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
Thanksgiving Day in Schuylkill County – 1864
A detailed description of how Schuylkill County celebrated Thanksgiving as the Civil War reached its climax.
Stone-throwing and gunfire: A riot at a political meeting in Northeastern Pennsylvania in 1860
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
A racist conspiracy theory found root in Schuylkill County in 1862
Some white residents of Schuylkill County believed former slaves were going replace them in the coal mines during the Civil War.
A remembrance of a boyhood in Schuylkill County during the Civil War
A memoir from the 1930s describes the hard life of a breaker boy in Civil War-era Schuylkill County.
A Pottsville editor’s letter to Abraham Lincoln in support of the Emancipation Proclamation
Editor Benjamin Bannan vehemently supported the end of slavery in the summer of 1862.
Violent assault on miners in Schuylkill County in 1865 linked to Lincoln assassination
Three miners in Lorberry were assaulted in a bar after expressing sorrow at Lincoln's assassination.
“Wide Awake” in Tremont – Campaigning for Lincoln in the Coal Region in 1860
In the autumn of 1860, the Wide Awakes swept over Schuylkill County.
Podcast – Discussing the 1862 uprising in Schuylkill County
We sat down with public historian John Heckman to discuss the 1862 miners' revolt in Schuylkill County.
“A Copperhead outrage” – An attack on a pro-Union newspaper in Schuylkill County during the Civil War
In June 1864, the offices of the Anthracite Journal in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania were ransacked by an angry mob.
