Jacob Hoke (March 17, 1825 – December 26, 1893) was a nineteenth-century American merchant and businessman in

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, in the South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, and north of Maryland and the ...

. His personal observations and diary entries formed the basis for one of the earliest classic accounts of the Gettysburg Campaign during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. He was also a prolific writer of widely circulated religious materials for the United Brethren Church.

Formative years

Hoke was born in

McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania McConnellsburg is a borough in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,150 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Fulton County. History The McConnellsburg Historic District was recognized by the United States Depar ...

on March 17, 1825 to Henry and Sarah (Eyster) Hoke. He was educated in the local schools and, from the age of twelve until May 1841, clerked in a country store.

Career

Hoke relocated to Chambersburg, where he engaged in a series of business ventures that generated enough capital to enable him to open his own dry goods store on Chambersburg's town square. During the early part of the American Civil War, he assisted in caring for the wounded from the Battle of Antietam in the autumn of 1862.''Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania'', Volume 1, p. 265. Hoke lived on the second floor above his shop. As the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighti ...

began invading the town in late June 1863, he had an excellent vantage point from which he could observe and watch the movements of the Southern soldiers. For the next two weeks, Confederates occupied the town, and much of the

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most o ...

passed within view of Hoke. During the summer of 1864, he again was in a position to witness the Civil War in his hometown when much of Chambersburg was burned by Confederate cavalrymen commanded by

John McCausland John McCausland, Jr. (September 13, 1836 – January 22, 1927) was a brigadier general in the Confederate army, famous for the ransom of Hagerstown, Maryland, and the razing of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during the American Civil War. Early ...

, who operated under the orders of Maj. Gen.

Jubal A. Early Jubal Anderson Early (November 3, 1816 – March 2, 1894) was a Virginia lawyer and politician who became a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Trained at the United States Military Academy, Early resigned his U.S. Army commissio ...

. In 1884, Hoke integrated his memories, notes, observations, and outside sources into a pamphlet he entitled "Reminiscences of the War." Three years later, he produced a larger, more detailed work, ''The Great Invasion of 1863, or, General Lee in Pennsylvania''. Published in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater ...

, the book has become a standard reference work for a first-hand account of the two Confederate incursions into south-central Pennsylvania. For many years, Hoke was president of the Franklin County Bible Society, and served on several church-related boards and committees, including chairing the Board of Missions for the national United Brethren Church. He married twice, but had no children.

References

* ''Biographical Annals of Franklin County, Pennsylvania'', Volume 1. Reprinted by Heritage Books, * Hoke, Jacob
''The Great Invasion of 1863, or, General Lee in Pennsylvania...''.
Dayton, Ohio : W. J. Shuey, 1887.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoke, Jacob Historians of the American Civil War American merchants People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 1825 births 1893 deaths People from Fulton County, Pennsylvania 19th-century American businesspeople