# harrisburg (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover harrisburg. Page: Feed: --- ## [Letters from War: 1861 | Martin J. Byrne guards the Chain Bridge above Washington](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/21/letters-from-war-1861-28/) _2026-08-21 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ From his post guarding the Chain Bridge above Washington, Lieutenant Martin Byrne watched General McClellan and President Lincoln ride through a grand review of the division on August 21, 1861. Lincoln, he noted, had "that lofty, though care worn appearance." Read the full letter. ## [A town under watch | A photograph of the National Guard in Shenandoah, PA during the 1902 Coal Strike](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/18/a-town-under-watch-1902-coal-strike/) _2026-08-18 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ When the Coal Strike of 1902 turned violent, Pennsylvania sent armed troops into its mining towns. This photograph from Leslie's Illustrated captures the 8th National Guard patrolling the streets of Shenandoah, a Coal Region flashpoint, caught on camera by a local photographer. Read more. ## [The World War 2 letters of Private Lewis T. Jobe of Muir, PA](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/17/the-world-war-2-letters-of-private-lewis-t-jobe/) _2026-08-17 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ Lewis T. Jobe fought through North Africa and Sicily and was invaded in the Invasion of Normandy on D-Day. Several letters he wrote in 1943 were published in a Tower City, PA newspaper and provide an eyewitness account of the Second World War. Read the letters here. ## [Photograph of V-J Day celebrations in Girardville, Pennsylvania | 1945](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/14/v-j-day-celebration-girardville-1945/) _2026-08-14 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ V-J Day comes to Girardville | The Coal Region celebrates the end of World War II | 1945 When the news broke on August 15, 1945, Girardville took to the streets. This photograph captures the celebrations — and the moment a coal mining community exhaled after four years of war. ## [Reflection | Williamstown, Pennsylvania at 200](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/13/reflection-williamstown-pennsylvania-at-200/) _2026-08-13 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ On Sunday evening, I had the chance to lead a walking tour of Williamstown, PA to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the community. It was a great time despite the heat and we explored two centuries of stories from this Coal Region community. Read the full article. ## [Letters from War: 1861 | Martin J. Byrne describes the armed camp of Washington in August 1861](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/11/letters-from-war-1861-27/) _2026-08-11 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ Martin Byrne arrived in Washington on August 6, 1861 and found a city locked down by mounted police, drilling soldiers, and the weight of a war gone badly wrong. He wrote home to say his health had never been better — and that he'd gained twenty pounds since leaving Carbondale. Read the letter. ## [Letters from War: 1861 | Ario Pardee, Sr. and the recruiting of new regiments in the summer of 1861](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/10/letters-from-war-1861-26/) _2026-08-10 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ New regiments, new volunteers | The Coal Region rebuilds the Union Army after Bull Run | 1861 After the disaster at Bull Run, the Union's three-year recruiting effort reached deep into the anthracite coal fields. Four new companies were forming at Mauch Chunk, a Hazleton coal operator was outfitting a regiment, and the war that everyone thought would be short was quickly escalating. Read the… ## [Walking Elsenborn Ridge | The foxholes and shell craters still cut into the Ardennes forest](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/05/walking-elsenborn-ridge-fred-k-lewis/) _2026-08-05 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ Last month I walked the ground above Krinkelt and Rocherath in Belgium's Ardennes, where the 99th Division held the line in December 1944. The foxholes are still there. So are the shell craters. And so is the story of a Wilkes-Barre soldier who earned a Bronze Star here — and didn't make it home. Read the full story. ## [A whiskey advertisement from Wilkes-Barre, PA | 1861](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/04/a-whiskey-advertisement-from-wilkes-barre-pa-1861/) _2026-08-04 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ When the 8th Pennsylvania's chaplain declared that bad army liquor should warn Civil War soldiers off drinking altogether, the editors of the Luzerne Union had a different takeaway — and used the opportunity to recommend their favorite local distillery. Read the story. ## [Reflection | I’ve Started Writing on Substack](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/08/02/reflection-substack/) _2026-08-02 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ I've started writing on Substack - here's where to find me I've had my fill of Facebook's algorithm and the flood of AI-generated "history" crowding out the real thing. I'm now writing on Substack too - behind-the-scenes looks at my research, public history work, and take on the world. Come find me there. ## [AI Summaries & Audio Briefings (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/MDQwkv0mXpam) _2026-08-02 · **Sponsored**_ Read AI summaries and listen to concise audio briefings for the latest stories. ## [Letters from War: 1861 | Returning soldiers riot in Harrisburg as Martin Byrne writes home to Carbondale](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/07/31/letters-from-war-1861-25/) _2026-07-31 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ After the disaster at Bull Run, thousands of unpaid soldiers flooded Harrisburg and turned to rioting — storming the arsenal, ransacking a hotel for the paymaster. A young Carbondale officer watched it unfold and called Patterson a "double-dyed traitor." Read the full letter. ## [Schuylkill County Soldiers Write Home From New Mexico | 1916](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/07/29/schuylkill-county-soldiers-new-mexico-1916/) _2026-07-29 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ Walking in the footsteps of Schuylkill County soldiers in Albuquerque | 1916 While in Albuquerque for work, I kept walking past the same adobe church that Coal Region soldiers wrote home about in 1916, on their way to the Mexican border during the Pancho Villa raids. Their letters home are full of curiosity and surprises. ## [“The whole world seemed ablaze” | A letter from the London Blitz reaches Shamokin, PA in 1940](https://wynninghistory.com/2026/07/28/the-whole-world-seemed-ablaze-blitz/) _2026-07-28 · Jake Wynn · Jake Wynn – Public Historian_ In November 1940, a letter from a telephone operator in London found its way into the pages of the Shamokin News-Dispatch. Alice Watts described incendiary bombs lighting every garden in her neighborhood on fire, whole streets reduced to rubble - and sleeping in her top-floor bed anyway, because a bomb either had your name on it or it didn't. Read the story from the London Blitz.