Charles Cyphers and the 8th Pennsylvania have left Camp Slifer behind. Soldiers are everywhere he looks, Harpers Ferry looms on the horizon, and Cyphers tells his editor to expect news of a battle soon — provided no secessionist puts a bullet through him first. Read the full letter.
While researching Letters from War: 1861, a single line in a Coal Region newspaper stopped me cold. A sergeant had written home describing the murder of a Black man by Union soldiers. This is the investigation into what really happened on June 1, 1861 and the lynching of a man named Frank Jones.
On June 1, 1861, an African American man named Frank Jones was murdered by soldiers near Camp Slifer in Chambersburg. A sergeant from Luzerne County wrote home to describe it. His letter is one of the most disturbing documents in this series — and an unflinching look at deep-rooted racism lurking beneath the Union war effort. Read the letter.
One of the first Coal Region soldiers to die in the Civil War never saw a battlefield. Henry Yeager of Pine Grove was 21 years old when he fell ill at Camp Slifer near Chambersburg. He died on June 1, 1861 - not from enemy fire, but from spotted fever. His body was sent home draped in American flags. Read the story.
Men bathing in a stream, spreading out under the trees for a nap, watching an eagle pass overhead — Charles Cyphers' fourth letter from Camp Slifer captures the quiet, restless rhythm of soldiers waiting for the war to find them. Read the full letter.
Rumors were flying back home about hungry, mistreated soldiers at Camp Slifer. Michael McCarty — a County Longford man turned Luzerne County coal miner — had heard enough. He shared a letter from his friend Corporal Devenney at the front to set the record straight. Devenney had gained four pounds since enlisting in the US Army. Read the full letter.
On the morning of May 4, 1861, Sergeant Charles Cyphers stepped out of his tent at Camp Slifer near Chambersburg and found five inches of fresh snow on the ground. He picked up his pen and wrote home — and what he captured is a vivid snapshot of soldiers waiting, wondering, and trying to stay warm. Read the full letter.
“If you could but see our outfit, methinks that you would not want to be a soldier.” Writing from Camp Slifer in April 1861, Sergeant Charles Cyphers described the long hours, rough conditions, and early realities of army life just miles from the Mason-Dixon line - where the Civil War was escalating.
In this short episode of "The Gazette," we follow the Luzerne County soldiers in the 8th Pennsylvania Infantry to their camp near Chambersburg.