McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School (1864 - c.1890)

McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School was founded November 23, 1864 in McAlisterville, Juniata Co., Pennsylvania as a school to receive orphan and half-orphan children who lost a family member or their family to the American Civil War. In it's time, it housed and educated over seven hundred orphaned children from McAlisterville and surrounding townships. The school was the first of its kind and quickly became one of the more well-known orphan schools in Pennsylvania. Over the years, the school grew and need more room to house all the children enlisted. The school quickly became one of the more costly projects of it's time.

Sitting in the center of McAlisterville, Pennsylvania was a three-story building originally built in 1856 by a local stock company. Two years later, a man named George F. McFarland, bought the three-story building, and converted it into the McAlisterville Academy. By the Fall of 1862, the Civil War was well underway, and the McAlisterville Academy had grown to be a well-known academy with a large class attendance. With the war at hand, McFarland called together all the teachers in the academy to fight and serve for the Union cause. In Autumn of 1862, McFarland and the teachers of McAlisterville Academy enlisted in Harrisburg, PA becoming part of the 151st Pennsylvania Infantry nicknamed "The Schoolteachers' Regiment". After the Battle of Gettysburg, Colonel McFarland, who was badly wounded, reopened McAlisterville Academy for the first time since the Fall of 1862. It remained a public academy until the Fall of 1864 when Dr. Burrowes (the superintendent of Soldiers' Orphan Schools in Pennsylvania), asked Colonel McFarland to turn it into a Orphan's School for the children left either orphaned or half-orphaned by the war. Officially on November 23, 1864, McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School was found and enlisting orphans from McAlisterville and other surrounding townships.

The McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School was the first soldiers' orphan school in Pennsylvania to open up after the Civil War. It's original intention was to serve as an missionary institution. It quickly changed after the overwhelming amount of orphans enlisted to become a school that would house and educate them. Based off of the school's pupil records, it housed and educated over seven hundred orphaned and half-orphaned children (approximately 394 boys and 312 girls). With the increase number of children enrolled, the more the school had to grow. It quickly became one of the more costly projects of its time. Many of the projects, like building a brand new kitchen, purchasing more desks for the children, and the construction of additional buildings put the school into deep debt. In July of 1866, the school made even further expansion by purchasing 22 acres of land, and constructing a four-story additional academy. Even with the costly projects, the school was known for the discipline, intelligence, and appearance of its pupils. One of the highlights of the school's history happened on July 27, 1865 when the children got to go to the court-house in Mifflin, Pennsylvania with Dr. Burrowes to accompany him to the first ever concert. It was in that concert in front of a large audience where Dr. Burrowes gave an explanation of the purpose of the soldier's orphan school and some of the pupils got to give patriotic speeches or sing songs of the war for the audience. Almost a year later in March of 1866, the McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School was one of the three orphan schools selected to go to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to persuade the Legislature to continue to support soldiers' orphan schools in Pennsylvania. The legacy and impact McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School left on the orphans, teachers, and staff that worked there during it's time left a lasting impression on their lives. Many of the orphans and half orphans that attended the school were said to have been well disciplined for life's duties and better citizens.

The McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School is no longer standing and what remained was an old dormitory building that underwent renovation in the late 1960s and was last pictured in 2003 by the Juniata Co. Historical Society. In the Lost Creek Presbyterian Cemetery in McAlisterville, Pennsylvania a marker lies that commemorates all the Soldiers' Orphans of McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School.

Bair, Sarah D. Making Good on a Promise: The Education of Civil War Orphans in Pennsylvania, 1863-1893. Edition 4. Volume 51. Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Written to talk about the struggles individual state governments had to deal with after the Civil War, this book speaks of one of the many issues: what to do with all the struggling families and orphaned children who were left after the War ended. The author provides excellent accounts of how the Pennsylvania state government dealt with the number of orphan and half orphaned children in the state. The author takes on writing about how the state of Pennsylvania embraced orphaned children in two different ways; one was through education and the other through child welfare. The author is an associate professor at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and the school is rich in Civil War history. This book is particularly important to address the importance of education that orphan schools were essentially created for. I found this book online using Cambridge University Press Release. I searched for the terms Pennsylvania, Orphan School, and Education. 

Greer, John M. Report of Investigation of McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School. Pennsylvania. Edwin K. Meyers, State Printer.

This report was written after an investigation was conducted at the McAlisterville Soldiers' Orphan School. The investigation was conducted after a young student decided he would play a prank on his classmates and he went so far with his prank that an official investigation was called to look into what was happening at the school. The report eventually lists how they found out he was pranking his classmates and the school's staff. Even with it starting as a investigation into a student's prank, this report gives a great in depth look into the school and it's operation. It also includes first hand accounts from the teachers and staff who worked there. This report is so important for understanding the school, and it's operation. I found this report online through searching McAlisterville School of Orphans Reports.

Marten, James. Children and Youth During the Civil War Era. New York. NYU Press, 2012.

This book was written to give an overview of how important children were in the age of the American Civil War. The author begins by stating how during the time of the American Civil War, children and teenagers (16 years and younger) made up more than half of the population. This book goes into talking about how children viewed big issues (i.e. slavery, politics, the states division) and how some found themselves standing at the front lines of many battles. This book was important to my research, because it gave me a sense of what children's lives looked like during the Civil War. I found this book by searching children and the civil war.

Paul, James Laughery. Pennsylvania's Soldiers' Orphan Schools . Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen, and Haffelfinger, 1876 .

This book was written to give an overview description of each Civil War Orphan School in the state of Pennsylvania from firsthand accounts and sketches from that time period. The author included important documentation such as lists of staff names, people associated with the school, and pupils attendance records. The author speaks of the start of each school, how they operated, what education was offered at each school, and life was like for the orphans that attend the school. The author himself was the Chief Clerk of the Orphan School Department of Pennsylvania and closely associated with each of the orphan schools in the state. This book is especially important since it comes from a source that was closely associated with the schools and their operations. I found this book online using a digital archive. I searched the terms Pennsylvania, McAlisterville, Orphans, and Civil War. This book was the first work presented to me when I began my research. 

Pennsylvania, Commission of Soldiers' Orphan School. Inspection Report of Soldiers’ Orphan Schools (Roll 5974). Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, 1886.

This report speaks of the conditions at ten different orphan schools in the state of Pennsylvania. The reports were meant to look at what was going on overall at the schools including lists of deaths, sickness, disease, teachers, students, finance, and education. The reports are based off of an annual examination that had to be done periodically (this specific report was done in May 1886). The reporter included accounts of meeting different orphans and their views on their education and life at the school. This report is important to look at and see what was going on at the schools, how the orphans felt, and see the list of reports from each school. I found this report online through digital archives. I searched using the terms McAlisterville School of Orphans, Orphan Life, and Reports. This was the second work presented to me in my search of Orphan Schools in Pennsylvania. 

Schwartz, Marcie. Trading Rulers for Rifles: The Schoolteachers Regiment, American Battlefield Trust. Accessed March 28th, 2023. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/trading-rulers-rifles-schoolteachers-regiment.

This source was written to give readers a sense of the 151st Pennsylvania Infantry (otherwise known as "The Schoolteachers' Regiment") and their service during the American Civil War. This source also gave great insight into Colonel McFarland and his service during the War. This source also has great photos and maps to further detail the article. I found this source by searching 151st Pennsylvania Regiment. This was the first source listed that talk about the regiment, it's background, and there service during the Civil War.