I don’t know how many Pennsylvanians are familiar with the destruction caused by Confederate General, Jubal Early, in the month leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg.

In June of 1863, Early rode north from the Shenandoah Valley and seized crops, horses, and whatever money could be extorted from towns and cities in Pennsylvania.

York, PA was occupied, and paid a ransom to avoid being torched.

The citizens of Hanover, PA formed a militia to beat back raiders on the streets of that town.

Gettysburg was occupied, but a ransom was not paid – the Battle of Gettysburg occurred only ten days later.

Ironically, the Rebel assault on Pennsylvania significantly hardened attitudes toward the South – York County once had a considerable number of Confederate sympathizers.

It was good for the townspeople elsewhere that Early wasted time and troops on trying to round up former slaves who had escaped to freedom and on burning the forge belonging to Thaddeus Stevens who was loathed for his abolitionist views.

The Battle of Gettysburg was a stunning blow to the Confederacy, and routed the remnants of the rebel army back into Virginia.

But Early dashed northward into Pennsylvania a year later, in July of 1864.

Desperate for supplies and money, Early commanded his troops to burn the town of Chambersburg when a demand for ransom was refused.

This postcard, unmailed, commemorates the destruction of the town.

It is a linen-style postcard circa 1935.