1918’s Deadliest Killer: The Flu Pandemic Hits Pennsylvania

I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza. —Children’s rhyme, 1918 The year 1918 was arguably one of the darkest in modern times and the deadliest ever recorded in human history. Much of Europe was locked in a hideous, relentless military struggle that had dragged on for three years, killing millions of soldiers and bankrupting its governments. Famine stalked...
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“Remember Paoli!”

Two centuries ago, in September 1817, local War of 1812 veterans gathered in a Chester County field with Revolutionary War veterans and citizens to place a marble monument on the grave of soldiers killed in the Battle of Paoli, or “Paoli Massacre,” four decades earlier. Today, it remains the second oldest Revolutionary War monument in the nation, and the campaign to “Remember Paoli!” continues...
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British Images of War at Brandywine and the Tredyffrin Encampment

Two hundred and twenty-five years ago, on fateful September 11, 1777, one of the largest and most important engagements of the American Revolution took place in southeastern Pennsylvania. It was the Battle of Brandywine, a crushing defeat for the American side. Although British and Hessian engineers delineated several maps of the battle immediately afterwards, until recently no contemporary...
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