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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Six Killed, Many Injured in Train Wreck

| July 8, 2013

By the time of the Civil War, railroads had become a driving force in the country’s economy, specifically in the northern states. Fortunes were built on the back of the new rail systems that popped up. One of these railroads built in the years just before the Civil War broke out was the Northern Central. […]

Lykens Valley Coal Strikes During 1863

| July 7, 2013

The Lykens Valley was mostly known for one major item in the years of the Civil War. Anthracite coal. This hard, stony coal burned hotter and longer than almost every other fuel available at the time, and the Lykens Valley anthracite was considered by many to be the best in the world.  One article, published […]

How Far Was the Battle of Gettysburg Heard?

| July 6, 2013

Multiple stories have been passed down over a century and a half related to the Battle of Gettysburg. The stories go that citizens of Pennsylvania from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia heard the sound of cannon fire from the battle in south-central Pennsylvania. These distances vary from dozens of miles to over a hundred miles distant from […]

The Hegins Draft Riot

| July 5, 2013

Nestled in the upper end of the Lykens Valley, Hegins was a sleepy, little farming community in the spring of 1863. The war had taken many of its men off to war, leaving behind families struggling to support their farms. Then there was those men who stayed behind, for one reason or another. Among these […]

Henry Keiser: After Gettysburg

| July 4, 2013

For the Army of the Potomac, Gettysburg didn’t mean the end of campaigning in the summer of ’63. Henry Keiser and the rest of the 96th PA waited on the battlefield until Lee’s army left the area. Then the long pursuit began which required tough marching in the infamously muddy conditions from Gettysburg. Here is […]