“Profane swearing is… a most debasing practice.” In the middle of the Civil War, a Coal Region newspaper turned its attention from the battlefield to something closer to home: the language of local workers. Its advice was simple, direct, and a little out of touch with reality. Read the Full Story.
A young student from Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, PA traded his classroom for an army camp near Chambersburg in the spring of 1861. He and wrote back to a classmate about the food, the boredom, and his burning desire to meet the rebels in battle. Read the full letter.
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.
“Our country needs the aid of every young man, in this, its hour of need.” Writing from Harrisburg, PA in April 1861, a 19-year-old Scottish immigrant tried to explain why he had volunteered for service in the Civil War - framing the conflict as both a duty and a test of loyalty to his adopted country at the very moment it was on the verge of fracturing. Read the letter.
“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.
“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.
In May 1871, fire swept Pittston’s Knight Shaft. Eleven-year-old mule driver Martin Crahan turned back from safety to warn miners, was refused behind their barricade, and chose to die beside his teams. Nineteen others perished. A poem immortalized his courage in the face of a disaster similar to one that ravaged Avondale, PA two years earlier. Read the full story.
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.
In 1911, activist Lewis Hine found 13-year-old Willie Brieden working as a nipper 500 feet underground in Pittston, PA - alone in the dark, opening heavy doors as gas hissed nearby. Days later, Willie was home sick, coughing from endless hours in the damp mine. A childhood bent to anthracite's demands, captured in one image. Read the full story.