"On April 17, 1865, eighteen year old John Rakestraw left the family farm in Bart Township, Lancaster County, to attend Unionville Academy, a small Quaker boarding school in Chester County. During the time he was away his two older sisters wrote to him regularly. Ten of those letters have survived and they provide a candid and often painfully honest glimpse of life on a Lancaster County farm in the 1860's. Diaries and ledgers kept by John's father, William I. Rakestraw , provide additional insight into that that time and place." [excerpt from the text]
xi, [1], 13-633 p. incl. plates, front., plates, ports.
Notes
Other editions published under titles, "Battle field and prison pen," "Through the war and thrice a prisoner in rebel dungeons."
Contents
Contents : The Overt Act of Treason and It's effect North and South --- Advance of the Grand Army From Washington and It's Defeat at Bull Run --- Departure of McClellan's Army For the Peninsula --- Advance of McDowell From Washington --- The Seven Days Fight On the Peninsula -- My First Capture --- Army of The Potomac and McClellan's Defence of The Capital --- Extravagant Errors, Halleck and Stanton In Control --- General Lee's Invasion of Pennsylvania and The Battle of Gettysburg --- Northern Campaign, Confederate Authorities Desperate --- Battle of The Wilderness , Our Capture and Recapture --- Advance of Grant's Forces -- Andersonville --- Hanging of The Thieves --- Enlargement of Our Prison --- Andersonville In August --- Millen Prison --- Florence Prison --- St. John's Gollege Hospital
Summary
The author tells of his experiences in the Civil War, including time spent in Confederate prisons.
Chapters: INTRODUCTION - II. INCIDENTS PRECEDING THE BATTLE - III. DURING THE FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE - IV. DURING THE SECOND DAY OF THE BATTLE - V. DURING THE THIRD DAY OF THE BATTLE - Vl. AFTER THE BATTLE - VII. HOME - VIII. CONCLUSION.
Mrs L.M. Moorehead wrote this short memoir of the life of her uncle James Pollard Espy. Mr Espy was born in Cumberland County in Pennsylvania in 1785. He trained as a lawyer and taught school for a time, but was best known for his work as a meteorologist. He worked at this for the U.S. War Department and the U.S. Navy. He continued this work at the Smithsonian Institute.Mr Espy developed a theory about the science of cloud formation and how storms were born. He began the use of the telegraph to collect weather data. His book "The Philosophy of Storms " was published in 1841.
"By following the story of my great-grandmother Isabella Ford's life, and adding to it with information from available sources, I have been able to get a better understanding of the circumstances of Lancaster's free blacks. Her story provides a sense of life in mid-nineteenth century Lancaster County and shows how free black families held their own, despite an environment that was often unfriendly and that restricted their opportunities by both law and custom."
Contains statements by various Pennsylvania officials.
Library holds the German original.
Attributed to Henrich Schweitzer, Philadelphia, printer based on typographical evidence.
Shaw and Shoemaker 14953.
Summary
This resource is a pamphlet concerning the 1808 Pennsylvanian gubernatorial election between Democratic-Republican candidate Simon Schneider (Snyder) (1759-1819) and Federalist James Ross (1762-1847). The writers of the pamphlet were alerting the public to what they believed were threats to their freedoms if Snyder were elected: "Free Voters of Pennsylvania! Read the following pages, and consider what to do before it is too late. The time is extremely important: be alert, otherwise your freedom will disappear for ever, and all the famous rights and privileges will be sacrificed on the alter of anarchy." The pamphlet includes testimonials from area persons who were worried that Snyder would call a convention to change the constitution in order to take away the rights of poor men to vote and to establish a military tribunal about the rights of conscience.
