author

Louis Richards

1842–1924

A Pennsylvania lawyer, journalist, and local historian, this nineteenth-century writer turned firsthand experience and deep regional knowledge into vivid books and papers. He is best remembered for a Civil War memoir that captures the urgency of citizen-soldier life in 1862.

1 Audiobook

Eleven days in the militia during the war of the rebellion

Eleven days in the militia during the war of the rebellion

by Louis Richards

About the author

Louis Richards was born on May 6, 1842, at Gloucester Furnace in Atlantic County, New Jersey, and later built his career in Reading, Pennsylvania. After studying in schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he moved to Reading in 1861, read law under John S. Richards, and was admitted to the bar on January 16, 1865.

Before and after becoming a lawyer, he wrote extensively. He contributed to newspapers, reported county court cases, and for a time was involved with the Reading Times and Dispatch and the Berks and Schuylkill Journal. During the Civil War he served in the Pennsylvania militia in 1862 and 1863, and his best-known book, Eleven Days in the Militia During the War of the Rebellion (1883), grew out of that experience.

Richards also wrote historical and legal works, including papers on Pennsylvania figures and institutions, and was known as a law writer as well as a practicing attorney. Records connected with his publications identify him as active well into the early twentieth century. He died on May 2, 1924, and was buried in Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading.