History Commons^™

Interview With Donald Gallion, August 6, 2008, Donald Gallion, Michael J. Birkner

Oral Histories

Donald Gallion was interviewed on August 6, 2008 by Michael Birkner about his time serving in the United States army during WWII and his return to Gettysburg College and after the war.

Collection Note: This oral history was selected from the Oral History Collection maintained by Special Collections & College Archives. Transcripts are available for browsing in the Special Collections Reading Room, 4^th floor, Musselman Library. GettDigital contains the complete listing of oral histories done from 1978 to the present. To view this list and to access selected digital versions please visit -- https://gettysburg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16274coll2/search

The World That Made William Johnson, Timothy J. Shannon

History Faculty Publications

Readers of the Atlantic Monthly may have been taken aback when they received their December 2006 issue of that venerable journal of American arts and letters. In a pitch more appropriate to People or some other celebrity magazine, the Atlantic offered a list of "The 100 Most Influential Americans of All Time," and right there on the cover, posing as eye-candy for the intelligentsia was none other than #1 himself, Abraham Lincoln, the sexiest most dead American alive, or something like that. Had the high brow finally gone low brow? Had pop culture's fascination with list-making found a new frontier? …

Edwards On The Will: A Century Of American Theological Debate, Allen C. Guelzo

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

Jonathan Edwards towered over his contemporaries--a man over six feet tall and a figure of theological stature--but the reasons for his power have been a matter of dispute. Edwards on the Will offers a persuasive explanation. In 1753, after seven years of personal trials, which included dismissal from his Northampton church, Edwards submitted a treatise, Freedom of the Will, to Boston publishers. Its impact on Puritan society was profound. He had refused to be trapped either by a new Arminian scheme that seemed to make God impotent or by a Hobbesian natural determinism that made morality an illusion. He …

Adams County History 2008

Adams County History

No abstract provided.

Black Labor At Pine Grove & Caledonia Furnaces, 1789-1860, Troy D. Harman

Adams County History

Black labor operating under various degrees of freedom found a suitable working environment, if not a safe haven, in several iron forges of South Central Pennsylvania, from the late 1790s through the 1850s. Primary accounts indicate that two in particular, Pine Grove Furnace of Cumberland County, and Caledonia Furnace of Franklin County, harbored runaway slaves to augment their work force. Pine Grove records, dating from 1789 – 1801, specify names of “negro” employees, verifying that black labor coexisted with white, but day books, journals, and ledgers do not denote status.1 Whether they were free men, or slaves rented out by …

Register Of Births Of Dr. Isaac Pearson, Kevin L. Greenholt

Adams County History

Born June 6, 1824 in Huntington Township, Adams County, Pennsylvania, Isaac William Wierman Worley Pearson was the son of Isaac and Mary (Wierman) Pearson. By the time he was fourteen years old both of his parents had passed away. In 1848 he began the study of medicine under the tutelage of Dr. Hiram C. Metcalfe of York Springs, Adams County. He completed his medical education at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia during the winter of 1849 – 1850.

He returned to Adams County in 1850 and when the federal census was taken on September 25, 1850, the now Dr. Pearson …

Book Review: Expanding Horizons For American Lutherans: The Story Of Abdel Ross Wentz, Charles Hambrick-Stowe

Adams County History

Abdel Ross Wentz (1883-1976) of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg joked about his small physical stature but he was a giant of American Lutheranism, noted religious historian and theological educator, and exemplar of a great generation of church leaders working in national and world arenas from the 1920s through the 1950s. This biography by his son, himself a historian and seminary professor and president, traces Wentz’s life from childhood in Lineboro, Maryland through his significant career in Gettysburg and much wider circles to his retirement near the Seminary campus. Obviously a labor of love and written in a style …

El Atlántico Y La Reinvención De Lo Humano En Las Silvas Americanas (1823-1826) De Andrés Bello, Alvaro Kaempfer

Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Faculty Publications

Este artículo analiza la construcción de la América postcolonial después del proceso de independencia. A partir de la lectura de las Silvas de Andrés Bello, se analiza interconectadamente la historia y la poesía para guiar la atención hacia el nuevo Occidente en las Américas. Andrés Bello, y sus Silvas Americanas, ofrece elementos para entender la construcción histórica y política de una América occidental, independiente y poscolonial.

This article focuses on the construction of postcolonial Latin America after the independence process. Then, Andrés Bello's Silvas Americanas go back to the founding grain of the West to show a decisive connection between …

A. Lincoln, Philosopher: Lincoln’S Place In 19th-Century Intellectual History, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

The nineteenth century in Europe and America was an era of second thoughts. Those second thoughts were largely about the Enlightenment, which had been born in the mid-1600s as a scientific revolution and blossomed into the Age of Reason in the 1700s, when it seemed that no puzzle was beyond the grasp of scientific rationality. That blossom was snipped all too quickly by the French Revolution, which drowned rationality in human politics in a spray of Jacobin-terrorized blood, then by the revulsion of European art and music from the Enlightenment’s canons of balance and symmetry in favor of the Romantic …

Will The Real James Duncan Please Stand Up?, Charles H. Glatfelter, Wayne E. Motts

Adams County History

From 1956 through 1967 viewers enjoyed one of the most popular early television shows, To Tell the Truth. Host Bud Collyer would call on three contestants, standing side by side, to explain briefly who they were. Giving different stories, all claimed to be one and the same person. When they finished making their presentations, the host would turn to a panel of four, asking them to identify the only contestant who was in fact telling the truth about himself or herself. Then Collyer would ask that person to please stand up.

There were two contemporaries, both named James Duncan, who …

Abraham Lincoln And The Development Of The "War Powers" Of The Presidency, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

By conferring on the President the title of "commander in chief," the Constitution created an awkward and undefined area of presidential prerogative. The first President to have to confront this ambiguity was Abraham Lincoln, who developed a presidential "war powers" doctrine based on his presidential oath, the Constitution's "republican guarantee," and the necessity imposed by the novelty of a civil war. This doctrine was seriously contested in Lincoln's time by both Congress and the judiciary, and it continues to be an unresolved constitutional question in the present. But Lincoln's use of such war powers is one demonstration of how a …

"Sublime In Its Magnitude": The Emancipation Proclamation, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Book Summary: Lincoln’s reelection in 1864 was a pivotal moment in the history of the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation had officially gone into effect on January 1, 1863, and the proposed Thirteenth Amendment had become a campaign issue. Lincoln and Freedom: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Thirteenth Amendment captures these historic times, profiling the individuals, events, and enactments that led to slavery’s abolition. Fifteen leading Lincoln scholars contribute to this collection, covering slavery from its roots in 1619 Jamestown, through the adoption of the Constitution, to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. [From the Publisher]

'A Beautiful Dream Realized': John S. Rice And The Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Of The Battle Of Gettysburg, Brian Matthew Jordan

Adams County History

"We have real cause for being proud of our past and the heritage it has given us ... We have a rich past ... along with this heritage we have had thrust upon us a deep responsibility," John S. Rice said in 1959. Indeed, it was the same sense of deep responsibility that had motivated him in anticipation of 1938. That year marked the seventy- fifth anniversary of the cataclysmic, three-day battle that was waged in the fields and farm lanes surrounding the seat of his native Adams County, Pennsylvania. Rice's cognizance of the importance not only of the Battle …

John Charles Wills: Reminiscences Of The Three Days Battle Of Gettysburg At The Globe Hotel, Benjamin K. Neely

Adams County History

John Charles Wills left the fullest account of what happened at and around the Globe Inn in the borough of Gettysburg during the Battle. In July of 1910, the Gettysburg Compiler interviewed Wills and printed a short story of his observations and experience during the Gettysburg Campaign entitled, "Battle Days at Globe Inn." In September of 1915, Wills once again shared his memories of the Battle of Gettysburg, this time in greater length. Fifty two years had passed since the battle occurred and Wills was approximately 77 years old. The 1910 and 191 5 reminiscences are remarkably similar indicating perhaps …

Espectros De Lo Subalterno Y Lo Popular En Recuerdos De Treinta Años, 1810-1840 De José Zapiola, Alvaro Kaempfer

Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Faculty Publications

Espectros de lo subalterno y lo popular en Recuerdos de treinta años, 1810-1840 de José Zapiola.

Spectrum of the subaltern and the popular in Memories of thirty years, 1810-1840 by José Zapiola.

Economías De Redención: "La Agricultura De La Zona Tórrida" (1826) De Andrés Bello, Alvaro Kaempfer

Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Faculty Publications

Si “Alocución a la Poesía” (1823) de Andrés Bello era un llamado a dejar Europa, cruzar el Atlántico y fundar la historicidad del Nuevo Mundo, “La agricultura de la Zona Tórrida” (1826) sería su factura programática. Sobre un proyecto poético inconcluso que Bello tituló América, la poesía, matriz cultural de Occidente en el primero, traza, en el segundo, la conversión de los hijos del colonialismo en sus nuevos agentes poéticos e históricos. “Agricultura” liga la genealogía de esa América, “del Sol joven esposa / del antiguo Océano hija postrera” según “Alocución,” a la voluntad transatlántica que convertirá su naturaleza en …

"The Desired Effect": Pontiac's Rebellion And The Native American Struggle To Survive In Britain's North American Conquest, Joseph D. Gasparro

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

Ravaged by war and in debt after its victory in the French and Indian War, Britain was not only recuperating, but rejoicing over the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. This treaty officially ended the fighting and gave Britain all of the land east of the Mississippi River, formerly owned by the French. The ink on the treaty was barely dry when a new insurgence arose in British occupied North America. Native Americans, dissatisfied after the war with their position as conquered people and not as allies, rebelled collectively against British colonists and forts along the frontier. Before …

The Lincoln Highway: Coast To Coast From Times Square To The Golden Gate, Wayne E. Motts

Adams County History

The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate

By Michael Wallis and Michael S. Williamson (WW Norton, New York and London, 2007 293 pages includes bibliography)

The book is divided into chapters by state following the highway from east to west. It is lavishly illustrated with color images of stops on the journey from the early days to the present. Of course, the roadway in Adams County is today US Route 30 and passes through the borough of Abbotstown to the western end of the county near the Michaux State Forest. Adams County highlights include …

Adams County History 2007

Adams County History

No abstract provided.

Currents Of Liberty, Seas Of Change: Black Sailors As Subversive Agents Of Freedom In The Early Republic, Skye Montgomery

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

Years after being kidnapped from his native Ibo village as a young boy, Olaudah Equiano vividly recalled his wonder at seeing a European ship for the first time. Although he failed to realize it at the time, that same ship, and the Atlantic currents it navigated, would shortly transport him and millions of his countrymen to lives of slavery on the far shores of a distant continent. In addition to providing a convenient avenue for the initial transport of slaves, water enabled the development of a trade network linking scattered plantations in the Caribbean to centers of trade in North …

Letter From The Editor, Kevin Bowman

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Restoring The Proclamation: Abraham Lincoln, Confiscation, And Emancipation In The Civil War Era, Allen C. Guelzo

Civil War Era Studies Faculty Publications

Like the business cycle, the reputations of great actors in history seem to go through alternating periods of boom and bust. Harry Truman was scorned in his day as an incompetent bumbler. A half-century later, he is regarded as a gutsy and principled president. Andrew Jackson was hailed as the champion of the common man and the enemy of power-mad bankers. Since the 1970s, he has become the champion only of the White man, a rancid hater of Indians, and a leering political monstrosity. John Quincy Adams was, for more than a century after his death, dismissed as a dyspeptic …

The Eisenhowers At Twilight: A Visit To The Eisenhower Farm, 1967, Michael J. Birkner

Adams County History

Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower relished life in Gettysburg. As he often remarked to friends, in retirement Ike sought to secure a piece of property that he could leave in better shape than he found it. The purchase in November 1950 of the 189-acre Redding Farm on the Millertown Road, only a short distance from Confederate A venue, was the outcome. Of course the Eisenhowers could have purchased a sizable farm in any number of locations. A Gettysburg address was predicated on their warm memories of a six-month sojourn in the borough in 1918 and recognition that Gettysburg was a convenient …

No Small Influence... On The Intellect, The Morals, And The Temporal Prosperity Of Our Town: Gettysburg College And Its Community, Charles H. Glatfelter

Adams County History

The following is the text of the address which Director Emeritus Dr. Charles H. Glatfelter delivered during the monthly meeting of the society on April 3, 2007. Held in the College Union on the campus, this meeting was the contribution oft he historical society to the 175th anniversary of the founding of Gettysburg College. [excerpt]

Gettysburg Historical Journal 2007

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Pope John Paul Ii, The Assassination Attempt, And The Soviet Union, Daniel C. Scotto

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

“The attempt to murder the pope remains one of the century’s great mysteries,” wrote Carl Bernstein and Marco Politti in their 1996 biography of Pope John Paul II. Indeed, the mystery has remained unsolved since the pope was shot and wounded on May 13, 1981. A recent investigation concluded that the Soviet government was the perpetrator, but the situation should be examined in a broader historical context. What actually happened on May 13, 1981? Was it the sole decision and action of Mehmet Ali Agca, who was expressing his opposition to “Western imperialist policies,” as he had written in a …

Revealing Zion's Daughters: Women In Puritan Jurisprudence, Brett Jackson

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

The legal status of American women has consistently been portrayed as a linear progression flowing from a colonial jurisprudential repression and exclusion to a modern-day legal equity and a female influence within every aspect of justice. In this narrative of sequentially gained status, seventeenth-century Puritan law has stood as the exemplar of America’s most repressive jurisprudential treatment of women. However, when its characteristics are triangulated and its subordination of women is juxtaposed with its inclusion of a female voice, a new conception of America’s first legal system is seen. The notion of a linear progression is thus replaced with an …

"The Regiment Bore A Conspicuous Part": A Brief History Of The Eight Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Gibraltar Brigade, Army Of The Potomac, Brian Matthew Jordan

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

On April 10, 1850, a sixteen year-old from Xenia, Ohio named Samuel Sexton copied a stanza of Epes Sargent’s poem, “A Life on the Ocean Wave,” into his notebook:

A life on the ocean wave! A home on the rolling deep!

Where the scattered waters rave, and the winds their revels keep!

Like an eagle caged I pine, on this dull unchanging shore.

Oh give me the flashing brine! The spray and the tempest roar!

Before his death in New York City, July 11, 1896, Sexton would serve as the Assistant Surgeon of the Eighth Ohio Volunteers, his entire service …

Distinguished Gallantry In Action, Ashley N. Towle

Hidden in Plain Sight Projects

Among the many paintings of Abraham Lincoln hanging in the Civil War Institute, there is one face that may not be as familiar. Peering out from a small wooden frame in the main office sits Philip Goettel, a Civil War soldier. His posture is relaxed as he sits in a chair proudly displaying his Union uniform. A caption with the mere word “Father” appears below him, along with a significant date: 1863. Truly, the year 1863 would be a pivotal year in Philip Goettel’s life. He would be wounded, scale a mountain under fire, and earn a Medal of Honor. …