A mer ica's backyard Civil Memories had a long history by the time the Civil War began 150 years ago. A gathering place for the people of York, Pennsylvania, since the city's founding in 1741, heirs of William Penn deeded the land to the city in 1816. During the Civil War, the park became the site of a Union training camp and later a major U.S. Army Hospital. When Jubal Early's division of the Confederate Army approached in June 1863, most of the wounded were evacuated. Surgeon Henry Palmer stayed behind with those too ill to travel, who were captured as prisoners of war. Palmer later escaped and helped aid the wounded at the nearby Battle of Gettysburg. More than 14,000 wounded were treated at Penn Common over the course of the war, including more than 1,000 from Gettysburg. The park now features the 1898 memorial to " Soldiers and Sailors of the Late War of the Rebellion " and a plaque indicating the former layout of the hospital buildings. 80 Parks & Recreation MA Y 2 0 1 1 www.NRPA .ORG photo courtesy York county convention & visitors bureau Penn Common already