Nationally important historical documents contained in a scrapbook complied by Judge Charles McKenna

You can adopt this important artifact, saving it for future generations, for $2,500.00.

Charles McKenna was a Civil War veteran serving in the 155^th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, becoming a lawyer after the war and later being appointed to a Federal judgeship. McKenna was an advocate for Civil War veterans, a member of the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Commission, a major contributor to the publication of the 155^th PA. regimental history and served on the committee that founded and oversaw Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.

As a way to record facts, McKenna compulsively cut and pasted newspaper articles and documents into a series of scrapbooks, several of which are in the collection of Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum. One volume, titled by McKenna “War Scrap”, has articles and correspondence related to the Civil War. In its’ pages are rare ephemerae related to reunions of the 155^th as well as dedication programs for the regiments’ monument at Gettysburg.

A few letters written during the war are pasted onto the scrapbook pages, one is a drawing from life of a soldier wearing the Zouave uniform issued to the regiment in 1864, the other a letter written by McKenna to the parents of a friend killed while on advance picket duty. It was McKenna who found his comrade, appearing to be asleep, killed by a bullet through his head while in a prone position. The soldier was carefully laid to rest by McKenna and fellow soldiers, the letter was a description of his death including a hand drawn map of where their son lay so his parents might recover the body.

After the war, McKenna corresponded with some former commanders of the Union Army under whom he served. There are documents from at least 3 former generals, responses to letters McKenna had written to them. One in particular is from the former commander of the Army of the Potomac, Major General George B. McClellan, dated March 5, 1885. In the letter to McKenna, McClellan responds to an inquiry about the identities of subjects in the photo of McClellan taken at Antietam Battlefield in 1862. The image shows a number of Union officers including McClellan standing outside his command headquarters tent alongside President Lincoln. The image is considered as one of the most famous of the Civil War.

McClellan answers McKenna by naming each person in the picture. Historians have long known most of the personalities, but a few have remained unknown. This is the only known key to their identity, the first time for some, and more importantly being authored by McClellan himself, making this letter a nationally important document.

Adopting this scrapbook would enable a paper conservator to remove the glue holding selected pieces to fragile pages, treating pieces separately, the result being each will be preserved and may be handled individually within acid free sleeves.