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The Poor Man’S Fight: Mercenary Soldiers In The Civil War: An Interview With William Marvel, 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 William Marvel, an independent scholar of mid-19th-century American History. Marvel is the author of eighteen books, including most recently, Lincoln’s Mercenaries: Economic Motivation among Union Soldiers, which is due for release by LSU Press in the early fall of 2018. Some of Marvel’s additional publications include: Lincoln’s Autocrat: The Life of Edwin Stanton (UNC Press, 2015), A Place Called Appomattox (UNC Press, 2000), and Andersonville: The Last Depot (UNC Press, 1994), for which …

Hill, John W., 1834-1922 (Sc 3165), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3165. Compilation of military service and pension records of John W. Hill, Warren County, Kentucky. Includes chronologies of Hill’s Civil War service, 1864-1865, and of his disability pension application and subsequent requests for increases, 1888-1922. Also includes images of Hill, his wife, and selected documents filed in support of his application.

You’Ve Got Mail: Throwback To The American Revolutionary War, Abigail K. Major

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

A collection of approximately 150 Civil War era envelopes, mainly produced by Philadelphia publisher James Magee as well as the King & Baird printers, with patriotic Unionist themes is located in Gettysburg College’s Special Collections & College Archives. Of particular interest are the “throwbacks” and references to the American Revolution. The “Glorious Old Hall of Independence,” a depiction of Bunker Hill, and Mount Vernon are only a few illustrations from the collection that demonstrate this American Revolution era theme. [excerpt]

Honor And Compromise, And Getting History Right, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly does not have a Ph.D. in history, although he does have two master’s degrees, in Strategic Studies (from the National Defense University) and in National Security Affairs from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. So perhaps it was simply that he believed what he said about the Civil War this past Monday on Laura Ingraham’s new Fox News ‘Ingraham Angle’ was so innocuous that he could also believe that it wouldn’t even become a blip on anyone’s radar screen. (excerpt)

Hebron, John L., 1842-1914 (Sc 3154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript of letter (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3154. Letter, 26 October 1861, to his mother from John L. Hebron, serving with the 2nd Ohio Infantry at Camp Leslie Combs, West Liberty, Kentucky. He describes a recent engagement with Confederate troops, reports on the killed, wounded and local conditions in the aftermath, and criticizes Confederate battle skills. Expecting to spend the winter at Camp Dennison, Ohio, he expresses satisfaction with his warm clothing but complains of the lack of overcoats.

Waging Just Warfare During America’S Civil War: An Interview With Dr. D.H. Dilbeck, 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 Dr. D.H. Dilbeck, an historian of 19th-century American legal and religious history. Dr. Dilbeck received his Ph.D. in American History from the University of Virginia. His first book, A More Civil War: How the Union Waged a Just War (UNC Press, 2016), was a finalist for the Gilder-Lehrman Lincoln Prize. His most recent book, Frederick Douglass: America’s Prophet is forthcoming from UNC Press in 2018. A former Assistant Professor of History at Oklahoma …

Messer, George, 1833-1863 (Sc 3138), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3138. Letters, 16 December 1862, 13 February 1863 and 6-7 June 1863, of George Messer to his wife Lottie in DeWitt County, Illinois, written while camped near Woodsonville in Hart County, Kentucky and at Camp Hobson, Glasgow, Kentucky. He describes his quarters (his “shebang”), a fire in Woodsonville that burned two hospitals, the remnants of a nearby battlefield, local troop movements, illness, and his finances. He also writes of contributing money to send a soldier’s remains home, and comments on his officers and on domestic matters.

Buckner, Simon Bolivar, 1823-1914 (Sc 3143), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3143. Letter, 7 September 1907, of Simon Bolivar Buckner to John H. Weller, former commander of the Orphan Brigade. He suggests that at a forthcoming reunion, the Brigade recommend “the acquiring and improvement” of the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, and notes that an option has already been secured on part of the site. (The Davis Memorial Home movement was subsequently inaugurated at the reunion.)

Gordon, George W., 1802?-1862 (Sc 3144), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3144. Letter, 26 December 1861, of Captain George W. Gordon to his children. From Camp Bradley at Clarksville, Tennessee, he writes of his enlistment and command of a company in the 48th Tennessee. Mourning the “unnatural war” that is “desolating the Country,” he remarks on the large numbers of troops massing in Kentucky and the expectation of a “bloody conflict.” His pessimistic letter concludes that men may look only to God for mercy.

In Gettysburg, The Confederacy Won, Scott Hancock

Africana Studies Faculty Publications

Almost every day, I ride my bicycle past some of the over 1,300 statues and monuments commemorating the Civil War in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where I live. They are everywhere. None of them are of black people.

The Battle of Gettysburg, fought over three days in July of 1863, is often considered the turning point of a war fought over the fate of slavery in America. Black people ultimately were the reason why over 165,000 soldiers came to this Pennsylvania town in the first place. But on the battlefield, as far as the physical memorials, they disappear. (excerpt)

Should We Banish Robert E. Lee & His Confederate Friends? Let's Talk., Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

After 152 years, Robert E. Lee is back in the headlines. But not in any way he could have imagined.

The “Unite the Right” forces descended on Charlottesville, Va., to protest calls for the removal of an equestrian statue of Lee that has been sitting in a city park since 1924. The larger question, however, was about whether the famous Confederate general was also a symbol of white supremacy.

The same issues were in play in May when a statue of Lee was removed from Lee Circle in New Orleans. There are also more than two dozen streets and schools …

Messer, George, 1833-1863 (Sc 3129), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and transcription (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3129. Letter, 26 March 1863, of George Messer to his wife Lottie in DeWitt County, Illinois. From Camp Joe Kelly (the name changed, as he notes, to Camp Hobson) near Glasgow, Kentucky, he describes camp life, including the clearing of timber and his duty in the cold and rainy weather. He also praises the hospital facilities and describes a joke played on an officer who returned to camp without a pass. Expecting the war to end soon, he also writes of matters relating to home.

Vance, Edward Richard, 1833-1902 (Mss 612), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 612. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and family papers of Richard Vance, a Warren County, Kentucky native and U.S. Army officer. After his Civil War service, Vance spent his career at several posts in the South and on the frontier until his retirement in 1892.

Cowing, Rufus Billings, 1840-1920 (Sc 3124), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3124. Letter, 21 February 1862, of attorney Rufus B. Cowing, New York City, to his mother. He encloses a letter from his brother (not included), who was then serving in the Union Army and would later be killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. Rufus notes his brother’s arrival in Bowling Green, Kentucky after “the enemy had run away.” Believing the war will soon end, he speculates on his brother’s future in business and writes of his own desire to be financially independent.

Loving, Hector Voltaire, 1839-1913 (Sc 3123), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3123. Letter, 31 July 1862, of Hector V. Loving, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Harlan P. Lloyd, Angelica, New York. He tells his former schoolmate of his law study and practice since graduation from New York’s Hamilton College, and particularly describes the uproar in his home town of Bowling Green, Kentucky at the outbreak of the Civil War: secessionist “treason,” the Confederate occupation, and the rebuilding of the city afterward. He also refers to their classmate and law student Daniel Webster Wright as a “violent” secessionist.

Messer, George, 1833-1863 (Sc 3118), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3118. Letter, 23-24 May 1862 [sic], of George Messer, 107th Illinois Infantry, to his wife Lottie in DeWitt County, Illinois. From Camp Hobson, Glasgow, Kentucky, he reports on his health and the possibility of battle, and mockingly describes the two-men “dogtents” issued to the troops. He also discusses recent promotions and the prospects for a military draft, notes the arrival of an Indiana regiment decimated at the Battle of Perryville, and criticizes "shoulder strap gentlemen” who take credit for soldiers’ achievements.

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

MSS 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.

Defending Reconstruction, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

There are no Reconstruction re-enactors. And who would want to be? Reconstruction is the disappointing epilogue to the American Civil War, a sort of Grimm fairy tale stepchild of the war and the ugly duckling of American history. Even Abraham Lincoln was uneasy at using the word “reconstruction”—he qualified it with add-ons like “what is called reconstruction” or “a plan of reconstruction (as the phrase goes)”—and preferred to speak of the “re-inauguration of the national authority” or the need to “re-inaugurate loyal state governments.” Unlike the drama of the war years, Reconstruction has no official starting or ending date. ( …

Right To Serve, Right To Lead: Lives And Legacies Of The Usct, Matthew D. Laroche, Hannah M. Christensen, Alexandria J. Andrioli, Jennifer A. Simone, Savannah G. Rose, Jonathan G. Danchik, Laurel J. Wilson, Jonathan E. Tracey, Danielle E. Jones, Ryan D. Bilger, Savannah A. Labbe

Civil War Institute Student Research

This is a catalog for an exhibit that follows the evolution of African-American participation in the Civil War, from slaves, to contrabands, to soldiers of the United States Colored Troops (USCT), as well as the lives of black veterans beyond the war, and their ultimate military and social legacy. Using a variety of period items, it creates a narrative that stretches from the Antebellum Period to the current day. In doing so, the exhibit shows how black sacrifice on the battlefield redefined the war's purpose throughout the divided nation, how Jim Crowe suppressed the memory of black participation after Reconstruction, …

Visual Culture Project: Confederate War Etchings: Searching For Arms By Adalbert Johann Volck, Lynn B. Hatcher

Student Publications

Adalbert Johann Volck’s 1861 sketch of Union soldiers, “Searching for Arms,” represents a substantial contribution to the narrative about gender relations during the American Civil War. This simple, small sketch offers the observer a window into the past. It is a collision of symbols and meaning—from gender to war to the household—all wrapped up in one image. This is a portrait sketch of a woman being invaded in her domestic, private sphere, revealing so much about gender relations during the time. The mistress herself seemed to embody a vast range of sentiments such as anger, fear, frailty, and strength, proving …

Visual Culture Analysis Of "The Last Ditch Of The Chivalry, Or A President In Petticoats", Sarah A. Hansen

Student Publications

This lithograph is a Northern depiction of the capture of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Titled "The Last Ditch of the Chivalry, or a President in Petticoats", and picturing Davis in a woman’s dress and bonnet, the Northern press painted Davis as a coward. Rather than being a man and standing up to the Union troops, Davis disguised himself as a woman and attempted to cowardly escape. Although in actuality Davis was wearing a rain jacket and shawl rather than a full dress and bonnet, the Northern press mocked him. This piece demonstrates the prominence of male Southern honor, and …

Waite, Martin Van Buren, 1843-1923 (Sc 3105), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3105. Letter, 14 September 1862, of Martin Waite to his brother Jonathan in Hortonville, Wisconsin. Camped with the 1st Wisconsin Infantry near Bowling Green, he refers to aspects of camp life including inspections, procuring honey from bees, and an African-American cook, John Brown, who speaks of his abolitionist namesake. He remarks on how much he has seen of the world since becoming a soldier, expresses confidence in the power of the “blue tailed Yankees,” and asks Jonathan about exchanging greenbacks for gold or silver. Includes envelope imprinted with pro-Union image.

Bond, Thomas J. (Sc 3094), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding Aid and full text (Click on "Additional Files") for Manuscripts Small Collection 3094. Letter from Thomas Bond, Camp Wood [Munfordville], Hart County, Kentucky, to his parents, in which he relates a skirmish, including casualties, with Confederates near the Green River. He also mentions Simon Bolivar Buckner’s occupation of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and troop movements.

Fleming, Samuel, 1838-1916 (Sc 3095), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3095. Letter from Union soldier Samuel Fleming, Camp Wood [Munfordville], Kentucky, to James C. Carnahan, in which he discusses a military engagement with Confederates at Green River, Kentucky. He mentions casualties for both sides. He also reports, by name, the death of a soldier from fever and soldiers sent to Louisville Hospital.

Profiles In Patriotism: Muslims And The Civil War, Jeffrey L. Lauck

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

While many minority groups have had their contributions and accomplishments during the Civil War recognized, one group of Americans has received little attention. Muslim Americans are rarely the focus of Civil War scholars and are typically viewed as a demographic relevant only to more modern history. This should not be the case. In fact, Muslim Americans have served in virtually every armed conflict in United States history and left their mark on every era, including the Civil War. A simple search using the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) reveals several names associated with Islam, including two Mahomets, two …

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (March 2017), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Bid For Brotherhood: The Civil War And The Emergence Of The Lexington Triad, Jonathan G. Danchik

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

There is little controversy in claiming that the Civil War casts a long shadow. Whether you’re a history enthusiast, a reenactor, or even someone who doesn’t study history, it’s hard to completely get away from it. Shifts in political discourse and race relations are the most commonly discussed results of the conflict, but the war also brought about a considerable change in dominant moral philosophies that led to the establishment of several organizations, which continue to enjoy prominence to this day at different institutions of higher learning across the United States.

[excerpt]

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter (Feb. 2017), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Bowling Green Civil War Round Table Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Cannons And Columns: The Phoenix Iron Company And The Civil War, Laurel J. Wilson

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Anyone who has visited a Civil War battlefield is familiar with the sight of artillery pieces dotting the landscape, marking the places where artillery units were positioned on the field. Gettysburg National Military Park has one of the largest and most diverse collections of these now silent sentinels, ranging from bronze Napoleons to breech-loading Whitworth rifled guns. One of the most common types of cannon found at Gettysburg is the 3-inch Ordnance rifle. The Ordnance rifle is interesting for a number of reasons, not least of which are its connections to Phoenix Iron Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

[excerpt]

For Duty, Honor, And Family: Color Bearers In The Civil War, Savannah A. Labbe

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

In doing research for a previous post, I learned about the stand of the Sixteenth Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg. What struck me most about their sacrifice was the fact that before they were captured they made sure to tear up their colors and distribute the pieces among the men. They did this in order to ensure that the Confederates wouldn’t be able to capture their colors, an act that would have disgraced the Sixteenth Maine and detracted from their valiant sacrifice. In addition, this allowed the men to keep a piece of their flag, to be reminded of …