Letters from War: 1861 | Peter Byrne visits his son at Camp Lyon near the Chain Bridge in Washington, DC

Posted on by Jake Wynn

A father visits his son at war - and ends up behind Union lines in Virginia Peter Byrne came to Washington to check on his son, a lieutenant in the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery. He left having crossed into Virginia in a borrowed uniform, stood behind an artillery battery in the pouring rain, and talked his way back across the Chain Bridge using a pass that called him "Colonel." Read the full letter.

Letters from War: 1861 | A Pittston correspondent on Washington’s war fever and the “Peace Party”

Posted on by Jake Wynn

A constant rumble of baggage wagons, night and day" | Washington at war, August 1861 A Pittston correspondent spent a week in Washington in late August 1861 and sent back a portrait of a city transformed — cavalry clattering through the streets, tent villages visible from the Capitol, and two armies drawing closer by the day. He also had some sharp words for the "Peace Party" back home. Read the letter.

Letters from War: 1861 | Martin J. Byrne guards the Chain Bridge above Washington

Posted on by Jake Wynn

From his post guarding the Chain Bridge above Washington, Lieutenant Martin Byrne watched General McClellan and President Lincoln ride through a grand review of the division on August 21, 1861. Lincoln, he noted, had "that lofty, though care worn appearance." Read the full letter.

Letters from War: 1861 | Martin J. Byrne describes the armed camp of Washington in August 1861

Posted on by Jake Wynn

Martin Byrne arrived in Washington on August 6, 1861 and found a city locked down by mounted police, drilling soldiers, and the weight of a war gone badly wrong. He wrote home to say his health had never been better — and that he'd gained twenty pounds since leaving Carbondale. Read the letter.

John Ryan captured at Gettysburg with the 69th Pennsylvania | 1863

Posted on by Jake Wynn

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.

Letters from War: 1861 | A Carbondale soldier describes war at Alexandria and along the Potomac River

Posted on by Jake Wynn

A soldier from Carbondale, PA spent a night in the very hallway where Colonel Elmer Ellsworth had been shot dead days earlier - the floor still stained with his blood. Then he shipped out to fight Confederate artillery on the Potomac River. He wrote home to describe all of it. Read the full letter.

Letters from War: 1861 | A Minersville soldier writes from Washington, DC

Posted on by Jake Wynn

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.

The First Defenders depart from Pottsville, PA | April 17, 1861

Posted on by Jake Wynn

“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.

Scranton residents at the March on Washington | 1963

Posted on by Jake Wynn

In August 1963, dozens of residents from Scranton traveled to Washington, DC for the March for Jobs and Freedom, witnessing Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech firsthand. Their reflections capture a powerful moment during the Civil Rights Movement that felt, as one attendee said, like “This is America.” Read the Full Story.

Tour of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum | 2021

Posted on by Jake Wynn

Back in 2021, I led a virtual tour of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum in Washington, DC. Check out the tour and learn more about Clara Barton's incredible work as a humanitarian during the Civil War-era. The tour also highlights the history of her boardinghouse rooms that became the Missing Soldiers Office after the Civil War. Check it out!