“Scenes of War Are Not Forgotten” The Civil War Drawings of Anthony Goldsmith

Posted by on Jan 14, 2026 in | Comments Off on “Scenes of War Are Not Forgotten” The Civil War Drawings of Anthony Goldsmith “The scenes of war have long since past and the Ex Soldiers have long since settled down to peaceful vocations of life yet the scenes of war are not forgotten,” a Civil War veteran wrote in an 1889 letter to his former comrade-in-arms Anthony Goldsmith (1839–99). “The picket[,] the Skirmish line[,] the Battles[,] the Raids and night marches are all fresh in our memories, yet there are many...
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Douglas L. Allison, Civil War Veteran and Professional Baseball’s First Modern Catcher

Posted by on Aug 25, 2025 in | Comments Off on Douglas L. Allison, Civil War Veteran and Professional Baseball’s First Modern Catcher The Pennsylvania State Archives holds the American Civil War muster rolls for Pennsylvania-raised troops in its collection. Entries in these rolls include essential information about the soldiers who served in the conflict, and they are used by historians, genealogists, students and other patrons to trace the lives of individuals who fought in the war and went on to other pursuits. One of the...
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From Fort Sumter to Appomattox and Back: The Civil War Career of Samuel W. Crawford

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on From Fort Sumter to Appomattox and Back: The Civil War Career of Samuel W. Crawford It started with a boom at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, as a single mortar shell arched appropriately from south to north high over the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina. The shell burst above Fort Sumter and was a signal to the artillery batteries positioned around the harbor to open fire. The next shot, fired from a battery farther east, was meant to be the ceremonial beginning of a second...
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Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, Famed Orator of the Civil War Era

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, Famed Orator of the Civil War Era In the annals of 19th-century America, few figures burned as brightly — and as briefly — as Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (1842–1932). She was born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia, a background that shaped her deep commitment to abolitionism and women’s rights. Raised in a household that mingled with leading abolitionists, Dickinson became an activist at an early age. When she was just 13, she...
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Editor’s Letter

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Editor’s Letter This edition of Pennsylvania Heritage brings us to the 250th anniversary of the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in the spring of 1775. Two of the features included here commemorate historic milestones in the pursuit of liberty and a third serves as an introduction to Pennsylvania’s involvement in the Revolution. Following the conflicts at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts,...
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Outstanding Perseverance and Courage: Pennsylvania’s Thomas Mosley and the Montford Point Marines in World War II

Posted by on Aug 9, 2024 in | Comments Off on Outstanding Perseverance and Courage: Pennsylvania’s Thomas Mosley and the Montford Point Marines in World War II In November 1943, a young Black man sat in a military recruiting office in Philadelphia. At first, joining the Marines seemed like a good idea, but with the paperwork completed, he thought of a relative who had been in the Navy and decided he might like that service better. “Sir, I would like to be exchanged into the Navy instead of the Marines.” It was a simple statement, said in a respectful...
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Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Spring 2022

Posted by on Mar 14, 2022 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation Newsletter – Spring 2022 Topics in the Spring 2022 Newsletter: PHMC Curators Highlight Prized Objects from Collections Robert Hill on John W. Geary’s Civil War Corps Badge Janet Johnson on Malkin Sunface Plate PHF Welcomes New Board Members   2022-spring-PHF-newsletter...
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Unsung Hero of Gettysburg by Edward G. Longacre

Posted by on Mar 14, 2022 in | Comments Off on Unsung Hero of Gettysburg by Edward G. Longacre Unsung Hero of Gettysburg The Story of Union General David McMurtrie Gregg by Edward G. Longacre Potomac Books, 316 pp., hardcover $34.95 So much has been written about the Battle of Gettysburg, it would seem as if there was nothing else to be said; Edward G. Longacre disagrees. In his extremely well-written and fully researched study, Unsung Hero of Gettysburg: The Story of Union General David...
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Meade at Gettysburg by Kent Masterson Brown

Posted by on Mar 14, 2022 in | Comments Off on Meade at Gettysburg by Kent Masterson Brown Meade at Gettysburg A Study in Command by Kent Masterson Brown University of North Carolina Press, 488 pp., hardcover $35 In Meade at Gettysburg, Kent Masterson Brown breaks new ground on a topic that is well-trodden. The Battle of Gettysburg has rightfully taken pride of place as a watershed moment in American history and is among the most studied events of the Civil War. Despite our...
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Thaddeus Stevens by Bruce Levine

Posted by on Dec 1, 2021 in | Comments Off on Thaddeus Stevens by Bruce Levine Thaddeus Stevens Civil War Revolutionary, Fighter for Racial Justice by Bruce Levine Simon & Schuster, 309 pp., hardcover $28 In most respects a conventional biography, Thaddeus Stevens revisits the life and times of a consequential American character. Levine limns the forces that shaped Stevens’ sensibility and his commitment to racial justice as his most notable cause. Stevens’ family...
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