Background
After Carlisle was settled in 1741, the Carlisle Barracks military post was established nearby in 1757 and had an antebellum United States Army Cavalry School (e.g., Captain Stoneman’s four companies had a Civil War encampment at Horner’s Mill on May 6, 1861.) By June 1863 the barrack's cavalry had been "withdrawn to Harrisburg".
At the end of the month, Confederate troops of Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell's Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia a few days earlier. On June 27, 1863, Ewell stopped at Carlisle en route to Harrisburg and requisitioned supplies, forage, and food from the populace. Ewell, as well as some of his officers, had been stationed at the Carlisle Barracks prior to the Civil War when they were still members of the United States Army. He paused in Carlisle while sending his cavalry under Brig. Gen. Albert G. Jenkins towards the Susquehanna River and Harrisburg. After resting much of his infantry overnight, Ewell moved northward in his quest to seize the state capital.
After the Confederates left in response to an order from Lee to concentrate near Gettysburg, Carlisle had been reoccupied by Baldy Smith and a small contingent of New York and Pennsylvania militia from the Department of the Susquehanna, dispatched by the department commander, Maj. Gen. Darius N. Couch. The 32nd and 33rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, Landis's Philadelphia militia artillery battery, and a company of the 1st New York Cavalry formed Smith's force.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Carlisle
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