Letters from War: 1861 | William Werner of Pottsville, PA joins the 2nd California Cavalry in San Francisco

Posted on by Jake Wynn

"I am going to fight not for money, but for my country..." Pottsville, PA native William H. Werner traveled to California as a teenager in the 1850s in search of riches. He was there when the Civil War broke out. In a letter to his father in Schuylkill County, he detailed why he left a good job to fight for the Union. Read the full letter.

Letters from War: 1861 | “You must not be worried about me” – A Carbondale teenager writes home to his mother

Posted on by Jake Wynn

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.