On April 6, 1784, in the county courthouse in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Board of Trustees of the fledgling Dickinson College met and asked two of its members, John Dickinson and Benjamin Rush, to devise a seal for the college.
Carlisle historian Ruth Hodge, representing the African-American community of Carlisle, was actively involved in the discussion about renaming Carlisle High School's West Building. She had several individuals in mind who qualified for the honor, but when requested to pick just one name, she had no difficulty in narrowing the selection to the late Emma Thompson McGowan, a teacher in the Carlisle school system for almost thirty years.
An account of the occupation and shelling of the town of Carlisle by units of the Confederate Army ten days before was printed in the Carlisle American Volunteer on July 9, 1863, in the Carlisle Herald on the following day, July 10, and in the Carlisle American on July 15. The author was S. K. Donavin.
Referred to in newspapers as “Red” Jackson, he was most likely born in Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia). He served in the military during the Civil War, company and regiment unknown. At some point after his service, he married and lived with his wife and two stepsons in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He worked for a Dr. S. B.
William Jackson, son of Henry Jackson and Pheobie Gaines, was born in Pennsylvania in 1831. Jackson enlisted in the 127th Regiment of the United States Colored Troops around 1864, but little is known about his military service. Post War- Jackson settled in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. According to the 1870 census he was illiterate, worked as a coal miner and was married. At the age of 85 on April 9th, 1916, Jackson died due to chronic interstitial nephritis, and was buried at Union Cemetery in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The life of Jacob Fought, Carlisle tavern keeper and blacksmith, during the five years following the end of the War of 1812, serves as a microcosm of that period. It was a time of economic expansion followed by depression, of rising then plummeting cotton prices, and of a land boom that accompanied American westward migration followed by rapidly dropping real estate values.