Confederate Calamity: J.E.B. Stuart's Cavalry Ride Through York County, Pa.

On the morning of June 30, 1863, J.E.B. Stuart led 4,500 Confederate cavalrymen across the Mason-Dixon Line into southern York County, Pennsylvania. He expected to rendezvous with the extreme flank of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia somewhere near the Susquehanna River, likely on a line between York and Carlisle. Instead, he unexpectedly encountered a division of enemy cavalry from the Union Army of the Potomac, much farther north than he expected them to be. After a stalemated battle, Stuart skillfully withdrew his troops and began a grueling two-day trek through the hilly countryside in a futile effort to locate Lee's main force. Along the way, his men created calamity for the citizens.

Scott Mingus is a scientist and executive in the global paper industry, and holds patents in self-adhesive postage stamps and bar code labels. The Ohio native graduated from the paper science and engineering program at Miami University. He was part of the research team that developed the first commercially successful self-adhesive U.S. postage stamps. The York, Pa., resident has written twelve Civil War books. His biography of Confederate General William "Extra Billy" Smith won the 2013 Nathan Bedford Forrest Southern History Award as well as the Dr. James I Robertson, Jr. Literary Prize, and was nominated for the Virginia Literary Award for Non-Fiction. He also wrote several articles for Gettysburg Magazine. Scott maintains a blog on the Civil War history of York County (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball). He received the 2013 Heritage Profile Award from the York County Heritage Trust for his many contributions to local Civil War history. He also has written six scenario books on miniature wargaming and was elected to the hobby's prestigious Legion of Honor. His great-great-grandfather was a 15-year-old drummer boy for the 51st Ohio Infantry, and other family members fought in the Army of the Potomac at Antietam and Gettysburg.