The Civil War and Concord
One hundred and fifty years ago, on April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, ending the war between the North and South. To commemorate the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, our museum has some exhibits that highlight the part Concord Township played in that conflict.
The Society has an original photo of the horse that carried Major Frederick Cushman Newhall, of Philadelphia, when he escorted General Grant to the Court House, on behalf of General Sheridan. This photo included a narrative in the frame, which explained the importance of the horse.
The “Concordville Rifles”, Company D of the Pa 97th Regiment, was formed in 1861 with 50 men from the local area. This Company was part of the reinforcements sent to Fort Wagner, South Carolina, but found only dead and wounded members of the 54th US Colored Troops Regiment. The movie Glory is based on this battle.
Pennsylvania was the 2nd northern state in number of troops in this war, at 362,000, suffering a lost of 10%. William Palmer, of a prominent local Quaker family dating to the 17th century, joined the 16th Regiment Pa Militia, Company D, under Colonel Joseph Willcox, of another prominent local family dating to 1720. Of the letters Palmer sent home, he writes to his father “I have a little time to spare this morning and I thought that I would write a few lines to thee and let thee know where we are and how are getting along, … there are about four thousand militia from Penn encamped here… Jackson’s army is about 15 miles from here. McClellan’s army is situated directly between us and them about 10 miles from us.
August 2015
