CONTACT: Jay Purdy, Legislative Information Office, 717-787-7895

HARRISBURG, Feb. 12 - From 1862-1865, it recruited thousands of Philadelphia men to preserve the Union. Today, the prestigious Union League of Philadelphia joined the crusade to preserve the monuments that mark the actions of many of those men in battle at Gettysburg.

At a special luncheon, the Ladies of the Union League of Philadelphia presented state Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, with $5,000 for his campaign to preserve the Pennsylvania monuments at Gettysburg. The Union League was formed in 1862 to promote the ideals of President Abraham Lincoln and to mobilize the people and resources of the Philadelphia area in the war to save the Union.

At the luncheon in the league's home on South Broad Street, Readshaw was presented the check by the Ladies President Ellie Haupt and past President Marilyn Dietz. The same gathering also honored former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell with the Union League's Lincoln Award.

"The Pennsylvania monuments at Gettysburg were primarily erected by the veterans that fought there," said Readshaw. "They are a direct and tangible link to future Americans. The Union League, with its continued existence, is likewise a direct and tangible link with the Pennsylvanians who cared about their nation, and who cared about the abolition of slavery.

"The donation made today to our monument preservation crusade is a collective honor for everyone who had dedicated themselves to our cause -- from the school child who collected pennies to the runners in our annual benefit races to the retiree or veteran who mails a check, no matter how large or small the amount.

"I am merely the one fortunate to be here today to accept it." Readshaw said the donation will be allocated to the preservation of a monument that marks the location and actions of a Philadelphia regiment at Gettysburg.

Receipt of the $5,000 Union League donation came just days after Readshaw received $448.13 from Upper Merion Junior High School students in King of Prussia who collected pennies to aid the monument campaign. At the start of the project four years ago, a newspaper account dubbed Readshaw and his supporters "Readshaw's Raiders."

The Union League of Philadelphia maintains a Web site at http://www.unionleague.org/.