America’s divides have never been simple. Neither was Pennsylvania’s Civil War history

I went to grad school at ESU. One of the old school presidents wrote a book on Monroe County during the Civil War. I wish there were more copies, but there's not.

There's a copy in the ESU library, and maybe you can find something online, but who knows. My thesis is on Monroe County on the Civil War too. Once it's defended and printed I could e-mail you a copy if you'd like. Much of the material comes from the Monroe County Historical Association.

I live near ESU. I need to see if I can get that book! Also I've been looking to check out the Historical Association....
 
Molly McGuire's :bounce: I went to gradschool in northeast Pennsylvania, and the Molly McGuire's are such a hot topic there. So is the anthracite coal region. I found a good book about those coal miners in the Civil War:

Palladino, Grace. Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania 1840-68. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1990.

It's categorized as "labor history," but it's interesting war material. The coal miners were Democrats, and they went on strike because they were paid crumbs to work in coal mines. Since the war machine depended on coal, the Republicans were furious and arrested the miners. The book goes more in depth and covers some of the local personalities.

Anyway, Shuylkill County was part of that coal mining scene, so maybe you'd be interested.


I hadn't come across that, thank you! Will look it up- yes, the Mollies were ( and are ) big noise around there. It's funny. We're just slightly south of there now, tip of Dauphin and most kids can see the oldest anthracite mine in this country from the local school. The Ancient Order of Hiberians were here too and no one talks about. There was a house on the bend in a mountian coming out of Tower City, Schuylkill county where they used to meet at that end of the county. It's been torn down for decades now but a true story- trust the old folks to know. 50 years ago sentiment was still fresh. Gowen's name was mud and that awful prison in Pottsville still loathed, where they hung quite a few. You may have seen it? What I want to know is who did the guy in- they never found out ( or didn't bother to pursue- could have been anyone ).

I realize everyone says this- but it's true. Relatives in the Maguires. although avoided being hung. Dad remembers my Irish grgrandmother saying terrible things about the Irish, for Heaven's sake. There she was, growing up smack in the middle of it in Tamaqua. He could never figure that out, suspected it was a hold over. ACW vets were on both sides ( if Gowen can be said to have been a ' side ), really tore the county up.

Does the book get into the RR workers trying to strike at the same time? It's very odd, you don't hear of them much. Awful story about a massacre on a train station platform. Gowen shoved them around too.

Marywood? U of S? ( edit to add oops- you posted ESU, sorry! )
 
I had ancestors on both sides of the CW. None at Valley Forge I don't think. Earlier some did live in castles. One small thread of my ancestry is easy to plot and to a long time ago. No direct ancestors of mine are of any note for the last 800 years.
A buddy of mine who had some genealogical work done declared to me one day "I'm a descendant of Charlemagne". I stared at him and said "Who isn't?". He had to laugh.
I have a hard time thinking people really set out to be what they are. They all form as to when, where, and how they grow up.I cannot blame people for what they were 160 years ago... I doubt most had a choice as to how they thought.


It's funny. There's an awful lot of conversation about ancestors who lived in castles, no disrespect to anyone who has them. They sound uncomfortable, soggy and cold, no? The thing is,if someone is related to an early immigrant they frequently came from a fairly middle class background, some were affluent. The story there would be a gazillion generations back would be a manor house, a gazillion more generally leads to some genetic link to a castle. Here's what's funny- came across a few trees where people are just positive they've tracked us down all the way to Adam.

Peat house and some sheep here. It's pretty watered down this far out- can't pay me to eat haggis. :angel:
 
It's funny. There's an awful lot of conversation about ancestors who lived in castles, no disrespect to anyone who has them. They sound uncomfortable, soggy and cold, no? The thing is,if someone is related to an early immigrant they frequently came from a fairly middle class background, some were affluent. The story there would be a gazillion generations back would be a manor house, a gazillion more generally leads to some genetic link to a castle. Here's what's funny- came across a few trees where people are just positive they've tracked us down all the way to Adam.

Peat house and some sheep here. It's pretty watered down this far out- can't pay me to eat haggis. :angel:
There were a lot of people living in stone and sod houses when they came to America that had Lords and Ladies in their past.
The point is that for decades the people that populated PA also populated Central VA and NC. After a couple of generations, they would not know they all came off the same boat from the same place.
Come the CW, the connection is very blurred, but there. A great tragedy, brought on by politicians. People with no reason to fight each other fight each other.
As to "gazillion", in one branch of my family I can count on my fingers (I only have ten) the generations back to the time of Shakespeare and the King James Bible..
 
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Exactly. I'm from Philly, and everything here is the Revolution. If you go up to northeast Pennsylvania there's a lot on Indians and early settlements. The Civil War just isn't a big deal here. It was the South's war. The North freed the slaves, and that's basically all we're taught. All that stuff about suspending haebeas corpus, the income tax, and burning Southern homes just doesn't inspire enthusiasm.

Yes and so was the Revolutionary War emphasized in Western Pa as well, and the idea behind that was to put the emphasis on Patriotism and maybe entrench Jingoism and to embrace American Exceptionalism, not rebel against it. The only thing I can remember relating anything to the southern culture was watching those TV sitcoms like Green Acres, Beverley Hillbillies and Gomer Pyle and they were so stereotypical for the acute purpose to counter identify and to get some LOLs it all seemed so uninteresting and boring. Holding a grudge against a man who was doing his job 150 years ago is utterly absurd. I suppose all us Pittsburgh people should hold a grudge against George Washington for sending in the militia to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. Better yet, why don't all northerners hold a grudge against Washington for putting down the rebellion in Pittsburgh. LOL.
 
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