Fishing Creek Confederacy

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. 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. 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. == Initial search for deserters ==

In late July 1864, Lieutenant James Stewart Robinson, Solomon Taylor, and six other Republicans from near Harveyville gathered together to search for Democratic deserters. This group, consisting mostly of veterans of the American Civil War, was deemed the "Lincoln Midnight Riders" by The Columbia Democrat. Though they initially intended to search Union County, they ended up searching Columbia County instead. It was in this area that four more people joined the Lincoln Midnight Riders. Thomas Smith escaped into a cornfield while his wife alerted the neighborhood about the arrival of the group. A party of locals arrived, including at least three armed deserters. Robinson died from peritonitis on November 3, 1864. == Search for the fort ==

On August 4, 1864, after rumors of a conspiracy in Columbia County reached Harrisburg and Washington, D.C., a Captain Manville requested that 40 to 45 soldiers be sent to Columbia County to arrest the local deserters and draft evaders. Forty-eight soldiers arrived on August 13 at the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, near the mouth of Fishing Creek. They brought two cannons and a battery of artillery. Two days later, 250 more soldiers arrived in Bloomsburg. By August 21, there were a thousand soldiers in Columbia County, and they began marching up Fishing Creek to search for the alleged fort. That evening the soldiers made camp at Coleman's Grove near Benton, Pennsylvania. According to an account by Edward McHenry, the other members of the resistance were told to remain at home until news arrived from Bloomsburg. When the draft evaders discovered that the army coming from Bloomsburg was too strong to defeat, McHenry and 20 other draft evaders in the county escaped to North Mountain. Throughout the next week scouts from the army were sent through the northern townships of Columbia County. The scouts failed to find any evidence of a military uprising. They raided hen roosts, cornfields, and pigpens that they encountered. At this point Major General George Cadwalader arrived to take command of the soldiers. On August 28, 1864, soldiers surrounded 100 houses in the northern townships of Columbia County and parts of western Luzerne County, including Cambria and New Columbus. Most people incarcerated were released within eight months. They found some evidence that people had been in the area, but these appeared to have been hunting or logging camps. Dissatisfied with their findings, the soldiers conducted a search of several unfortified homes in northern Columbia County. They captured a number of residents of Sugarloaf Township on August 31, but these were soon released. == Aftermath ==

After returning from the mountains, the soldiers made camp in Colemans Grove As they were still in Columbia County on Election Day in 1864, the soldiers guarded the polls during the local and state elections. They arrested 44 Democrats and took them to Fort Mifflin. No one was charged for the murder of Lieutenant Robinson until 1891, when Elias Young was arrested and charged. Although Young admitted to firing a gun, he stated that two people in the party searching for deserters had fired first. The court ruled that Young was acting in self-defense, and he was declared not guilty. == Media response ==

Contemporary coverage The term "Fishing Creek Confederacy" was first used by an editor in Muncy on August 23, 1864. This editor, as well as J.R. Cornelius of the Union County Star and Lewisburg Chronicle both blamed the events of the Fishing Creek Confederacy on biased stories in Democrat newspapers. ''Forney's War Press of Philadelphia blamed the events on the Columbia County leaders, stating that the leaders led the people of Columbia County into treason. However, Democratic newspapers instead held the abolitionists responsible for the events of the Fishing Creek Confederacy. For instance, Truman Purdy, editor of the Northumberland County Democrat'' stated that Bloomsburg's abolitionists sent for military forces to arrest unarmed farmers due to having believed exaggerated stories of the shooting on July 30. However the Sunbury Gazette stated that the farmers were actually armed and prepared to resist the law. The conflict between the opposing newspapers reached its most severe level in May 1865. At one point Republican newspapers such as the Harrisburg Telegraph ran stories that connected Charles R. Buckalew with the events of the Fishing Creek Confederacy. Later media response In the 1950s, amateur historians first began writing accounts of the events of the Fishing Creek Confederacy. In January 1950, William M. Scnure mentioned the event at a meeting of the Northumberland County Historical Society, and the fort on North Mountain was said to exist in an article written by Myrtle Magargel in 1955. In 1958 the Fishing Creek Confederacy was mentioned in the History of Columbia County, Pennsylvania, which was intended to be used in schools in Columbia County. In the 1960s and 1970s local newspapers occasionally ran articles summarizing the Fishing Creek Confederacy. In 1998, the Bloomsburg Theater Ensemble compiled a book of Columbia County history based on letters to the editor, and several of these letters mentioned the Fishing Creek Confederacy. In 2012 Byron Heller wrote a piece of historical fiction called The Fishing Creek Confederacy, inspired by the events of the Fishing Creek Confederacy. The confederacy has been the subject of satirical works. == See also ==