In the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania, the Civil War unfolded far from the front lines, yet touched every colliery, town, and household.
Anthracite coal from the Coal Region powered the U.S. Navy, fired Northern factories, and kept the Union war machine moving – making these patch towns and villages as vital as any battlefield.
Yet while sons and neighbors marched off to fight for the Union, unrest simmered at home. Antiwar politics surged through mining villages. Draft resistance flared. State and federal troops occupied communities not only to enforce conscription, but to suppress strikes and labor organizing as wartime profits flooded the region.
This program explores the Coal Region’s divided home front – where patriotism, profit, coercion, and class conflict collided beneath the shadow of the coal breaker and the American flag.
Jake Wynn is a public historian and tourism marketing professional. He currently serves as the Senior Marketing and Communications Manager for Visit Frederick, the Destination Marketing Organization for Frederick County, Maryland. He previously served as the Director of Interpretation at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum. He writes about Coal Region history at wynninghistory.com and facebook.com/wynninghistory. He is also a founding contributor to the Pennsylvania in the Civil War blog. He is a native of Williamstown, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Frederick, Maryland.