Military History Commons^™

“We The Undersigned…Bind Ourselves Mutually”: Civil War Draft Resistance In Eastern Pennsylvania, Ryan D. Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

On August 6th, 1863, a group of sixteen men gathered at the East Penn Railroad depot in Millerstown, Pennsylvania, now known as Macungie, a small farming community located about seven miles southwest of Allentown. The young men met that day to create a contract with one another in anticipation of the army conscription draft, scheduled to take place in a week’s time with men between ages twenty and thirty-five eligible for selection. They created the “Millerstown Club,” agreeing “that each member of the club has to pay the sum of fifty dollars on or before the day previous to the …

African Americans In Times Of War, Auburn University

Ethnic History

Bibliography and photograph of a display of government documents from Auburn University Libraries.

Scott, James Mcmillian, 1870-1907 (Mss 628), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 628. Letters of James McMillian Scott, a native of Cumberland County, Kentucky, to Sarah Elizabeth “Ellie” Garnett of Adair County, Kentucky, written before and after their marriage. Frequently separated from his wife because of his work on his family’s Texas farm and his editorial positions on newspapers in Texas, Kentucky and Arkansas, Scott writes of his family, his social and religious activities, his Spanish-American War service, and his newspaper work. He is frequently resentful of local attacks on his reputation arising from unspecified indiscretions committed while living in Kentucky. Full-text scans of several Spanish-American War …

Debacle At Petersburg: The Battle Of The Crater: An Interview With A. Wilson Greene, Ashley Whitehead Luskey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Over the course of this year, we’ll be interviewing some of the speakers from the upcoming 2018 CWI conference about their talks. Today we are speaking with A. Wilson Greene. Mr. Greene recently retired from a 44-year career in public history. He spent sixteen years in the National Park Service, served as the first director of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites (now the Civil War Trust), and was the founding director of Pamplin Historical Park & the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier, where he worked for 22 years. Greene holds a Masters degree in …

Messer, George, 1833-1863 (Sc 3163), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3163. Four letters of George Messer to his wife Lottie Messer, written March-May 1863 from Camp Hobson, Glasgow, Kentucky. He describes preparing the camp’s fortifications and accommodations, the arrival of reinforcements, the presence of nearby Confederates, his novel reading, and the prospects of obtaining a furlough. He relates the prevalence of fighting among the local citizenry and discusses affairs at home such as his debts and local elections. His letter of 16 April includes a sketch of the fort.

Too Little Too Late? The Introduction Of The Spencer Rifle, Savannah A. Labbe

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The photo above does not seem like much, but the story behind it is incredible. On August 17, 1863, a man named Christopher Miner Spencer entered the White House, gun in hand. He was let in past the sentries and ushered in to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. Spencer was at the White House to show the president his invention, the repeating rifle. He had been trying to get it adopted by the United States Army with little success, so he decided to go to the man with the most power. Spencer showed Lincoln his gun, and the president was …

Lee And Grant: Images Of Fatherhood In Victorian America, Abigail Cocco

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Before they were great Civil War generals, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant were fathers. Lee had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Grant was the father of three boys and a single girl. Though they are intended to paint overwhelmingly positive portraits of the two men, their children’s words give us a sense of these two generals as fathers and the ways in which they reflected standard trends in fathering during the Victorian Era. [excerpt]

Meade At Gettysburg: An Interview With Kent Masterson Brown, Ashley Whitehead Luskey

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Over the course of this year, we’ll be interviewing some of the speakers from the upcoming 2018 CWI conference about their talks. Today we are speaking with Kent Masterson Brown. Mr. Brown is a Lexington, Kentucky-based historian and attorney who haspracticed law for forty-three years. He was the creator and first editor of the national magazine, The Civil War, and is author of many books, including Cushing of Gettysburg: The Story of a Union Artillery Commander (University Press of Kentucky, 1998); The Civil War in Kentucky: Battle for the Bluegrass State (Savas Publishing Company, 2000); Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics …

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Lexington, Kentucky (Sc 3173), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3173. Letter, 4 October 1863, from “Albert” to his wife Nellie. From Lexington, Kentucky, he discusses arrangements for her forthcoming visit, describes a painful inflammation affecting his face, and tells her of his military accommodations. He also notes the “howl” of a band in camp expected to play at guard mountings and dress parades.

Mcilvaine, William F., 1923-2019 (Sc 3172), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3172. Letter, 18 February 1944, of William F. McIlvaine to Pauline Purdue, Bowling Green, Kentucky. From Camp Polk, Louisiana, he writes flirtatiously, teasing her about her girlfriends and of visiting Kentucky to see her and not the “pretty horses.” The letterhead from Camp Polk includes depictions of Armored Forces equipment and operations.

Frazier, William?, D. 1863 (Sc 3168), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3168. Unsigned letter, 31 January 1862, thought to be from William Frazier of the 33rd Indiana Infantry, to a female friend. Writing from Camp Henderson, Kentucky, he sympathizes with her inability to take time from her studies to correspond. He also refers to the weather and his duties as a cook, and mourns the recent deaths of two members of his company.

Williams, Samuel J., D. 1864 (Sc 3167), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3167. Letter, 31 October 1861, of Samuel J. Williams, 33rd Indiana Infantry, to “friend Lorinda.” From Camp Calvert in Laurel County, Kentucky, he writes of illness among the soldiers and of preparing the camp’s defenses. He also writes of a nervous sentry’s mistaking a tree stump for an intruder, two orders to prepare for battle, and the capture of two Confederates. The letterhead includes an engraving of a flag-bearing woman and the slogan “Onward to Victory!”

Better Than Before, Makia Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Better than Before is an experiential art installation that profiles the life of James Isreal, a Vietnam vet who shares a spiritual journey that is filled with self-discovery, introspection, and hope in the midst of war and abhorrent racism. His poignant retrospective follows his struggle to find peace in the midst of trauma and disease, providing life lessons that transcend the pangs of adversity and the unknown.

The Emergence And Evolution Of Memorial Day, Richard Gardiner, P. Michael Jones, Daniel Bellware

Faculty Bibliography

Discusses how Memorial Day became a holiday in the United States.

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Charles Henry Smith Materials, Charles Henry Smith, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

Charles Henry Smith was born on November 1, 1827 in Hollis, Maine. He graduated from Waterville (Colby) College in 1856, and became the principal of Eastport High School until 1860. After the call for Volunteers to serve in the Civil War, Smith enlisted and was recruited Captain of Company D of the 1st Maine Cavalry in 1861. He was made Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and then Colonel in 1863. He was in command of the 1st Maine Cavalry at Gettysburg. He was mustered out of the 1st Maine Cavalry in August of 1865. After discharge from the Civil War, he was …

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Henry Clay Merriam Materials, Henry Clay Merriam, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

Henry Clay Merriam (1837-1912) was born in Houlton in 1837 and entered Waterville College (now Colby College) in 1860. He enlisted in the 20th Maine Regiment in the spring of 1862 and served under Joshua Chamberlain. After the Union Army decided to allow black troops to fight, Maine men were solicited to lead black units. Merriam was one of those willing to do so and in March 1863, he was made commander of the Third Colored Infantry of Louisiana. The 3rd Infantry, later the 73rd Infantry Corps d'Afrique, was considered an excellent fighting unit under Merriam's leadership.

Merriam led his …

Colonel John Johnston's "Biography Of Tecumtha" (1854), Caitlin Metheny

Nineteenth-Century Ohio Literature

In this installment, we have a biography of the Shawnee leader Tecumseh by Colonel John Johnston (here and, in some sources, spelled Johnson), who worked for decades as an “Indian agent”—an official liaison between the US government and indigenous peoples—at Fort Wayne and Piqua. Johnston's biography is followed by a critical essay by Caitlin Metheny.

"Impracticable, Inhospitable, And Dismal Country": An Examination Of The Environmental Impact On Civil War Military Operations In West Virginia, John Martin Mcmillan

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

“Impracticable, Inhospitable, and Dismal Country” examines the role of the natural environment in the campaign fought along Tygart’s Valley River in West Virginia during the summer and early fall of 1861. In the weeks following the capitulation of Fort Sumter, it became clear that hostilities would break out in present-day West Virginia. Divided political sentiments between secessionists and Unionists, combined with vital transportation avenues including turnpikes, the Ohio River, and the critical Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, forced the region into the crosshairs of regular military operations. As soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies mobilized in West Virginia, they soon …

Perryville Vs. Gettysburg, Madison Rippy

The Student Researcher: A Phi Alpha Theta Publication

No abstract provided.

The Indian Army In Historiographical And Instructional Perspective, Bianca Bakalar

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay……………………………….2

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………..26

III. Textbook Critique……………………………...31

IV. New Textbook Entry…………………………..36

V. Bibliography………………………………….....42