Military History Commons^™

Messer, George, 1833-1863 (Sc 3163), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3163. Four letters of George Messer to his wife Lottie Messer, written March-May 1863 from Camp Hobson, Glasgow, Kentucky. He describes preparing the camp’s fortifications and accommodations, the arrival of reinforcements, the presence of nearby Confederates, his novel reading, and the prospects of obtaining a furlough. He relates the prevalence of fighting among the local citizenry and discusses affairs at home such as his debts and local elections. His letter of 16 April includes a sketch of the fort.

Too Little Too Late? The Introduction Of The Spencer Rifle, Savannah A. Labbe

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The photo above does not seem like much, but the story behind it is incredible. On August 17, 1863, a man named Christopher Miner Spencer entered the White House, gun in hand. He was let in past the sentries and ushered in to meet with President Abraham Lincoln. Spencer was at the White House to show the president his invention, the repeating rifle. He had been trying to get it adopted by the United States Army with little success, so he decided to go to the man with the most power. Spencer showed Lincoln his gun, and the president was …

Lee And Grant: Images Of Fatherhood In Victorian America, Abigail Cocco

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

Before they were great Civil War generals, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant were fathers. Lee had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Grant was the father of three boys and a single girl. Though they are intended to paint overwhelmingly positive portraits of the two men, their children’s words give us a sense of these two generals as fathers and the ways in which they reflected standard trends in fathering during the Victorian Era. [excerpt]

Meade At Gettysburg: An Interview With Kent Masterson Brown, 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 Kent Masterson Brown. Mr. Brown is a Lexington, Kentucky-based historian and attorney who haspracticed law for forty-three years. He was the creator and first editor of the national magazine, The Civil War, and is author of many books, including Cushing of Gettysburg: The Story of a Union Artillery Commander (University Press of Kentucky, 1998); The Civil War in Kentucky: Battle for the Bluegrass State (Savas Publishing Company, 2000); Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics …

Civil War, 1861-1865 - Lexington, Kentucky (Sc 3173), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3173. Letter, 4 October 1863, from “Albert” to his wife Nellie. From Lexington, Kentucky, he discusses arrangements for her forthcoming visit, describes a painful inflammation affecting his face, and tells her of his military accommodations. He also notes the “howl” of a band in camp expected to play at guard mountings and dress parades.

Mcilvaine, William F., 1923-2019 (Sc 3172), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3172. Letter, 18 February 1944, of William F. McIlvaine to Pauline Purdue, Bowling Green, Kentucky. From Camp Polk, Louisiana, he writes flirtatiously, teasing her about her girlfriends and of visiting Kentucky to see her and not the “pretty horses.” The letterhead from Camp Polk includes depictions of Armored Forces equipment and operations.

Frazier, William?, D. 1863 (Sc 3168), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3168. Unsigned letter, 31 January 1862, thought to be from William Frazier of the 33rd Indiana Infantry, to a female friend. Writing from Camp Henderson, Kentucky, he sympathizes with her inability to take time from her studies to correspond. He also refers to the weather and his duties as a cook, and mourns the recent deaths of two members of his company.

Williams, Samuel J., D. 1864 (Sc 3167), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3167. Letter, 31 October 1861, of Samuel J. Williams, 33rd Indiana Infantry, to “friend Lorinda.” From Camp Calvert in Laurel County, Kentucky, he writes of illness among the soldiers and of preparing the camp’s defenses. He also writes of a nervous sentry’s mistaking a tree stump for an intruder, two orders to prepare for battle, and the capture of two Confederates. The letterhead includes an engraving of a flag-bearing woman and the slogan “Onward to Victory!”

Better Than Before, Makia Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Better than Before is an experiential art installation that profiles the life of James Isreal, a Vietnam vet who shares a spiritual journey that is filled with self-discovery, introspection, and hope in the midst of war and abhorrent racism. His poignant retrospective follows his struggle to find peace in the midst of trauma and disease, providing life lessons that transcend the pangs of adversity and the unknown.

The Emergence And Evolution Of Memorial Day, Richard Gardiner, P. Michael Jones, Daniel Bellware

Faculty Bibliography

Discusses how Memorial Day became a holiday in the United States.

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Charles Henry Smith Materials, Charles Henry Smith, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

Charles Henry Smith was born on November 1, 1827 in Hollis, Maine. He graduated from Waterville (Colby) College in 1856, and became the principal of Eastport High School until 1860. After the call for Volunteers to serve in the Civil War, Smith enlisted and was recruited Captain of Company D of the 1st Maine Cavalry in 1861. He was made Major, Lieutenant Colonel, and then Colonel in 1863. He was in command of the 1st Maine Cavalry at Gettysburg. He was mustered out of the 1st Maine Cavalry in August of 1865. After discharge from the Civil War, he was …

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Henry Clay Merriam Materials, Henry Clay Merriam, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

Henry Clay Merriam (1837-1912) was born in Houlton in 1837 and entered Waterville College (now Colby College) in 1860. He enlisted in the 20th Maine Regiment in the spring of 1862 and served under Joshua Chamberlain. After the Union Army decided to allow black troops to fight, Maine men were solicited to lead black units. Merriam was one of those willing to do so and in March 1863, he was made commander of the Third Colored Infantry of Louisiana. The 3rd Infantry, later the 73rd Infantry Corps d'Afrique, was considered an excellent fighting unit under Merriam's leadership.

Merriam led his …

Colonel John Johnston's "Biography Of Tecumtha" (1854), Caitlin Metheny

Nineteenth-Century Ohio Literature

In this installment, we have a biography of the Shawnee leader Tecumseh by Colonel John Johnston (here and, in some sources, spelled Johnson), who worked for decades as an “Indian agent”—an official liaison between the US government and indigenous peoples—at Fort Wayne and Piqua. Johnston's biography is followed by a critical essay by Caitlin Metheny.

"Impracticable, Inhospitable, And Dismal Country": An Examination Of The Environmental Impact On Civil War Military Operations In West Virginia, John Martin Mcmillan

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

“Impracticable, Inhospitable, and Dismal Country” examines the role of the natural environment in the campaign fought along Tygart’s Valley River in West Virginia during the summer and early fall of 1861. In the weeks following the capitulation of Fort Sumter, it became clear that hostilities would break out in present-day West Virginia. Divided political sentiments between secessionists and Unionists, combined with vital transportation avenues including turnpikes, the Ohio River, and the critical Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, forced the region into the crosshairs of regular military operations. As soldiers from both Union and Confederate armies mobilized in West Virginia, they soon …

Perryville Vs. Gettysburg, Madison Rippy

The Student Researcher: A Phi Alpha Theta Publication

No abstract provided.

The Indian Army In Historiographical And Instructional Perspective, Bianca Bakalar

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay……………………………….2

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………..26

III. Textbook Critique……………………………...31

IV. New Textbook Entry…………………………..36

V. Bibliography………………………………….....42

The American Civil War: A Diplomatic Perspective Of Confederate Diplomacy, Jack Cunningham

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The United States And Irregular Warfare 1899-2011, Justin Wike

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

After the United States fought irregular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the amount of scholarship on the topic of counterinsurgency and guerilla warfare grew at a fast pace. Much of this scholarship has focused on a single conflict, or on several recent conflicts. This thesis took a different approach and looked at United States involvement in these irregular conflicts from the Philippine-American War onward through the lens of paternalism and the military strategies and tactics employed by the United States. The Philippine-American War was the first war the United States waged to maintain its overseas empire. This war would set …

The Avenger - January-March 2018, Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum

The Avenger

No abstract provided.

Deepening Divisions: The Influence Of Protestant Faith In Civil War Reconciliation, Jeremy Solomon

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis considers the influence of mainstream Protestantism on Civil War reconciliation. Through reconciliation, Northern and Southern residents came to forgiveness and comradery, moving beyond animosity. This has been a focus of historical research in the past two decades, but with particular attention to the resentment of veterans. With this, many scholars have overlooked the impact of other institutions of American society. This thesis addresses the issue by analyzing the effects of religious opinions on the perceptions that veterans and civilians held of their former enemies. Protestantism was the dominant faith of the nation, rivaling any organization of influence in …

Where There’S A Wall There’S A Way: The End (?) Of Democratic Discourse Regarding Immigration And Border Security Policy, Terence Garrett

Political Science Faculty Publications

Border walls have become part and parcel to corporate strategies to garner profits in the new era of post-911 insecurity. Combined with pre-911 agribusiness, service industry and other corporateindustrial expansion including encouraging the “ongoing” recruiting of undocumented cheap labor, the twin corporate policy directives are achieving profits at the expense of the people migrating from Latin America. Building on previous work, the authors analyze the problems created by corporations, complicit government agencies and elected officials in terms of maintaining a status quo that effectively exploits communities from both sides of the US/Mexico border. Policy alternatives are developed, offered and examined …

To The Memory Of Brave Men: The Imperial War Graves Commission And India's Missing Soldiers Of The First World War, Roger Sims

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the commemoration of Indian soldiers who died during the First World War by the Imperial War Graves Commission, Britain's official government body overseeing all imperial commemoration efforts. For the soldiers of the Indian Army their war experience was split between the Western Front in Europe and Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq. They were also far more ethnically, religiously, and lingually diverse than their British and Dominion counterparts. In order to examine how geography, religion, and the imperial relationship affected Britain's commemoration of India's war dead, this study uses the Commission's own records to recreate how the IWGC created …

More Than A Conservative, Pro-War Narrative: Savannah, Georgia And The Vietnam War, Jessica F. Dirkson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The Vietnam era was a time of great social unrest in Savannah. The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement made Savannahians question Southern traditions and values including patriotism, honor, and deeply rooted racism. Through the interviews of over fifty Savannah civilians and Vietnam veterans, this thesis argues that Savannah is more complex and diversified in opinion than what the narrow scope the Southern narrative allows. Savannah’s history with the military and service members since the Civil War gives agency to the importance of its inhabitants’ opinions on the Vietnam War. Over the course of the Vietnam War, many Savannahians …

A Look Into Union And Confederate Cavalry: A Comparative Study Of The Michigan Cavalry Brigade And Ector’S Brigade, James Middleditch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This comparative study explores the use of cavalry by the Union armed forces and Confederate armed forces during the American Civil War. This study examines the Michigan Cavalry Brigade and Ector’s Brigade of dismounted cavalry. The examination took a look at factors including weapons and equipment, leadership, tactics and strategy, casualties, and campaign performances. This study argues that, the Michigan Cavalry Brigade was able to demonstrate the Union’s superiority over the Confederacy when compared to Ector’s Brigade. Results of the comparative study showed that the Michigan Cavalry Brigade was able to display the Union’s dominance by acquiring small arms that …

Guide To The Davidson Family Papers, Mary Davidson Wagner

Special Collections

The Davidson Family papers include photographs taken and correspondence written during Ethel Helena Davidson's time as an American Expeditionary Force nurse in France during World War I and Frederick Arthur Davidson's time in the United States Army between the 1920s and 1950s. Also includes a scrapbook of Ethel's war experience and army records for each of them.

Finding Aids are tools used to aid research by describing the materials in a collection. Special Collections Finding Aids include historical and/or biographical information along with a description of the collection and a folder listing of the content.

To view this collection please …

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2018

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

Jewish Volunteers, The International Brigades And The Spanish Civil War By Gerben Zaagsma (Book Review), Lisa Kirschenbaum

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Anzus And The Early Cold War: Strategy And Diplomacy Between Australia, New Zealand And The United States, 1945-1956, Andrew Kelly

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The ANZUS Alliance was a defence arrangement between Australia, New Zealand and the United States that shaped international policy in the aftermath of the Second World War and the early stages of the Cold War. Forged by influential individuals and impacting on global events including the Japanese Peace Treaty, the Korean War and the Suez Crisis, the ANZUS Alliance was a crucial factor in the seismic changes that took place in the second half of the twentieth century.

In this compact and accessible study, Andrew Kelly lays out the tensions that underpinned the formation of the Alliance, as each power …

Mansplaining Vietnam: Male Veterans And America's Popular Image Of The Vietnam War, Gregory A. Daddis

History Faculty Articles and Research

Of the more than 3 million Americans who deployed to Southeast Asia during the United States' involvement in the Vietnamese civil war, only some 7,500 were women. Thus, it seems reasonable that memoirs, novels, and film would privilege the male experience when remembering the Vietnam War. Yet in the aftermath of South Vietnam's collapse, Americans' memory of the war narrowed even further, equating the conflict as a whole to the male combat veteran's story. This synthetic literary review examines some of the more lasting works sustaining the popular narrative of Vietnam, one that was constructed, in substantial part, by veterans …

The Valley Campaign Of 1864 And Ramifications For The War, Trey Meyer

A with Honors Projects

In 1861 the Civil War began and brought with it four years of devastation and destruction along with hundreds of thousands of casualties. The United States hung in the balance for these four crucial years and the battles and campaigns would decide the future of the nation. The Valley Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1864 was a crucial campaign that helped decide the fate of the war and the nation.