Yesterday I had a grand adventure, the likes of which I haven't been able to enjoy for some little while. I made my way to picturesque Hummelstown to visit a friend from my days at Kutztown University; AmyBeth and I were members of the school's Medieval & Renaissance Club (and you are shocked by that, I'm sure). She offered to be my tour guide if I would make the trip to visit her, and was so considerate as to schedule us a visit at the community's historical society. Geneva, who met us there, gave me access to all kinds of information related to the two markers in Hummelstown and was very interested to hear about what I do.
We caught up on each other's lives while we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the 1950's themed diner The Soda Jerk (delicious burgers and excellent service!) and then took a trip to nearby Hershey. In total, together we collected seven markers, visited two cemeteries (one of which I'll be writing about for my other blog, so look for that), and discovered a museum that neither one of us even knew existed. We both had such a good time that we're going to arrange another trip, maybe when it cools down some in the fall. Meanwhile, today we're heading back to the colonial era to learn about a brief moment in Hummelstown history.
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| The marker stands at 226 West Main Street |
What we do know for sure is that in 1777, the colonies were rebelling against Great Britain and the eastern seaboard was a frequent site of attack by their ships. Philadelphia was taken by the enemy, thus making it impossible for anyone there to be making weapons for the war - it was technically treason, after all. The Continental Congress fled to Lancaster and thence to Yorktown, and the gunpowder mill on French Creek near what today is Phoenixville, Chester County, blew up. I'm not sure if this was an accident or sabotage, but the end result was the same. Pennsylvania needed weapons and ammunition, and a comparatively safe place for the manufacture of both.
By October of that year, an organization called the Pennsylvania Council of Safety had left Philadelphia and taken up space in the city of Lancaster, which was one of the chief inland centers for providing munitions to the Continental Army. With the help of Peter DeHaven, a master weaponsmith who had served as chief of the exploded gunpowder mill, they arranged to establish a new gun factory in Hummelstown. At that time Dauphin County had not yet been formed, and Hummelstown (or Hummel's Town, as it was spelled then) was part of Lancaster County. The location of the new factory was to be kept carefully hidden, so that it could be protected from the British; indeed, they kept it so well hidden that, as I said at the start of the post, to this day no one is entirely sure where it was. It was in Hummelstown, but that's all that can be stated for absolute fact.
Why Hummelstown? There were, according to the booklet produced by the historical society, a number of reasons. It's even farther from the sea than the city of Lancaster, giving it that much more protection from naval assault. The population was fairly small, but included several men - many of whom had likely worked with Peter DeHaven in one way or another - who knew how to make guns. The Swatara Creek provided waterpower to operate mills, and the beautiful Lancaster countryside was full of both timber and iron ore. And the settlers of the land, German and Scotch-Irish immigrants, were deeply loyal to their adopted homeland and ready to do their part to earn her independence. The Hanover Resolves, which I discussed on this blog way back during my first year, were drafted a few years prior to the establishment of the gun factory and are a good example of the patriotic fervor of the settlers.
Although no records exist which can tell us everything that was manufactured at the gun factory, there are some surviving documents which confirm that two of the main products were the musket and the rifle. Muskets were generally the weapon of choice for warfare at the time; it is (or was - I don't think they get made too much anymore) what Dr. Heckert describes as "a smoothbore firearm intended for close quarters, formation fighting." The ammunition for a musket was a musket ball, which was basically a very small cannonball, and this little projectile would be propelled a relatively short distance with the hope of doing significant damage to whatever part of a person it struck. A rifle, on the other hand, is a much slimmer and more precise weapon using bullets, better suited for distance shooting and requiring skilled marksmanship. In particular, Lancaster County was the birthplace of a weapon called the Pennsylvania longrifle, which has its own marker and will feature in a future post; it seems likely that the Hummelstown factory may have produced these, though I won't know for sure until I get to do that research.
In any case, the factory at Hummelstown was very successful, but short-lived. Less than a year after its establishment, on July 3, 1778, Lancaster County received word of the Battle of Wyoming - or, as it's also remembered, the Wyoming Valley Massacre. It too has its own marker, so I'll only touch on it briefly here; simply put, the British invaded the Wyoming Valley south of Scranton. Accompanied by sympathizers, they pushed the local militia into a very disorganized retreat, then proceeded to kill civilians and destroy property. Those who managed to escape mostly did so by means of the Susquehanna River, traveling south and spreading word of the attack. A report from Colonel Matthew Smith, who encountered a number of these survivors, expressed a fear that Lancaster County was likely to be invaded in the near future. In particular, he was of the opinion that the forces who ransacked the Wyoming Valley were on the move with the intent to destroy both the Hummelstown factory and also the army's supplies in Carlisle, near present-day Harrisburg.
This attack never actually came, though there were a number of smaller skirmishes reported. Philadelphia was reclaimed from the British not long after the Battle of Wyoming, and with the return of access to the city's gunsmiths, it was ultimately decided to cease operations at the Hummelstown factory. Peter DeHaven and his business partner, Benjamin Rittenhouse, settled the factory's accounts and divided up the remaining inventory and equipment, and the factory's doors closed in early 1779. Both men returned to Philadelphia and resumed their occupations on behalf of the Continental Army, and the Hummelstown gun factory passed into history.
It remains a mystery to us. Where the factory stood, who worked there, what they made in addition to muskets and rifles - we have no way of knowing, and quite possibly never will. Of all those who ever knew the truth, only the Swatara Creek remains, and it has kept the secret for over two hundred years.
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
Another exceptional entry. Thanks so much. I have to agree about The Soda Jerk. It's fun and funky!
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