When the women of Pittston sent bandages and lint to their soldiers at Camp Curtin in May 1861, two officers wrote back to say thank you. Their letters are a moving window into the bond between the home front and the front lines in the war's early months. Read the full letters.
On the morning of May 4, 1861, Sergeant Charles Cyphers stepped out of his tent at Camp Slifer near Chambersburg and found five inches of fresh snow on the ground. He picked up his pen and wrote home — and what he captured is a vivid snapshot of soldiers waiting, wondering, and trying to stay warm. Read the full letter.
Two thousand miners filled the streets of Mahanoy City in September 1900, marching together in one of the largest labor actions the Coal Region had ever seen. Their strike would ripple far beyond that moment, helping set the stage for the dramatic gains won just two years later. Read the Full Story.
“If you could but see our outfit, methinks that you would not want to be a soldier.” Writing from Camp Slifer in April 1861, Sergeant Charles Cyphers described the long hours, rough conditions, and early realities of army life just miles from the Mason-Dixon line - where the Civil War was escalating.
“It is almost impossible to form a word, on account of the noise and confusion caused by about 800 men around me…” Just days into his service in April 1861, a Pottsville, PA ironworker-turned-officer found himself swept into the chaos of war—writing from a crowded Philadelphia camp as soldiers drilled, trains moved south, and the Union rushed to hold itself together. Read the full story.
Before they marched off to fight in the Civil War in April 1861, Irish immigrant soldiers in Pottsville, PA gathered inside St. Patrick’s Church for Mass. Father Patrick Nugent spoke to them, "urging their stalwart defense and maintenance of our national Government..." Read the Full Story.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“The people flocked in by thousands… it seemed as if its whole population had been poured forth.” On a cold April day in 1861, Pottsville, PA came to a standstill as hundreds of young men marched to the railroad depot and into a civil war that had just begun. Crowds filled the streets, handkerchiefs waved from every window, and the sound of cheers followed the train as it pulled away. The soldiers went into history as the "First Defenders." Read the Full Story.