A coffee table book - Photographs of the Officers of Camp William Penn - the first and largest training camp for United States colored Troops (USCT) during the American Civil War

Camp William Penn, established in 1863, was the largest federal facility to train black Northern-based soldiers during the Civil War and is steeped in Civil War history. Almost 11,000 troops and officers trained at the sprawling facility outside of Philadelphia and a special officersAa' training school in the city. The camp, backed by the Union League of Philadelphia, was located near the home of antislavery abolitionist Lucretia Mott. The area, today known as Cheltenham TownshipAa's LaMott, was also instrumental in the Underground Railroad, with such great abolitionists as Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass addressing the troops. The soldiers were a part of Abraham LincolnAa's Bureau of United States Colored Troops, and several earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroics during battle. The vintage photographs in Camp William Penn were obtained from government agencies, universities, historical organizations, and the personal collections of soldiersAa' descendants.

Pictures of the officers of the 11 regiments that were trained at Camp William Penn soldiers as well as a picture of their gravestone

The first Civil War facility to exclusively train federal black soldiers Philadelphia and Camp William Penn hosted the greatest anti-slavery abolitionists and Underground Railroad of that century Over 130 rare images

After two years of vicious warfare, the North was reeling. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, and a group of prominent Philadelphia businessmen pledged themselves to support the Union and President Lincoln without reservation. Mostly of Quaker beliefs and long-time supporters of abolition, the group formed a patriotic club named the Union League. Next, they took on the task of raising colored regiments and establishing Camp William Penn, the first Federal training ground for colored troops. This is the story of that valiant enterprise.

Emilie Davis was a free African American woman who lived in Philadelphia during the Civil War. She worked as a seamstress, attended the Institute for Colored Youth, and was an active member of her community. She lived an average life in her day, but what sets her apart is that she kept a diary. Her daily entries from 1863 to 1865 touch on the momentous and the mundane: she discusses her own and her community’s reactions to events of the war, such as the Battle of Gettysburg, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the assassination of President Lincoln, as well as the minutiae of social life in Philadelphia’s black community. Her diaries allow the reader to experience the Civil War in “real time” and are a counterpoint to more widely known diaries of the period. Judith Giesberg has written an accessible introduction, situating Davis and her diaries within the historical, cultural, and political context of wartime Philadelphia. In addition to furnishing a new window through which to view the war’s major events, Davis’s diaries give us a rare look at how the war was experienced as a part of everyday life—how its dramatic turns and lulls and its pervasive, agonizing uncertainty affected a northern city with a vibrant black community.

The Civil War stands vivid in the collective memory of the American public. There has always been a profound interest in the subject, and specifically the participation of black Americans in and reactions to the war and the war's outcome. Almost 200,000 African-American soldiers fought for the Union in the Civil War. Although most were illiterate ex-slaves, several thousand were well-educated, free black men from the northern states. The 176 letters in this collection were written by black soldiers in the Union army during the Civil War to black and abolitionist newspapers. They provide a unique expression of the black voice that was meant for a public forum. The letters tell of the men's experiences, their fears and their hopes. They describe in detail their army days - the excitement of combat and the drudgery of digging trenches. Some letters give vivid descriptions of battle; others protest against racism; still others call eloquently for civil rights. Many describe their conviction that they are fighting not only to free the slaves but to earn equal rights as citizens. These letters give an extraordinary picture of the war and also reveal the bright expectations, hopes, and ultimately the demands that black soldiers had for the future - for themselves and for their race. As first-person documents of the Civil War, the letters are strong statements of the American dream of justice and equality, and of the human spirit.

In the 19th Century a saloon was any establishment that provided food or drink. The Volunteer Refreshment Saloons served no alcohol. What they did dispense was coffee and heaping plates of food as good as the best hotels to the passing Union soldiers. These spontaneous gatherings of Southwark neighbors built two organizations, the Cooper Shop and the Union Refreshment Saloon, which operated throughout the Civil War and several months past its end as the soldiers returned home. Besides food, they provided fresh water for washing, reading and writing materials, and hospital care. This is the story of the people of the Philadelphia Saloons and their "grand and noble works" to support the Union cause.