Kevin Mearkle is a Bedford County native with an interest in Civil War history. He found more than 4,200 soldiers connected to the area during his four years of research. Courtesy photo

A local historian’s passion for the Civil War inspired him to explore its connection to his native Bedford County, which he discovered has deep roots in the historic conflict between the Union and Confederate states.

Kevin Mearkle began his project four years ago, when he went to the Bedford County Historical Society in search of lists of soldiers from the area. No one there had that information, he said, so he took matters into his own hands to unearth the names and stories of local soldiers.

Mearkle used tools like ancestry.com and military archives to compile information for his book, “Civil War Soldiers of Bedford County Pennsylvania,” which was published last August.

“I really didn’t know where to start,” Mearkle said. “The more I researched it through different avenues, I eventually (found) over 4,200 soldiers. The more I looked, the more I found.”

Mearkle said there were challenges along the way, as much of the information he sought was scarcely documented.

“The record-keeping during the Civil War was notoriously spotty,” Mearkle said. “Records were lost, not kept; one of the biggest challenges was that records didn’t always include where the soldiers were from. Often, it would show where they enlisted, so people from Bedford County could have enlisted in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, some in the Maryland regiments, so that was one of the biggest challenges with the book — the lack of records on where soldiers actually lived.”

Mearkle said one of the biggest surprises was the number of photographs available of local Civil War veterans. His book includes more than 700 photographs of veterans from Bedford County.

Mearkle even expanded his research into neighboring areas like Claysburg, Woodbury and Broad Top.

For Mearkle, the experience delving into the area’s rich Civil War history was fruitful and fulfilling.

“Honestly, it’s been a humbling experience,” Mearkle said. “The more I started looking into information and the stories of some of these soldiers and what they and their families sacrificed — it was rewarding.”

Though a vast majority of soldiers from the area fought for the Union, surprisingly, Mearkle said, a handful were on the Confederate side. One soldier even left the Confederates to join the Union Army.

William Raley Albright was living in Londonderry Township in Bedford County when he joined a Virginia militia under Stonewall Jackson at the beginning of the war, Mearkle said. Albright deserted the Confederate army and enlisted in the 18th Pennsylvania Cavalry in 1863 and fought for the Union army in Gettysburg. His name is engraved on the Pennsylvania State Monument in Gettysburg.

“It’s almost a hard to believe story, but is well documented,” Mearkle said. “There is also a picture of him in the book in his Union army uniform taken during the war.”

In total, Mearkle said, there were 11 identified Confederate soldiers who lived in Bedford County. Most of them moved there from southern states after the war due to a crippled economy in the South.

Barbara Miller of the Bloody Run Historical Society helped Mearkle with the research process.

“It was right during COVID and no one was going anywhere,” Miller said. “I met him at the high school at a wrestling match; I hadn’t seen him in years. He told me he was writing a book, and I said, ‘Come to my house.’ I have lots of Civil War stuff. I had saved all the stuff I had accumulated, and he spent many hours going through all my stuff, and I started researching more for him. It was a great experience. I’m just really into history.”

“She was really helpful with the project and finding old newspaper articles and the information on her family,” Mearkle said.

For Mearkle and Miller, the research was even more meaningful because both have ancestors who fought in the war.

“It was just so exciting to learn about families that lost soldiers,” Miller said.

A trip to an Everett cemetery yielded even more information. Miller found the graves of 152 Civil War soldiers from the area.

“I was able to help Kevin with information I had found on all those soldiers, then one thing led to another,” Miller said. “I heard stories I had never heard before, and it just got me through this pandemic, where I had other things to think about rather than getting COVID.”

According to Mearkle, those graves at the cemetery are just a fraction of the total number of local soldiers who died. He said more than 600 Bedford County and surrounding area soldiers lost their lives in the war.

Mearkle’s research left him with enough findings to expand beyond his August book, and he plans to write another, he said.

“It’s going to go more into some of the personal stories of soldiers and their families,” Mearkle said. “The next book — I’m not sure how long it’s going to take. I would anticipate it’s going to be a couple years, but it’s going to be titled ‘Walking in Footsteps.'”

Part of the book, as well as telling some of the stories, is looking at some of the battles where there were significant casualties, so I’ll be able to identify where (soldiers) were positioned on the battlefield, what they may have been facing and things like that.”

“There were probably 25 or so battles from 1861 to 1865 where there would’ve been significant casualties,” Mearkle said. “Possibly the two most pivotal battles in the Civil War would’ve been Gettysburg and Antietam. There were heavy casualties there.”

Mearkle graduated from Shippensburg University in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in history, but went on to spend 37 years working in the technology industry instead.

It wasn’t until retirement that he realized just how passionate he was about the war and its connection to where he’s from.

“I never really did anything specific with my degree in history, and I was getting close to retiring four years ago and I decided it was something I wanted to have an interest in and have something to do with in retirement. I find it rewarding.”

“He’s just a brilliant man,” Miller said of Mearkle. “He spent years writing the book and was able to get into archives. We’ve become very close friends. He and his wife are both just very special people.”