EJ Murphy

- Montrose Independent Republican correspondent on being present at the passage of the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery in the United States, which took place #OTD in 1865. Printed in the Republican on 2/14/1865.

“If the fossils who believe the world does not move…had been with me in the Hall of the House of Representatives on the 31st…they would have been astonished…For I believe I was…a witness to one of those memorable scenes…which showed…that human progress cannot be checked…”

Pumped to get my copy of They Are Dead and Yet They Live: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America. Edited by Jenn Murray & John Kinder, this collection features many talented historians & covers important topics that connect our past to the present. Can’t wait to dive in!

Remembering when we got dressed up for our 100th birthday a few years ago.

Every Packer fan right now.

As printed in Douglass’ Monthly, 3/1/1859

Happy Veterans Day.

Absolute garbage game from the Packers offense.

I have never understood why Penn State neglects/can’t figure out basketball. Philly/Pitt, NJ, and NYC are all right there yet they can’t seem to recruit or find a high profile coach who can help.

In HS we went to team camp there. Facilities are amazing. Fan base would eat it up. I don’t get it.

Connecting with history: Program at Comm to highlight Civil War in Northeast Pennsylvania | Abington Journal WAVERLY TWP. — The Waverly Community House (the Comm), 1115 N. Abington Road, will host “Harper’s Weekly War” at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, in the auditorium.

Many thanks to the Abington Journal for highlighting our upcoming program, Harper’s Weekly’s Civil War! www.theabingtonjournal.com/news/113414/...

A Bluesky post about Edwin Booth saving the life of Robert Lincoln illustrated with terrible AI art. AI art is theft and completely soulless and I judge you for using it.

Edwin Booth’s saving of Robert Todd Lincoln at a train depot in 1864 is an interesting story, and I’m all for telling people about it, but don’t use generative AI for your illustrations. Otherwise you get images like this where Robert Lincoln has an extra arm coming out of his ass. #NoAI

The recruiting office for Black soldiers during the Civil War, Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

Just sitting here thinking about what a Benjamin Butler presidency would look like.

Oh my god. My anticipation for the full thing…

- Newspaper clippings from the Sunbury Gazette, 4/30/1864

- Monument photos courtesy of Jake Wynn and the Wynning History blog

(PS CAN YOU IMAGINE A BENJAMIN BUTLER PRESIDENCY??!?!!?) 8/8

Another simply reads, “EMANCIPATION” 7/8

In 1951 the residents of Pottsville added a marker to the town Civil War Monument “IN MEMORY OF THE FIRST DEFENDERS AND NICHOLAS BIDDLE.”

An inscription reads “Love, honor, renown, and lasting remembrance for those who fought for freedom and an imperiled country.” 6/8

Biddle lived in Pottsville until his death in 1876. He is buried in Pottsville’s Bethel AME Church Cemetery. His headstone reads “FIRST TO SHED BLOOD IN CIVIL WAR” 5/8

Biddle returned to Pottsville after the incident, and his story became very well known. So much so that he helped raise money for wounded soldiers at the 1864 Great Central Fair by selling photographs of himself in his militia uniform. 4/8

The Washington Artillerists eventually made it to the Capitol where, at least as lore has it, Abraham Lincoln came across Biddle and asked him to get medical attention.

Biddle refused, as he did not want to leave his men. 3/8

Biddle was hit in the head with a flying brick, wounding him badly.

“This man was the first wounded in the rebellion, by Rebel assault. A remarkable fact this — Slavery was the direct cause of the war, and the first man wounded in the rebellion, by the Rebels, was a negro.” 2/8

🧵1/8

On April 18, 1861 Nicholas Biddle, an escaped enslaved resident of Pottsville, PA, marched through Baltimore with the Washington Artillerists on their way to defend the capital from a rumored rebel attack. While marching, they were attacked by rebel sympathizers.

Can’t wait for this one.

Interesting. Different because we don’t *depend* on hunting but the main reason my dad wanted to buy our cabin was because most of the land he grew up hunting on was either being conserved or privatized in some way.

We had the means to purchase our own land but for many folks that’s not an option.

“…the free living black man, whom Lee would enslave, and the bodies of the dead soldiers whom Lee has killed in a wicked cause.”

“Gen. Robert E. Lee…is fighting to enslave the black man. To accomplish this hellish purpose, he kills the loyal soldiers of the nation and attempts the destruction of the nation’s life…

How appropriate that Lee’s lands should be dedicated to two such noble purposes…”

Batchelor also helped establish Waverly’s Presbyterian Church which first congregated in the house on the left, located right next to Batchelor’s home (right) which is where our walking tour begins.

Happy to see that the Hickory Grove Cemetery Association fixed up Rev. Leonard Batchelor’s headstone, which had fallen off the base and luckily stayed intact.

Batchelor was a radical abolitionist, Underground Railroad participant, and member of the Liberty Party here in Waverly.

Book of the day.

From Hope & Glory: Essays on the Legacy of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment: