In April 1861, as the first shots of the Civil War echoed from Fort Sumter, young men across Pennsylvania’s Coal Region rushed to answer President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers. 

Among them was Charles M. Cyphers, a 19-year-old printer working in the office of the Pittston Gazette. Like so many others in Luzerne County, he left behind his trade and stepped off into the military in a country awash in war fever. 

This post begins a new “Letters from War: 1861” series, following the opening year of the Civil War through the words of the men from Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal fields who lived it. Cyphers’ story offers a great starting point. 

Before he became a soldier, he was a newspaperman – someone who helped report the news of the coming conflict in the United States, and then quickly became part of it. Cyphers joined a company of recruits at Wilkes-Barre on April 17, 1861 and then boarded trains for the state capital at Harrisburg.

There, Cyphers and his comrades were mustered into service as Company F, 8th Pennsylvania Infantry at Camp Curtin just nine days after Confederate forces opened fire on the United States Army garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC.

Here’s what the Pittston Gazette wrote about the young Cyphers leaving their offices to join the effort to save the Union. 

From the Pittston Gazette, April 25, 1861:

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Printers in the Field.

The foreman of our office, a worthy and efficient young man in this place, Mr. Chas. M. Cyphers, went to the defence of the country in Capt. Emley’s Wyoming Artillerists. We regret to lose his services, but he goes warmed by a spirit of true patriotism, and our blessing be upon him. Charley will make a faithful and gallant soldier.

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Cyphers wrote his first letter back to employers on the day he was mustered into service at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg.

From the Pittston Gazette, April 25, 1861:

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Letter from a Volunteer.

Camp Curtin, Harrisburg,

April 21, 1861.

Messrs. Editors: We arrived at this place Thursday afternoon, at half past one o’clock, and took quarters at Stall’s Hotel. On Friday we entered the American encampment and pitched our tents. We have 12 tents for 75 men, plenty of provisions, &c.

On Saturday according to estimate there were 5,000 men—volunteers—on the grounds. Late in the evening on Friday 10,000 stand of arms arrived. The telegraph brought a dispatch that 15 miles of railroad had been torn up, this side of Baltimore, by the insurgents, and three regiments, the 1st, 2d, and 3d, were sent off in the cars for Washington via Philadelphia.

The soldiers in camp are wild with excitement, and eager for an encounter with the southern rebels.

There are four or five companies from Luzerne county on the ground, and as soon as the regiment is completed will be sent off to Washington.

About noon on Saturday an Eagle flew over the encampment. It was seen by thousands, and tremendous shouts rent the air that made the welkin ring; and which were continued long after it disappeared.

Chas. M. Cyphers.

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This is part of an ongoing series called “Letters from War: 1861” that will share correspondence written on the front lines during the turbulent first year of the Civil War.

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You can read our previous “Letters from War” series about Sergeant Irvin Schwartz’s experiences in the Second World War here.

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