Let all sacrifice their personal business for the public good… Let each bear his share of the burden, cheerfully and patriotically. A stern public indignation should compel the general closing of the stores. “… we have one subject of a general and bitter remark – the selfish and unpatriotic conduct of those churlish few who persist in keeping their doors open… while so many thousands of their fellow citizens are spending time and money, with an entire suspension of private business, laboring for the public defense. Some Pittsburgh newspapers even went as far to say that those who did not close for the requested time would be “marked and remembered” for manifesting “so much selfishness and illiberality during our present crisis.” Any proprietors who did not comply would be held in contempt.
To guarantee that full attention would be placed on construction of the defenses, all non-essential businesses, including pubs, restaurants, and stores, were to close their doors. While local citizens lacked accurate information regarding the movements of Lee’s army, they quickly prepared by assembling 37 defenses on the heights surrounding Pittsburgh and neighboring cities. The “Iron City” was a site of importance, which the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette defined by the “facilities it contained for the manufacture of the munitions of war, its opportunities for receiving supplies from Canada, its capability of being strongly fortified,” and “its strategical power as severing the West from the East, rendering thus very difficult the movement of troops between the two sections.” The entire Keystone State, in fact, felt a wave of panic and uncertainty during the summer of 1863, however, Pittsburgh was seen as one of the most likely targets for Confederate forces. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia moving toward Pennsylvania in June 1863, the cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny (North Side) and Birmingham (South Side) committed at least 11,000 workers to build defensive earthworks in the area under the direction of Union army engineers. Pittsburgh’s response during the Civil War While this necessary decision promotes social distancing in populated areas and is felt heavily by the service industry and service industry workers, it is not the first time Pittsburgh has experienced these large-scale closures. This mass shutdown comes in response to recent spreading of the COVID-19 coronavirus across the state. As of March 16, 2020, Pennsylvania state officials declared that all dine-in restaurants and bars within five counties, including Allegheny, would close for two weeks.