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Full-Text Articles in History
Remembrance Day…But Remembering What?, S. Marianne Johnson
Remembrance Day…But Remembering What?, S. Marianne Johnson
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
In conversation with other CWI Fellows last week, we began discussing the strangeness of the annual Remembrance Day Parade. Originally conceived as a way to recreate the procession to the cemetery in 1863 to hear the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldier’s National Cemetery, it seems to have morphed into something different all together. If we are honoring a recommitment to the preservation of Union, why do Confederate reenactors march in the parade? If we are simply celebrating the soldiers of both sides of the Civil War, why does the parade end at the site of the address …
Hidden In Plain Sight: The Coster Avenue Mural, Brianna E. Kirk
Hidden In Plain Sight: The Coster Avenue Mural, Brianna E. Kirk
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
The Gettysburg Battlefield has over one thousand monuments dedicated to a host of brave men who fought and gave their lives during the three day engagement in July of 1863. Littered alongside well-traveled roads and points of attraction on the battlefield, most do not go unnoticed. There are a few, however, that do. One of them commemorates Captain Heckman’s Battery K of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery, an oft-passed but unnoticed monument on Gettysburg College’s campus and the focus of one of my previous blog posts . Another cluster of monuments in the vicinity of the Gettysburg College campus and …
Gettysburg: A Town Built On Tourism, Kevin P. Lavery
Gettysburg: A Town Built On Tourism, Kevin P. Lavery
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
In my most recent blog posts, I’ve adopted a rather unforgiving stance on the rampant consumerism that pervades the town of Gettysburg. Essentially, I have argued that the borough’s tacky gift shops sell odious little trinkets to gullible tourists and profiteer from the public’s morbid obsession with war and death. But while I firmly believe that this zealous consumerism is a persistent threat to healthy historical engagement, there is another side to the issue that demands to be recognized: Gettysburg kitsch is part of what has made Gettysburg into a town brimming with opportunities to broaden the public’s historical consciousness. …
Lost: Sesquicentennial Sanity. If Found, Please Contact Borough Of Gettysburg., Kevin P. Lavery
Lost: Sesquicentennial Sanity. If Found, Please Contact Borough Of Gettysburg., Kevin P. Lavery
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
If you were in Gettysburg during the summer of 2013, you surely encountered the ubiquitous 150th Gettysburg logo branded on everything from promotional materials to souvenirs. The latter – tacky at best and irreverent at worst – filled the town to the point of excess, making some of us wonder how many people completely missed the point of the sesquicentennial. Anniversaries exert a powerful force on the American historical psyche, but it is dubious whether Gettysburg’s celebration exerted an appropriate one. The sesquicentennial was a wonderful opportunity to refocus on the events of July 1863, but sadly many businesses in …
The Specter Of Gettysburg, Kevin P. Lavery
The Specter Of Gettysburg, Kevin P. Lavery
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
The story I am about to tell is entirely true. Several weeks ago, as I departed Musselman Library after a long night of intensive research, a sudden presence roused me from my intellectual exhaustion. I was chilled to the bone as they appeared before me: shadowy figures silhouetted against the dimly lit façade of our beloved administration building. Now, I had, of course, heard of the campus’ hauntings. Tales of the ghostly field hospital in Penn Hall’s basement, the spectral sentry watching from its cupola, and the Blue Boy of Stevens Hall are well known stories throughout our campus community …
The Right To Be Forgotten... From History?, Kevin P. Lavery
The Right To Be Forgotten... From History?, Kevin P. Lavery
The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History
Some people seek to leave a legacy. They want to be remembered by others for doing something great, whether it be good or evil. But not everyone is alike in this respect. Others want nothing more than to go quietly about their business. They do not want friends or strangers prying into their lives. They do not want their inner, personal thoughts to be read and judged by those around them. [excerpt]
The Ideal And The Real: Southern Plantation Women Of The Civil War, Kelly H. Crosby
The Ideal And The Real: Southern Plantation Women Of The Civil War, Kelly H. Crosby
Student Publications
Southern plantation women experienced a shift in identity over the course of the Civil War. Through the diaries of Catherine Edmondston and Eliza Fain, historians note the discrepancy between the ideal and real roles women had while the men were off fighting. Unique perspectives and hidden voices in their writings offer valuable insight into the life of plantation women and the hybrid identity they gained despite the Confederate loss.
A Carriage Ride From Home, John M. Rudy
A Carriage Ride From Home, John M. Rudy
Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public
Elias Sheads Jr. worked in his father's shop. They made wagons and coaches, some of the bedrock laborers in Gettysburg's society. In 1860, when census taker Aaron Sheely walked the streets of the borough counting heads and recording in vivid detail what Gettysburg looked like, Elias lived with his mother and father. [excerpt]
"They Cannot Catch Guerrillas In The Mountains Any More Than A Cow Can Catch Fleas": Guerrilla Warfare In Western Virginia, 1861-1865, Karissa Marken
"They Cannot Catch Guerrillas In The Mountains Any More Than A Cow Can Catch Fleas": Guerrilla Warfare In Western Virginia, 1861-1865, Karissa Marken
Masters Theses
The American Civil War unleashed great violence and chaos in the western mountains of Virginia. The guerrilla warfare there between Unionists and secessionists remained bitter throughout the war. No historical study has considered the entirety of pre-war western Virginia during the time it underwent a unique civil war within the context of the national struggle from 1861-1865. This study supports findings from studies of other areas of Appalachia that seek to explain the prevalence of such conflict in the mountains, challenges the myth of a Union Appalachia during the war, offers the backdrop for the political wrangling on both state …
A Changing Force: The American Civil War, Women, And Victorian Culture, Megan E. Mcnish
A Changing Force: The American Civil War, Women, And Victorian Culture, Megan E. Mcnish
Student Publications
The American Civil War thrust Victorian society into a maelstrom. The war disrupted a culture that was based on polite behavior and repression of desires. The emphasis on fulfilling duties sent hundreds of thousands of men into the ranks of Union and Confederate armies. Without the patriarchs of their families, women took up previously unexplored roles for the majority of their sex. In both the North and the South, females were compelled to do physical labor in the fields, runs shops, and manage slaves, all jobs which previously would have been occupied almost exclusively by men. These shifts in society, …