Richard A. Sauers - The Fishing Creek Confederacy: A Story of Civil War Draft Resistance

I have a great interest in the Civil War. My maternal great-grandfather was a Medal of Honor recipient. Ever since learning about him, I have read widely about the war in an effort to better understand why over 600,000 men died in a conflict that threatened the stability of the United States.

In the summer of 1991, I met Chester Siegel as a result of research I was conducting about North Mountain and the post-Civil War involvement of veteran Robert Bruce Ricketts in the lumbering industry. Chester was well known for his depth of knowledge about North Mountain, and we talked about that subject on several occasions.

During one of our conversations, Chester mentioned the Fishing Creek Confederacy. I had never heard of it and asked him what he meant. He was surprised that I did not know about it and proceeded to tell me what he knew. The subject intrigued me and I began to look for more information about Fishing Creek and the draft problems there. My file of research notes and photocopies grew over the years.

After finishing work on Colonel Ricketts, I turned to my Fishing Creek file in the spring of 2007 and began to work more intensively at gathering more information. I contacted my good friend Rick Sauers to ask for his help. Rick had collaborated with me in writing a history of the artillery battery that Ricketts had led during the war. Though his expertise in the Civil War is deep, Rick did not know very much about the Fishing Creek Confederacy. He had heard of the subject but, like most people, did not know details. Rick examined my files and agreed to work with me in writing the story of the 1864 draft resistance in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. As Rick worked through my extensive files and began to organize a manuscript, he sent me to the National Archives and a few other places to fill in gaps or search for more details on sparsely filled sections.

One of the vexing questions about the topic entailed the Republican claim that there was a fort on North Mountain where deserters went to resist being taken into the Union army by force. Troops never located such a fort in 1864 and Democrats claimed that the fort was a fictional creation of Republicans who wanted to paint the worst possible picture of antiwar opponents. Over theyears, the mythical fort was mocked and satirized by writers who poked fun at the very notion of such a structure.

However, an article written in 1955 by Sullivan County native Myrtle Magargel indicated that this fort was real. Magargel, who went on to become a newspaper reporter, was related to a man who had stayed at this hideout on North Mountain. Her father had described the location to her, and she noted this in her book.

It did not take me long to procure a map of the mountain and make a rough plan to find the fort. On July 6, 2007, my grandson Brandon and I set out to find the fort. It took us three hours just to get to the top of North Mountain through the thickest part of wooded timberlands. This was the hottest day of the summer, or so it seemed to us. Our conversation while hiking was about how it would have been difficult for soldiers to advance uphill through all the vegetation and low tree branches. After reaching the top we looked around for about an hour but ran out of time because we had to make our way back down before it got dark. But we did not give up.

A week later, on July 13, we started earlier to allow more time to search. Using Magargel's directions, we tramped around for about two hours, then we split up and took opposite sides of one of the headwater branches of Fishing Creek. After about an hour, I found a section of stone that did not fit in with the area. There was no other rock in the immediate area except in the creek bed. I called Brandon over and we looked carefully at our find and decided to concentrate on the rock section. We took pictures before it started to get too dark. I told Brandon that one way we could tell if this stone had been part of a building would be the presence of any cut nails from the nineteenth century there. Too bad we don't have a metal detector, quipped Brandon, to which I replied, Wow, that's a brilliant idea. I know where I can rent one.

Another week passed before we again ascended North Mountain, this time with a metal detector. Within a minute of Brandon's turning on the detector it began to beep. I dug down four inches and uncovered three cut nails. Jumping up and giving each other a high five, we were excited that this must be the place Myrtle Magargel describeda twenty-by-twenty-foot, two-story log cabin used as a hideout by deserters. It wasn't a fort, but a cabin, whose existence was exaggerated by Republicans for their own gain. The rock wall seemed to have been a wall that supported a chimney. Located in a hollow next to a creek, surrounded by lush vegetation during the summer, this was a perfect hiding place for those seeking to hide to avoid the draft.

We took some pictures of our find and dug at some more spots along what we estimated were wallsand we found more nails. My goal was not to excavate the site but only to find evidence that there had indeed been a structure on this site. Before we finished, Brandon continued to play with the metal detectorand while roaming around the interior of the cabin the detector began beeping. We dug down and located the end of a hoe. We decided to keep our find quiet until the book manuscript was complete.

Many people were involved in this project. First, many thanks go to my late wife, Gina. She traveled many places with me while I worked on gathering material. During that time our relationship grew tremendously. She was instrumental in helping me move my writing career forward. Without her support it would not be where it is today. Behind every successful man is a good woman. That she was.

Gina's demise on November 1, 2007, came suddenly. She had a hidden brain aneurysm that we did not know about. On the day of her passing she suddenly fell ill and gave us no time to rescue her, to get her to a hospital for help. Within a few minutes she was gone. Gina will be remembered in my family as someone who always had time for everyone else and put herself last.

Fred Houseworth is the biggest fan of the truth about Fishing Creek. His persistence in knowing it kept me going. His help in securing exact locations of events, participants, and roads traveled were of the utmost importance in piecing together the story. Fred was also instrumental in my meeting the late Delbert Doty. Doty was quite a character, well known around Benton Township, Columbia County. To him I owe big thanks for sharing when he wanted to keep the tale to himself. He had told many people over the years what he knew about Fishing Creek, and most thought he was goofy. He was at first reluctant to speak with me, but Fred convinced him to take another chance. We twice got together, and he was both funny and serious each time. Doty told me his version of Fishing Creek, a story that had been handed down through his family since it happened. Doty is no longer alive but he would be happy to know that I believed him and have taken the time to prove him right.