As we've approached the 250th anniversary of American independence, I've been thinking a lot about what this milestone means for our nation, so on the Fourth of July I sat down to put those thoughts on the record. Watch the reflection here.
A Fourth of July firefight at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Captain Alfred Dart's Fourth of July opened with a skirmish across the Potomac River. He found time to write home to Carbondale on the holiday. Read the full letter.
George Shafer was 17 years old and had just survived his first Civil War battle when he sat down to write his mother in Carbondale, PA. He wanted her to know he was safe — and wondered what the town was doing to celebrate the Fourth of July. Read the full letter.
On July 2, 1861, the men of the 11th Pennsylvania finally met the enemy. Writing from Williamsport, MD two days later, Private William Ferris of Pittston, PA became the first soldier in this series to report from an actual battlefield — and the news from the front was only getting more serious. Read the full letter.
The Public History podcast hosts drafted five rounds of revolutionary history — moments, films, and figures — then handed the whole thing to Codie Eash of the Seminary Ridge Museum to rank. He scored every category, spared no feelings, and the margin came down to a single point. Listen to the episode here.
Lieutenant John Ryan of Pottsville was captured during Pickett's Charge and spent nine months in Libby Prison. He came home with scurvy, dysentery, blackened teeth, and an ulcer eating through his leg. Explore more of his story of survival during the Civil War.
In June 1859, the coal miners of Wiconisco Township put down their tools over eight cents a car. It's the earliest documented strike from these collieries — and it didn't end well for the men who walked out. Read the story.
Sergeant John Williamson was a young laborer from the Coal Region village of Eckley who enlisted in the United States Army in 1861. One year later, he was killed during the brutal fighting at Charles City Crossroads in Virginia. Today, a photograph preserves the story of his short life in his hometown. Read the Full Story.
An investigation into one of the world's richest men, his basketball team, and an attempt to go around the NBA salary cap sent me looking back to investigative journalism of the past. In a rapidly devolving media landscape, the digging done by Pablo Torre and his team is reminiscent of how the muckrakers of the Gilded Age uncovered the truth about the world's richest and most powerful men. Read my full reflection.
In April 1862, Salmon P. Chase boarded a special train to tour the coal mines of Wiconisco Township with the recently disgraced Simon Cameron. Washington took notice. Within a year, the mines they visited together would be at the center of a corruption scandal involving Cameron and Henry Thomas. Read the full story.