The legacy of Black Civil War soldiers should never be forgotten. "Four regiments that were trained here at Camp William Penn were sent to Texas when the war came to an end," Paradis said.

Even though the Civil War has been thoroughly studied for over 160 years, new discoveries are still being made. Last spring, a Civil War-era cannonball was found in the backyard of a Virginia home.

I wrote for The Telegraph a column titled “Grand Army of the Republic’s legacy lives on.” It dealt with the Parrott Rifle, sometimes called “the cemetery cannon,” which sits in Alton Cemetery. The ...