Recently, I sat down with Roger DuPuis of WVIA News to discuss Letters from War: 1861, my ongoing series tracing the wartime correspondence of Pennsylvania Coal Region soldiers as it unfolded 165 years ago. We talked about the origins of the project, the chaotic opening months of the Civil War, and what these letters from soldiers from Pittston, Pottsville, and Wilkes-Barre still reveal about the men who marched off to save the Union.
Here’s a brief excerpt:
A new blog curated by historian Jake Wynn draws on firsthand correspondence from Coal Region soldiers published in their hometown newspapers during the first year of the war.
“Letters from War: 1861” allows readers to read those letters in real time in 2026, the 165th anniversary of the conflict’s start, so modern audiences can follow along day by day as families and friends did through newspaper letters and stories that year.
There’s also an America 250 angle to consider, Wynn said.
“The national conversation this year is centered on 1776, but these letters speak to what happened 85 years later when the ideals of the Revolution were first tested to the breaking point,” he said.
Read the full article here
Read more from the Letters from War: 1861 Series
A Pittston printer goes to war
Camp life with the 8th Pennsylvania at Chambersburg
A lynching at the hands of Pennsylvania soldiers at Chambersburg
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