Cheltenham Township will host “Come and Join Us Brothers: The Legacy of Camp William Penn” on Thursday, February 13 at 7:30pm at Curtis Hall in Wyncote.

From the event’s description:

Join us for a presentation on Camp William Penn, the USCT Civil War training camp located in the La Mott neighborhood of Cheltenham. La Mott, a nearby Philadelphia suburb across Cheltenham Avenue from West Oak Lane, is a historic district that dates back to the Civil War and the site of the first training center for African American volunteers in the U.S. Army. The soldiers who passed through Camp William Penn, beginning instruction in May, 1863, fought in all major battles in 1864 and 1865. After the surrender of the Confederate Army in the East, several of the camp’s graduates’ regiments were transferred to Texas where they participated in the emancipation of 250,000 people there, commemorated as Juneteenth, the federal holiday observed on June 19. The story of how it came to be closely follows the understanding of African American civil rights as it evolved over the course of the war.

Edward Duffy is the author of “Philadelphia – A Railroad History,” (Camino Books, 2013) and “Philadelphia Celebrates – Three Great Anniversaries – 1876-1926-1976,” (Camino Books, 2017). He is a frequent contributor to the online magazine Hidden City Philadelphia where he has written articles on Camp William Penn and the origins of the All Wars Memorial on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. He is a graduate of La Salle and Temple Universities.

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Image: Cheltenham Township