Discover a poignant recollection from Dr. Charles H. Miller, who mourned a young schoolmate taken by disease in the Coal Region. His emotional tribute highlights the fragility of life in 19th century mining towns, where epidemics often claimed children far too soon. Read the full story.
George Keiser died of typhoid fever in 1863. He was 17 and had just returned from service in the Pennsylvania militia during the Civil War.
Medical officials and public school administrators worked together to enforce a mandate that students receive the smallpox vaccine in 1855.
In 1910, an epidemic of scarlet fever spun out of control in the Coal Region community of Lykens and left a trail of bodies in its wake.
Private Samuel Veatch used poetry to record the final words of comrades at Camp Curtin in Harrisburg in January 1862.
"Three hundred miles of funeral processions, and the tears and groans that accompany these sad partings."
Keiser was fighting a potentially deadly illness and evading capture by advancing Confederate soldiers.
Twenty-two year old Private Patrick Kennedy died from typhoid fever on February 7, 1862 in Camp Northumberland, Virginia.