Civil War series starts Dec. 4 at Upper St. Clair Township Library
History records the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 as the turning point of the Civil War, when the Confederacy’s northernmost advance was beaten back over the Mason-Dixon line.
Leading up to the confrontation, though, no one knew where exactly in Pennsylvania Gen. Robert E. Lee’s troops might strike.
“If you go back into the newspapers – and there have even been some books written about this – that June of ’63 in Pittsburgh was a pure panic,” South Fayette Township resident Chris George reported. “They actually shut down the businesses for three days so that the men could basically build fortifications all around the city in anticipation of an attack on Pittsburgh.”
The fear of such a battle transpiring 200 miles from where it actually occurred is one of the many intriguing occurrences that George uncovered during genealogical research that culminated in him writing a book.
“Day-by-day With the 123d Pennsylvania Volunteers: A Nine-month Civil War Regiment from Allegheny County” will be the subject as George serves as presenter Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. for the first in a four-part series at Upper St. Clair Public Library addressing the War Between the States.
“As I was researching it, I had no intention, not even the thought, of writing a book,” he’ll admit. “I really dug into the 1860s papers of Pittsburgh, and this story just kind of unfolded in front of me. It got to the point where, OK, this story needs to be told. It’s a great story.”
The fourth-grade teacher at Upper St. Clair’s Eisenhower Elementary School had sought to learn more about his great-great-grandfather John Armstrong George, whom he knew served with the 123rd.
W. Stephen Coleman
“I wanted to try to find out what his experiences were like, but there are no letters or journals or anything like that, that have survived in my family,” he said.
Other programs in the library series, each of which begin at 7 p.m.:
- Discovering Gettysburg, Dec. 7. Retired University of Pittsburgh professor W. Stephen Coleman shares his book “Discovering Gettysburg: An Unconventional Introduction to the Greatest Little Town In America and the Monumental Battle That Made It Famous.”
- Shoulder Arms of the Civil War, Dec. 14. Robert Fark of the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves re-enactment unit offers an engaging exploration of the shoulder arms used to fight the Civil War.
- To Prepare for Sherman’s Coming, Dec. 21. The Battle of Wise’s Forks has long been thought of as an insignificant skirmish during the Civil War’s final days. Mark A. Smith and Wade Sokolsky’s “To Prepare for Sherman’s Coming” erases that misconception and elevates the battle to the stature it deserves.
For more information, visit www.twpusc.org/library/library-home.