Digital Commons Network^™

Milton Holland: An Enslaved Texan Who Earned The Nation's Highest Military Honor, Patrick Coan

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

Texans have long contended that slavery in Texas was marginal. Early scholars depicted Texas as a western state rather than a southern state dedicated to slavery. However, slavery was central to Texas from the 1830s-1860s. The story of Milton Holland offers a window into the importance of slavery in Texas and the importance of enslaved Texans in U.S. history. Holland was the first Texan to win the Medal of Honor (not just the first black Texan to win the Medal of Honor). Despite this achievement and Texas’ affinity for military prowess, Holland remains missing in Texas history textbooks, the Bob …

Marion Townsend, Interviewed By Phyllis Von Herrlich, Marion Adell Townsend

MF144 Women in the Military

Marion Townsend, interviewed by Phyllis von Herrlich, January 6, 2002. Townsend talks about joining the service in 1942; twenty-eight when she joined the Navy; Hunter College for boot camp training; lived in dorms; went to store keeper school; ordered supplies; was in for two years; trained with just women; didn’t get trained to shoot a gun; it was either get out or go to Japan; naval reserve for two years; type a certain WPM to pass store keeper school; went to Gates Business College; went to the University of Maine for a year then to Farmington; teaching for thirty-seven years; …

“Anxious To Be Restored”: Managing War Neuroses In Interwar Canada, Heather Ellis

Canadian Military History

Using newly available records from the Veterans Affairs Pension Files, doctors’ notes and Veterans’ Hospital records, this article explores how war neurosis was simultaneously a personal and public event. Veterans were required to describe symptoms that breached masculine ideals to demonstrate that their disability impacted their daily lives. Ex-servicemen were caught in a delicate balance between following the soldier ideal and describing their symptoms accurately. War neurosis not only impacted veterans in the private examining room of the pension administrator it also affected their ability to find and maintain employment and the lives of their family members. The more public …

“When Wartime Friends Meet”: Great War Veteran Culture And The (Ab)Use Of Alcohol, Jonathan F. Vance

Canadian Military History

After the First World War, Canadian veterans created a culture that celebrated the camaraderie, sense of purpose, and light-hearted moments of their experience as soldiers. Much like the trench culture of the war years, it poked fun at misfortune, satirized the enemy, and presumed that a stiff drink could make any situation better. Veteran culture provided ex-soldiers in the 1920s and 1930s with the mutual support they needed to get through difficult times, but it was a milieu in which the excessive consumption of alcohol was accepted and even encouraged. This had little impact on the settled, well-adjusted veteran but …

Georgia, Lesley Brian Bargo

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

The Vietnam War cast a massive shadow, both home and abroad. Relationships, morality, and humanity hang in the balance.

The United States And The Origins Of The Second World War, Kerry Irish

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

This brief but detailed narrative of the origins of World War II evaluates the claims by both Axis and Allied powers that they were fighting a just war.

Unsung Equine Heroes: An Analysis Of Equine Care And Management During The Great War, Emma E. Kuiack

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores the use of equines by the British Expeditionary Forces throughout the First World War, particularly examining various aspects of war equine care and management. It addresses the significance behind the use of these animals in the war before delving into the reality of how equines were cared for in terms of farrier work, skin care and management, feeding and watering, as well as psychological understandings of horses, donkeys, and mules. Through the implementation of various primary and secondary source materials, this thesis considers care mistakes that were made and the corrections that were enforced to alleviate injury …

Shadow Of Culloden: The Political Legacy Of The 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, Autumn Miller

History, Politics & International Relations Student Scholarship

Legacies change over time, and the Battle of Culloden is no different, especially depending on who is seeking out election in Westminster. Often, the Jacobite failure is used to garner political gain during nationalistic movements; while others included when Westminster needed to push back against the Scottish people to keep them subdued. The catastrophic failure of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion led to changing political legacies over the next two hundred years, which has permeated modern-day United Kingdom politics with the result of a Scottish referendum in 2014. With a close analysis of stateless nations theory, as well as Wales as …

Interview With Moses M. Coleman, Jr, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History collection

Moses M. Coleman, Jr, interviewed by Esther Mallard, March 3, 1993. Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog!

“Condemned To Be Free:” The Dilemmas Of Canadian Civilians In Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, Brian Edgar

Canadian Military History

Enemy occupation after military defeat is generally seen as a situation in which the defeated are deprived of choices. This is obviously correct, but it is also true that they are sometimes faced with dilemmas harsher and more significant than those of peacetime. The study of the experience of Canadian civilians during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong casts light on some of these dilemmas. This article begins with an account of the Hong Kong Canadians on the eve of war, showing them to consist of two distinct but linked communities—the Chinese and the European. It goes on to describe …

Memories From The Great War: An Analysis Of Jackson Purchase Veterans’ Changes In Perspective Since 1914, David Wallace

Honors College Theses

The First World War affected the lives of millions, creating collective memories of hardships, uncertainty, political tension, and animosity toward foreign enemies. In the United States, World War I was a turning point in the nation’s growth and development, but on a smaller scale it was a critical historical moment in the individual lives of the veterans who served. This research project showcases the experiences of the Jackson Purchase’s WWI veterans with an emphasis on their perceptions during the war, their reasons for enlisting, the countless once-in-a-lifetime experiences they had along the way, the hardships they faced, and the remarkable …

“We Do Not Believe Him To Be Sick… But Completely Worthless:” Victorian Character, Self-Mastery, And Pension Outcomes For Disabled Union Veterans, Matthew L. Castagna

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Ulster, Georgia, And The Civil War: Stories Of Variation, William Loveless

Honors Theses

Ulster, Georgia, and The Civil War: Stories of Variation explores the lives of 13 men from Northern Ireland who immigrated to the American South and fought for the Confederacy. The author pursues the stories of each man’s life in order to have a more thorough understanding of what life looked like for Irish/Ulster immigrants in the South during the 19^th century. By looking at the lives of the men in Ulster, their first experiences in the United States, their experiences in the Civil War, and their lives following the war, the author identifies more variation than consistent trends.

"The Men Were Sick Of The Place" : Soldier Illness And Environment In The War Of 1812, Joseph R. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

War of 1812 scholarship has focused primarily on classic military studies of decisive battles. Likewise, scholarship on the experience of war essentially concentrates on how killing and combat effected the human psyche. This dissertation pursues a broader perspective. It examines the impact of the environment on the health of soldiers and emphasizes everyday conditions and environmental suffering. Veterans’ accounts typically elevate suffering in camp over combat. A substantive study of soldiers’ responses to daily environmental conditions demonstrates the importance of health management to the outcome of the War of 1812. Through case studies of health measures related to frontier conditions, …

Indentured On The Western Front: The Chinese Labour Corps And The British Coolie Trade, Emily Sanders

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the recruitment, transport, and working conditions of the Chinese Labour Corps in World War I in comparison to the twentieth century British ‘coolie’ trade of Chinese indentured laborers on the basis of labor contracts, written testimonies, newspaper articles, books, photographs, and historical records. This thesis argues that the Chinese Labour Corps methods of recruiting, transport, and conditions of work were very similar to, if not the same as, the twentieth century British coolie trade. The Chinese Labour Corps can in many ways be said to be an extension of the preexisting British coolie trade, rather than an …

The Octofoil, April/May/June 2019, Ninth Infantry Division Association

The Octofoil

The Octofoil is the offical publication of the Ninth Infantry Division Association, Inc., an organization formed by the officers and men of the 9th Infantry Division in order to perpetuate the memory of fallen comrades, preserve the esprit de corps of the Division, promote peace and serve as an information bureau about the 9th Infantry Division. The Association is made up of 9th Infantry veterans from WWII and Vietnam, spouses, widows and lineal descendants.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

The Setauket Gang: The American Revolutionary Spy Ring You've Never Heard About, Fran Leskovar

Summer Research

Why would some people choose to overlook their apparent differences, ethnicity, religion, gender, and race, and risked being hung to participate in something (spying) where the outcome was not certain? Could they have sensed a moment in history was larger than they were and felt premonition of the new country before it was born?

Due to the complex and vibrant environment, a single answer is not possible. The Anglo-American conflict was not as French nor Russian Revolution; instead, it was a gradual transformation of individual social and political views, as Bernard Bailyn argues. The British aggressive imperial policies had a …

Volunteering To Lead: Combat Affairs That Shaped The Command Philosophy Of Major Rufus R. Dawes, U.S.A. And Captain James Cooper Nisbet, C.S.A. (1861-1862), Trace Brusco

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The frequently disorganized command structure which dictated American Civil War battles often resulted in direction of military strategy being passed over into the junior officer ranks. These volunteer leaders fought directly with the regular volunteer soldier that filled the ranks of both Union and Confederate armies. In exchange for their position amongst the common volunteer, the junior officers shared the same dangers in combat as their subordinates. In this study, junior officers Rufus Dawes and James Cooper Nisbet serve as the focus of a study that reveals what attributes contributed to the success and failures of command. Dawes, who served …

Merry < Machiavellian: Exploring King Charles Ii The Puppet Master From The Fall Of Edward Hyde To The Fall Of The Cabal, Zayd Y. Normand

Senior Projects Fall 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Germans And Swiss At The Battle Of The Little Bighorn 1876, Albert Winkler

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to examine the Germans and the Swiss who participated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn to understand who they were, to assess their motives for joining the cavalry, and to appraise their experience in battle.

Ligon, Lucy Ann (Parker) Robbins, 1833-1891 - Letters To (Sc 3278), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3278. Letters to Lucy Ann Robbins Ligon, the daughter of Fulton County, Kentucky judge Josiah Parker and his wife Lucy A. Parker, written while she lived in Crittenden County, Arkansas with her late husband’s brother, and in Hickman, Kentucky after her remarriage. Lucy’s parents relay news of her siblings and of pre-Civil War Hickman, and at the outbreak of war dramatically describe the division of loyalties, the townspeople’s fear and uncertainty as invasion threatens from the North, the enlistment of local men, two destructive fires, economic conditions, …

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Ltg Mafarland: Insights On Illusions Of Victory And Iraq, Russell W. Glenn

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Brexit And Transatlantic Security, Arthur I. Cyr

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

The Cold War In The Eastern Mediterranean: An Interpretive Global History, James M. Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers the first global history of the Cold War in the eastern Mediterranean. It examines the international linkages that bound Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus with superpowers, non-aligned states, and transnational movements during the second half of the twentieth century, and it considers the effects of such linkages upon the eastern Mediterranean’s domestic arenas. Throughout, it demonstrates that two forces – synthesis of outside influence alongside consolidation of internal identities – dictated the region’s experiences during the Cold War. And though the international environment furnished the conditions within which the region’s societies pursued the project of nation-building, indigenous forces …

"Cracks In The Melting Pot": Native Americans, Military Service And Citizenship, Brittany A. Kelley

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This paper focuses on Native American military service in Euro-American Wars. It analyzes their reasons for fighting and compares those reasons to the reasons of other racial and ethnic groups. This paper explores how certain racial and ethnic groups are marginalized and “otherized” and how they occasionally attempt to assimilate into mainstream society through military service. Irish Americans and African Americans viewed the Civil War in this way, while Native Americans hoped they would be able to improve their individual situations. Native Americans fought for purposes of assimilation and citizenship in World War I, and while they were technically granted …

Maligned “Milish:” Mississippi Militiamen In The Civil War, Tracy L. Barnett

Master's Theses

Thousands of southern men avoided regular military service in the American Civil War and enlisted or were drafted into state organized militias. In Mississippi, these units were termed Mississippi State Troops or Minute Men. This thesis argues that Mississippi militiamen’s pre-war positions and localized conception of military service directly influenced their wartime experiences. Militiamen, often in their thirties and forties, were older than the average Confederate soldier, established community members, and heads of families who sought service near home. The Mississippi state government, however, visualized militia service as anything but local and developed a centralized militia system that removed men …

"Our Captain Is A Gentleman”: Officer Elections Among Virginia Confederates, 1861-1862, Ryan C. O'Hallahan

Theses and Dissertations

Enlisted soldiers preferred to elect company- and regimental-level officers during the first year of the American Civil War. This thesis explores how early Confederate mobilization, class conflict between elites and non-elites, and Confederate military policies affected officer elections from spring 1861 to spring 1862 among Virginia Confederates. Chapter 1 explores how the chaotic nature of mobilization and common soldiers' initial expectations regarding their military service influenced elections from April 1861 until late July 1861. Chapter 2 details the changing nature of elections as elite officers faced challenges from non-elites and Confederate policies regarding furloughs and conscription forced officers to reconcile …

The Octofoil, January/February/March 2017, Ninth Infantry Division Association

The Octofoil

The Octofoil is the offical publication of the Ninth Infantry Division Association, Inc., an organization formed by the officers and men of the 9th Infantry Division in order to perpetuate the memory of fallen comrades, preserve the esprit de corps of the Division, promote peace and serve as an information bureau about the 9th Infantry Division. The Association is made up of 9th Infantry veterans from WWII and Vietnam, spouses, widows and lineal descendants.