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Jesup, Thomas Sidney, 1788-1860 (Sc 404), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 404. Two letters of Jesup, Washington City, to J.C. Spencer and William Wilkins, Secretaries of War, with his opinion of Rouses’ Point, New York, as a military post, and his defense of the Seminole Indians’ claims and his concern for their ill treatment by the U.S. government. Also, an article entitled “Notice of the late Major General Brown, by Major General Jesup, 1828(?).

Slaughter Family Papers (Sc 402), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 402. Will, 1798; slavery bill of sale, 1810; militia commission, 1820; letters concerning Slaughter estate settlement, 1835-1843 (9); Mexican War claim, 1849; letters of recommendations for judicial appointments, 1853-1879 (7); Civil War notes and letters, 1861-1864 (4); and miscellaneous items. Selected items have been typescripted.

Selby, Cornelia Frances, 1916-2005 (Sc 2530), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2530. Letters from Cornelia Frances “Fran” Selby to her sister, Mary Agnes Selby in Utica, Ohio, written during Cornelia’s service in the Women’s Army Corps at Camp Campbell, Kentucky. She writes of her activities, her anticipated furlough and their male acquaintances.

Moore, Nancy Elam, 1807-1889 (Mss 405), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 405. Journal of Nancy Elam Moore, an eldress of the Shaker colony at South Union, Kentucky, describing life in the colony during the Civil War, 1861-1863, especially visitation and exploitation by both Union and Confederate forces. Includes a diary of unknown authorship recording daily life at the colony in 1866. The original diary is owned by the Dayton [Ohio] Public Library.

Civil War And Globalization: The Effect Of Colonialism On Political Globalization, Luke O. Feltz

Celebration

The purpose of this paper to determine why civil war onset reduces political globalization in former British colonies. Through linear regression and logistic regression analyses, I test the affect of civil war onset and the presence of civil war on political globalization, controlling for former British colonies, French colonies, and other factors. More important, however, is the history behind British colonialism. Through setting up a unique institutional system and maintaining ties to its former colonies, the British have created an atmosphere conducive to international political engagement after the onset of civil war. This study shows that while civil war onset …

The Invisible Enemy: The Effects Of Polio On The American War Effort During World War Ii, 1941-1945, Jacob Owen Bryant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at the social, political, and military effects of epidemic polio on America's war effort during World War II. The primary sources consulted include newspapers, military medical reports, photographs, memoirs, speeches, and archival collections. It looks at the effects of polio on the home front, more specifically how epidemics and the rising rates of polio were a detriment to the civilian war effort. It also focuses on the American military's preparation for and response to polio outbreaks among troops both at home and abroad. Finally, it discusses the experiences of the servicemen who contracted polio during the war. …

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (May 2012), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Fateful Lightning: A New History Of The Civil War And Reconstruction, Allen C. Guelzo

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

The Civil War is the greatest trauma ever experienced by the American nation, a four-year paroxysm of violence that left in its wake more than 600,000 dead, more than 2 million refugees, and the destruction (in modern dollars) of more than $700 billion in property. The war also sparked some of the most heroic moments in American history and enshrined a galaxy of American heroes. Above all, it permanently ended the practice of slavery and proved, in an age of resurgent monarchies, that a liberal democracy could survive the most frightful of challenges.

In Fateful Lightning, two-time Lincoln Prize-winning …

Buffalo, New York’S Citizen Soldiers: Personal Histories Of Combat, Trauma, And Returning Home After The Second World War, Drew H. Lewandowski

History Theses

Buffalo, New York’s Citizen Soldiers: Personal Histories of Combat, Trauma, and Returning Home after the Second World War

This thesis focuses on interviews from nine World War Two veterans who are from Buffalo, New York and the immediate surrounding areas. Included are three infantry men from the European theatre, including one paratrooper. Three who served in the Pacific theatre, including one medical officer, a medic, and one man served in the occupation of Japan. The remaining three served in the Air Corps in Europe, one pilot, one bombardier, and one fighter pilot.

Through extensive interviews, both written and filmed, this …

The First World War Between Memory And History: A Conference Retrospective, Christopher Schultz, Jonathan Weier

Canadian Military History

Long after the guns of the First World War went silent on 11 November 1918, the war continues to spark debate. The many points of contention were on full display at the “From Memory to History” conference, hosted by Western University in London, Ontario, over three days in November 2011. Scholars and enthusiasts from around the world gathered to share, debate, and ultimately demonstrate that the war’s many legacies are still open to interpretation, even as the centenary of the war’s outbreak approaches. Perhaps the most crucial lesson learned is that both memory and history are malleable concepts, prone to …

S.L.A. Marshall And The Ratio Of Fire: History, Interpretation, And The Canadian Experience, Robert Engen

Canadian Military History

The famous “ratio of fire” data proposed by S.L.A. Marshall claims that no more than 15-20 percent of soldiers fired their weapons in combat. This article examines whether or not historians can treat Marshall’s ratio of fire data as veracious, and if so what interpretations one can assign to the phenomenon of combat non-participation. The article contends that based upon the Canadian experience it is premature to universalize Marshall’s findings beyond his specific historical subjects, and that studies of human behaviour in war need to look beyond the ratio of fire data as a paradigm for understanding the conduct of …

Crossing The Canal: Combined Arms Operations At The Canal Du Nord, Sept–Oct 1918, David Borys

Canadian Military History

The crossing of the Canal du Nord stands as one of the most impressive Canadian tactical operations of the First World War. Incorporating a risky battle plan, emphasizing combined arms operations and utilizing the recently re-organized Canadian Engineers, the battle stands as benchmark for the evolution of 20th century combat. Although sustaining high casualties, the Canadian Corps overcame one of the strongest German defensive positions along the Westner Front in an operation that foreshadowed the mobile, combined arms doctrine of the Second World War.

“A Useful Accessory To The Infantry, But Nothing More”: Tanks At The Battle Of Flers-Courcelette, September 1916, Andrew Mcewen

Canadian Military History

The Battle of Flers-Courcelette is chiefly remembered as the combat introduction of tanks. The prevailing historiography maligns their performance as a lacklustre debut of a weapon which held so much promise for offensive warfare. However, unit war diaries and individual accounts of the battle suggest that the tank assaults of 15 September 1916 were far from total failures. This paper thus re-examines the role of tanks in the battle from the perspective of Canadian, British and New Zealand infantry. It finds that, rather than disappointing Allied combatants, the tanks largely lived up to their intended role of infantry support.

The Battle Of Hong Kong: 70 Years Later, Tyler Wentzell

Canadian Military History

Tyler Wentzell, a Canadian infantry officer and the author of a recent article on Brigadier J.K. Lawson, visited Hong Kong last summer. He had the opportunity to range over the former British colony and explore the area where the Canadian fought and died in December 1941. This feature provides a “then and now” look at those battlefields.

The Canadian War Museum And Bomber Command: My Perspective, David J. Bercuson

Canadian Military History

This article based on David Bercuson’s keynote address at the 22nd Military History Colloquium held at the University of Waterloo in May 2011. Bercuson discusses his role in the controversy over the panel text about the Combined Bomber Offensive at the new Canadian War Museum. Arguing the the original text was not wrong, but reflected older scholarship, he concludes by observing that no serious scholar, whether a single author or a museum staff, should be saved from the age-old processes of historical review, revision and re-writing to reflect more recent research when it is more accurate.

Side-Steppers And Original-Firsts: The Overseas Chevron Controversy And Canadian Identity In The Great War, Andrew Iarocci

Canadian Military History

Badges of rank, qualification, and achievement can play significant, it not always explicit, roles in military culture. In late 1917 the British War Office instituted a new award, overseas service chevrons, to recognize service abroad for all ranks and branches of the Empire’s expeditionary forces. This article considers evolving Canadian attitudes toward the chevrons throughout 1918 and in the postwar years. Rather than boost the morale of rank and file soldiers in the Canadian Corps, the chevrons appear to have caused much resentment. Some front liners believed that the award should somehow be distinguish between combat and non-combat service. After …

Rearranged Snowdrops: The Construction Of Memory At The Abbaye D’Ardenne, Vanessa Mcmackin

Canadian Military History

The construction of memory regarding the Second World War is a field in Canaidan historiography that requires further exploration and research. The memorial at the Abbaye d’Ardenne in Normandy provides a case study that speaks to larger patterns of collective commemoration of the war by Canadians and the local population. Memories of war must be examined in the context of their construction. Several factors have given the Abbaye prominence among the many monuments to Canadian the many monuments to Canadian soldiers in Normandy. The monument itself, the physical space it occupies, the motives of those who create and sustain it, …

“Truly They Died That We Might Be Free”: Remembering The Westlake Brothers, Jean-François Born

Canadian Military History

This article examines Canada’s Second World War memory through the experiences of the Westlake family of Toronto. George, Albert and Thomas Westlake were killed in action in Normandy, within a period of four days. Their story is fascinating in terms of the representation of Canadian war casualties of the Second World War. In addition, the article sheds light on one family and how it remembers and has acted to prevent the fading of memory. The Westlake family has ensured that George, Albert and Thomas are honoured and will be remembered. Examining this family provides a new perspective on the Second …

The Fall Of Hong Kong: The Condon Report, David Macri

Canadian Military History

David Macri recently defended his PhD thesis “Hong Kong in the Sino–Japanese War: The Logistics of Collective Security in South China, 1935–1941” at the University of Hong Kong. The thesis raises new and important questions about the strategic background to the events of late 1941. Dr. Macri is also interested in operational and tactical issues and this report from the US National Archives is of special interest to Canadians. The author, Major Reynolds Condon, was an American assistant military attaché in Hong Kong who witnessed the battle before being released back to the US. His report, while not always factually …

Making The Department Of National Defence Work In The 1970s: The Deputy Minister And The Cds Remember, J.L. Granatstein

Canadian Military History

In the aftermath of unification, the Canadian Forces were struggling to deal with the changes that overtook them, not least the Trudeau government’s relative indifference to the military, the impact of bilingualism, and massive reorganization. General Jacques Dextraze, who became chief of the defence staff in 1972, and Sylvain Cloutier, the deputy minister in the Department of National Defence from 1971 to 1975, played key roles in managing the changes. Interviews conducted by J.L. Granatstein in 1988 indicate where they agreed—and disagreed—and tell us much about the characters of these two key figures.