Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Breaking Down The “Heritage Not Hate” Movement’S Origin, Usage, And Effect On Race Relations In The Post Civil War Era, Laith Kewan

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

When the Confederacy first formed, its governmental symbolism and ideology mirrored that of the northern United States. The two Constitutions were incredibly similar – minus the South’s adjustments to further enhance the rights of states and slaveowners – with the Confederate government installing a Legislative Branch, an Executive Branch, and a Judicial Branch. In addition to this Constitutional similarity, the Confederacy also created a flag that looked similar to the United States’ that Confederate troops had trouble differentiating the two in combat. Following a chaotic Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861, General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard pushed for the …

Hill, John W., 1836-1928 (Sc 3708), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3708. Letters of John W. Hill, a sergeant in Terry’s Texas Rangers of the Confederate Army, written from Bowling Green, Kentucky and vicinity. Recovering from measles, he recounts the illnesses of some of his comrades, and scouting expeditions in which they experienced a skirmish and stole livestock from Union men. He also describes the battle and casualties at Woodsonville, Kentucky. Includes letters from Hill’s brother Robert (Bob), serving as assistant surgeon with the company, remarking on the fortifications at Bowling Green and the possibility that Union troops would find a “second Manassas” if …

Knapp, Obadiah Mead, 1841-1921 (Sc 3707), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3707. Letters of Connecticut native Obadiah M. Knapp, written during his U.S. Army Civil War service. A steward at the Army’s General Hospital in Bowling Green, Kentucky, he writes of conflict between the hospital surgeon, with whom Knapp wishes to advance his medical studies, and a commanding officer. He also describes the welcome arrival of a chaplain, local prejudices against Northerners and abolitionists, the threat of guerrillas, and the development of hospital facilities in Bowling Green to treat both whites and African Americans. The original letters are held by the University of Texas …

Pate Family Correspondence (Sc 3697), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scans and typescripts of selected letters (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3697. Correspondence of the Pate family of Cloverport and “Brooks Bottom” in Breckinridge County, Kentucky, and of their relatives in the Ramsey and Brackin families (Ohio County), Butler family (Sumner County, Tennessee) and Benton family (Louisville, Kentucky). George L. Pate writes daughter Mary Jane (Pate) Ramsey of conflict with his son Samuel; of his grief over the death of another son in infancy; of the accidental shooting of a young man by his bride-to-be in 1863; and, in 1864, of an attack on …

The Railsplitter And The Pathfinder: The Relationship Between Abraham Lincoln And John C. Frémont, Kourtney Yantis

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This study serves as an analysis of the connections between Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States and John Charles Frémont as a Civil War general. Lincoln’s position within history is solid, unlike that of John C. Frémont. The thesis will elevate Frémont to a higher status as a historical figure by arguing that the emancipation edict that he issued for Missouri in August of 1861 would influence Abraham Lincoln’s preliminary emancipation proclamation of September 1862, even though Lincoln repealed Frémont’s decree. In biographies of each man, their interactions are merely a small part of the stories of their …

Analyzing The Relationship Between Aid Agencies And The Union Army In Civil War Arkansas From 1862 To 1865, Kimberly Green

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

This thesis examines the administration of Arkansas’s contraband camps. The Union Army originally failed Black refugees in their quest for freedom as it was unprepared for the large number of African Americans seeking protection and guidance from the army. Arkansas historians have analyzed the effect the war had on the state as a whole and the operation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, but none of these works detail the various agencies that worked with federal authorities. This thesis follows the Western Sanitary Commission and the American Missionary Association as they assisted the federal government by providing supplies and forming partnerships with …

Peckham, L. H. (Sc 3690), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3690. Letter, 23 May 1862, to “Anson” from L. H. Peckham, in camp at Fredericksburg, Virginia. He describes the massing of Union troops in the area in anticipation of a march on Richmond, and the construction of railroad, plank and pontoon bridges. He also remarks on the recent visit of President Lincoln, whose “smiling countenance was met with many cheers by our Troops here, but with dismay by the citizens.”

Hitchcock, William, 1843-1913 (Sc 3689), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3689. Letters of William Hitchcock, Sharon (Potter County), Pennsylvania to his wife during his service with the 136th New York Infantry. He writes primarily from North Carolina of victories at Fort Fisher and Fort Anderson, including the arrival of several African Americans seeking shelter at Fort Fisher. Includes an 1864 family letter fearing the military draft, and a letter from an Army surgeon to Hitchcock’s wife regarding his recovery from typhoid.

Osborne Family Letters (Sc 3688), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3688. Letters, 1864, of Frank Osborne, Oneida County, New York, written during his Civil War service. Working in a quartermaster’s office in Hilton Head, South Carolina, he discusses the future with his father and urges him to seek business opportunities during the war; he also refers to his brother Galen’s work in the newspaper business. Includes an 1863 letter from his father to New York Governor Horatio Seymour asking for the discharge of his son “Benjamin Franklin Osborne” after he was mustered into service on a false certificate; and an 1861 letter from …

Martin, Laforest John, 1844-1862 (Sc 3687), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3687. Letters, 1861-1862, of LaForest Martin, Oneida County, New York, written to his family while serving with the 26th New York Volunteers. He writes from Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland of his illness; drunkenness and desertion among the troops; and engagements with the Confederates, especially at Antietam. Includes an 1856 family letter; a subscription list of locals pledging to pay Martin's expenses to rejoin his regiment after his illness; and a letter to his father from a friend offering sympathy at the news of Martin’s death at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Some of …

The Lost Cause And The Commonwealth: The United Daughters Of The Confederacy And Forging Civil War Memory In Kentucky., Emma Donaghy

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

For over a century, the Kentucky division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy has worked to instill the Lost Cause myth of the Confederacy in the state’s public schools, libraries, and places where a white child could learn about the past. Few scholars have studied the activities of the Kentucky division of the UDC, although some of the organization’s most influential work took place in the state, and the organization’s national founder, Caroline Meriwether Goodlett, was born in Todd County, Kentucky. This honors thesis offers an in-depth examination of the work of the Kentucky division, drawing from the rich …

From Enslaver To White Savior: The Blackford Family And The Memory Of The American Colonization Society, Helen Dhue

Student Research Submissions

Part of the same family but with a generation dividing them, Mary Berkeley Minor Blackford and her grandson, Launcelot Minor Blackford Junior, shared much of the same sentiment toward the American Colonization Society (ACS). Mary, active in the ACS before the Civil War, supported the organization despite criticisms wielded by abolitionists of the period. Mary looked to the ACS for salvation from discussions about the morality of enslavement while enjoying the comforts that the thought of an all-white America brought her. Launcelot, writing fifty years after Mary’s passing at the beginning of an emerging national conversation about Black civil rights, …

Neely, John W., 1836-1916 (Sc 737), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 737. Amnesty oath of John W. Neely, Simpson County, Kentucky, a member of Terry’s Texas Rangers, signed in Fort Bend County, Texas, 1866, and a page from The Dallas Morning News, 16 December 1892, about the Terry’s Texas Rangers' reunion.

Hobson, William Edward, 1844-1909 (Sc 3684), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3684. Treasury Department and Post Office Department correspondence and appointments relating to William E. Hobson’s service as a Claims Agent, Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Third Collection District of Kentucky, and Postmaster at Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Farmer, Eugenia (Berniaud), 1835-1924 (Sc 3677), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3677. Biographical data on Eugenia B. Farmer, who worked for woman suffrage in Covington, Kentucky before moving to St. Paul, Minnesota. Includes Farmer’s address, “A Voice from the Civil War,” read at the 1918 Minnesota Woman Suffrage Convention; clippings from St. Paul newspapers; and a 2016 article from the Northern Kentucky Tribune. Also includes death certificates for Farmer and her husband.

Hodge, James H., 1843?-1924 (Sc 3675), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid, scans and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3675. Letters (3), written by James Hodge to his mother in Warren County, Kentucky, while serving with the 11th Kentucky Infantry, U.S.A. Writing from Tennessee just before the Battle of Bean’s Station, and from Kentucky and Georgia, he tells of engaging the enemy at Knoxville, of enduring "hard times" and reduced rations, and of his wish to return home to see her. Includes his 1924 obituary.

Kirby Family Papers (Mss 749), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 749. Papers of the Kirby family of Warren County, Kentucky, especially Sarah Jane “Jennie” Kirby, her son Percy Warren Kirby, and his grandson Joseph W. Harris. Includes some genealogical data collected by Jennie.

Enduring The Elements: Civil War Soldiers’ Struggles Against The Weather, Cameron Boutin

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation is an environmental history that studies the variety of ways that soldiers in the American Civil War experienced the pressures of weather over the course of their military service. For the troops of the U.S. and Confederacy, the weather was more than simply a passive backdrop to their time in the military, but a central preoccupation. This dissertation analyzes how weather intersected with some of the most central experiences of soldiering – tent camping and winter quarters, marching, bivouacking, manning sentry posts and field fortifications, and fighting in battles. Life in Civil War armies consisted of all of …

Saving Walnut Grove: Connecting The Community To Their Past, Evelyn Shrader

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Walnut Grove Plantation is one of the last examples of the backcountry roots that Spartanburg has to offer. This property is home to the history of the Moore family legacy and their contribution to the beginning of Spartanburg's history. The Moore family was active in the Revolutionary War, and the notorious Bloody Bill Cunningham brought the War directly to Moore's front door. Across the Sea, proof of the scrimmage at Walnut Grove Plantation found a home at Windsor Castle for the King. As a running plantation, enslaved peoples also lived on the property and their accounts of life on Walnut …

"Cry Aloud And Spare Not": William G. Brownlow, The "Fighting Parson" And His Cantankerous Spirit, Melanie Storie

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Best known as the “Fighting Parson,” William G. Brownlow earned his sobriquet during his years as an early 19^th century, circuit-riding Methodist preacher in the southern Appalachians. E. Merton Coulter, renowned historian and Brownlow biographer, explained the “frontier man of God was a hard rider, a hard preacher, and a hard liver.” Thus, Brownlow learned very quickly how antagonizing his rivals served as a powerful tool in the contest of soul-winning on the frontier. This practice of verbally attacking his enemies was also used during his long public career in both journalism and politics. Consequently, for Brownlow, religion and …

False Idol: The Memory Of Andrew Johnson And Reconstruction In Greeneville, Tennessee 1869-2022, Zachary A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The memory of Andrew Johnson in Greeneville has progressed through three phases. The first phase began during Johnson’s post-presidential career when he sought national office to demonstrate his vindication. After Johnson died the first phase continued through the efforts of his daughters and local Unionists who sought to strengthen the myth of monolithic Unionism and use Johnson to promote reconciliation and to shield the region from federal intervention in the racial hierarchy. The second phase in the construction of Johnson’s memory began in 1908 when Northerners began to unite with white Southerners in white supremacy. East Tennesseans then celebrated the …

Steen, Jennifer (Hines), B. 1949 - Collector (Mss 738), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 738. Genealogical data, family papers and photographs collected by Jennifer (Hines) Steen on the Hines, Duncan, Covington and Nicholls families of Kentucky, and related families.

Ms-287: Whitney Family Civil War Letters, Danielle S. Russell

All Finding Aids

The Whitney Family Civil War Letters collection contains 46 letters from the Civil War Era, 2 Freemason dues notices for Mariner T. Whitney, and four empty letter covers. 37 of the letters, written by Hiram R. Whitney, pertain to his military service and daily life with the 132nd New York Infantry Regiment. Two other letters, written by Henry J. Manning and John Marsh Young relate to their military service with the 11th New York Volunteer Cavalry and the 124th New York Infantry, respectively. John Marsh Young was the nephew of Ruhamah Irwin Whitney, the wife of Mariner T. Whitney. The …

Ms-289: John D. Rentz Civil War Diary, Danielle S. Russell

All Finding Aids

John D. Rentz’s Civil War diary chronicles the time he spent with the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry between December 26, 1863, and September 6, 1864. The diary details a wide array of information pertaining to his life with the regiment and the progress of the Civil War.

Rentz’s pension letter is very simple, merely asking for B. Penrose’s assistance with securing a renewal of his pension. The “Rebel letter” written by Margaret Jones to Joseph King is also simple, providing a few details about the rainy weather, the progress of the crops, and expressing Jones’s desire to see her brother.

The …

Hobson, Edward Henry, 1825-1901 (Mss 736), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 736. Photocopied correspondence of Brigadier General Edward H. Hobson of Greensburg, Kentucky. Letters from his family in Bowling Green, Kentucky, fellow soldiers, colleagues and citizens of Greensburg cover his Mexican War and Civil War service, his business ventures, and attempts to win political office. Includes Hobson's memoranda of actions against Confederate raider John Hunt Morgan in 1864, a list of prisoners taken from Morgan's and other brigades, and a letter from Hobson's nephew deploring an 1892 lynching in Bowling Green, Kentucky (Click on "Additional Files" below).

“Infantry Would Not Do:” Appalachia, The Environment, And The Evolution Of Mountain Warfare During The American Civil War, Lucas Michael Wilder

Theses and Dissertations

Union General Ambrose E. Burnside launched his invasion of East Tennessee in the summer of 1863. The corps he used consisted of half-infantry and half-mounted units to utilize their speed to overcome mountain obstacles. The successful campaign and the capture of the agriculturally rich region of East Tennessee and its vital East Tennessee & Virginia Railroad deprived the Confederacy of resources, ultimately contributing to Confederate defeat. The American Civil War saw commanders plunge into the mountains of Appalachia and encounter a terrain and a people with which many were unacquainted. This dissertation argues that their tactics and strategies for dealing …

Fighting For Home: Northern New England Women And The Civil War, Savannah A. Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the experiences of Northern New England women during the Civil War. Though these women were physically distant from the frontlines, the war came to their doorsteps. The war challenged and changed the physical and idealized space of the household and women’s role within it. This thesis examines how women experienced, resisted, or enacted wartime changes to household space. Through an examination of letters written by women, this study argues that, despite the disruptions of the war and the absence of male family members, Northern New England women fought to protect their homes from change.

Women used a …

The “Honorable” Woman: Gender, Honor, And Privilege In The Civil War South, Sarah West

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

When past wars are discussed or taught in a mainstream setting, the focus is often on the soldiers, the battles, and the generals that led them. The topic of the people who passively lived through them is rarely included in the narrative and when it is, it usually pertains to the people on the winning side. During the Civil War, the Southern women made tremendous contributions on the home front. Although social construction of southern honor paved the way for patriotic expressions, as the war went on many women found themselves discarding these honorable gestures in favor of self-preservation. The …

War And Reconstruction From An East Texas Perspective: Nacogdoches County From 1861-1876, William Wade Carter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Initially founded in 1826 as a municipality of Mexico and organized as a county in 1837—and sharing its name with the oldest town in Texas—Nacogdoches County flourishes with a rich history and has been a factor in nearly every major event in early Texas history. The Civil War is no exception. Men from the county contributed to the war effort but also felt the war’s sting at home. Citizens did what they could to survive. The county continued under the yoke of Reconstruction after the war before booming again in the 1880s thanks largely to the town the county shares …

Southerners On New Ground: The Battle For Civil War Memory Since 1993, Andrew William Hoffman

History Theses & Dissertations

Between the years 2015 and 2020, over 300 Confederate symbols, including over 140 monuments, were removed from public land across the United States. This unprecedented movement to discard Confederate symbols reflected a shift in how Americans chose to remember the Civil War. By 2015, the wide-spread attack on the legacy of the Confederacy was much-anticipated. In fact, its foundation was laid during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. This thesis fills a gap within the historiography of Civil War memory by exploring controversial events that reflect Americans’ contrasting interpretation of the American Civil War from the years 1993 to …