James Skidmore, born on April 12, 1830 in Hardy County, West Virginia, today enlists in the Fifty-First Illinois. Though a relatively young 31 years of age, Skidmore’s life to this point has been filled with sorrow. He married Rebecca C. McBee in Hardy County in 1852. In 1856 the couple moved, with their three children,…
Today Rev. Mark R. Watkinson, troubled by brother killing brother in the Civil War that has now continued for longer than many imagined, writes a letter to Salmon P. Chase. Watkinson is pastor of the The First Particular Baptist church of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania (later renamed Prospect Hill Baptist Church). Few outside of Pennsylvania have heard…
As the days turn colder, southern concern for soldiers’ health grows. Soldiers are anxious about illness in their midst, while family and friends on the home front fret about disease and illness among loved one. As Confederate soldiers serve far from homes and hearths and suffer travails, patriotic appeals for assistance from residents in the…