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The Civil
War in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania was very
active during the Civil War. She sent troops, made
weapons, and supplied food. Pennsylvania sent 350,000
men to war, including 8,600 African Americans. Many
famous generals called Pennsylvania their home including
George B. McClellan, George G. Meade, John F. Reynolds,
Winfield S. Hancock, and John W. Geary.
Pennsylvania was also
home to some of the Civil War's most infamous battles.
In 1863, Pennsylvania hosted the battle at Gettysburg.
In the first three days of July, the Union Army,
under General Meade, confronted Robert E. Lee and
his forces at Gettysburg in what would become one
of the most infamous battles in United States history.
The Union Army's victorious emergence from this
battle would become a pivoting factor in the direction
of the war. The battle was fought on Pennsylvania
soil, and almost a third of Meade's army was Pennsylvanians.
In 1864, General McCausland and his army advanced
into Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, threatening to
burn down the town unless a ransom was paid. The
citizens refused and the town was burned to the
ground on July 20th, leaving two-thirds of the citizens
homeless.
Women in Post Civil War Pennsyvlania
After the Civil War
opportunities began to improve for Pennsylvania
women, and more and more women got involved in the
suffrage movement. In 1861, America's first school
for nurses opened in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia
emerged as a hotbed of agitation for the suffrage
movement. In 1868 the Pennsylvania Women's Suffrage
Association was organized, and Susan B. Anthony
read her famous "Declaration of Rights" in front
of Independence Hall on July 4, 1876. Pennsylvania
natives, Lucretia Mott, Anne Davies, and Florence
Kelley were all key figures in the suffrage movement.
Post Civil War Immigration
After the Civil War
the country witnessed a change in the makeup of
the population. Before the Civil War the country
was mainly populated with people of Northern European
descent; English, Scottish, Irish and German. After
the War immigrants from southern and eastern Europe
began coming to America in large numbers. This new
wave of immigration is often referred to as "New
Immigration," and it brought Scandinavian, Finn,
Italian, Slavic and Jewish immigrants. Most of these
immigrants who came to Pennsylvania came through
New York first, but Philadelphia was an important
port of entry as well. In the 1870s an immigrant
depot was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. At
the depot the immigrants passed through customs
and boarded trains that took them to jobs and homes
throughout the state. Immigration was an important
factor in the economic and cultural history of Pennsylvania,
especially in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. During
the second half of the 19th century, immigrants
made up between thirteen and sixteen percent of
Pennsylvania's population, but in Philadelphia,
Pittsburg and the anthracite regions, immigrants
comprised twenty-five to thirty percent of the population.
Italian immigration
is a great example of how the New Immigration affected
Philadelphia. Before 1890 the Italian population
in Philadelphia was very small, about 1,656 in the
1880s. However, by 1890 the Italian immigrant population
(including their children) had increased to over
10,000. These numbers continued to rise and by 1910
there were 76,734 Italians living in Philadelphia.
Prior to the 1880s most of the immigrants from Italy
were from the northern regions, but after 1890 the
south of Italy contributed seventy percent of the
immigrants due to a collapse of the southern Italian
economy. Italy did not become a unified country
until after World War I; it existed of regional
states and territorial acquisitions. In turn this
made the allegiance of the immigrants very localized,
which hindered the creation of an Italian national
identity among the immigrants. Regional dialects
existed within the Italian Kingdom, as well as a
difference in religion. Most Italians were Catholic,
but there was a difference in the practice of Catholicism
depending on the region. The northern Italians practiced
a more orthodox Roman Catholicism, where the southern
Italians had a pagan influence and venerated an
array of Saints rather than God. This, in combination
with linguistic and geographical differences, created
a diverse Italian immigrant population. Most of
the immigrants belonged to the working class and
found jobs within the growing industrial economy
of Philadelphia. Textiles, metal products, railroad
building and construction were the largest employers
of Philadelphia's new Italian immigrants.
Slovak immigration
to Pennsylvania is another good example of the New
Immigration. Western Pennsylvania became a popular
destination for Slovak immigrants because of the
industrial growth and the cheap labor it demanded.
Early Slovak immigrants were in search of jobs,
and once a Slovak population was established in
Pennsylvania, more immigrants came to meet up with
friends and family. Word of mouth created a chain
immigration of Slovaks, which was a common theme
among the New Immigrants.
Post Civil War Labor
Pennsylvania's growing
industries and the cheap laborers they employed
made it a hotbed of agitation and the site of some
of labor's biggest strikes. Many Pennsylvanians
formed unions and went on to be leaders of national
labor unions. William Sylvis, from Indiana County,
was a founder of the Iron-Molders International
Union and went on to lead the National Labor Union
in 1868-69. Uriah Stephens of Philadelphia and Terence
Powderly of Scranton were leaders of the Knights
of Labor, the most important national union between
1871 and 1886. From the Civil War until 1877 a secret
group called the Molly Maguires was powerful in
the anthracite region of Pennsylvania. The group
was sympathetic to Irish coal miners but was broken
up by a private anti-union police force in 1877.
Unrest in the coal mines continued and gave rise
to the United Mine Workers Union, a union that grew
to incorporate all mine workers.
With the growth of
labor unions came strikes. Pennsylvania was a part
of some of the most famous strikes in the history
of the nation, such as the Great Railroad Strike
of 1877 and the Homestead Strike of 1892.
Big Business in Pennsylvania
Some of the Gilded
Age's biggest stars got their start in Pennsylvania,
such as Andrew Carnegie, Charles Schwab and John
D. Rockefeller. Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant,
started his career as a telegrapher for the Pennsylvania
Railroad and advanced into management. His success
in the steel industry continued to rise until he
became the name we associate with the rise of big
business in the United States. Charles Schwab, Andrew
Carnegie's manager and owner of Bethlehem Steel,
was a native of Williamsburg Pennsylvania and attended
St. Francis College. Oil joined steel as one of
Pennsylvania's biggest businesses when it was discovered
near Titusville in 1859. John. D Rockefeller's Standard
Oil Company was foremost in the marketing and refining
of Pennsylvania's oil. |
By
Rickie Lazzerini
Historian
BA History
University of California, Santa Barbara
Index
of Historical Reviews
© 2004 Rickie Lazzerini,
All Rights Reserved
This page may be freely linked to but may not
be reproduced
in any form without prior written consent from
the author.
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