Where are They? South Closes in

Fortifications were being built and monitored in key locations to keep Confederate troops out of Morrisons Cove and ultimately the Altoona railroad shops along with the iron furnaces dotted across southern Blair and northern Bedford counties.

Men were stepping forward to man the fortifications and the rumors of impending southern troops attacking kept the volunteers worn out.

It was summer 1863 and Confederate soldiers were eager to advance into central Pennsylvania and strike a devastating blow to the northern initiative to end slavery and keep the newly formed United States as a single union.

The concerns were fed by what Ella Snowberger termed “Paul Reveres.”

“In all avenues of life they rode through the Cove spreading the news that the rebels were pushing their invasion of Pennsylvania northward and could lie expected at any moment,” Snowberger wrote in Volume 5 of “Bygone Days In The Cove.”

“Conflicting rumors were afloat. The rebels were at Hancock, now at Bloody Run,” she wrote. “No, that was not true. They were at Harrisburg.”

One thing everyone knew, they were near at hand.

Snowberger quoted Henry C. Lorenz, a Cove resident of some stature, who got caught up on the frenzy in a journal dated Monday 15,1863 that Martinsburg residents began obstructing the roads that lead from the mountain to the west.

On Wednesday, June 17, of that year Lorenzo set out for Hollidaysburg but was stopped when fire broke out on the mountain burning out a great portion of the fortifications.

He stood guard all night on the mountain.

On Saturday, June 20 ,and on June 28, men working on the fortifications reported rebels as close to home as Bloody Run what is now Everett.

All reports were false, Lorenzo journaled.

“News came July 1 of a rebel raid in this section. Rebels were reported in Newburgh and coming this way fast,” Lorenzo said. “Great excitement. Started teams off with the stored goods. Militia turned out. Up nearly all night.”

The rumors were false as were rumors of the defeat of northern troops by Gen. Robert E. Lee.