(CIVIL WAR PENNSYLVANIA) John R McKinney A college student

Sale 2675 - Lot 108

Unsold

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200

(CIVIL WAR--PENNSYLVANIA.) John R. McKinney. A college student enlists in the militia to defend Pennsylvania from Lee's invasion. Autograph Letter Signed, 9½ x 7¾ inches; short tape repairs at folds, lacking integral blank. Canonsburg, PA, 18 June 1863

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

As Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia headed northward in June 1863, Pennsylvanians did not know exactly where the raid was headed. Lee raided Martinsburg, WV on 14 June. Four days later, this letter was written by John Reynolds McKinney (1845-1876) of Peoria, IL, who was then attending Jefferson College (now part of Washington & Jefferson College) in western Pennsylvania south of Pittsburg.

"I suppose before this you have heard of the advance of the rebel forces upon Hagerstown & Pittsburg. All is in excitement here. Martial law is proclaimed throughout this & adjoining counties. The rebels have defeated our men at Martinsburg about fifty or sixty miles south of this place, and are advancing towards Pittsburg. A company consisting of eighty of the students, myself among the number, have been organized and have been drilling a greater [part] of today. We will march to Pittsburg or Wheeling, we are not certain which, tomorrow afternoon. After reaching there we will receive muskets & very probably advance immediately against the rebs. The college will be suspended for the present. I have enlisted as a private. I will after all have the extreme pleasure of shooting at a rebel. I don't know how long I may be away, so good by. This is written in greatest haste & under intense excitement. I am &c. &c, Jno. R. McKinney."

McKinney served in the 55th Pennsylvania Emergency Militia. An endorsement on verso of this letter reads "Don't you think an effort should be made to get him released. I. S. Ch.," suggesting that family members tried to rescue young McKinney from his folly. He returned to graduate from Jefferson in 1865, and became a lumber dealer in Illinois.