"I picked up some old letters, bills of negro sales, &c., that were lying around, which are quite indicative of southern character..." A correspondent of the Luzerne Union of Wilkes-Barre, PA wrote about encountering formerly enslaved people at the Virginia home of a woman arrested for assisting Confederate soldiers. Read the full letter.
"It is truly wonderful that we had no lives lost in our company," wrote Sergeant James Silliman of Pottsville, PA in October 1861. His unit, Company A, 28th Pennsylvania, had fought hard with Confederate soldiers near Harpers Ferry, Virginia on October 16, 1861. Read his letter.
"We hope our borough council will pass an ordinance provided for the lighting of the streets upon every dark night..." This 1846 article highlights the dangers of walking around Pottsville, PA during the night-time hours when the street lights were left unlit. Read the full story.
"Doubly armed against both Satan and seceders..." Luzerne County attorney Caleb E. Wright visited the encampment of the 7th Pennsylvania Reserves near Washington in October 1861. He described camp life for the regiment and some of the characters he met during his visit, before musing on the consequences of the Civil War. Read the full letter.
"No arrests were made." In October 1861, the Miners' Journal of Pottsville, PA reported on a brawl at the Betz tavern in turbulent Minersville Street of the city on Election Night. Read the full story.
A soldier writing under the pen name "Shoulder Arms" describes conditions at the camp of Company F, 7th Pennsylvania Reserves in the woods along the Potomac River north of Washington, DC. He described the sound of distant cannon fire, friendly fire incidents, and the hope that the time would some come to "strike a death-blow to traitors, secession, and treason." Read the full letter.
On October 4, 1861, Private James Morgan succumbed to complications from a gunshot wound he suffered during the Battle of Hoke's Run in July 1861. Morgan was mentioned in several letters written by members of the 11th Pennsylvania that were part of the Letters from War: 1861 series. Read the fully story.
In a letter written in October 1861, Captain Oliver Bosbyshell of Pottsville, PA described the arrival of the 48th Pennsylvania at Fort Monroe in Virginia. Bosbyshell described the camp, the regiment's drill, and the events happening around the important Union base on the Cheseapeake Bay. Read the full letter.
By October 1902, the Coal Strike across Northeastern Pennsylvania had impacts in Lancaster County. Ephrata had been without anthracite coal for weeks, saw mills were going up on the neighboring hills, and families were scrambling for wood to heat their homes. This is what a five-month strike looked like beyond the Coal Region. Read the story.
Sergeant Charles Cyphers wrote home to his former employers at the Pittston Gazette on September 30, 1861. He described his journey to join the 23rd Pennsylvania and the sights he'd seen since arriving in the nation's capital. Read the full letter.