;

Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Schifferstadt Architectural Museum

| July 2, 2013

Driving on Route 15 through western Maryland, you are crossing through some of the most important territory of the Civil War. This region played host to important campaigns in 1862, 1863 and 1864, and has earned its reputation as the Heart of the Civil War. Just off the Rosemont Avenue exit in the city of […]

A Visit to Winchester, VA

| June 25, 2013

Few towns are as full of Civil War history as the small, but memorable Winchester, Virginia. Today, the county seat of Frederick County sits at the confluence of several major roads, just as the town did during its Civil War years. War came to Winchester in 1862, 1863, and 1864. The historic courthouse in the […]

Charles Coffin’s Pennsylvania Campaign

| June 23, 2013

The following comes from Charles Coffin’s book The Boys of ’61, which told of his experiences in the different armies of the Civil War. He was the war correspondent for the Boston Journal during the Civil War. Here is a chapter that tells specifically of his time in Pennsylvania and Maryland as the Confederates entered the North […]

Constructing Harrisburg’s Defenses

| June 20, 2013

Almost as soon as the threat to Harrisburg became apparent in June 1863, preparations were made to properly defend the city from the Confederate advance. Civilian and military leaders in Washington approved the creation of a new military district that included Central Pennsylvania. Known as the Department of the Susquehanna, this new district would be […]

“The Panic:” Unprecedented Chaos in Harrisburg

| June 18, 2013

As yesterday’s post illustrated, the state government felt it necessary to begin evacuating the archives found within the state library in the midst of the crisis. Today, we will examine the situation in Harrisburg from a different perspective… Today’s post will allow the people who were in the city on June 16, 1863 to tell […]