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.
In a letter to the "Miners' Journal," Private James K. Helms of the 6th Pennsylvania describes the scenes as the US Army crossed the Potomac River at Williamsport, MD in June 1861. The young soldier's account vividly describes their first march toward the enemy in Virginia. Read the full letter.
Letters from War: 1861 was featured by WVIA News this week. Roger DuPuis and I talked about the project, the chaotic opening months of the Civil War, and what these Coal Region soldiers' letters still reveal 165 years later. Read more and find the full interview.
“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.
Check out Pottsville’s proud tribute to Col. George C. Wynkoop: a rare 1863 broadside from the PA State Archives invites citizens to Town Hall for a ceremonial sword presentation honoring his leadership of the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Learn how this celebration reflected Civil War–era community spirit, wartime pride, and military valor. Read the full story.
The coal miners of the Ringgold Infantry had been in Washington less than a week — sleeping on bare floors, waiting on uniforms, short on food in the Civil War's early weeks. One of them picked up a pen and wrote home. His letter captures the chaos, the humor, and the strange excitement of the Civil War's earliest days. Read the letter.
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.
Built in 1851, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad depot on East Union Street is Pottsville's oldest surviving railroad building — and it has a Civil War history worth exploring. Watch the new video.
“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.
On April 14, 1872, volunteer firefighter and Civil War veteran Charles Ewing was racing to a fire on Sanderson Street in Pottsville when a tragic accident took his life before he reached the flames. His death stunned the town and drew a massive funeral procession. Read the Full Story.