Cashtown - Gettysburg Camapign

Cashtown is a small village located about eight miles northwest of Gettysburg along the Chambersburg Pike. Modern US 30 has been moved a bit to the north and bypasses the historic village center. The heart of the village is the Cashtown Inn (pictured), established in 1815 and still in operation today as a restaurant and B&B.

The village was first occupied by Confederate forces in October of 1862 during Gen. Stuart's raid into Pennsylvania. But it was Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania at the end of June, 1863, that brought the enitre Army of Northern Virginia. Gen. Jubal Early's Division of the 2nd Corps came through first on June 26. On June 29 General A.P. Hill's 3rs Corps arrived, with Hill making the Inn his headquarters. Robert E. Lee had ordered his army to concentrate at Cashtown, and it's possible that the great battle could have been fought here had Hill not sent General Henry Heth's Division into Gettysburg on July 1st, where a meeting engagement with Union General Buford's cavalry turned into the largest battle of the war.

Although Cashtown narrowly escaped the fighting, it played host to the Army of Northern Virginia as it marched through on its way to the fight, with the army's supply and ammunition wagons parked all through the area for several days. After the fighting it became a vast hospital for the Confederate wounded, and was the starting point for General Imboden's long train of wounded that snaked its way back to Virginia after the battle.

A historical marker to Imboden's Brigade stands at the right front corner of the Inn.