The "United States History At It's Finest...But, With One Mistake!" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  My wife Carol and I am on a mission to find a stone plaque in Williamson Park in the south end of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Actually, for me it is a mission, but for her it is a chance to get out of the house for an hour or so to relieve the total boredom that has been a big part of our lives for the past year.  

General Edward Hand

It was on Friday, September 20, 1912 that the city of Lancaster celebrated General Edward Hand with the unveiling of the General Hand Memorial Tablet on the face of the cliff known for many years as Indian Hill.  The site of Indian Hill is to the south of the city of Lancaster along the Conestoga River.  The plaque was placed close to General Hand's home known as "Rockford."  

Rockford

I have visited Rockford many times and posted a story or two about the beautiful home along the Conestoga River.  The Lancaster Historical Society conducted the celebration and one of General Hand's descendants was in attendance to see the unveiling of the stone plaque.  Speeches were made and someone carrying a Lancaster Red Rose led the way to the site.  Mr. W.U. Hensel delivered the presentation address and His Honor, the Mayor of Lancaster, Frank B. McClain, accepted the plaque for the city.  Covering the plaque was a large American flag which shielded the plaque, and on cue, a descendant of General Hand revealed the plaque to those in attendance.  Looked great...except for one minor problem.  Seems the person who chiseled the stone plaque made a slight mistake.  One little bit of absentmindedness resulted in a misspelled word on the granite plaque.  The plaque, in part, read:

AT "ROCKFORD" NEAR HERE, LIVED & DIED GENERAL EDWARD HAND, M.D., A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION, ADJUTANT GENERAL & FRIEND OF WAHSINGTON, BORN IN CLYDRUFF, IRELAND, Etc., Etc. Etc.

Click to enlarge.

I can only imagine the gasps from the crowd when they read it for the first time and realized that George Washington's last name was misspelled!  Well, the craftsman who made the plaque was summoned and he attempted to correct his mistake.  He used his chisel and today when you examine the plaque, as Carol and I did today, you will easily see that the"H" has been made into an "S" and vice-versa.  

I have enlarged the plaque so you can see the mistake.

But, you know what?  Had that not happened back on that day in 1912, I doubt if I would be standing in front of the plaque today, taking a photograph of it.  What are the odds that someone with a chisel would make a mistake such as that and change history forever.  And, the main reason Carol and I drove to Williamson Park today to try and find the plaque was because of an article I came upon in a very old issue of Lancaster's newspaper.  The article was a one-column story that was set apart for the rest of the page with a black box around it.  It included a drawing of a Conestoga Wagon and was titled "The Conestogo Waggon".  

I still wonder if the article was misspelled  on purpose to give the readers notice of what was in the article.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.