In this episode of It’s History!, we feature artifacts from the J. Howard Wert Collection. Wert was a native of the Gettysburg area and after the Civil War he was the first principle at Harrisburg High School. As Union and Confederate troops converged on the town, Wert served as a guide to the local area […]
PA Books: “Maine Roads to Gettysburg”
Everyone knows about Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and his 20th Maine Regiment, but there’s much more to the story of Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg. Soldiers from Maine made their presence felt all over the battlefield during three days of fighting in July 1863. There’s Oliver Otis Howard, corps commander who helped secure high ground […]
PA Books: “Hinsonville’s Heroes: Black Civil War Soldiers in Chester County, PA”
The free black community of Hinsonville sent its sons to serve the Union when called on. As members of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts Volunteers, brothers Wesley, William and George Jay survived the bloody battle at Fort Wagner, South Carolina, memorialized in the film Glory. George W. Duffy and Stephen J. Ringgold were part of the only […]
PA Books: “Gettysburg Rebels”
“Gettysburg Rebels” is the gripping true story of five young men who grew up in Gettysburg, moved south to Virginia in the 1850s, joined the Confederate army – and returned “home” as foreign invaders for the great battle in July 1863. Drawing on rarely-seen documents and family histories, as well as military service records and […]
“Year of Desperate Struggle”
Author Monte Akers tracks Major General J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry from Gettysburg to the Overland Campaign, concluding only when Jeb himself succumbs to a gunshot while fending off a force three times his size at the very gates of Richmond. Gettysburg put paid to the aura of unstoppable victory surrounding the Army of Northern […]
PA Books: “A Civil War Captain & His Lady”
More than 150 years ago, 27-year-old Irish immigrant Josiah Moore met 19-year-old Jennie Lindsay, a member of one of Peoria, Illinois’s most prominent families. The Civil War had just begun, Josiah was the captain of the 17th Illinois Infantry, and his war would be a long and bloody one. Their courtship and romance, which came […]
Battlefield Pennsylvania: Battle of Hanover
On June 30, 1863, the Battle of Hanover delayed Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and a 17-mile long column of supplies from getting to Gettysburg. Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. Elon Farnsworth (who died three days later at Gettysburg) arrived to stand in his way. Brig. Gen. George Custer also joined the fray, delaying Stuart’s arrival at Gettysburg until the afternoon of July 2, to the consternation of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Battlefield Pennsylvania: The Burning of Chambersburg
Chambersburg was raided by Confederates three times during the Civil War. The first raid was led by Gen. J.E.B. Stuart on Oct. 10, 1862. The town was occupied from June 24-26, 1863 during the Gettysburg Campaign, and burned to the ground on the orders of Brig. Gen. John McCausland on July 30, 1864, when it refused to pay a ransom of $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in U.S. dollars.
Battlefield Pennsylvania: Hanover Junction
On June 27, 1863, Confederates raided Hanover Junction, cut telegraph wires & burned bridges. President Abraham Lincoln passed through Hanover Junction on Nov. 18-19, 1863, as he traveled to and from Gettysburg for the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery and to deliver the Gettysburg Address on Nov. 19, 1863. His funeral train also passed through Hanover Junction on April 21, 1865, a week after he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.
PA Books: “The Gettysburg Cyclorama”
(VIDEO) The Gettysburg Cyclorama: The Turning Point of the Civil War on Canvas is the first comprehensive study of this art masterpiece and historic artifact. This in-depth study of the history of the cyclorama discusses every aspect of this treasure, which was first displayed in 1884 and underwent a massive restoration in 2008. Coverage includes not only how it was created and what it depicts, but the changes it has undergone and where and how it was moved.