March 9/23: Local Author and Historian Steve French to speak to Battlefield group

from the March 2, 2023 article from The Journal:

MARTINSBURG — The Falling Waters Battlefield Association will host local author and historian Steve French, who will speak on “McNeill’s Rangers in the Gettysburg Campaign.”

The presentation will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 9, in the North Berkeley Public Library, 1255 T.J. Jackson Drive, Spring Mills.

During the Gettysburg campaign, Rebel guerrillas and partisans roamed far and wide attacking military targets and gathering plunder. One of these bands, McNeill’s Rangers, fought at Stephenson’s Depot, Virginia, occupied Hancock, Maryland, and destroyed B&O Railroad property from Back Creek Bridge to Great Cacapon.

While the armies were fighting at Gettysburg, the rangers looted the farms and stores of southern Fulton County, Pennsylvania, including raiding the town of Mercersburg. They also fought at the July 6 Battle of Williamsport and later skirmished with federal cavalry around Clear Spring, Maryland. The talk will include a slide presentation and the speaker will be available to answer questions.

All the events to be covered in this presentation are included in Steve’s book, “Phantoms of the South Fork: Captain McNeill and his Rangers,” which Kent State University Press has just released in a paperback edition. Copies will be available for purchase, and there will be a book signing following the presentation.