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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Williamstown G.A.R. Post Severely Rebuked for Bigotry

| October 30, 2013

An article that appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot of 18 September 1906, stated that “Mandamus is Refused in Williamstown Matter.”  The article referred to an opinion handed down by Judge George Kunkel in the matter of the School Board of Williamstown, Dauphin County, and the request of Catholic parents to allow Catholic students to be […]

Additions to Veterans’ List – R

| June 10, 2013

Veterans of the Civil War identified as having some connection to the Lykens Valley area and included in the Civil War Research Project was last updated 19 April 2012.  In a series of posts continuing intermittently until concluding in mid-June, a brief sketch of each of the new names added since then will be presented.  […]

Pope Pius IX – The Vatican, Lincoln and the Civil War

| February 27, 2013

With the recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, amid controversy and speculation, another historical time period and another papacy is brought to mind, that of Pope Pius IX, the longest reigning pontiff in the history of the Roman Catholic Church (1846-1878), and the pope who was the contemporary of Abraham Lincoln.  Pius IX was the […]

Best of 2012 – Pennsylvania Connections to the Lincoln Assassination

| December 27, 2012

Most stories of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln begin the same way.  The author gives the date of  Friday 14 April 1865 and mentions that Lincoln was taking in a play as a form of winding down from the pressures of office and four years of war.  A brief description of the activities of […]

Jeannie Gourlay – Bibliography

| December 22, 2012

Jeannie Gourlay, a Scottish-born actress, was a player in the stock company of John T. Ford at his Washington theatre on the night President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, 14 April 1865.  In a prior post on this blog, Jeannie Gourlay – Cast Member at Ford’s When Lincoln Was Assassinated, a time line was presented which […]