Allison-Antrim Museum, 365 South Ridge Avenue, Greencastle, Pennsylvania 17225 will hold its monthly speaker meeting on Thursday, October 12, 2023, in the German Bank Barn beginning at 7 p.m. The facility is wheelchair accessible.
The speaker will be John Hoptak, Historian and Training Specialist at the Gettysburg National Military Park, who will give a PowerPoint presentation on the 54th Mass and 55th Mass – Black regiments raised before the U.S. Colored Troops regiments were established. Many of the men were from Mercersburg who left and made their way to Massachusetts where they signed up for service in the 54th Mass.
Zion Union Cemetery in Mercersburg has 38 men who served in the US Colored Troops, 13 of whom served in the 54th Mass, making it the largest known burial site for the 54th regiment. In 2009, the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission erected a historical marker at the entrance of the Zion Union Cemetery.
Available for sale will be two books The Battle of South Mountain and Confrontation at Gettysburg, both of which were authored by Hoptak.
There is no fee to attend, but donations are greatly accepted toward Allison-Antrim Museum’s annual speaker series. For more information, please call 717-597-9325, visit the website at www.greencastlemuseum.org, or follow us on Facebook at Greencastlemuseum.