United States History Commons^™

A Gun With A Story: Waller Patton’S Civil War Pistol, Laurel J. Wilson

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Musselman Library Special Collections is home to a wide variety of artifacts, including a rather impressive number of Civil War era items. One Civil War artifact, the Patton Pistol, stands out from the rest by virtue of the story attached to it. The 1861 Navy Colt revolver originally belonged to Waller Tazewell Patton, who was the great uncle of General George S. Patton Jr. of WWII fame.

A Compact With The Whales: Confederate Commerce Raiders And New Bedford’S Whaling Industry 1861-1865, Mark Mello

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

A Charitable Scheme: William Smith, Michael Schlatter, And The German Free Schools, Daniel M. Crown

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes William Smith’s development of “German Free Schools” in Pennsylvania between 1753-1755. It argues that these schools, ostensibly meant to acclimatize German immigrants to a British colony, were in fact intended to increase pro-Proprietary sympathy, isolate sectarian preachers, and end Quaker dominance over the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

The Breath Seekers: Race, Riots, And Public Space In Harlem, 1900-1935, Allyson Compton

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to explore the historical intersection of public space and equality by examining Harlem, New York, between 1900 and 1935.

Secrets On Morgan Hill: A Story Of An Unlikely Friendship Amid An Apartheid South, Camille Kleidysz-Ferreira

Master of Arts in American Studies Capstones

Introduction

The Burden of History and Fiction

“How much of the burden of history can fiction bear?” – Margaret Walker

Comprehensive historical research can often become the inspiration for art. The greatest pieces of historical fiction, are a result of years of historic scholarship before the creation of a compelling historical narrative or fiction piece. Through my two-year ethnographic study and collection of oral histories of the black community, surrounding the historic Bethel A.M.E. church in Acworth, Georgia, I was told a story about a friendship between two little girls who remained friends until the end of their lives. What …

Reacting To The Past Handout: The Liberator, Issue 1, Isabel Alberto

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

No abstract provided.

Pedigo, James Spenser, 1882-1933 (Sc 3114), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3114. Letter, 19 September 1910, to “Mildred” from J. Spenser Pedigo, Bowling Green, Kentucky. A friend of her parents, Pedigo greets the newborn Mildred, praises motherhood and family, and sends his regards to her parents and to one “Kate Carr.”

Pierian Club - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Mss 610), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 610. Minutes, correspondence, yearbooks, and miscellaneous records of the Pierian Club, a women's literary club in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Confederate Memory, Olivia Ortman

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

This year as a CWI Fellow, I’ve been doing a lot of research and thinking on Civil War memory, specifically that of Confederate memory. When doing this work, the question at the back of my mind is always: How should monuments, symbols, and other examples of Confederate memory be handled? This is a very difficult question, so up until now, I’ve left it alone, knowing that there would come a time in the future that I would sit down and wrestle with my conflicting opinions on the matter. A couple days ago, the Civil War Era Studies Department here at …

The Founding Farce, Or, The Lost Debates Of The Constitutional Convention: Being An Account Of The Discovery Of An Overlooked Document, And The Loss Again, And Rediscovery Of Said Document, Wherein Is Written Unheard Proceedings In The Crafting Of The Glorious Constitution Of These 13 Colonies (Which Has Lately Been Misplaced), Alexander W. Pickens

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Constitutional Convention was shrouded in mystery, yet America has been confidently given a narrative of what went on behind closed doors in Philadelphia. Though most of our authentic records of what went on were written by men assumed to be reliable, the deeper one reads into history the more unreliable they become, recent evidence even suggesting that James Madison altered his notes on the Convention years after it was concluded. What if our perception of history is flawed and the Convention was not the glorious meeting of intellectual giants but instead a town hall full of immature behemoths who …

President Truman Decides To Use The Atom Bomb, Amanda L. Dodge

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The creation of atomic bomb has greatly influenced interactions between nations in today's world. But how did this come to be? President Harry S. Truman ordered the use of the first atomic bombs in history during World War II. The decision to use such a powerful weapon must have be difficult however. This thesis analyzes President Truman's choice to use the atom bomb which forever changed the world as we know it.

“Ain’T It A Pretty Night?”: An Analysis Of Carlisle Floyd’S Susannah As An Allegory For The Socio-Political Culture Of The United States In The 1950s, Melissa L. Allen

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This capstone thesis discusses the applicability of Carlisle Floyd’s 1955 opera, Susannah, as an allegory for the socio-political climate of the United States in the 1950s. In order to do so, a musical analysis of the opera’s score was then performed for its use of folk song conventions and verismo operatic conventions. The libretto was analyzed for the use of social conventions of Southern Appalachia. Characters actions and musical content were then judged on whether (1) their actions were in line with the social conventions of traditional Appalachian culture and (2) if their musical content used/reflected conventions of traditional Appalachian …

“That Dark Parade”: Emily Dickinson And The Victorian "Cult Of Death”, Carol M. Degrasse

English Department Theses

The elegiac poems of Emily Dickinson provide what is perhaps the clearest depiction of the conflicting emotions inherent to the death-conscious nineteenth century. In one such poem, Dickinson’s oxymoronic phrase, “Dark Parade,” encapsulates the spirit of a social movement that was born of a desire to comfort the grief-stricken and to beautify the horrific. Throughout Dickinson’s corpus of elegiac poetry, the speaker echoes these sentiments and crafts an insightful portrait, juxtaposing the stark horror of death with the ethereal beauty of ceremony. As Dickinson’s elegies are traced over time, the poems develop as microcosmic representations of a grieving nation, as …

"If God Is For Us Who Can Be Against Us?": Southerners, Abolitionists, Slavery, And The Quest For God's Approval In Pre-Civil War America, Carson Cope

Graduate Theses

In assessing antebellum, Southern attitudes towards slavery, no assessment is complete without examining Christianity’s influence on southerners. Nearly every document southerners put forward that supported slavery made a reference to a biblical sanction of slavery. In studying the Southern use of the Bible to sanction slavery, many historians such as Hector Avalos and Molly Oshatz have argued that southerners were within their rights to use the Bible to sanction slavery. At the same time, they have castigated abolitionist efforts to argue that the Bible did not sanction slavery. In assessing this debate, this thesis will argue in contrast to these …

Kitchcart, Mary L., 1837-1925 (Sc 3113), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3113. Correspondence of Mary L. Kithcart, Mount Pleasant, Ohio. A letter to her from Ella Hurst and Thornton Moore, 23 October 1862, reports on encounters between Confederates, including John Hunt Morgan, and Union troops near Lexington, Kentucky, Ella’s family’s aid to home guards, and the theft of horses and wagons. A concerned Mary forwards the letter to a cousin with details of one of the stolen horses.

Coolidge Against The World: Peace, Prosperity, And Foreign Policy In The 1920s, Joel Webster

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The common narrative of the 1920s is either to largely ignore the nation during this time and the men who presided over it or to simply dismiss the decade as a time of isolationism and Republican failure and the three presidents as corrupt, lazy, silent, or incompetent. The problems of the more typical narratives are most starkly shown in the realm of foreign policy. A more thorough examination of the role of President Calvin Coolidge and the American nation in that area reveals something very different. Because, if we approach those years as a “historical way station on the road …

Form Over Function: How The Confederate Oligarchy's Pretense Of Conventional Military Legitimacy Abandoned The Legitimate American Military Spirit, Jacob D. Harris

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In the Summer of 1864, Confederate General Robert E. Lee tasked Major General Jubal Early to protect the Army of Northern Virginia’s rear by defending the strategically vital Shenandoah Valley from Union conquest. By the Fall, Early was losing decisively, hopelessly outnumbered, and making no strategic refinements. He never seriously attempted to synchronize his Valley operations with Colonel John S. Mosby’s nearby 43^rd Ranger Battalion, despite ominous reversals and Mosby’s attempts to cooperate.

Mosby was a gifted tactician who patterned his actions after his revolutionary hero, Brigadier General Francis Marion. He achieved his dream of being a “partisan” like …

Mitigating Munitions: The Consequences Of Using Technology During Counterinsurgency Campaigns, Pake L. Davis

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

American counterinsurgency in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan relied on conventional warfare methods than counterinsurgency warfare methods. These methods proved detrimental to operational success and put members of the military at risk. To find this, I used after-action reports from Vietnam by the 1st Cavalry, 4th Infantry, and 25th Infantry Divisions. I used oral histories by the Veterans History Project and the Cantigny First Division Oral Histories to reveal their experiences while conducting these campaigns. The primary method began in Vietnam with Arc Light (B-52) strikes, artillery strikes, and napalm as preparatory strikes. American units then used search-and-destroy maneuvers to root …

Donald Trump, Andrew Jackson, And The Civil War: A Cwi Fellow’S Response, Ryan Bilger

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

In an interview for Sirius XM Radio released this Monday, May 1, President Donald Trump made some intriguing comments regarding the reasons why the American Civil War took place. He started by describing his beliefs on how 7th President Andrew Jackson would have influenced the events leading up to the Civil War

Huenefeld, Earl Warren, B. 1921 And Alvis Marie (Dunaway) Huenefeld, 1922-1994 (Mss 606), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 606. Courtship letters of E. Warren Huenefeld, Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and his fiancé and eventual wife, Alvis Marie Dunaway, while she was teaching school in Madison County and Pulaski County, Kentucky. Includes some elementary music teaching Material and a pencil sketch of Alvis Huenefeld.