As the country headed toward Civil War in the 1850s and 1860s, families gathered on a small hill near a patch town in rural Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania to hear the latest news bulletins read aloud from a scarce newspaper.

The memory comes from coal miner Philip Francis, who later wrote about growing up in the patch towns in the 1850s and 1860s.

His recollections capture how national events – slavery, politics, and the looming crisis between North and South – filtered slowly into the anthracite coal fields:

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The years 1857-58 were desperate in the coal fields. Just on the verge of civil war between the North and South.

During these years my mind was just beginning to realize the many things that were going on about me.

When I would hear some one speak of the colored man, or slave, it was difficult for me to understand. There were no colored people in that part of Pennsylvania near my old home.

There was a small hill called Peacock Hill in East Delaware. Men and women would gather there and listen to some man, who was a good reader, read from a newspaper at the evening hour, the latest news from Washington.

I can remember that many of them would become greatly excited when the reader would emphasize certain passages.

This reading continued when the war was going on. At that time newspapers were scarce.

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Read more of the recollections of Philip Francis here

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