees, and report from an un-
named author was opeE to the suspic-
ion of imposture or of error. Maps of
the country through which the un-
known claimed to have passed were
carefully examined, and his telegram
correctly described localities. Although
far from satisfactory, it was welcome,
and in the absence of more definite in
formation, it was acted upon. Gencr-
al Badly Smith, who was between the
Susquehanna and Carlisle was reached,
and he reported that he felt the enemy
retiring, and soon after signal fires
were discovered on the South Noun
tain. These facts corroborated the re-
port of the nameless scout, and the in
formation promptly transmitted to the
President. That dispatch from Gov
ernor Curtin, based upon the report of
the unknown informer, was the first in
formation TIE President received of the
march of Lee for Gettsburg, and it
was, of course, promptly communica-
ted to General Meade, then Just chosen
to meet Lee ia the most desperate and
the decisive battle of the war.
Subsequent events proved that the
unknown scout had reported the exact
truth from the inside of Lees lines to
Governor Curtin, but the battle of Get
tysburg was fought, and the war closed
and twenty years passed, but the Gov
ernor remained in utter ignorance of
the identity of the man who had 80 he
roically brought the first news of Lees
movement to the State and National
Governments. Governor Curtin had
often spoken of the strange circum-
stance, and only few weeks ago, the
once unknown scout heard of the Gov
ernor's inquiries about him, and he ad.
dressed letter to Governor Curtin,
from the peaceful mountain parsonage
where he has long labored as pastor of
the Presbyterian Church of Mount
Union, Pa. Rev. Stephen w. Pom
eroy was the modest mountain boy,
who made the perilous and desperate
journey from Chambersburg to Port
Royal. and informed the Governor and
President of Lees movement upon Get
tysburg, and he only revealed his iden.
tity few days ago, in obedience to the
oft expressed wishes of Governor Cur
tin to know who had rendered SO sig
nal service to State and nation. When
it was ascertained that Rev, Mr.. Pom
eroy was the nameless scout, Governor
Curtin requested him to furnish him a
narrative of his journey, and he has
done so, as will be seen by the follow
ing letter;
MOUNT UNION, Pa, Nov. 13, 1888.
Hon. A. G. CURTIN-DEAR SIR In
compliance with your request, | send