History: 1775–1858

History: 1775–1858

In June 1775, soon after the Battle of Lexington, local troops were raised to fight the British in the American Revolution under the command of Benjamin Chambers’s eldest son Captain James Chambers, as part of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment.[25] These troops were among the first non-New Englanders to join the siege of Boston, arriving on August 7, 1775. James Chambers fought for seven years during the revolution, reaching the rank of Colonel of Continental troops on September 26, 1776.[26] His two brothers, William and Benjamin, Jr., each served for much of the war and reached the rank of Captain.[27] James Chambers commanded local troops at the Battle of Long Island, and at White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. He was part of the rear guard covering the retreat from Brooklyn, and was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine while facing Hessian troops under General Knuphausen at Chadds Ford.[28]

During the Whiskey Rebellion, local citizens raised a liberty pole in support of the rebels, and to protest conscription of soldiers to put down the rebellion. Nevertheless, these citizens were censured in a town meeting and removed the pole the next day.[29] President George Washington, while leading United States troops against the rebels, came through town on the way from Carlisle to Bedford, staying overnight on October 12, 1794. According to tradition, Washington lodged with Dr. Robert Johnson, a surgeon in the Pennsylvania line during the Revolution. This march was one of only two times that a sitting president personally commanded the military in the field. (The other was after President James Madison fled the British occupation of Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.) After sending the troops toward Pittsburgh from Bedford under General Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, Washington returned through Chambersburg sometime between October 21–26.[30] James Chambers was appointed a Brigadier General of Militia during the Whiskey Rebellion.[31]

Chambersburg was incorporated on March 21, 1803,[32] and declared the County Seat when the State Assembly established a formal government. The first courthouse was John Jack’s tavern on the Diamond (town square) in 1784, with a permanent courthouse built in 1793, and the first county jail built 1795.[15] The “Old Jail” was built in 1818, survived the fire of 1864 and is the oldest jail building in Pennsylvania. It was originally used as the sheriff’s residence and had the longest continuous use of any jail in the state, operating until 1971. Today the Old Jail is a museum and home to the Franklin County – Kittochtinny Historical Society.[33] The county’s gallows still stand in the jail’s courtyard.[34]

Much of the town’s growth was due to its position as a transportation center, first as the starting point on the Forbes Road to Pittsburgh. The U.S. Congress placed Chambersburg on the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh postal road in 1803. The road was rebuilt as the Chambersburg-Bedford Turnpike in 1811. The Cumberland Valley Railroad was built in 1837 and was the area’s center of economic activity for nearly 100 years. Until the completion of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s main line in 1857, the fastest route from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia was by stagecoach from Pittsburgh to Chambersburg, and then by train to Philadelphia.