Resolved, That we look with indignation on all party prejudice, tending to make the loyal states a divided people, and will use our utmost exertions to put down all attempts to create a disloyal sentiment at the North; having left our homes to fight treason and traitors in our front, we do not wish to be compelled to crush any in our rear; we are, as were the patriots of former times, for the "Union now and forever, one and inseparable."

Resolved, That as loyal men and Union soldiers, we hold ourselves in readiness to oppose by all lawful means, those whose feelings are hostile to the government, who have arrayed themselves against its constituted authorities, and furthermore, we will follow and implicitly obey, as we have heretofore done, whoever may be placed over us; having full faith that we are battling for the right, and that victory must finally crown our efforts.

Resolved, That although we depreciate the horrors and necessities of war, and are at all times anxious for peace, we have no terms to propose to the rebels in arms against the Government; and will accept no compromise with them, until they lay down their arms and voluntarily return to their former allegiance; Resolved, That we, the soldiers in York Hospital, Pennsylvania, desire to record our detestation and contempt for the so called Copperhead party of the North-a party composed of traitors, too cowardly to go openly over to the enemy, but who are doing all they can to embarrass the Administration and give aid and comfort to the rebels, by raising false issues and creating discontent among the people; and that we desire to let our friends at home know that neither the leaden pills of Jeff Davis, nor the medicated ones of Doctors here, have yet purged us of our loyalty; but that on the contrary, we are ready now as ever, (if our health and physical condition permits), to resume our places in the front rank.

Although the bodies of those who died here were typically shipped to their hometowns, nearly three dozen were buried in York's Prospect Hill Cemetery, where a monument of a Union soldier stands watch over the circular grave plot.

By 1864, a reading room had been created to provide additional space for more ambulatory soldiers to gather, and the hospital's existing library, which operated all day, each day (except Sundays when it was closed from 10 a.m. until midnight), had been expanded to include the complete works of William Shakespeare, a complete collection of the poetry of Lord Byron, multiple biographical works about key military and public figures (John Quincy Adams, Napoleon, et al.), which has been donated by the U.S. Sanitary Commission and others who supported the Union, and various sermons, books and other materials for spiritual guidance, as well as daily newspapers from New York City and other major cities, and from communities across Pennsylvania.

The publication's mission was described as follows:[13] "Our object is to promote the best interests of our sick and wounded companions, to cheer them during their sufferings, to afford them a medium of interchange of thought and sentiment, and to relieve the monotony of hospital life.

Give them medium to express their thoughts and opinions on subjects now agitating the country.... As for name: we would rather fight until the last man is slain than yield to southern tyranny: though we are at present unfit to take the field and hurl the contents of our trusty cartridge boxes against armed rebellion.