Conference between General A.P. Hill and Robert E. Lee in the town “diamond” in Chambersburg
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, in the midst of invading the North with his Army of Northern Virginia, today confers with Gen. A. P. Hill on the town square of Chambersburg, Virginia. The U.S. government and army seem hapless to stop the invasion.
Meanwhile, Confederate naval vessels are raiding far northward. Having captured a Maine fishing schooner two days ago, today the rebels, disguised as fishermen, sail the commandeered vessel into the harbor at Portland, Maine. Hoping to sabotage the harbor’s commercial fishing industry, on the 27th they seize a second U.S. vessel and sail out to sea. Shortly thereafter, Union soldiers and Portland civilians commandeer three local private vessels and give chase. The Battle of Portland Harbor ends with the Confederates captured and later imprisoned. The naval defeat, however, does not dent the current momentum of Confederate forces on northern soil.
Not far away, in the borough of Cape Island on the coast of Massachusetts, Baptist deacon and preacher Joseph Leach is fighting for the United States on the home front as a newspaper editor and local (Republican) politician. Early in the war, as Confederate forces were threatening Washington, Leach declared: “Why should Cape May have stood in the rear when it is known that her homes are more exposed and are more liable to receive invasion than any other on the seaboard from Maine to New Jersey?”
Leach remains vocally loyal to Lincoln and the Republican Party as the war wages onward. Today, following an intense political campaign against a former mayor of Cape May, the long-time licensed minister and lay leader of the Cape Island (a.k.a. Cape May) Baptist Church is elected to the political position of postmaster of Cape May.
Following his death in 1892, the Cape May Baptist Church erects a monument in Joseph Leach’s honor, remembering him as “a successful educator, an able editor, and an exemplary citizen” who served the church as a preacher and, for 43 years, a deacon.
Sources: “Confederate Conference Historical Marker,” including image (link); Battle of Portland Harbor (link); Jacob Schaad Jr., “Bizarre History of Cape May: Joseph Leach was minister, teacher, newspaper editor and politician,” Cape May Gazette, September 11, 2012 (link)
