The CWRT of Eastern PA met on April 6th via Zoom and heard a presentation centering on Sam Wilkeson (pronounced Wilks-son), the New York Times reporter who came to Gettysburg on the final day, and found that his son had been critically (eventually mortally) wounded on the first day of the battle.
He spoke of the human drama of war, using not only the Wilkesons, but the illustration of a family encountered when he was at the battlefield on assignment from USA Today, These descendants of Myron Clark, had the young man’s diary, and were retracing his footsteps before his own fatal wound from a cannonball. They wondered how their family might have been changed, if this promising young man had survived.
He drew parallels between the factors influencing the Civil War with our own times, including the technology then (telegraph) and today (internet and social media) both of which significantly multiplied the speed at which news was disseminated.
He also touched on the partisan aspects of news reporting, not only in the 21st Century , but in the 19th Century of Civil War times.
His book - Imperfect Union: A Father's Search for His Son in the Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg - will be available in paperback later in April 2021.