Voices From the Attic: The Williamstown Boys in the Civil War

Imagine clearing out your family attic and discovering an enormous collection of letters written by two soldiers during the Civil War, but not knowing why the letters were there. That's what happened to Carleton Young who has spent more than a decade visiting battlefields and researching the two soldiers as well as other people who appear in the letters. The two brothers were members of the celebrated Vermont Brigade in the 6th Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Carl shares their story of the battles at South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Bristoe Campaign, the Wilderness, Petersburg, and Cedar Creek.

Civil War News called Young's book “a substantial contribution to the genre of first-person Civil War accounts becoming so popular today.” The Vermont History Journal called it “more than another good narrative, the book is an adventure of historical research and discovery.” The Western Pennsylvania History Journal said that the book “offers a deeply interesting look into two detailed experiences of the war which explore the battles as well as life in between.

NOTE: You can enjoy this event in-person or virtually!

Carleton Young has undergraduate degrees in economics from Westminster College and in English from Point Park University, an MA in history from Ohio University, and his PhD in the history of education from the University of Pittsburgh. For 37 years he taught AP American history at Thomas Jefferson High School. He has also taught classes as an adjunct professor at the Community College of Allegheny County, the University of Pittsburgh, Eastern Gateway Community College, and in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. As a result of the publication of his book, Voices From the Attic, he has been invited to provide programs for more than 250 different organizations around the country.