Indiana University of Pennsylvania - Indiana, Pennsylvania in the Civil War

About This Collection

The Indiana Pennsylvania in the Civil War Era project includes primary sources including letters, diaries, and modern and historical photographs, now held in the collections of Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Special Collections or the Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County, that document the experience of men and women of Indiana County, PA during the Civil War era. Central to the collection are the papers of the White family including a diary kept by Pennsylvania State Senator Harry White, who fought for the North during the Civil War and was imprisoned in Libby Prison and a number of other prisons across the South; the letters of his father Thomas White, a prominent judge who was involved in the organization of the Republican Party in Pittsburgh; correspondence of Richard White, a brother who also served in the Union Army during the Civil War; and letters to members of the White family from the Pennsylvania governor and high ranking representatives of the federal government. Also included are other diaries of Civil War soldiers from the Indiana County area. Together these primary sources provide a glimpse into the experience of Civil War soldiers and their families at home and political life during the war.