Chris Rasmussen

These letters are written by John A. Willoughby, of Company G, 5th Pennsylvania Reserves, prior to his commissioning as an officer. The original source of these transcripts however, has been lost. If...

The Battle of Fredericksburg and its aftermath would result in a number of changes in the command structure of the Pennsylvania Reserves.  During the battle, the division was part of Major General John Reynolds’...

Following the Battle of Fredericksburg the Reserves were detached from the Army of the Potomac and assigned to the Defenses of Washington. In May of 1863, Colonel Horatio Sickel, of the 3rd Reserve who was commanding the division sent the following letter to Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin requesting that new regimental flags be issued to the division.

It’s easy to sometimes overlook the normal, mundane and uneventful military tenures of volunteer soldiers when trying to tell interesting stories.  We tend to favor those whose decorated military careers are obvious, and those stories that have been told, and retold generation after generation.  In 2011 we were presented with a number of transcripts of original Civil War letters written by Abraham Penman to his wife, Elizabeth.

Sergeant Major Andrew Porter Morrison Preface: This article originally appeared in 1999, and is credited to Dr. James Owston and Chris Rasmussen. As he surveyed the carnage wrought by three days of battle, Sergeant Major...

Preface: This article originally appeared on the internet in 1999, and is credited to Dr. James Owston and Chris Rasmussen. Of the eleven hundred men who served in the ranks of the 9th Pennsylvania...

Samuel Johnson was born January 28, 1845 in Connellsville Pennsylvania. He was recruited by Captain John Brookbank in Connellsville. In Washington, on July 27, 1861, Johnson was mustered as a private in Co G...