EJ Murphy

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:

Samuel Thomas, a formerly enslaved resident of Waverly and member of the 54th is buried here and was a member of Waverly’s integrated GAR post. Nearby Underground Railroad town Montrose had 14 men enlist in the 54th.

A lot of folks don’t know this, but PA is the state most represented in the 54th.

Since there are six guys from Waverly who fought in the 22nd at Petersburg I end up talking about that regiment/the battle a lot.

I’m always ashamed when people ask me if I’ve been there and I have to say no.

Need to get to Petersburg. The 22nd USCT demands it.

As I try to bring the edited collection back to life, another project begins (just a working title)…

At first I didn’t see the linked article and was like, “oh, Reconstruction stuff!”

Alas.

Giving me Michael Scott vibes.

Think I have enough material to put together a whole presentation on the phrase “Sic Semper Tyrannis.”

From a speech by Rev. A.L. Post of Montrose in response to John Brown’s hanging:

“The ghost of Virginia’s State Seal…exclaiming ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis’…has sent terror throughout all Slaverydom.”