Letters from War: 1861 | William Werner of Pottsville, PA joins the 2nd California Cavalry in San Francisco

"I am going to fight not for money, but for my country..." Pottsville, PA native William H. Werner traveled to California as a teenager in the 1850s in search of riches. He was there when the Civil War broke out. In a letter to his father in Schuylkill County, he detailed why he left a good job to fight for the Union. Read the full letter.