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.

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

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

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.

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.