Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

was a thriving and important city during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, and provided a significant source of personnel, war materiel, armament, ammunition, and supplies to the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

. Situated at the confluence of the Monongahela, Allegheny and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

rivers, Pittsburgh was an important transportation hub for both riverine and rail transport, as well as overland via its system of roads.

Production of material

The

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ar ...

iron industry in

had thrived, fueled by access to

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

, and other raw materials, as well as transportation routes to get the iron to markets. In 1859, the Clinton and Soho iron furnaces introduced coke-fired

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

to the region. Within three years, the growing needs of the military effort during the Civil War had boosted the city's economy with increased production of iron and armaments, especially at the

Allegheny Arsenal The Allegheny Arsenal, established in 1814, was an important supply and manufacturing center for the Union Army during the American Civil War, and the site of the single largest civilian disaster during the war. It was located in the community of ...

and the

Fort Pitt Foundry The Fort Pitt Foundry was a nineteenth-century iron foundry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally established at Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street in 1804 by Joseph McClurg, grandfather of Joseph W. McClurg, and his son Alex McClurg, ...

. Arms manufacture included

ironclad An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...

warships and the world's first 21" heavy artillery gun. By war's end, over one-half of the

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

and more than one-third of all U.S. glass was produced in Pittsburgh. During the war, Pittsburgh's heavy industry provided significant quantities of weapons and ammunition. The Fort Pitt Foundry made mammoth iron castings for giant siege

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

s and

mortars Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a villag ...

, among the largest guns in the world. One of the largest was a 20-inch bore

Rodman Gun Drawing comparing Model 1844 8-inch columbiad and Model 1861 10-inch "Rodman" columbiad. The powder chamber on the older columbiad is highlighted by the red box. The Rodman gun is any of a series of American Civil War–era columbiads designed by ...

, a large black powder, smoothbore, muzzle-loading coastal defense gun. The foundry produced 1,193 guns (15 percent of the total U.S. wartime artillery production) and almost 200,000 artillery projectiles. Other prominent Pittsburgh area factories included Singer, Nimick and Co. (maker of 3" Ordnance rifles) and Smith, Park and Co., which produced more than 300,000 projectiles. Pittsburgh industries collectively manufactured 10 percent of the total U.S. wartime production of artillery rounds. The Allegheny Arsenal was the primary military manufacturing facility for

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

accoutrements, as well as saddles and other cavalry equipment. In addition, the sprawling factory produced as many as 40,000 bullets and cartridges every day (more than 14 million per year), supplying between 5 and 10 percent of the Army's annual small arms ammunition requirements. A significant explosion on the afternoon of September 17, 1862 (coincidentally on the same day as the

Battle of Antietam The Battle of Antietam (), or Battle of Sharpsburg particularly in the Southern United States, was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Union G ...

in central

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

), killed 78 factory workers, mostly young women. Five ''Ellet''-class

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

s were converted from civilian towboats at Pittsburgh. In addition, four ironclads were built from the keel up—the USS ''Manayunk'', ''Marietta'', ''Sandusky'', and ''Umpqua''. Pittsburgh's rolling mills supplied the armor for many of the ironclads that were built in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

for the

Union Navy ), (official) , colors = Blue and gold , colors_label = Colors , march = , mascot = , equipment = , equipment_label ...

. The city's 110-year run of hosting a major

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for th ...

can be traced to the oil traded at Pittsburgh during the war with the creation of Thurston's Oil Exchange on Fourth Avenue,

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Defending Pittsburgh

Both

Morgan's Raid Morgan's Raid was a diversionary incursion by Confederate cavalry into the Union states of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia during the American Civil War. The raid took place from June 11 to July 26, 1863, and is named for the commander ...

from the west and Jones-Imboden Raid from the south came within a day's march of the city before being captured or forced to retreat. Concerned that the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

might target Pittsburgh for invasion, the

U.S. War Department The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

established the Department of the Monongahela to provide a formal Federal military presence in Western Pennsylvania during the Gettysburg Campaign, with departmental headquarters in Pittsburgh. The Army dispatched Maj. Gen. William T. H. Brooks to organize the defenses of Pittsburgh. Brooks authorized the construction of several miles of earthworks and a series of small forts to control access to the city. He suspended liquor sales, and put the citizenry to work digging trenches and erecting forts. Bars and saloons were asked to close but many refused. Among these bastions was

Fort Robert Smalls Fort Robert Smalls was a Civil War redoubt built by free blacks for the defense of Pittsburgh in 1863. It was named in honor of Robert Smalls, a man who escaped from slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina with his crew and their families by capturin ...

, a

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although some are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldi ...

built by free blacks on McGuire's Hill at the mouth of Becks Run in Arlington Heights. Another of these emergency fortifications was the circular earthwork known as Fort Laughlin, constructed by the employees of

Jones and Laughlin Steel The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and Benjamin Franklin Jones, a few miles (c 4 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in ...

on '' Ormsby's Hill'', now part of Arlington Park on Arlington Avenue. It was also known as ''Fort McKinley'' or ''Fort Ormsby''. Concurrent with Fort Laughlin, Jones and Laughlin Steel employees constructed Fort Jones, named for the mill's co-owner, Benjamin Franklin Jones . Fort Jones occupied the top of a hill in Mount Oliver. It was sometimes known as ''Fort Jackson'', in honor of Brig. Gen.

Conrad Feger Jackson Conrad Feger Jackson (September 11, 1813 – December 13, 1862) was a businessman and soldier from the state of Pennsylvania. He served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was killed in action during the ...

, killed in the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsi ...

, Virginia, in December 1862. There was also Fort Black, in Greenfield.

Notable leaders from Pittsburgh

The greater Pittsburgh area was the birthplace or long-time residence of several Union army and navy officers, as well as some leading politicians of the era. Image:Alexander Hays.jpg, Image:FJHerron.jpg, Image:Benjamin H Grierson.JPG, Image:James Scott Negley.jpg, Image:JMCorse.jpg, Image:Alexander_Murray_(1816-1884).jpg, Image:Samuel Young.jpg, Image:TWilliams-PA.jpg, Other important personalities of the Civil War born in the immediate Pittsburgh area included Col.

Daniel Leasure Daniel Leasure (March 18, 1819 – October 10, 1886) was an American soldier and physician who served as a colonel and brigade commander in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life Leasure was born in 1819 near Pittsburgh in W ...

, Congressman

Robert McKnight Robert McKnight (January 20, 1820 – October 25, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who represented Pennsylvania's 22nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1859 to 1863. Early life and educati ...

, industrialist William Metcalf, and Brig. Gen. Thomas A. Rowley. Among the recipients of the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

for gallantry in action during the war were Alexander Kelly, a free black who fought in the 6th

U.S.C.T. The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...

The

mayors of Pittsburgh The mayor of Pittsburgh is the chief executive of the government of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Pittsburgh. This article is a listing of past (and present) mayors of Pittsburgh. ...

during the Civil War were George Wilson (1860–62), Benair C. Sawyer (1862–64), and James Lowry, Jr. (1864–1866).

Civil War attractions in Pittsburgh

The

Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum (or often simply Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall) is a National Register of Historic Places landmark in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the largest memorial in the United States ded ...

is a

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

landmark. It is the largest memorial in the United States dedicated solely to honoring all branches of military veterans and service personnel. In 2014 a small park was proposed on

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...

overlooking

Saw Mill Run Saw Mill Run is a tributary of the Ohio River in Pennsylvania. It is an urban stream, and lies entirely within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The stream enters the Ohio just downstream from the Forks of the Ohio in Pittsburgh, at a place that ...

where remains of earthwork defenses can still be seen. The

National Aviary The National Aviary, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only independent indoor nonprofit aviary in the United States. It is also the country's largest aviary, and the only one accorded honorary "National" statu ...

is the site of the Civil war Western State Penitentiary, built in 1826, and torn down in 1882. This was famous as a concentration camp for prisoners of war. The exterior resembled a Norman castle, with walls three feet thick, laid out as an octagon, resembling a wagon wheel. The inmates labored in solitary confinement, working at sewing clothes and uniforms (female inmates) and making shoes (male inmates), all in silence with minimal human contact. The penitentiary contained 190 solitary confinement cells, each measuring eight by twelve feet.

Notes

References

* Boucher, John Newton, ''A Century and a Half of Pittsburg and Her People'', The Lewis Publishing Company, 1908. * Meislik, Miriam, and Galloway, Ed
"History of Pittsburgh,"
Society of American Archivists Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999. * Thurston, George H., ''Allegheny County's Hundred Years'', Pittsburgh: A. A. Anderson Son, 1888. {{U.S. cities in the Civil War U.S. cities in the American Civil War

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...