From August to November, 1862, Camp Luzerne stood near Kelly Street on the lands of the Hughes, Bennett, and Peck families, one-half mile north of this site. As the only camp of rendezvous in Luzerne County, it was where the 143rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was formed from eight companies recruited in Luzerne County and one each from Wyoming and Lycoming Counties, and where it was mustered into United States service for the Civil War. Under Colonel Edmund L. Dana, the 143rd served with the Army of the Potomac, fought its first major battle at Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863, saw action in all of the major campaigns in Virginia, and was mustered out in New York in June 1865.