A count of Confederate memorials across the U.S. appears to have missed at least one monument in the midstate.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's list of Confederate monuments does not include a 10-foot obelisk honoring Confederate troops and Gen. Albert Jenkins in Hampden Township. The Camp Curtin Historical Society placed at the monument in 2005 at the Rupp House, which now houses local businesses.
Debate about Confederate monuments has increased after white supremacist protests turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia and leaders across the country began examining whether to remove statues in several U.S. cities. Calling it a loss of Southern history, President Donald Trump expressed sadness for removal of the monuments. The President has also blamed both sides for the violence in Charlottesville.
In 2001, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission placed a roadside marker in front of the Rupp House to note the building's role as a temporary Confederate headquarters, according to The Sentinel. There, Jenkins' brigade occupied Mechanicsburg from June 28, 1863, until June 30, 1863. The short-lived occupation ended when Jenkins took his troops to Gettysburg to participate in the historic battle. After losing the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate Army withdrew from Pennsylvania.
The Camp Curtin Historical Society paid for the monument honoring Jenkins and the Confederate troops in to commemorate their occupation on the West Shore, which was the farthest north the southern army proceeded. The monument features a bronze portrait of Jenkins, biography of the Virginia General, and the units under his command.
The historical society also placed a monument to Gen. Darius Couch and Union troops at Fort Couch in Lemoyne. Those troops fought to ensure the defense of nearby Fort Washington. The monument to Couch also features a portrait of Couch, a depiction of civilians preparing fortifications against the approaching confederates, and an engraving that replicates a Civil War photo looking over what is now Market Street in Lemoyne. Both monuments were unveiled in June 2005, according to Patriot-News archives.
The Camp Curtin Historical Society could not be reached for comment at the time of this post.
At the site of the Battle of Gettysburg where Jenkins' and his Confederate comrades fell to Couch and the Union soldiers, Gettysburg National Military Park houses more than 1,300 monuments, markers, and plaques at the park to memorialize the historic clash. One of the monuments at the park is a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The park maintains that the memorials are important to the cultural landscape and has no plans to remove any monuments or statues.
Two other Confederate monuments were erected in McConnellsburg, in Fulton County, near the Pennsylvania-Maryland border. One marks the site of the first Confederate soldiers to be killed on Pennsylvania soil, and the other marks the last Confederate camp north of the Mason-Dixon Line.