Letters from War: 1861 | A Schuylkill Haven soldier writes from Camp Curtin

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Camp Curtin in 1861. Camp Curtin was among the largest military camps and training grounds for the Union during the Civil War. It was located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and centrally located with rail access north, south, east, and west.

“With many regrets at leaving our families and friends behind us, we still had the consolation to know that we have enlisted our lives and honors in the most noble cause…” In April 1861, as volunteers poured into Camp Curtin, a Schuylkill County printer-turned-soldier captured the surge of patriotism, noise, and uncertainty at the very start of the Civil War - writing his letter on a tin pan between drills as his war began. Read the full story.

Letters from War: 1861 | A Pittston printer goes to war

Posted on by Jake Wynn

“He goes warmed by a spirit of true patriotism.” In April 1861, a 19-year-old printer from Pittston put down his tools and marched off to war. His letters from Camp Curtin in Harrisburg capture the excitement, uncertainty, and raw emotion of the Civil War’s opening days. Read the full story and the start of a new "Letters from War" series.

“The horrors of war are upon us” | Eckley, PA reacts to Fort Sumter and the opening of the Civil War

Posted on by Jake Wynn

“There is but one feeling expressed, and that is, the government must be sustained.” That line appeared in a letter written from Eckley, Pennsylvania just days after the attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861. In the Coal Region, the news sparked a surge of patriotism as young men began volunteering for the US Army. Read the Full Story and Letter.

From Pennsylvania’s Coal Region to Palestine | George Korson’s experience in World War I

Posted on by Jake Wynn

“It seemed as if the scenes and characters of the Bible were living again now, before our eyes.” Before he became the Coal Region’s most important folklorist, George Korson served in the Middle East during World War I. His letters and reflections capture a world in transition and a remarkable journey from Pennsylvania to Palestine. Read the Full Story.

Memorial to the Famine immigrants of Sligo | Ireland

Posted on by Jake Wynn

In Sligo, Ireland a bronze family waits forever on the quay—one small reminder of events that sent more than 30,000 people from that port city toward places like Pennsylvania’s coal towns. Read the full story.

An Irish immigrant’s letter from Pottsville, Pennsylvania | 1832

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Pottsville, PA in 1833 from Library of Congress

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.

A sailor at the Battle of Fort Fisher | A fascinating Civil War letter from 1865

Posted on by Jake Wynn

In January 1865, Welsh immigrant and Scranton resident Henry F. Evans wrote home after fighting ashore at Fort Fisher with the U.S. Navy. His letter captures the chaos, fear, and brutality of sailors turned infantry in one of the Civil War’s decisive battles. Read the full story.

Threatening letter from a “Molly Maguire” to the editor of the Shenandoah Herald | 1875

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Molly Maguires meeting in Schuylkill County, PA in 1870s

An anonymous 'Molly Maguire' boldly warned Shenandoah newspaper editor Tom Foster in 1875: with the union broken, robbed by the companies, "we intend it to cost them..." With "nothing to defind ourselves with But our Revolvers" they demanded "a fare Days wages for a fare Days work." Read the full story.

A letter in defense of the Molly Maguires | 1877

Posted on by Jake Wynn

Two days after ten alleged Molly Maguires were hanged in Pottsville and Mauch Chunk, a letter signed “Fiat Lux” appeared in the New York Sun—and it turned the headlines of the day on their head. Instead of cheering the executions as many contemporary newspapers did, the writer blamed the Reading Railroad, coal operators, and a rigged system that kept immigrant mineworkers in brutal poverty, arguing that not all the guilt lay with the men on the gallows. It’s a sharp, early indictment of corporate power in the Coal Region. Read the full story.

Simon Cameron and the coal mines of Williams Valley | 1862

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Simon Cameron

In 1862, controversial politician and former War Secretary Simon Cameron turned his attention to a major coal project in northern Dauphin County. Using his political clout, he briefly joined the Summit Branch Railroad Company’s board, helping broker a lucrative sale that shaped this anthracite-rich region’s future. Read the full story.