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Military History

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

Civil War

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in History

A Dagger Through The Heartland: The Louisville & Nashville Railroad In The Civil War, Gared N. Dalton May 2018

A Dagger Through The Heartland: The Louisville & Nashville Railroad In The Civil War, Gared N. Dalton

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

The Civil War was a defining moment in American history. What began as a sectional debate over states’ rights transformed itself into a bloody odyssey that would alter the national character itself. Within the wide scope of this conflict, scholars have sought to answer the multifaceted question of how the Union triumphed, often citing the proficient management of the railways as a key contribution to victory. Within this logistical network of rails, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad served as a vital mode of transportation for supplies and troop mobility through the heartland states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The Union exploited …


After Andersonville: Survivors, Memory And The Bloody Shirt, Kevin S. Nicholson May 2018

After Andersonville: Survivors, Memory And The Bloody Shirt, Kevin S. Nicholson

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This article details the experiences of survivors of the Andersonville prison camp after the Civil War. Feeling marginalized by the public after returning to the North, prisoners of war worked to demonstrate that their experiences were exceptional enough to merit the same kind of respect and adoration given to other war veterans. In particular survivors utilized the strategy of "waving the bloody shirt," describing purported Confederate atrocities at the camp to a Northern audience looking for figures to blame for the horrors of war. Through prison narratives, veteran organizations, the erection of memorials, and reunions years later, Andersonville survivors worked …


Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2018 Jan 2018

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2018

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.


Murder In Manassas: Mental Illness And Psychological Trauma After The Civil War, Savannah G. Rose Jan 2017

Murder In Manassas: Mental Illness And Psychological Trauma After The Civil War, Savannah G. Rose

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

Following the American Civil War, the small railroad junction of Manassas, Virginia grew into one of the most prominent towns in the region with the help of town founder William S. Fewell and his family. In 1872, the youngest daughter of the prominent Fewell family was seduced and abducted by Prince Williams County’s Commonwealth Attorney and most prominent orator, James F. Clark without warning. Having just come home from three years of military service in the Civil War, witnessing the death of his twin brother as well as suffering for a year in Elmira Prison as a prisoner of war, …


Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2017 Jan 2017

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2017

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.


Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2016 Jan 2016

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2016

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.


"The Honor Of Manhood:" Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain And Notions Of Martial Masculinity, Bryan G. Caswell Jan 2016

"The Honor Of Manhood:" Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain And Notions Of Martial Masculinity, Bryan G. Caswell

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is perhaps best known as the commander of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry during the Battle of Gettysburg. While depictions of Chamberlain's martial glory abound, little attention has been paid to the complicated motives of the man himself. This paper seeks to examine the unique ways in which Chamberlain interacted with Victorian conceptions of martial masculinity: his understanding and expression of it, his efforts to channel it, and his use of it as a guiding principle throughout the trials of both the American Civil War and his post-war life.


Men And Machines: The Psychological Impact Of Gunboats On The Fort Henry And Donelson Campaign, S. Marianne Johnson Apr 2015

Men And Machines: The Psychological Impact Of Gunboats On The Fort Henry And Donelson Campaign, S. Marianne Johnson

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

During the course of the American Civil War, 1861-1865, ironclad warships developed a fearful reputation as powerful commanders of the Mississippi River. With the ability to pierce deep into the heart of the South, destroy Confederate property, and pull out with amazing speed compared to land assaults, the early Western Flotilla became the symbol of Northern industrial invincibility, boosting Northern morale and seriously damaging Southern psyches. However, an analysis of the Fort Henry/Fort Donelson Campaign of 1862 reveals a different story than the one that went into legend. Using the official records of the Union and Confederate armies and navies, …


Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2015 Apr 2015

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2015

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.


Book Review: With Malice Towards Some: Treason And Loyalty In The Civil War Era, Brianna Kirk Apr 2015

Book Review: With Malice Towards Some: Treason And Loyalty In The Civil War Era, Brianna Kirk

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

“Popular understanding of treason, not legal definitions in civil courts, guided actions by Union functionaries, both high and low, throughout the Union and Confederacy,” argues William A. Blair. Popular conceptions of treason – widely shared definitions of loyalty and disloyalty – merged with governmental policy and the military to determine the punishment of traitors both during and after the Civil War. Blair adds a flavor of localism to the traditional narrative of treason in the mid-nineteenth century in his newest book With Malice Toward Some, demonstrating that treason did in fact pervade public discourse during the American Civil War. [ …


The Memory Of Battle Surrounds You Once Again: Iowa Grand Army Of The Republic Reunions And The Formation Of A Pro-Union Nationalism, 1886-1949, Peter Bautz Apr 2015

The Memory Of Battle Surrounds You Once Again: Iowa Grand Army Of The Republic Reunions And The Formation Of A Pro-Union Nationalism, 1886-1949, Peter Bautz

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

Following the bloody years of the Civil War, veteran organizations became a breeding ground for nationalism making and memory shaping. Historians, like Caroline Janney and David Blight, have debated what these memories meant for northern veterans. Did members of the Grand Army of the Republic [G.A.R.], the Union veterans association, reconcile with the South over a shared whiteness, as Blight suggests? Or were the memories of Northerners less reconciliatory, as Janney argues? Using Iowa G.A.R. reunions as a case study, this article demonstrates that Union veterans were shaping a pro-Union nationalism distinct from the Lost Cause. From songs praising the …


Freedmen With Firearms: White Terrorism And Black Disarmament During Reconstruction, David H. Schenk Apr 2014

Freedmen With Firearms: White Terrorism And Black Disarmament During Reconstruction, David H. Schenk

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

The outcome of the Civil War brought freedom to over six million slaves of African descent. These Freedmen communities remained a critical source of labor for the agrarian based economy of the southern U.S. Conflicts erupted because former slaves sought to exercise their new freedoms against the restrictions placed on them by local authorities. New laws, mob actions and acts of organized white terrorism were used to subjugate free citizens and return them to their former stations of labor. Political activities and participation in the electoral process were violently discouraged. Vocal opponents of the new system were often targeted for …


Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2014 Jan 2014

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2014

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.


"The Southern Heart Still Throbs": Caroline E. Janney And Partisan Memory‘S Grip On The Post-Civil War Nation, Heather L. Clancy '15 Jan 2014

"The Southern Heart Still Throbs": Caroline E. Janney And Partisan Memory‘S Grip On The Post-Civil War Nation, Heather L. Clancy '15

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

"Memory is not a passive act," writes Caroline E. Janney in the prologue of her 2013 book Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation. Rather, it is a deliberate process. Our nation‘s history has been shaped by countless hands in innumerable ways, and the story of our civil war is no exception. In Remembering the Civil War, Janney seeks to turn our eyes once again onto the players, large and small, who shaped what came to be the accepted narrative of the conflict, from its inception through the 1930s and even bleeding through the Civil …


An Interview With D. Scott Hartwig, Thomas E. Nank '16 Jan 2014

An Interview With D. Scott Hartwig, Thomas E. Nank '16

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

D. Scott Hartwig, Supervisory Historian for Gettysburg National Military Park, retired in the fall of 2013. In recognition of his long service to the park and community of Gettysburg, Associate Editor Thomas Nank interviewed Mr. Hartwig concerning his personal experiences gained over three decades working at Gettysburg as well as the future of the National Park Service and the field of public history in general.