During the Gettysburg Campaign, many Pennsylvanians were concerned about the invading Confederates. Wild rumors spread that they were giants, with horns and tails, and were the Devil himself. Tales grew that they were purely evil, and planned to burn houses, destroy property, and even eat children. Several references exist for these stories, both in local PA literature and in the reminiscences of Rebel soldiers. A little girl in one Pennsylvania town exclaimed to her mother as they watched the Rebels march by, “Why mama, they haven’t got horns! They are just like our people.”
One Maryland soldier, Randolph McKim, the adjutant of Johnson’s Division, shocked a merchant in the village of Springfield, Pennsylvania. “At Springfield I bought seven copies of the New Testament for distribution among the men. The surprise of the storekeeper when an officer of the terrible Rebel Army desired to purchase copies of the New Testament may be imagined. Perhaps he thought if the rebels would read the Good Book, they might repent of their wicked Rebellion.”
CHARGE! Civil War miniature wargaming and dioramas 