Civil War exhibit comes to Donora
A Union Army cap from the Monongahela Historical Society’s archives will be on display when the traveling Civil War museum arrives Friday in Donora.
The Ringgold Cavalry reunion badge worn by Adam Wickerham of Donora, who served as a sergeant during the Civil War.
A portrait of Lt. David Taylor of Waynesburg, a member of the Union Army’s 140th Regiment, can be found in a book belonging to Monongahela Area Historical Society, which loaned it to the special Donora exhibit.
Donora Historical Society member Mark Pawelec holds a collection of Ringgold Cavalry memorabilia that will be on display in the borough, beginning Friday.
DONORA – More than 40 Civil War veterans were buried in the now-overgrown Gilmore Cemetery in Donora, a town that didn’t exist while the nation engaged it the bloodiest battles on U.S. soil.
Donora’s history was written in steel, but that hasn’t stopped the local historical society and library from hosting the Sen. John Heinz History Center’s traveling Civil War exhibit due to arrive in the borough Friday.
“We weren’t a Civil War town,” said Donora Historical Society member Mark Pawelec, adding that’s the reason why it invited other older towns in the Mon Valley to participate in the events surrounding the exhibit.
“We are a Heinz History Center affiliate,” Pawelec said.
The history center has been taking the exhibit, The Civil War in Pennsylvania: 1861-1865 to towns across the region since 2012 to mark the 150th anniversary of the war between the North and South.
The traveling museum has life-sized statues of several people with interesting stories from the war, including that of Strong Vincent, who died from injuries he suffered by enemy fire at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Vincent, who was born in Waterford and served as a colonel, led his soldiers on horseback onto Little Round Top, waving his riding crop and shouting “Don’t give an inch.” He was killed by enemy fire on the second day of the battle, never knowing how important the skirmish was to the Union Army’s victory at Gettysburg.
The Heinz exhibit also has a statue of Dog Jack, the mascot of the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry as a testament to how such pets lifted the spirits of the soldiers.
The history center encourages the towns where it takes the show to put on displays of local Civil War memorabilia and also hold educational or entertainment events to coincide with the visit.
Donora has been gathering such items from Monongahela to Monessen, and it will hold weekend events at the library at 510 McKean Ave. until the exhibit pulls out April 28. Nearly 400 Ringgold School District students are expected to visit during the first two weeks the Heinz items will be in the borough.
Adam Wickerham of neighboring Carroll Township will be among the local Civil War veterans to be highlighted in Donora.
He served in the Ringgold Cavalry, which restored order in what is now known as West Virginia.
The grand opening will feature traditional Civil War-era music by Dawson-based Acoustic Shadows of the Blue and Gray, beginning at 7 p.m. Friday. The festivities will end at 1 p.m. April 25 with presentations by Christopher Sedlak on Union Army uniforms and equipment and Jonathan Stiffy on the Grand Army of the Republic and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
The society’s Donora Smog Museum at 595 McKean Ave. will be open in conjunction with the Heinz museum exhibit, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday in the library’s community room. The Donora museum features exhibits on baseball legend and Donora native Stan Musial, the historic Cement City housing development and the U.S. Steel mill that opened in 1901 about the time Donora was placed on the map.
“We bring people into Donora,” Pawelec said.