|
}} The Fishing Creek Confederacy was an alleged military uprising in northern Columbia County, Pennsylvania and southern Sullivan County, Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. Residents of Columbia County strongly opposed military drafts that were being conducted there, leading to widespread desertion and draft evasion. In a Columbia County draft in July 1863, 618 people were drafted. Of these, approximately 75% evaded the draft.〔 On July 30, 1864, several people rode into northern Columbia County from Luzerne County to search for deserters, and one of the riders was shot. By the summer of 1864, rumors had begun to circulate that these deserters and draft evaders, as well as Confederate sympathizers, had built a fort with cannons on North Mountain, not far from the headwaters of Fishing Creek. This fort was supposedly manned by 500 people. Upon hearing these rumors, 1000 soldiers gathered near Bloomsburg, in Columbia County. On August 21, 1864, the soldiers began traveling up Fishing Creek. For the next week, they searched the northern portion of Columbia County for deserters and draft evaders. They were unable to find any, but on August 28 they arrested 100 local citizens. Most were released, although some were taken to Fort Mifflin. The soldiers continued heading into the northernmost reaches of the Fishing Creek watershed. Unable to find any evidence of a conspiracy, they returned to Bloomsburg and remained in the county until December 1864. The last of the prisoners were released from Fort Mifflin several months after their arrest. The events of the Fishing Creek Confederacy were widely covered in both Democratic and Republican newspapers. In addition to contemporary coverage, the event was later reported by newspapers in the 1960s and 1970s. Professional historians began to do significant study on the confederacy in 1941, and it was mentioned in academic writings as late as 2009. Amateur historians have researched the event since the 1950s. ==Background== In the early 1860s, many counties in Pennsylvania were staunch supporters of the Democratic Party, while the newly elected president of the United States was the Republican Abraham Lincoln. When a large number of men were drafted from Columbia County, tensions led to raids and arrests in Columbia and neighboring counties. As early as 1862, the local press expressed outrage at a draft of 636 men, mostly mechanics and laborers.〔Sauers & Tomasak (2012), p. 38〕 An 1863 law requiring all men from 20 to 45 years old to be drafted increased tensions further. On July 20 locals broke into the district draft office and stole the items inside. But besides this event, there was little active violence against officials of the 1863 draft.〔 In response to the draft law, meetings in Stillwater and Jerseytown resolved that "A war carried on contrary to the rules and provisions of (Constitution ), whether it be a crusade against slavery, or any other fanatical or delusory scheme, never can and never will receive our support."〔 ''The Columbia Democrat'' also objected to the new draft laws. When Samuel F. Pealer, a draft officer, attempted to recruit four men in Stillwater, one of the men threatened to "knock () brains out".〔 Unrest increased still further after a costly military campaign in Virginia in early 1864. By June of that year, opposition to the draft was made clear when 75 percent of all people drafted in Columbia County failed to show up.〔 Tension was especially high in the community of Mifflinville, where many people in the county accused one another of conspiracy. The accusations became exaggerated, leading to the rumors of a fort in the mountains at the headwaters of Fishing Creek. Some people even claimed to have seen the fort and the trails along which cannons were supposedly dragged. A Union soldier named Robinson was shot in July or August 1864 near Raven Creek, a tributary of Fishing Creek.〔 That shooting was originally blamed on the political group known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, though it was eventually proven that the group had disbanded in 1863.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fishing Creek Confederacy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|