General Albert Jenkins

On June 15, 1863, Jenkins’ Confederate cavalry brigade became the first of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s men to enter the North when it crossed the Potomac River and headed for Chambersburg, Pennsylvania—thus commencing the ‘Gettysburg Campaign’ of the Army of Northern Virginia. By late June, his brigade was in Carlisle where he received orders to turn south. By July 1, they entered Adams County and were encamped in present-day York Springs, PA. It was here, while dining with a local merchant, that Jenkins received word that the Union Army was in Gettysburg.