Digital Commons Network^™

Strode Family Collection (Mss 729), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 729. Papers, primarily land records, of the Strode family of Monroe County, Kentucky.

No Tolerance For Cowards Or “Yankees:” The Letters Of Reuben Allen Pierson, A Confederate Officer, Erica L. Uszak

Student Publications

Confederate officer Reuben Allen Pierson was a single well-to-do Louisiana slaveholder. He enlisted early in the Ninth Louisiana Infantry, insisting that he joined the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to defend his freedom, family, and new country. He turned his back on the United States, convinced that his Northern counterparts were subhuman and dishonorable. This paper argues that Reuben Allen Pierson remained steadfast in his convictions about Southern duty and honor, arguing in the Confederacy’s favor even in bleak times. The writer will examine why he clung desperately to the Confederacy and how he was influenced by ideas of honor, …

Us 31w Resource Inventory - Warren County, Kentucky (Mss 726), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 726. Historic resource inventory (data sheets and photographs) of structures and sites along US Highway 31W in Warren County, Kentucky. The inventory and photos were prepared in 2000, but data sheets from earlier inventories and other supporting material may be included.

Milligan, James Lewis, 1843-1927 (Sc 3612), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3612. Letter to “Henry,” 20 April 1862, from James Milligan, serving with the 11th Kentucky Infantry. Writing from Shiloh, Tennessee, he describes the recent battle, the high number of casualties, and the courage of his regiment’s officers. He reports on the fate of some of his comrades and remarks on fighting against men from his county who sided with the Confederates, the prevalence of rain and mud, and the food and drink of the soldiers.

Gardner, Henry P., 1838?-1863 (Sc 3608), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3608. Letter, 8 January 1863, of Henry P. Gardner, Atlanta, Illinois, to his father and sister in law. From camp at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where he is serving with the 38th Illinois Infantry, he writes vividly of the horrors of the Battle of Stones River: the heavy shelling, the aggressive tactics of Union General William Rosecrans, and the carnage on the battlefield, especially as suffered by Confederate forces.

Sullivan, Jefferson M., 1836-1905 (Sc 3610), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3610. Letter, 17 August 1862, of Jefferson M. Sullivan, Atlanta, Illinois, written while serving with the 68th Illinois Infantry at Camp Stuart, Virginia. He speculates on his regiment’s future movements, recommends that his correspondent’s son stay out of the Army, remarks on his diet of green apples and peaches, and laments the failure of his wheat crop and the departure for war of the young men at home.

Lawless, William E., 1843?-1924 (Sc 3609), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scans and typescripts (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3609. Letters, 13 and 31 August 1862, of William E. Lawless, Springfield, Illinois, written while serving with the 7th Illinois Infantry encamped near Corinth, Mississippi. Sending his pay to his correspondent, he instructs him on the settlement of certain debts and complains about the lack of letters from home. His second letter describes the supply of fruit from local citizens and expresses satisfaction with his pay and training as a drummer. Concerned about the destruction of railroad tracks by guerrillas, he nevertheless resolves to send his …

Brooks, Edgar (Sc 3607), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3607. Letter, 27 June 1862, of Edgar Brooks, Atlanta, Illinois, serving with the 7th Illinois Infantry. Writing from Tilton, Georgia, he describes his regiment’s recent movements through the state and comments on the countryside, the destruction at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Confederate raids on railroads and bridges. He also remarks on the procession of rail cars carrying Union wounded and Confederate prisoners.

Thomson, Amelia Hubbard, 1859-1953 (Sc 3604), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3604. Journals (2 vol.) of Amelia Hubbard Thomson of Fayette County, Kentucky. Written for her nephew Dudley Hughes Bryant, they contain genealogical data, narratives, and anecdotes. Thomson recalls in detail her parents and ancestors, growing up at the family home, “Hurricane Hall,” and other aspects of life in Fayette County. Volume 1 includes an index at the back.

Folklore Of The Shenandoah Valley, Heather Good

Honors Projects

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia has a long and storied history, which has resulted in the development of a rich folklore unique to the area. Stories and traditions have been passed down through generations, often by family and community members but also through the few texts that have been written on the subject. As a writer and local of the area, this cultural tradition has played a significant role in helping me to discover my own voice through looking at the voices that came before me.

This project will fist focus on two significant periods in the history of the …

The Tide Is Coming In: Fort Pulaski's Historical Relationship With Water, Sadie Ingram

Honors College Theses

Savannah, Georgia is the fourth busiest port in the United States, processing approximately 4.35 million standard shipping containers every year. The port’s protector Fort Pulaski towers among the coastal marshlands and estuaries of the Savannah River. Located on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River, this strategic location allowed the fort to protect Savannah’s vital harbor. Built as part of the United States’ Third System plan to build fortifications along the eastern seaboard, construction of Fort Pulaski began in 1827 and finished twenty years later.

Water has played a pivotal role in the history of Fort Pulaski and …

The Challenge Of E. Pluribus Unum: Waterfront Workers During The Civil War In Buffalo, New York, Anthony E. Gil

History Theses

This work is pioneering in that it opens discussion and historical inquiry into events of civil unrest in the U.S., both during the Civil War and in 1860s Buffalo, New York. It is the position of this study that events of early civil unrest are boiling points in the development of our great melting pot. Indeed, the more historians explore and understand these moments in American history, the easier it is to see profound epochs relative to America's growing pains. And, although there are many epochs that tell the story of those growing pains, "The Challenge of E. Pluribus Unum: …

Bryan Family Letters (Sc 3583), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 3583. Letters of the Bryan and associated families of Montgomery County, Tennessee. Most are written to Tennessee “Tennie” Bryan and come from friends, relatives, and ardent male admirers. Two correspondents write during their Civil War Confederate service (Click on "Additional Files" below for typescripts) and a cousin, Fannie Parkhurst, writes from Vermont. Fannie also writes to her cousin Byron in Illinois about local news and her studies, school teaching, social activities and abhorrence of intemperance; she gossips about local courtships and mentions Byron’s brother Sherman, who she would marry after Byron’s death in Union …

Heaven Hung In Black: Grant’S Reputation And The Mistakes At Cold Harbor, Samantha J. Kramer

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This article examines Ulysses S. Grant’s command of the Union army after receiving his commission as Lieutenant-General through analyzing his decisions both before and during the bloody battle of Cold Harbor. By examining the various factors leading to his tactical decisions, including the ever-looming threat of the upcoming presidential election, the article questions whether or not his reputation as a butcher of his own men is truly deserved. That he made mistakes is undeniable, but the mess of Cold Harbor was not solely his fault. Through the use of a variety of biographies and personal journals and memoirs, the article …

Pittsburgh's Explosive Mystery: A New Holistic Study Of The Allegheny Arsenal Tragedy, Ethan J. Wagner

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This research critically examines the issues surrounding the worst civilian disaster of the American Civil War, occurring on September 17, 1862 in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here, seventy-eight teenage girls perished as the Allegheny Arsenal munitions laboratory exploded. Investigations in the disaster’s aftermath, and more recent analysis, have remained largely hesitant in placing chief blame as to its cause. Furthermore, for an event that would seem so significant, its story has inadequately been told. Given that the national spotlight was elsewhere at the time, as the Battle of Antietam was fought on the same day, existing literature has …

"Our Women Are Made Of The Right Stuff": Gender, Politics, And Conflict In Civil War West Virginia, Amanda Romain Shaver

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

“’Our Women Are Made of the Right Stuff:’ Gender, Politics, and Conflict in Civil War West Virginia” examines the lives and contributions of white West Virginia women and argues that they were not merely victims of the war, but dynamic participants whose opinions were influential and whose actions determined the ability of both the Union and Confederate armies to wage war in Appalachia. Striking a balance between the antebellum standards of “True Womanhood” and the emerging ideals of the women’s rights movement, West Virginia women became politically engaged in both the statehood movement and the Civil War. They transformed their …

“A Constant Reminder To All”: Remembering Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson In West Virginia, Steven Cody Straley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This thesis argues that Confederate heritage groups leading the Lost Cause Movement in West Virginia promoted Stonewall Jackson, through tactics such as ceremonies, publications, and monuments, to the point where his appeal expanded beyond that of former Confederates and their descendants. During the late 1800s, Confederate supporters in the state formed branches of Confederate heritage organizations and espoused a Lost Cause narrative with Stonewall Jackson as its figurehead. In doing so, they accomplished two things: to integrate the seemingly proUnion West Virginia into Confederate memory, and to gain acceptance of Confederates as full members of West Virginia society. Jackson’s advocates …

A Noble Duty: Ladies’ Aid Associations In Upstate South Carolina During The Civil War, Elizabeth Aranda, Carmen Harris

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The contributions of women during the American Civil War have been typically examined within the broader picture of a nation or state-wide mobilization of citizens during a time of war. In this paper, I seek to show the mobilization of women during the Civil War from a regionalized perspective limited to the Upcountry of South Carolina and the effect their development of aid societies had on the war as well as on their place as white women in the Confederacy. Female-run aid societies began for the purpose of gathering supplies for soldiers. Within two years they had founded hospitals and …

Bring The Jubilee: The Civil War And The Healing Power Of Its Music, Richard E. Martin

History Undergraduate Works

The Civil War was the defining event in American history in many ways, and it was just as traumatic to the individuals who lived through it as it was to the nation. One way in which soldiers and civilians were able to process their emotions and understand their wartime experiences was through music. Civilians and soldiers alike wrote, published, performed, and listened to popular songs as a means of healing. This paper explores the variety of ways in which Americans of the North and South were able to do that. It examines the lyrics and music written during the war. …

Personal Experiences Of Lindsey Zollars During The Civil War, Vicki Betts

Presentations and Publications

Reminiscences of Lindsey Zollars,106^th Illinois Cavalry, of his capture at Marks’ Mills, Arkansas and imprisonment at Camp Ford near Tyler, Texas during the Civil War. Chronicles of Smith County (2021), edited by Vicki Betts and Randal B. Gilbert.

1861 Minutes Of The Commissioners Court, Vicki Betts

Presentations and Publications

Transcription of the minutes of the 1861 Smith County Commissioners Court, including lists of jurors, road crews, slave patrols, and the appointment of men to take a firearms census in Smith County. In Chronicles of Smith County, Texas (2021), edited by Vicki Betts.

Analyzing The Interpretation Of The Civil War In Bluegrass Music, Carter W. Claiborne

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

While the Civil War has long fit well thematically within the existing bluegrass idiom, the way that bluegrass has approached the war over time has changed greatly. Despite bluegrass largely originating from areas with little enthusiasm for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the genre not emphasizing partisan aspects of the war for several decades, several cultural changes culminated in the late 1960s to turn the genre on a heavily pro-Confederate tilt, with numerous songs in the early- to-mid 1970s glorifying the Confederate States of America and its leaders, while also emphasizing Lost Cause arguments. To see how this …

Cannibals, Gorillas, And The Struggle Over Radical Reconstruction, Daniel P. Kilbride

2021 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Northerners' Perspectives On American Emancipation And The End Of Russian Serfdom, Mariana S. Kellis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis explores the various perspectives that Northern Americans had on Russian serfdom and its emancipation. This era was significant to both Russia and the United States because each country experienced tremendous reforms including the abolitions of their unfree labor institutions. Generally, Northern Americans viewed serfdom as a milder form of forced labor and suspected that it would be eradicated soon. Abolitionists used rumors of Russian emancipation to advocate for the end of American slavery. Diminishing the realities of serfdom in the American media was a way for abolitionists to condemn the brutality of American slavery by comparison. After the …