Military History Commons^™

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

Manuscript Collection 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.

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

Manuscript Collection 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.

Carroll, Hillary Bellerby, 1908-1999 (Mss 615), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 615. World War II letters written by Hillary B. Carroll, while serving in the U.S. Army in The Philippines and Japan, to his wife Katherine “Kate” (Whallen) Carroll, in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Also includes some information and photos related to Carroll’s family.

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

Manuscript Collection 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.

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

Manuscript Collection 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.

“Confederate Soldiers In The Siege Of Petersburg And Postwar: An Intensified War And Coping Mechanisms Utilized, 1864- Ca. 1895”, Matthew R. Lempke

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis crafts a narrative about how Confederate soldiers during the siege of Petersburg experienced an intensified war that caused them to refine soldierly coping mechanisms in order to endure. They faced increasing deprivations, new forms of death, fewer restrictions on killing, dwindling fortunes, and increased racial acrimony by facing African American soldiers. In order to adjust, they relied on soldierly camaraderie, Southern notions of honor, letter writing, and an increasingly firm reliance on Protestant Christianity to cope with their situation. Postwar, these veterans repurposed soldierly coping mechanisms and eventually used institutional support from their states. Camaraderie, honor, literary endeavors, …

Sorgen, Vinton Grant, 1894-1968 (Sc 3073), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3073. Letter, 28 May 1918, of Grant Sorgen, stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky, to his family in Kenton, Ohio. He describes settling in at camp, receiving vaccinations, and the likelihood of moving to different quarters.

Civil War - Brownsville, Kentucky (Sc 3039), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3039. Letter, 12 October 1861, to his father from an unidentified Confederate soldier in the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Battalion. He describes his march from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Brownsville, Kentucky, and camp conditions. He also comments on Union sentiment there as distinct from abolitionism; describes an alarm raised in camp when one of the men was fired upon while watering his horse at Green River; and praises his captain for his treatment of the men and for discouraging any celebration when citizens were asked to take …

Winn Family Letters (Sc 3015), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3015. Letters of the Winn family of Barren County, Kentucky. Includes letters of Confederate solider Marcus De Lafayette Winn, his parole, oath of allegiance and obituary, and letters to Winn from former Civil War comrades. Other letters convey family news. Includes some Winn genealogical data.

Tiffany, John, 1842-1862 (Sc 3013), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3013. Letter, 25 February 1862, of John Tiffany, 10th Wisconsin Infantry, to his parents. Camped near Nashville, Tennessee, he describes forced marches, including from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Nashville; rain; sickness among his fellow soldiers; and the difficulty of reaching Nashville or receiving mail due to bridge burning by the Confederates. Footsore from marching, he promises to “settle with Jeff for this if we ever catch him.”

The Reality Of Combat!: An Analysis Of Historical Memory In Broadcast Television, Kaleb Q. Wentz

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is an analysis of the World War II television drama COMBAT!, which ran from 1962 to 1967, and how this program dealt with and addressed the national memory of the Second World War. The way in which the “Good War” is remembered has changed over time. In the years of the conflict and immediately following its conclusion, there was a sense of zealous patriotism surrounding the war, but as our culture changed, a more critical approach was taken.

This paper examines the way in which the show deals with its two main subjects – the American forces …

“$300 Or Your Life”: Recruitment And The Draft In The Civil War, Melissa Traub

Honors Scholar Theses

One of the most challenging tasks of a nation at war is turning its average citizens into soldiers. While volunteers flooded to the war front in thousands in the beginning of the Civil War, recruitment slowly dwindled as the war dragged on. Eventually, the North was forced to pass the Enrollment Act of 1863, the first national draft in United States history. Every able bodied man between the ages of twenty and forty-five was subject to the draft. For an already unstable nation, the national draft did little to help the divides that split the country. The policies of substitution …

Kerr, David Warren, 1922-1982 (Sc 2954), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2954. Letter of David Kerr, 14-16 November 1944, to Frances Ann Wade, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Writing from an undisclosed overseas location while serving in the armed forces, he describes his surroundings in general and his work on a painting detail. He also encloses a marksman’s medal (not included in this collection) and praises the athletic achievements of his hometown Ohio high school.

The Lives Of Soldiers In World War Ii, Caroline M. Bosworth

Student Publications

An examination of soldiers' quality of life during World War II. This is done through comparing and contrasting the letters of two different soldiers.

Nourse, Charles Ewing, 1826-1866 (Sc 3000), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescripts of three Mexican War letters (click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 3000. Correspondence of Charles Ewing Nourse, Bardstown, Kentucky, and his wife Mary “Mollie” (Brown) Nourse. Three letters of Charles, serving in the 4^th Kentucky Infantry during the Mexican War, describe military life, illness, Mexican cities, and encounters with the enemy. Mary’s father writes from Cadiz, Kentucky, of his work as a circuit judge, and an 1850 letter wishes Charles and Mary well on their marriage. Includes Mary’s letter to Charles with family news, and two verses, both probably by Charles; one …

Carpenter, Sidney Crider, 1914-2014 (Sc 2884), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2884. Digital images of photographs, passports, Kentucky Senate resolution related to 100th birthday, certificate from the Cumberland Trace Chapter of the Military Officers Association, four pieces of currency—Japanese (3) and Russian (1); military identification, from Sidney Crider Carpenter of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Most of the material relates to Carpenter's military career and his role as a coach for several national and international marksmanship teams. Also digital copies of a Korean War photograph album and a 1929 Boy Scout diary kept by Carpenter.

Anderson, Catherine (Simmons), D. 2008 - Collector (Mss 517), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 517. Chiefly letters written to James Preston Cherry while he was sick and in a Louisville hospital (1913), in school at the University of Kentucky (1915-1917), and while in military service during World War I (1917-1918). Also includes family information related to the Cherry, Phelps, Simmons and Anderson families.

Givens, Wayne, 1905-1971 (Sc 2918), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2918. U.S. Army discharge papers and certificate of Wayne Givens, Monroe County, Kentucky, 1945; photostat of death certificate of Wayne Givens, 1971. Also includes Statement of Personal history form of Givens’ wife, Mildred (Hagan) Givens, with data on education, employment, etc.

The Soldier And The Cigarette: 1918-1986, Joel Richard Bius

Dissertations

The military-industrial complex has been the topic of intense conversation among historians since President Dwight Eisenhower first gave the phrase life in January 1961. The term typically conjures up images of massive weapons procurement programs, but it also ironically involved one of the world’s most highly-engineered consumer products, the manufactured cigarette. “The Soldier and the Cigarette: 1918–1986” describes the unique, often comfortable, yet sometimes controversial relationships among the military, the cigarette industry, and tobaccoland politicians. The dissertation argues that the federal government’s first cigarette warning in 1964 changed a relationship between soldiers and cigarettes that the Army had fostered for …

Denhardt, Henry Herman, 1876-1937 (Mss 533), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 533. Correspondence, military orders, and instructional materials relating to Henry Herman Denhardt’s World War I service as a field artillery officer and postwar training as an officer in the Kentucky National Guard. Includes a few personal and political items relating to Denhardt’s campaign for Governor of Kentucky.

Potter, Thomas Corwin, 1841-1863 (Sc 2892), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2892. Letter, 7 January 1862, of Private Thomas C. Corwin, Battery B, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, to his sister in Michigan. Writing from camp at Somerset, Kentucky, he reflects on the war’s duration and describes camp life, troop positions around Somerset, and local citizens’ fear of a coming battle. He also describes skirmishes with Confederate pickets and his hopes for an advance though Kentucky.

Harper Family Papers (Sc 1546), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1546. Wartime correspondence between Private Alfred Harper and his wife Elizabeth W. (Montgomery) Harper. Harper, from Columbia, Kentucky was serving as a machine gunner with the 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division when he was killed in Belgium 25 November 1944. Includes telegrams and letters to his wife related to his death.

Ebelhar, Melissa (Sc 1262), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1262. Paper, “The Fairy Belle,” written by Melissa Ebelhar for a WKU history class. She discusses the service of her grandfather, Lucian D. Keller, Owensboro, Kentucky, as a waist gunner in the 392^nd Air Force Division in Europe during World War II.

Daniels, Herbert, 1836-1899 (Mss 500), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 500. Letters of Herbert Daniels, serving with the 7th Rhode Island Infantry, to Salina A. (Brewster) Waterson in Worcester, Massachusetts. He reports on camp life in Kentucky, Maryland and Washington, D.C., gossips about other soldiers, and makes candid references to his sexual relationship with Salina.

Battey Family Letters (Sc 2840), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid, scans and typescripts (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2840. Letters of brothers Peter, Alfred and George Battey to a sister and a brother James, written during their Civil War service in the Union Army. From the “Colo Barracks” in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Peter describes his duties as a teamster, criticizes the length of the war, and relays news of the killing of John Hunt Morgan by one “Gillman” and the capture of his men. Alfred writes from a hospital in New Orleans, and George writes from Bowling Green, where he and Peter continue on …

Forsythe, Belmont, 1920-2005 (Mss 486), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 486. Biographical data, military, health and travel records, photographs and papers relating to the life, military service and hobbies of Belmont Forsythe, a native of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Military material documents his service in the U.S. Marine Corps and U. S. Army Signal Corps from 1941-1966. Includes audio recordings by Forsythe recounting his life and career.

Allison, James Nicholls, 1848-1918 (Sc 2822), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2822. Letter of Brigadier General James N. Allison, Military Service Institution of the United States, Governors Island, New York, to Professor Albert Bushnell Hart, Harvard University. He offers examples from his own career and those of others to dispute the contention in Hart’s book, The War in Europe, that barracks life is a threat to soldiers’ morality. Includes data on Allison and the Kentucky infantry regiment in which he served during the Civil War.

Vanbuskirk, Michael Henry, 1840-1905 (Sc 1383), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Small Collection 1383. Diary, 1862-1864, kept by Michael H. VanBuskirk, while serving with Co. F, 27th Regiment of the Indiana Volunteers. He was taken prisoner in Virginia on 25 May 1862, and released on 13 September 1862. He gives a good description of military life. Also includes an 1862 letter written in rhyme to his parents (Click on "Additional Files" below for scan).

Kirby, Isaac Minor, 1835-1917 (Sc 2815), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2815. Letter of Isaac M. Kirby, a captain in the 15th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, written on 10 March [1862] to his aunt from Camp Andy Johnson near Nashville, Tennessee. He reports on his activities over the past month, including a march north toward Fort Donelson, a mock skirmish with some local bird life, a march to Bowling Green, Kentucky and two-day encampment there, and current conditions at Camp Andy Johnson. He also comments on the greater number of Union sympathizers in Kentucky than Tennessee, and on attacks …

Ewing, Todd (Sc 1293), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 1293. Letters written by Todd Ewing to his parents, Bill and Geraldine Ewing, Greenville, Kentucky, describing his daily activities while in military service during the Persian Gulf War.