Digital Commons Network^™

Ambrose Civil War Letters, Archivists

Guides and Finding Aids

Joseph Scrivner Ambrose IV was born in 1835 in Clay County, Kentucky, the sixth child of Joseph Scrivner Ambrose III and Hannah Clements Ambrose. J. S. Ambrose IV joined the Confederate States Army as a captain, Company F, 8th Kentucky Cavalry, on September 10, 1862, in Boone County, Kentucky. During the war, Ambrose participated in a Confederate incursion covering hundreds of miles of Union territory during a nearly month-long campaign, known as "Morgan's Raid." Led by General John Hunt Morgan, the legendary raid went deeper into the North than any other Confederate Army campaign, but the men were forced to …

“Confederate Soldiers In The Siege Of Petersburg And Postwar: An Intensified War And Coping Mechanisms Utilized, 1864- Ca. 1895”, Matthew R. Lempke

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis crafts a narrative about how Confederate soldiers during the siege of Petersburg experienced an intensified war that caused them to refine soldierly coping mechanisms in order to endure. They faced increasing deprivations, new forms of death, fewer restrictions on killing, dwindling fortunes, and increased racial acrimony by facing African American soldiers. In order to adjust, they relied on soldierly camaraderie, Southern notions of honor, letter writing, and an increasingly firm reliance on Protestant Christianity to cope with their situation. Postwar, these veterans repurposed soldierly coping mechanisms and eventually used institutional support from their states. Camaraderie, honor, literary endeavors, …

The Evolving Emancipator: An Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln And The Progression And Development Of His Emancipationist Impulse, Sharon N. Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research looks at the narrative of Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator versus the Evolving Emancipator. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the narrative of the Evolving Emancipator and show an imperfect man who achieved this action after trials and tribulations.This has been achieved by examining letters and other primary sources to fully understand the scope of Lincoln’s sentiments regarding slavery. My research shows a man who acknowledged slavery because it was sanctioned by the law. He recognized the rights of slave owners, both to retain their slaves and to have fugitive slaves returned, as they …

Hidden History: The Role Of Great Britain In The American Civil War As Told By Cultural Artifacts, Mary Griffiths

Dissertations and Theses

What do statues and songs tell us about the Civil War? If the monuments are in the United States – a marker on a battlefield for instance- it is easy to decipher the context and historical significance. Soldiers passed their time with song and their lyrics are preserved to this day, performed by both pop artists and living historians. But what if these cultural artifacts reside outside the United States? Why is there a statue of Abraham Lincoln in the city of Manchester? How does a monument dedicated to the martyrs at the Lune Street Riots on Preston, Lancashire relate …

Belle Isle, Point Lookout, The Press And The Government: The Press And Reality Of Civil War Prison Camps, Marlea S. Donaho

Theses and Dissertations

The study of Civil War prisons is relatively new within the broader study of the Civil War. What little study there is tends to focus on bigger prison camps. It has been established in the historiography that prisoners suffered across the divided nation, but it has not been ascertained how the decisions and policies of the government, as well as the role of the press in those decisions, effected the daily lives of Civil War prisoners. Belle Isle, a Confederate Prison, and Point Lookout, a Union prison, will be analyzed for key differences to provide a fuller picture of life …

Wiley Nessmith Family Letters, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of correspondence from Wiley Nessmith to his wife, Martha Ann Nesmith written during the Civil War from 1862-1865. Also included are typed transcripts, published and unpublished materials on the Nessmith family, and correspondence between Franklyn Hatch and the Nessmith family concerning the letters.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

A Forgotten Confederate: John H. Ash's Story Rediscovered, Heidi Moye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A historical study of a southern family living in Savannah, GA from shortly before the election of 1860 through the Civil War years based on the journals of John Hergen Ash II (1843-1918).