History Commons^™

A Tiger's Rest: A Reflection On The Killed At Gettysburg Profile Of Horthere Fontenot, Zachary A. Wesley

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

As soon as I was assigned to the Killed at Gettysburg project, I knew that I wanted to work with a French Creole soldier. I have a soft spot for Louisiana troops, you see (along with Mississippians, but that is irrelevant here), partly because of my childhood filled with Scooby Doo. One film I remember particularly well is Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. To any of y’all who are unfamiliar with the film, let me give you a brief run-down. Scooby and the gang visit Moonscar Island out in the Louisiana Bayous with the promise that they will find …

Making Photographs Speak, Cameron T. Sauers, Benjamin M. Roy, James T. Goodman

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

It has often been said that “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Making that picture spit out those mythical thousand words, as we can all attest, is no easy task. Over the course of the first half of the fall semester, the three of us were tasked with developing brief interpretive captions for two Civil War photographs each, with the end goal to display our work at the Civil War Institute’s 2019 Summer Conference. What initially appeared as a simple project quickly revealed itself to be a difficult, yet rewarding, challenge that taught us all important lessons concerning …

A War Won In The Skies: Air Superiority In The Second World War, Chandler Dugal

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper studies the impact that air superiority had on the outcome of the Second World War in both the European and Pacific theaters of war, and argues that it was the determining factor in the outcome of the conflict. The paper outlines both the tactical and strategic aspects of air-power along the respective 'fronts'. In addition, the relative quantitative and qualitative strength of the air forces of the belligerent nations are discussed, along with their aircraft production and technological capabilities.

Arab Nationalism In Interwar Period Iraq: A Descriptive Analysis Of Sami Shawkat’S Al-Futuwwah Youth Movement, Saman Nasser

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Abstract

Historiography of Iraqi Arab nationalism has studied the Iraqi Futuwwah Youth Movement of the interwar period in relation to the European fascist youth model of the post-World War I era. Moreover, the futuwwah is limited by linking its objective to training high school students of Iraq in the area of paramilitary exercises. By re-reading the futuwwah lectures of Sami Shawkat, the Director General of Education and founder of the futuwwah in Iraq, this thesis demonstrates how the movement was rather at the core of Iraqi Arab nationalism. The lectures appear in Shawkat’s book Hadhihi Ahdafuna (These are Our Goals), …

Battlefield Mementos Care Of And Restitution Of Japanese 'Good Luck Flags' And Cultural Heritage Objects From War In Museum Collections, Andrew Armstrong

Master's Projects and Capstones

In World War II one of the most common objects found on the battlefield in the Pacific Theater was that of the Japanese Yosegaki Hinomaru or “Good Luck Flag” These objects were some of the most looted items from the war and soon found themselves in the possession of veterans of World War II and their families. In the past few decades as these veterans pass, increasing numbers of veterans and their families attempt to return the flags to Japan, or museums in the United States, believing they are the most suited to care for such objects. However this presents …

A Soldier Of The North And South: The Remembrance Day Legacy Of Minion Knott, Ryan Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

For the third straight semester, I have returned to the Killed at Gettysburg project to chronicle the life and death of another soldier who lost his life in southern Pennsylvania. My personal interest in this project has not waned since I authored the first of my five profiles of Union soldiers in Dr. Carmichael’s “Gettysburg in History and Memory” course in the spring of 2017. I firmly believe that no interpretation of the Battle of Gettysburg is complete without a strong understanding of the unique lives that were extinguished there. This reminds us all that the battle was fought by …

Halbert, William Clarence, 1856-1931 (Sc 3310), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3310. Certificate, 22 March 1900, of the appointment on 5 December 1899 of William C. Halbert as 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, Kentucky State Guard. Signed by Governor William S. Taylor, who requested that a militia company be raised in anticipation of violence following the contested gubernatorial election of 1899.

The Forging Of Freedom: Slave Refugee Camps In The Civil War: An Interview Amy Murrell Taylor, Ashley Whitehead Luskey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Today we are speaking with Amy Murrell Taylor, Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. She is the author of Embattled Freedom: Journeys through the Civil War’s Slave Refugee Camps (UNC Press, 2018), as well as The Divided Family in Civil War America (UNC Press, 2005). Her research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. Taylor has also served as a consultant for public history sites and is currently an editorial advisor for the Civil War Monitor magazine. [excerpt]

Strahm Family Collection (Mss 655), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 655. Data, clippings and information about the Strahm family and related families. Most of the material relates to Franz J. Strahm, WKU music director from 1910-1941, and his son Victor H. Strahm’s career in military service. Includes photographs of Franz, Victor, and other family members.

Flip Side Of The Coin: The Unpleasant Reality Of Hatred, Cameron T. Sauers

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

November 19th saw the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, and with it, one of the highlights of the year: The annual Fortenbaugh Lecture. The goal of the annual Fortenbaugh lecture is to capture the spirit of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and make academic history accessible to the general public. This year’s lecturer was Dr. George Rable, Professor Emeritus and formerly the Charles G. Summersell Chair in Southern History at the University of Alabama. Dr. Rable’s reputation as a prolific scholar of the Civil War era is well known, with 6 books to his credit, including Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg! which won the 2003 …

A Common Soldier: William H. P. Ivey, Isaac J. Shoop

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

When I set out to pick a soldier for my first Killed at Gettysburg project, I did not know what I would find. I chose to research a Confederate soldier named William H. P. Ivey simply because he was born and raised on a farm, like me. As I did my research, I realized that Ivey’s life tells us a lot about the motivations and thoughts of a common southern soldier in the Civil War. Like most Confederate infantrymen, Ivey’s family was of the lower class and they were not slaveholders. Ivey, along with his brother Hinton, enlisted in the …

Ms-235: Ltc Richard F. Pendleton ‘63 Papers, Ryan D. Bilger

All Finding Aids

The collection includes maps, photographs, documents, and correspondence related to the service of LTC Richard F. Pendleton ’63 and the Vietnam War. These include detailed maps and items highlighting aspects of Pendleton’s time in Vietnam and broader pieces regarding different aspects of the Vietnam War era. Much of this correspondence is in the form of e-mails written many years after the war, and thus includes the personal opinions and biases of their authors. The printed articles included in the collection were also selected by Pendleton and reflect his interests and opinions on the war and its aftermath; they are not …

Remembering An Invasion: The Panama Intervention In America’S Political Memory, Dave Nagaji

Senior Theses

In December of 1989, the United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of the country of Panama, capturing Manuel Noriega and overthrowing his government. This research project examines how Colin Powell, Richard Cheney, James Baker, and George H.W. Bush presented Operation Just Cause in their memoirs. It attempts to determine how these senior leaders’ depictions of this invasion incorporated it into the Bush administration’s overall foreign-policy strategy. The research finds that their general approach was to present the Panama intervention as an isolated incident which had no intentional link to other major events at the time, was not …

High-Energy Laser Weapons: Overpromising Readiness, Ash Rossiter

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Military Working Dogs In The United States Armed Forces From World War I To Vietnam, Tristan J. Kelly

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

At the beginning of World War I, the only military working dogs the United States owned were sled dogs. In comparison, European nations in World War I used canines as sentries, messengers, ambulance, and draft dogs. In 1942, members of the American public, created Dogs for Defense Inc. to help recruit dogs for military use. By the end of the Vietnam War, dogs no longer were donated by the American public for use, rather the American military owned the dogs they deployed.

This thesis examines the use of dogs by the American military from World War I to the Vietnam …

Civil-Military Relations And Today's Policy Environment, Thomas N. Garner

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Innovation Tradecraft: Sustaining Technological Advantage In The Future Army, Adam J. Harrison, Bharat Rao, Bala Mulloth

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Lieutenant Colonel Donn A. Starry, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

World At War: Final Research Paper, Elise Nelson

History Class Publications

The Ottoman Empire reigned for over five centuries throughout today’s Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Southern Europe, starting around 1299. However, after World War I, it completely disbanded, creating several nation-states. What led to the fall of this massive Empire? There seem to be several factors including actions of World War I. Both the Allies and the Entente fought in the Middle East, each side supporting different groups within the Ottoman Empire. During the World War I period, the Young Turks, those in government in the Ottoman Empire, desired to create a “Turanian nationality.” This included a “Turkification” …

Social Media Warriors: Leveraging A New Battlespace, Buddhika B. Jayamaha, Jahara Matisek

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

From The Editor, Antulio J. Echevarria Ii

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Usawc Press

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Multidimensionality: Rethinking Power Projection For The 21st Century, David J. Katz

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

No abstract provided.

Measuring Rural Revolutionary Mobilization: The Militiamen, Soldiers, And Minutemen Of Fauquier County, Virginia 1775 - 1782, Jason Fackrell

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The story of the rural soldiers and militiamen of Virginia that served in the American Revolution remains open to historical research and exploration. Recent scholarship of Virginia’s military contribution to the Revolution focuses heavily on relationships of power among social groups that operated within the colony’s hierarchy, concluding that a lack of white, lower-class political and economic representation disabled mobilization among the Old Dominion’s more settled regions. My study emphasizes the revolutionary backcountry’s story by using Fauquier County, Virginia as a case study.

A study of Rural Virginia during the Revolution presents scholars with significant challenges. Literacy rates among the …

A Hidden History: Alexandria’S Slave Pen And The Domestic Slave Trade, Savannah Labbe

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Historical objects often have dark and horrible stories hidden just beneath their unassuming and innocent visage. The picture above is one such example of this type of object. At first glance the photo seems to depict a simple brick building; however, this building is anything but simple. It was used as a slave pen in the 19th century. Slave pens were buildings in which slaves were imprisoned and prepared for sale. The one pictured above was located in Alexandria, Virginia, the site of a major slave-trading center. While this photo’s association with the slave trade makes the photo a deeply …

Col. Francis Nash's Revolutionary War Encampment On Little River Neck, Horry County, South Carolina, John Benjamin Burroughs

HCAC Research

This article gives details about the encampment of Revolutionary War troops, commanded by Col. Francis Nash, on Little River Neck in December 1776. It contains excerpts from the account of Hugh McDonald. Little River Neck is private property located in the northeastern corner of Horry County, South Carolina.

North Korea’S Nuclear Program And Negotiation: How Nuclear Negotiation During The Clinton Years Produced Lessons For Current International Relations, Brian Hilliker

Senior Honors Theses

North Korea’s road of survival began in the aftermath of World War II, when the United States and the Soviet Union sparred over rival ideologies. Ultimately, Korea split into a free south and an authoritarian north. Over seventy years later, North Korea remains a bastion of communism. Nuclear weaponry is a factor behind North Korea’s survival, and the history of their program can offer insight for American policy makers today. This paper offers a history of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program during the Clinton presidency, along with recommendations for present day policy makers. Without an understanding of history decision-makers tend …

Dennis, John, B. 1832 - Letter To (Sc 3300), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3300. Letter, 2 January 1862, to John Dennis and his parents, Richland County, Ohio from John’s brother. In camp near Bardstown, Kentucky with the 64th Regiment, Company B, Ohio Volunteers, he praises Kentucky’s farms, crops and springs, and refers to two men of his acquaintance: William Clark, who is serving with the Confederate Army, and Charles Clark, who he met in Louisville, Kentucky and who boasted of his regiment’s superior skills and African American servants. The envelope bears a pro-Union image.

Ike’S Constitutional Venturing: The Institutionalization Of The Cia, Covert Action, And American Interventionism, Jacob A. Bruggeman

Grand Valley Journal of History

U.S. covert action from the 1950s onward was shaped, in part, by the success a CIA-orchestrated coup d'état in which the United States deposed the popular Iranian nationalist Mohammed Mossadegh. Ordered by president Eisenhower, the coup in Iran set the precedent for utilizing covert action as a means of achieving State goals. In so doing, President Eisenhower overturned the precedent set by his immediate predecessor, President Truman: that is, the precedent of using the CIA in its intended function, gathering and evaluating intelligence. The coup, then, is an exemplary case of venture constitutionalism. Eisenhower, in ordering the coup, extended his …

More Than A Stereotype?: A Reflection On The Life Of Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Jonathan Tracey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

For my most recent, and likely final, foray into the Killed at Gettysburgdigital project, I delved into the story of Major Benjamin Watkins Leigh, Adjutant for “Alleghany” Johnson’s Division. This has certainly been a departure from my previous projects, Private Hannibal Howell of the 76th New York Infantry and Private James Bedell of the 7th Michigan Cavalry. Rather than examining unknown stories of Union privates, I worked to narrate the life and death of a Confederate officer. This was certainly a challenge, both because I lacked familiarity with Confederate primary sources and because of my inherent Unionist biases. I …