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Pittsburgh And The Civil War

Of course it is widely known that the Civil War touched almost every part of the south and also we all know about the major battle of Gettysburg two hundred miles away from our fair city. But when people think of and study the Civil War Pittsburgh is not brought up all that often except for the mention of the men that Pittsburgh sent to the war. If one does a little bit of research they will find that Pittsburgh played a large and integral part of the Union war effort. This is no more evident then if you study the old Allegheny Arsenal that once sat in what is now the Lawrenceville part of the city. There were other ties to the Civil War in Pittsburgh as well such as the home guard unit, the earthwork forts built in fear of a Confederate invasion. Also people overlook the 118 confederate soldiers which were part of the famous Morgan’s raiders that were held at the Western Pennsylvania State Penitentiary and the eight Confederate Calvary men that will remain on “enemy” territory forever, buried in Uniondale cemetery.
. The impact that Pittsburgh had on the rebellion started even before the attack on Fort Summter. In 1860 when John Buchann Floyd who was the Secretary of War under President James Buchanan and also a southern sympathizer ordered the Commandant of the Allegheny Arsenal to ship a large number of ordnance immediately to southern parts of the country the people of Pittsburgh were enraged. The south had not yet taken up arms, yet the people of Pittsburgh found these orders from Floyd, who was from the south, less then honorable and staged a “revolt” of there own in order to ensure the cannon in question would not be taken away.

Is it not enough that we are to be sold out by secessionists, - the Administration would bind us hand and foot, deprive us of arms and deliver us neck and heels to the traitors who would destroy the union! It has already ordered one hundred and twenty four heavy guns from our Allegheny Arsenal to Far South, - not to...