Digital Commons Network^™

Distinguished Gallantry In Action, Ashley N. Towle

Hidden in Plain Sight Projects

Among the many paintings of Abraham Lincoln hanging in the Civil War Institute, there is one face that may not be as familiar. Peering out from a small wooden frame in the main office sits Philip Goettel, a Civil War soldier. His posture is relaxed as he sits in a chair proudly displaying his Union uniform. A caption with the mere word “Father” appears below him, along with a significant date: 1863. Truly, the year 1863 would be a pivotal year in Philip Goettel’s life. He would be wounded, scale a mountain under fire, and earn a Medal of Honor. …

Ms-078: John B. Young, Company H, Pennsylvania 5th Heavy Artillery Regiment, Amy Sanderson

All Finding Aids

This collection contains the diary of John B. Young from October 30, 1864 to May 20, 1865, mainly commenting on the day to day happenings in his regiment during the winter picket post and guard duty. Entries include daily comments on the weather and the pace of work. Some entries include mention of men captured by rebels, rebel deserters/prisoners, and the progress and frustrations of building the stockades with some comments regarding the African Americans who worked with the timber train.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. …

Ms-079: Captain Benjamin F. Lee Collection Regarding 28th Pennsylvania Infantry And John W. Geary, Amy Sanderson

All Finding Aids

The Benjamin F. Lee Collection consists of three series which contain documents relating to requisitions by the 28th Pennsylvania Infantry and correspondence of Lee and John W. Geary between themselves and various other individuals.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of their content. More information about our collections can be found on our website https://www.gettysburg.edu/special-collections/collections/.

Ms-072: Adin B. Thayer, Co. B, 16th Maine Volunteer Infantry, Christopher M. Gwinn

All Finding Aids

This collection contains twenty-one Civil War era letters, ranging from 1862-1865, written by Adin Thayer of the 16th Maine. Most of his letters are written to family members prior to his capture and imprisonment in the Confederate prison camp in Salisbury, North Carolina. The final letter in the collection is dated April 26th, 1865 and is addressed to Thayer’s father from Sgt. William Fennelly, of the 16th Maine informing him of his son’s death.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information …

Ms-073: Alexander C. Barr, Battery F, 3rd Independent Pa Light Artillery, Christopher M. Gwinn

All Finding Aids

The Alexander Barr collection consists of 17 letters written in between March 14, 1864 and June 3, 1865. The majority of the letters are addressed to his brother Charles in Taylorstown, PA, with the exception of at least one letter composed for his brother Jeff in April, 1864. Most of the letters in the collection date from the time Barr served on Maryland Heights and Harper’s Ferry. Included in the letters are Barr’s experiences as a new recruit in the artillery with topics ranging from the “very poor grub” at the artillery cookhouse, the oppressiveness of the summer weather and …

Ms-074: Thomas B. Mcgaffick, Co. F, 101st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Christopher M. Gwinn

All Finding Aids

The letters of Thomas B. McGaffick, a corporal in Company F of the 101st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry range in date from January 19th, 1861 to February 11, 1863. The collection contains twenty two pieces of correspondence, including two fragments of letters along with a number of official documents relating to McGaffick’s discharge from the army. The letters are all addressed to members of Thomas’s family, including his sisters Belle and Mary, his brother Benjamin and his parents. The letters address a variety of subjects ranging from the rigors of army life to McGaffick’s constant battle with his own health. Thomas …

Ms-075: Henry W. Siebert, Company E, 16th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, Christopher M. Gwinn

All Finding Aids

The Henry W. Siebert journals, of which there are two, cover the years 1863 and 1865 respectively. The journals themselves are leather bound notebooks closed with straps, the whole measuring 3 inches by 6 inches. The 1863 volume numbers 90 pages, with entries for every day. The 1865 diary numbers 150 pages and has entries for January 1, 1865 through May 24, 1865. The entries are generally short in nature, not exceeding a paragraph in length. The text is normally limited to a discussion of the morning weather, general activity of the day and the geographic location reached by nightfall. …

Ms-076: George C. Wynkoop, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, Dept. Of Pennsylvania, Christopher M. Gwinn

All Finding Aids

This collection consists of records from George Wynkoop’s service as a Brigadier General in the three month Pennsylvania Volunteers. Over three hundred pieces of correspondence, orders, forms, and daily reports make up the collection. The correspondence and reports come from a variety of locals at which the Department of Pennsylvania set up camp. Locations include Camp Scott and Camp Chambers, Pennsylvania, Hagerstown, Maryland and Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (Today West Virginia).

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in …

Rowlett, David Ezekiel, 1849-1919 (Sc 1450), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1450. Letter written by David Rowlett of New Corner, Indiana, to Mrs. M. L. Emens, recalling the excellent female nurse he had while a patient in a Nashville, Tennessee hospital during the Civil War. Rowlett served in Co. B, 11th Indiana Volunteer Cavalry.

Portrait Of Thaddeus Stevens By Jacob Eichholtz, Axel T. Kaegler

Hidden in Plain Sight Projects

When we were approached to do a paper on the hidden history of an object in Gettysburg College, a colleague and I decided to take a weekend afternoon to walk around the campus in order to find an object to write about. After wandering for a while, we entered Penn Hall, and in the Lyceum we looked at the portraits of great contributors to Gettysburg College. One face that struck me was that of Thaddeus Stevens, who I remembered as one of the great Radical Republicans of the Civil War era. Gettysburg is very much a Civil War oriented area. …

Ms-070: Papers Of Philip M. Biklé And Family, Nicole M. Lenart

All Finding Aids

The papers of Philip Biklé consist of mostly personal correspondence between Biklé and Emma, and the correspondence of Emma and their children. Also included are class notes from Biklé’s years as a student, and account books from the Lutheran Quarterly and Pennsylvania College Monthly. This collection does not include any information on Biklé’s publications, the classes he taught, or his work as a professor and dean.

Special Collections and College Archives Finding Aids are discovery tools used to describe and provide access to our holdings. Finding aids include historical and biographical information about each collection in addition to inventories of …

Mcelroy, Clarence Underwood, 1849-1928 (Mss 73), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 73. Correspondence, legal and business papers, speeches and travelogs of Bowling Green, Kentucky attorney Clarence Underwood McElroy. Includes papers of law partner, Daniel Webster Wright; Skiles and Underwood families of Warren County; and the Trigg family of Barren County. Also includes some Warren County Court records relating to early town planning and to the county courthouse (Click on "Additional Files" below for scans).

Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life And Trial Of An American Slave Trader, Julie Mujic

History Faculty Publications

Book review by Julie Mujic.

Soodalter, Ron. Hanging Captain Gordon: the life and trial of an American slave trader. New York: Atria Books, 2006.

ISBN 9780743267274

0752: Charles Edward Viers Collection, 1889-2004, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of personal papers and materials related to Mr. Charles Edward Viers. The collection is divided into three series: Series 1: Papers, Series 2: Photographs, and Series 3: Items. Series 1 primarily covers legal documents relating to deeds and oil and gas contracts (found in the lockbox in Series 3), clippings related to Viers receiving the Purple Heart and Bronze Star Medal in 1996, teaching documents such as contracts and two report cards, Viers’ Marshall transcripts, Viers’ military papers and a small amount of correspondence from 1945 and 1995-1996, and Civil War discharge papers and an arrest of …

0755: John Pritchard Collection, 1864-1865, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

This collection consists of a tintype photograph with the following inscription: “(Tintype) Tintype picture of our family and father in Civil War uniform.” Tissue paper enclosed with the tintype contained the note "Elmer Pritchard's Fathers Picture". Also included in the collection are copies of the family’s family bible records as well as scanned copies of John A. Pritchard’s military records.

[Introduction To] Crucible Of The Civil War: Virginia From Secession To Commemoration, Edward L. Ayers, Gary W. Gallagher, Andrew J. Torget

Bookshelf

Crucible of the Civil War offers an illuminating portrait of the state’s wartime economic, political, and social institutions. Weighing in on contentious issues within established scholarship while also breaking ground in areas long neglected by scholars, the contributors examine such concerns as the war’s effect on slavery in the state, the wartime intersection of race and religion, and the development of Confederate social networks. They also shed light on topics long disputed by historians, such as Virginia’s decision to secede from the Union, the development of Confederate nationalism, and how Virginians chose to remember the war after its close.

The American Civil War, Emancipation, And Reconstruction On The World Stage, Edward L. Ayers

History Faculty Publications

Americans demanded the world's attention during their Civil War and Reconstruction. Newspapers around the globe reported the latest news from the United States as one vast battle followed another, as the largest system of slavery in the world crashed into pieces, as American democracy expanded to include people who had been enslaved only a few years before.

Lincoln's Defense Of Politics: The Public Man And His Opponents In The Crisis Over Slavery (Book Review), Julie Mujic

History Faculty Publications

Book review by Julie Mujic.

Schneider, Thomas E. Lincoln’s Defense of Politics: The Public Man and His Opponents in the Crisis over Slavery. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2006.

ISBN 9780826216069

George Arnold (1799-1879) And A Town Immortalized, Charles H. Glatfelter

Adams County History

No abstract provided.

"Our Blood Would Rise Up & Drive Them Away:" Slaveholding Women Of South Carolina In The Civil War, Nicole M. Lenart

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

Southern slaveholding women during the Civil War are usually portrayed as either Eve or the Virgin Mary. They are either depicted as staunch patriotic wives and mothers who out of love suffered and sacrificed most of their worldly goods for the Cause, or as weak-willed creatures who gave up on the war, asked their men to come home, and concerned themselves with getting pretty dresses from the blockade runners and dancing at elaborate balls and bazaars. This latter view, which seems cut so superficially from Gone With the Wind, is nevertheless one that is common in Civil War scholarship …