We’re taking tomorrow off, but wanted to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July.

Did Lebanon County have a role in America’s campaign for Independence? You bet it did.

Whether the Grubb iron furnace in Cornwall, Hessian prisoners at Tabor and Hebron, or the (possibly apocryphal) whiskey supply run by General George Washington to Schaefferstown during the bitter encampment at Valley Forge, it’s clear that the Lebanon Valley was crucial to the supply chain on which the Continental Army relied so dearly.

We should remember as well the early Lebanon Valley residents who served with the Lancaster County militia, as Lebanon County had yet to be spun out as its own entity. See here for the 1st and 2nd Battalions which included a number of Lebanon Valley residents, such as the Rev. John Caspar Stoever, buried in Cleona at Hill Church.

We’re going to leave you for now with some historical covers from the Daily News over the last 60 years. Thanks for reading LebTown and we’ll be back next week.

1960
1970
1980
1990
2000

2009
2019

This article was originally published in 2019.

Davis Shaver is the publisher of LebTown. He grew up in Lebanon and currently lives outside of Hershey, PA, US.

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