The Battle of Antietam: Stories from Pennsylvania’s Coal Region

Battle of Antietam painting Civil War Jake Wynn - Public Historian

September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest day in American history. Pennsylvania's Coal Region was in the middle of it. Letters home from soldiers at the front, coffins arriving by train, and then the draft riots and labor unrest that Antietam's aftermath set loose across eastern Pennsylvania. Read all the stories here.

A racist conspiracy theory found root in Schuylkill County in 1862

Honey Brook Colliery in the 1860s

Some white residents of Schuylkill County believed former slaves were going replace them in the coal mines during the Civil War.