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Civil War Blog

A project of PA Historian

Simon Gratz and the Virginius Affair

This is another story about Simon Gratz (1842-1923), the son of Theodore Gratz (first mayor of Gratz, Pennsylvania), and the grandson of the Simon Gratz who is credited with laying out the town of Gratz and for whom the borough is presently named.  Although Simon Gratz was born in Harrisburg, the family moved to Gratz, […]

Simon Gratz and the Spy Capture Incident South of Harrisburg, July 1863

Three Harrisburg Men Capture Confederate Spy in the River Col. Demming and Simon Gratz Who Caught “Rebel” Will Meet on Fiftieth Anniversary of Event According to Samuel Bates, an incident occurred on the Susquehanna River, south of Harrisburg, on 2 July 1863, while the Battle of Gettysburg was taking place, in which three Union men […]

Benjamin Rush Foster – Ties to Williamstown, Lykens, & Washington Township

  The obituary of Benjamin R. Foster appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph, 8 February 1911.  While his Civil War service was mentioned, it was not noted in the obituary that he had ties to at least three communities in the Lykens Valley area. Benjamin R. Foster Falls Dead Today Was One of Harrisburg’s Oldest Machinists […]

The Yeager Family in the Civil War (Part 13)

In 1912, the Hon. James Martin Yeager wrote and published A Brief History of the Yeager, Buffington, Creighton, Jacobs, Lemon, Hoffman and Woodside Families and Their Collateral Kindred of Pennsylvania.  Yeager was formerly the President of Drew Seminary for Young Women of Carmel, New York as well as a former Member of the House of […]

May 2015 Posts

A listing of the May 2015 posts on The Civil War Blog with direct links: The Pension Fraud Case of Andrew M. Betz The Yeager Family in the Civil War (Part 1) April 2015 Posts Monuments at Gettysburg – 2nd Pennsylvania Cavalry Three Unusual Deaths of Civil War Soldiers in 1903 Monuments at Gettysburg – […]