In other articles, we’ve looked at how Wesley Culp followed Charles W. Hoffman south to Shepherdstown, Virginia, and how that decision likely influenced him to join the Stonewall Brigade. We’ve also seen that one of Hoffman’s motivations to leave may have been the debts he accrued to the Fahnestocks and David Middlecoff. We’ve also looked at Samuel Foulk who also worked in the carriage business but did not suffer the financial setbacks that Charles Hoffman did. It’s fair to wonder whether Foulk was a competitor and hurt Hoffman’s business. It’s also interesting to consider what other effects the Hoffman business failure had in the community. In this post, we look at the nature of business competition in Gettysburg and go deeper into the Charles Hoffman’s decision to leave Gettysburg.

Charles Hoffman’s Carriage Making Business

Charles William Hoffman established himself in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the early 1830s. By 1837 he had married Sarah Ann Taylor and opened a carriage-making business. He quickly became a prominent citizen: Hoffman served as a trustee of Gettysburg’s Methodist Episcopal Church and even sat on the committee to found Evergreen Cemetery in the 1850s. His enterprise grew significantly. In 1854 he constructed a steam-driven saw and grist mill in town, expanding his carriage works into a complex spanning ten properties. Hoffman also trained and employed local youth – notably William and Wesley Culp and Edwin “Ed” Skelly (brothers or friends of famed Gettysburg figures) learned the trade in his shop. Hoffman’s own three sons – Robert Newton Hoffman (b. 1840), Francis “Frank” William Hoffman (b. 1842), and Wesley Atwood Hoffman (b. 1844) – worked alongside these apprentices in the family’s carriage factory. By the mid-1850s, C.W. Hoffman was one of Gettysburg’s most successful craftsmen and businessmen.

The Nature of Competition in 1850s Gettysburg

Samuel Foulk was operating a carriage making and repair business in Gettysburg at the same time Charles Hoffman was building up his large-scale manufacturing business. Were they competing? Sort of and sort of not.

Hoffman ran a full-scale carriage manufactory, employing apprentices like Wesley Culp and Ed Skelly, and building vehicles for regional sale. His shop expanded into multiple properties and even included a steam mill by 1854. His debts to the Fahnestocks indicate he was buying supplies in bulk (iron, wood, leather, paint) for a fairly large operation.

The 1850 census lists Samuel Foulk as a carriage maker in Gettysburg, employing apprentices and bonded boys like James A. Wade. Like Hoffman, Foulk was part of the town’s artisan/manufacturing class.

So yes—they were in the same trade. But were they in the same business?

Financial Troubles and Departure from Gettysburg

Despite his early success, Hoffman’s fortunes took a downturn in the 1850s. He accumulated hundreds of dollars of debt (a large sum at the time) by purchasing materials on credit from the prominent Fahnestock brothers’ store in Gettysburg. A “simmering business feud” came to a head around 1853–54, apparently with a rival or creditor, and it even turned into a physical altercation. This caused a scandal: Hoffman was brought up on charges at his church and in March 1854 the Methodist congregation found him guilty of “immoral conduct and sinful tempers and actions… [which] shamefully outraged the cause of God.” He was excommunicated from the church. The incident ended Hoffman’s local political ambitions and badly tarnished his reputation.

Financial pressure mounted. By 1855, multiple creditors – including the Fahnestocks and a local man named David Middlecoff – were pursuing Hoffman in court for unpaid debts and breach of contract (for example, failing to deliver contracted carriages). Legal notices from May 1859 show Samuel Fahnestock and his sons claimed $300 and $425 in separate debts, and the Fahnestock Brothers business claimed another $900. In total, Hoffman’s unpaid obligations approached $1,625 (nearly $60,000 in today’s dollars). He tried to liquidate his Gettysburg assets: in March 1858 he advertised all his properties for sale. Unfortunately for Hoffman, this was just after the Panic of 1857, which depressed real estate values and made buyers scarce. He found no takers, and by 1859 his unsold Gettysburg properties were being targeted for sheriff’s sale to satisfy judgments. (Indeed, in 1862 the Fahnestocks finally forced a sheriff’s auction of Hoffman’s holdings; the brothers themselves acquired one of his carriage-shop properties at that sale.)

Faced with financial ruin and social disgrace, Charles W. Hoffman decided to leave Gettysburg. In March 1856 he abruptly “pulled up stakes” and moved out of Pennsylvania. It was widely suspected that he fled town “possibly trying to dodge repayment of his loans.” He certainly left many debts behind. Hoffman’s destination was Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia), about 60 miles south of Gettysburg.

Was it because of Samuel Foulk and Similar Competition

Gettysburg was not a large market town—population ~2,400 in 1850. Two full carriage works might seem excessive. But:

• Demand was steady: carriages, wagons, and buggies were essential for transport, and Gettysburg sat on several turnpikes with steady travel.
• Shops overlapped but specialized: it was common for one maker to emphasize heavy farm wagons, another fine buggies, another repairs. They often subcontracted pieces (wheels, harness, painting).
• Community pressure limited cutthroat competition: both men were Methodist church members (at least until Hoffman’s 1854 scandal), and craftsmen often served overlapping civic roles.
• Credit systems intertwined: both men likely bought supplies on account from Fahnestock’s store or others. In a way, their shared dependence on merchant-creditors put them in the same boat.

They were competitors in the same trade and probably vied for local customers, but the competition wasn’t modern-style “dog eat dog.” Relationships were often co-opetitive: one shop might finish orders the other couldn’t meet, or trade apprentices.

Where things did get sharp was over credit and reputation. Hoffman’s debts and public church censure in 1854 damaged his standing. Foulk, with his own apprentices and steady work, may have benefited as customers and families sought a “safer” master for their boys.

New Life in Virginia: Shepherdstown and a Southern Farm

Upon relocating in 1856, Hoffman purchased a farm near Shepherdstown. He did not go alone. He brought his wife and all three sons – Robert (then about 15–16), Frank (13–14), and young Wesley (only 11 or 12; this was Wesley Hoffman not Culp) – with him to start anew in Virginia. Hoffman also invited his Gettysburg apprentices to come south and continue working for him. Wesley Culp, at 16 years old restless for adventure, agreed to follow his employer to Virginia (his older brother William Culp, age 25, elected to stay in Gettysburg with his young family). Likewise, Edwin “Ed” Skelly (brother of Wesley Culp’s friend Jack Skelly) went along to Shepherdstown. This small contingent of Gettysburg emigrants formed a tight-knit group in their new home.

In Shepherdstown, Hoffman’s career shifted from industrial enterprise to agriculture. By 1859, he was noted as having “bought a farm” there. He may have initially attempted to establish a carriage works (taking advantage of the town’s proximity to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and a local need for wagons), but evidence suggests farming became his focus. Life in Shepherdstown during the late 1850s was relatively peaceful for the Hoffman family and their Gettysburg friends. Wesley Culp found work at another carriage factory in nearby Martinsburg, and the Hoffman sons Robert and Wesley (along with their friend Wes Culp) even enrolled for a time at Dickinson College’s preparatory academy back in Carlisle, PA (classes of 1861 and 1862, respectively – though they did not complete their studies).

Crucially, the move south would have fateful consequences. When sectional tensions boiled over into war, the Hoffmans and their Gettysburg-born friends found themselves emotionally and geographically aligned with the Confederacy, separated from their Northern families. As one historian noted, Hoffman’s mid-1850s move “divided Wesley Culp from his family in the coming conflict and would ultimately see him killed at the Battle of Gettysburg.” In other words, this otherwise practical relocation set the stage for wrenching personal tragedy once the Civil War began.