Samuel F. Colt served as the minister at Pottsville's Second Presbyterian Church when he wrote his letter on behalf of Senator Simon Cameron.
A Pottsville minister’s letter to President-elect Abraham Lincoln – January 1861

Samuel F. Colt served as the minister at Pottsville's Second Presbyterian Church when he wrote his letter on behalf of Senator Simon Cameron.
A detailed description of how Schuylkill County celebrated Thanksgiving as the Civil War reached its climax.
In the late summer and autumn of 1860, the looming election sparked heated political rhetoric, marches in support of political causes, and whispered talk of a coming civil war. These feelings manifest themselves in a violent skirmish between Republicans and Democrats on the streets of a Wayne County community on September 28, 1860. The fight in Hawley, which started … Continue reading Stone-throwing and gunfire: A riot at a political meeting in Northeastern Pennsylvania in 1860
Some white residents of Schuylkill County believed former slaves were going replace them in the coal mines during the Civil War.
A memoir from the 1930s describes the hard life of a breaker boy in Civil War-era Schuylkill County.
Editor Benjamin Bannan vehemently supported the end of slavery in the summer of 1862.
Three miners in Lorberry were assaulted in a bar after expressing sorrow at Lincoln's assassination.
In the autumn of 1860, the Wide Awakes swept over Schuylkill County.
We sat down with public historian John Heckman to discuss the 1862 miners' revolt in Schuylkill County.
In June 1864, the offices of the Anthracite Journal in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania were ransacked by an angry mob.