Category: Civil War
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Lloyd Watts: Pioneer of Black Education in Gettysburg
Lloyd Watts was a pioneer that history has mostly forgotten principally because his deeds were in the furtherance of education rather than battlefield glory. In 1834, the commonwealth legislature passed the Pennsylvania Free School Act, which provided free schooling for all children, including black children, ages 6 and above. This groundbreaking legislation marked a pivotal…
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The Life of Private Samuel N. Cox: A Confederate Story
Private Samuel N. Cox was no ordinary Confederate private. Nearly everyone around him was single, but Private Cox was well into his second marriage. The few married men usually had young families—no kids or one kid, maybe two or three at most. Samuel Cox had three boys and two girls by his first wife and…
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Memories of Gettysburg: Reverend Henry Eyster Jacobs and the Changing Landscape
Reverend Henry Eyster Jacobs took after his father, Dr. Michael Jacobs. He followed him into the Lutheran clergy; he was a teacher, a writer, and a keen observer of the era he lived in. The oldest of four, he was born in 1844 when his parents had been married for 11 years; his father was…
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The Price Twins: Brothers in the Civil War
The Price twins, James and John, were just nine years old in January 1852 when their father, a modestly well-off plantation owner named William C. Price, attended the Alabama Democratic Convention. He came from deeply patriotic stock. His grandfather Anjer Price was a sergeant in the 8th Virginia in the Revolution. His father, William Vines…
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The Tragic Fate of John J. Walthall in the Civil War
Where men, guns, horses, and gunpowder are we are bound to see instances of tragic luck. John J. Walthall appears to be just such an instance. How rare was his end? In 1837 a little-read article by S.D. Poisson articulated a distribution pattern for highly unlikely but still occasional events. This application was later used…
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The Legacy of Lincoln Cemetery in Gettysburg
One of the lasting monuments to Basil Biggs and his commitment to equality is the Lincoln Cemetery in Gettysburg. Biggs worked with a local group of black men to form the Sons of Goodwill, which raised funds for the creation of the cemetery. Its original mission was to be a resting place for veterans of…
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Impact of Civil War on Enslaved Lives: Albert Butts and Richard Jordan
In 1895, Macon, Georgia, announced the passing of one of its most eminent citizens—Captain Albert Butts who had commanded Company B, The Macon Volunteers in the 2nd Georgia Battalion. He appeared at company reunions over the next thirty years. He was lauded for his faithful service in the local Episcopal church, and he was hailed…
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Jacob Whitler Herndon: Disappeared on the John Edward Plank Farm
Jacob W. Herndon has a small historical distinction—in every source you read about him, he was a courier for General John Bell Hood. General Hood, of course, is famous for his exploits as the leader of the famed Texas Brigade. After his wounding, he was brought back to the John Edward Plank farm where he…
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James Samuel Noble: 15-year-old Sergeant Buried on the John Edward Plank Farm
When the war broke out, James Samuel Noble somehow convinced his family he was old enough—at age 13, he joined his older brother, Dallas, in enlisting in May 1861. Of course, no one could see that he would end up on the John Edward Plank farm just two years later. The Nobles were farmers who…
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John Edward Plank: His Farm and Family
In and around Gettysburg, John Edward Plank was in the news nearly his entire life, and his farm became a critical junction before, during, and after the battle. Because of that, John and his farm remain in the news today. Descended from German immigrants, John Plank married Sarah Ann Rhinehart in Gettysburg’s Saint James Lutheran…