Claude Merchant's April 1865 poem summed up the feelings in Pottsville, Pennsylvania after the Confederate capital fell to US forces.
“Richmond has fallen! Richmond is ours!” – A victory poem from April 1865
“A glance at Pottsville” – A description of the Schuylkill County seat from 1866
A Brooklyn Daily Eagle reporter made a stop in the Schuylkill County seat in the summer of 1866.
Eugene V. Debs – A 1906 speech in Pottsville’s Union Hall
In September 1906, the leader of the Socialist Party of America gave a speech before a large audience in Schuylkill County.
“Give all men a chance and fair play” – Frederick Douglass in Pottsville
Frederick Douglass gave two speeches in Pottsville, Pennsylvania in October 1867.
Pottsville teachers resign to head south and open school for freedpeople – February 1867
Fannie Couch and Hannah Streeper prepared to leave Schuylkill County to teach black students in Tennessee in 1867.
Coal Region mother sought help from Clara Barton after the Civil War
Private Thomas Hudson disappeared during the Civil War. His mother set out to find out what happened to her son.
A Pottsville editor’s letter to Abraham Lincoln in support of the Emancipation Proclamation
Editor Benjamin Bannan vehemently supported the end of slavery in the summer of 1862.
When Schuylkill County’s veterans came marching home – June 1865
In 1865, Union soldiers began their triumphant return to Schuylkill County. Their future, however, was uncertain.
Violent assault on miners in Schuylkill County in 1865 linked to Lincoln assassination
Three miners in Lorberry were assaulted in a bar after expressing sorrow at Lincoln's assassination.
“The sad duty” – A letter from the battlefield of Cold Harbor
Lieutenant William D. Williams was mortally wounded at Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864.
