Lieutenant John Ryan of Pottsville was captured during Pickett's Charge and spent nine months in Libby Prison. He came home with scurvy, dysentery, blackened teeth, and an ulcer eating through his leg. Explore more of his story of survival during the Civil War.
Inside an alleged Molly Maguires gathering place at Mahanoy City. Allan Pinkerton's detective agency described it room by room - the bar, the dining hall, the upstairs meeting room where a murder was allegedly planned. The Emerald House at Mahanoy City still stands today at 324 West Centre Street. Read the story and more about the Molly Maguires.
“There was no better or braver soldier than... John Dougherty.” At the Battle of South Mountain in September 1862, a Pottsville railroad worker turned US Army officer fell leading his men into battle. I recently visited the grave of this Irish-born Civil War hero in Pottsville, PA. Read the full story.
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.
When the Molly Maguire era ended in violent repression, hundreds of Irish miners fled PA's Coal Region — some traveling 1,700 miles west to Leadville, Colorado, and bringing their legal troubles with them. Dr. Jim Walsh of UC Denver joins the Transatlantic podcast and as part of their discussion, shares these fascinating connections. Listen to the episode.
In this episode of "Public History," Jake sits down with Irish History Podcast host Fin Dwyer to talk about the craft of storytelling, the rise of podcasting, and what it means to bring history to a global audience in the digital age. Listen to the Episode.
In December 1845, as famine loomed in Ireland, a Pottsville newspaper advertised ship passages from Londonderry to Philadelphia. It’s a small notice that reveals how Irish migration began to reshape the Coal Region - and how welcome later turned to backlash. This story traces that turning point. Read the full story.
Major Joseph Anthony, an Irish immigrant and revered Civil War veteran, survived grievous wounds at Chancellorsville only to succumb to their effects in 1885. After the war, he helped shape anthracite mining in Williamstown, Pennsylvania, earning lasting admiration for his bravery and leadership. Read the full story and a moving obituary for this Civil War veteran.
In February 1832, an Irish newcomer named Patt Gildea sat down in Pottsville, Pennsylvania and tried to explain this strange new country to his brother back in County Mayo. Fresh from Quebec, Montreal, New York, and finally the booming Coal Region, he laid out wages, work, land prices, and daily life in blunt, practical detail — good prospects for single young men, hard choices for families. His letter, later published in an Irish newspaper, offers one of the earliest on-the-ground views of Pottsville’s “Coal Rush” from the eyes of an immigrant still figuring out if he’d made the right move. Read the full story.
Alexander Campbell’s 1877 wake wasn’t the wild scene newspapers loved to imagine. A reporter found a quiet house, women keeping vigil, and men talking in low voices after the execution of 10 Molly Maguires. But his funeral the next day drew one of the biggest crowds the Coal Region had ever seen. Behind the legends, a far more human story comes into focus. Read the full story.