Four diary entries from the Civil War document the evolution of holiday experiences of a soldier from Pennsylvania's Coal Region.
Four Christmases – Holiday excerpts from Henry Keiser’s Civil War diary
A Lykens Civil War soldier’s close brush with death at the Battle of Cedar Creek, October 1864
Sergeant Henry Keiser had escaped serious injury throughout the Civil War. His luck nearly ran out on October 19, 1864.
Henry Keiser’s ‘reminisicences’ of Lykens and Wiconisco before the Civil War
In May 1927, Henry Keiser described the Coal Region towns where he grew up as they looked in the 1850s.
In 1861, remnants of a hurricane tore apart a Union army encampment above Pottsville
As the men of the 96th Pennsylvania gathered for training in Pottsville in September 1861, a hurricane battered their makeshift encampment.
“Cheering, shouting and rejoicing” – A Pennsylvanian’s experience at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865
Sergeant Henry Keiser's diary reveals a soldier's perspective of the Civil War's dramatic final moments.
“Played Out” – Corporal Henry Keiser and Disease in the Seven Days’ Battles
Keiser was fighting a potentially deadly illness and evading capture by advancing Confederate soldiers.
An elusive Civil War photograph – Henry Keiser
A recently revealed photograph sheds light on the Civil War experience of a Pennsylvania soldier.
Corporal Keiser’s Christmas in the camp of the 96th Pennsylvania
In their newly constructed winter quarters in Arlington, Virginia, the 96th Pennsylvania celebrates its first Christmas at war in 1861.
Henry Keiser’s Civil War Diary: May 10, 1864
Corporal Henry Keiser recorded the horrific events of May 10, 1864 in his Civil War diary.
Meet Henry Keiser – A Soldier Who Kept A Diary For Nearly Every Day of the Civil War
Henry Keiser kept a diary through his service in the Civil War. Meet the man behind the diary that has appeared in dozens of books about America's bloodiest conflict.
