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Grand Review Times Supplement

Check out the supplement “Grand Review Times: A Call for the Descendants of USCT Troops from Camp William Penn 1863 to the Harrisburg Grand Review, 1865” that appeared in the March 22, 2010 issue of ShowcaseNow! Magazine. You can read … Continue reading

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Isaac Cole, 32nd Regiment U.S.C.T.

(Essay written by Frank Hebblethwaite — Park Ranger, Hopewell Furnace NHS) Abraham Lincoln referred to history as the “mystic chords of memory”. Those mystic chords of collective memory bind us together. Our common history connects us to each other in … Continue reading

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Descendants’ Profiles

These five descendants’ profiles were published in “Grand Review Times: A Call for the Descendants of USCT Troops from Camp William Penn 1863 to the Harrisburg Grand Review, 1865,” a supplement that appeared in the March 22, 2010 issue of … Continue reading

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Civil War Letters of John C. Brock

The book Making and Remaking Pennsylvania’s Civil War is a collection of essays about the events and legacies of the Civil War in Pennsylvania.  The essay “The Civil War Letters of Quartermaster Sergeant John C. Brock, 43rd Regiment, United States Colored … Continue reading

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3rd USCT Regiment

The 3rd USCT Regiment, which was organized in August 1863, was the first unit to receive training at Camp William Penn, located outside of Philadelphia. (You can read about this regiment’s flag raising ceremony in a previous post). The War … Continue reading

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We are looking for 100 young African American men ages 18-30!

We are looking for 100 young African American men ages 18-30! Including: Twenty from the five counties of Philadelphia and the countryside Twenty from the eight counties of Dutch Country Roads (Central Pa.) Twenty from the counties of the Susquehanna … Continue reading

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Battle of Port Hudson (May 1863)

The Battle of Port Hudson on May 27, 1863 did not include USCT regiments organized in Pennsylvania, but it was among the first major engagements of the Civil War that involved African American regiments. The Union’s efforts in late May … Continue reading

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Presentation of Colors to the 20th USCT

As USCT regiments were organized in northern states, they were often honored at ceremonies held in local cities or at their training camps. A previous post described a flag raising ceremony at Camp William Penn. This article in Frank Leslie’s … Continue reading

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Voting Rights and the Grand Review

While Gerald G. Eggert’s article in Pennsylvania History focuses on the experiences of Harrisburg’s African American community throughout a century, it also includes a short but interesting description of Harrisburg’s Grand Review in November 1865. The parade in Harrisburg was … Continue reading

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History of Camp William Penn

Jeffry Wert’s article in Pennsylvania History provides a great overview of Camp William Penn’s operation between 1863 and 1865 as well as interesting details on events that took place at the camp. While “the record is mute” as to who … Continue reading

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