United States History Commons^™

To Bigotry No Sanction, To Persecution No Assistance: Jews In The American Revolutionary Period, Ziv R. Carmi

The Gettysburg Historical Journal

While Jews were a small minority in the American colonies, they nonetheless participated in the American Revolution on both sides. This paper aims to evaluate the role of Jewish people in the conflict, contextualizing the experiences of this small minority within the larger narrative of the American Revolution and establishing their importance in the development of religious freedom in the United States. Through the examination of these topics, this paper aims to explore the Revolutionary period from the perspective of the Jewish-American, discussing their often-overlooked experiences in this watershed period within U.S. history.

The American Soldier: The Contested Existence Of The Continental Army, Alexander M. Remington

Student Publications

In the modern United States, the military is respected and honored by the public and military leaders alike. However, during the American Revolution, society was not yet convinced that having a standing army was necessary or beneficial to the Republic. The Continental Army was heavily contested during the war and conflicted with the civilians and its commanders alike. This paper follows the trend of other social histories by investigating just how these conflicts played out and how the common soldier navigated them.

The Perspectives Of Urban Renewal: Reevaluating The Image Of Late Twentieth Century Gentrification Of U.S. Chinatowns, Christian E. Manalac

Gettysburg College Headquarters

Urban renewal or gentrification has affected many low-income minority families in the United States with redevelopment projects that destroyed their neighborhoods for the affluent white middle class. Unlike, many minority groups who protested against the intrusive practice Chinatowns communities saw themselves divided over the issue. Chinatowns throughout the nation benefitted from redevelopment projects that brought new investments into their neighborhoods’ businesses, but like other minority neighborhood, they also suffered as their residents were displaced. This case study examines the debates over urban renewal of Philadelphia and Washington D.C’s Chinatowns through local newspaper coverage from the 1970s-1990s. Specifically, this study uncovers …

"The Bottom Would Drop Out Of Everything": A Brief History Of The Battle For Blair Mountain, Brandon Neely

Student Publications

In the summer of 1921, thousands of Appalachian miners took up arms and marched in southwest West Virginia. Fighting back against attacks on miners' unions like the United Mine Workers of America, the conflict quickly turned violent. The Battle for Blair Mountain, as it came to be known, was one of the largest labor strikes in American history and impacted the history of the Coal Wars and the United States for decades to come. This analysis uses interviews with people who experienced the battle as well as the speeches of labor leaders Samuel Gompers and John Lewis to discuss the …

Redefining Gender Roles In Higher Education: Women At Gettysburg College During World War Ii, Addison E. Lomax

Student Publications

Throughout the early 20th century, the role of American women began to change. The U.S. entrance into World War II and resulting draft provided women at institutions of higher education the opportunity to develop their place on college campuses. Through analyzing yearbooks, student publications, and personal testimonies, the case of Gettysburg College provides a lens to better understand the changing dynamics on college campuses during the war years. Although men remained on the campus of Gettysburg College during the war years, the changing dynamics of the College, both academically and socially, allowed women the opportunity to increase not only their …

Democracy's Shield: Voices Of Wwii, Michael J. Birkner, Grace E. Gallagher, Rachel I. Main

Gettysburg College Faculty Books

Based on a body of 700 oral history interviews archived at Gettysburg College, Democracy's Shield relates the American military experience through the voices of those who served – from early awareness of the conflict in Europe and East Asia to the dropping of the atomic bomb, victory, occupation and homecoming.

The text is illustrated with images of artifacts from the library's Special Collections.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Portents of War
Pearl Harbor
Draft Status and Volunteering
Exams, Induction, Training
Heading to the Front
Attitudes about the Enemy
Race, Gender and the War Effort
GI Joe
Aboard Ship
Up in …

Martin Puryear: 40 Years Since Sentinel, Merlyn I. Maldonado Lopez, Shannon Egan

Schmucker Art Catalogs

Artist Martin Puryear’s commitment to seeing objects as connected to history and culture resonates with a moment when Gettysburg College reflected on the significance of its own historical place and time. As the College approached the sesquicentennial anniversary of its founding, it decided to mark the occasion not with a ball or parade, but with “an intelligent artifact,” a permanent marker that both recognizes its maker and offers its own history. In 1980, Associate Dean of the College Robert Nordvall suggested to President Charles Glassick that they ought to commission a monumental sculpture on campus. Glassick then created the Ad …

No Tolerance For Cowards Or “Yankees:” The Letters Of Reuben Allen Pierson, A Confederate Officer, Erica L. Uszak

Student Publications

Confederate officer Reuben Allen Pierson was a single well-to-do Louisiana slaveholder. He enlisted early in the Ninth Louisiana Infantry, insisting that he joined the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to defend his freedom, family, and new country. He turned his back on the United States, convinced that his Northern counterparts were subhuman and dishonorable. This paper argues that Reuben Allen Pierson remained steadfast in his convictions about Southern duty and honor, arguing in the Confederacy’s favor even in bleak times. The writer will examine why he clung desperately to the Confederacy and how he was influenced by ideas of honor, …

Covert Imperialism: The Eisenhower Administration And Cuba, Patrick R. Sullivan

Student Publications

This paper tracks the Eisenhower Administration’s shifting policy towards Cuba and its use of covert imperialism to obtain its objectives. The policy considerations of the United States centered around a convenience for American interests. The support for the Batista regime, despite its oppression, exacerbated anti-American sentiments in the Cuban Revolution and put it on a collision course with American interests. As engagement failed, Cuba nationalized, and tensions escalated, the Eisenhower Administration initiated a campaign of covert imperialism that sought a government more in line with its interests. The covert operations implemented included economic and political sabotage, assassination attempts, and the …

Evaluation Of The Federal Writers' Project, Brenna M. Hadley

Student Publications

This essay examines an interview with a former slave, Sarah Graves. The interview is a product of the Federal Writers' Project, a government funded program created during the Great Depression. I address the possible problems that arise when working with this type of memory source (an interview), and how to work around them. This essay also ponders the reasoning why certain bits of information were included in the interview, and why others were excluded.

The Sarah Gudger Interview: An Analysis, Mckenna C. White

Student Publications

During the Great Depression, a New Deal project intended to create jobs was the Federal Writer's Project. One aspect of this project, the Slave Narrative Project, involved the interviews of over 2,000 former slaves and culminated in a federal collection of information on the lives of enslaved people. This paper focuses on the interview of Sarah Gudger, a 121 year-old former slave from North Carolina. It includes an overview of the content included and excluded from the interview in addition to an analysis of the interview including factors that may have positively or negatively impacted the interview's content, as well …

Eisenhower And The Interstate, Brian H. Berry

Student Publications

By passing the Federal Highway Act of 1956, 34th U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would go down in history as the father of the American Interstate Highway System. It was Ike’s determination to execute his ‘Grand Plan’ for a modernized road network that initiated the monumental effort to produce the roads we as Americans use every day. However, today’s highway network is a far cry from what Ike had in mind when he first envisioned the plan. Congressional dissent and special interests did much to undermine the success of Ike’s ‘Grand Plan,’ forcing him to compromise significantly on the issue. …

For Just Business, It’S Pretty Personal: The Impact Of Money On The Early Republic’S Economically Elite Families, Abigail L. Adam

Student Publications

This essay examines the Adam Family Papers as a case study representing the Early American Republic’s economic elite. It argues that individual business practices affected the relationships between relatives—sometimes positively, other times negatively. The first section concerns other historians’ work on the family and on the Salisbury Iron District. The second section discusses women’s roles within their male relatives’ businesses. The third section relates to gift exchanges, while the fourth concerns business transactions between family members. The fifth section regards the economic hierarchy that emerged within the Forbes & Adam family. Letters concerning Samuel Forbes, John Adam Jr., Abigail Adam, …

Review: War Stories By Gabrielle Atwood Halko, R.C. Miessler

All Musselman Library Staff Works

War Stories, a digital project created by Gabrielle Atwood Halko of West Chester University, seeks to frame the narrative of World War II (WWII) through the stories of children, particularly children in internment or under occupation. Halko starts with the assumption that visitors to the website are unaware of these stories, and the site largely frames itself as an educational tool that aggregates primary and secondary sources related to children during WWII. [excerpt]

Dr. Seuss And Uncle Sam, Ziv R. Carmi

Student Publications

This is an examination of the WWII era political cartoons of Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), which covered a variety of topics ranging from isolationism to anti-Axis propaganda to racism and bigotry at home. The project further investigates the attitudes of German-Americans towards Hitler, using Geisel's very vocal hatred of the Nazi leader to compare his sentiments with many of his contemporary peers.

Gettysburg College Journal Of The Civil War Era 2021

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

Pittsburgh's Explosive Mystery: A New Holistic Study Of The Allegheny Arsenal Tragedy, Ethan J. Wagner

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This research critically examines the issues surrounding the worst civilian disaster of the American Civil War, occurring on September 17, 1862 in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here, seventy-eight teenage girls perished as the Allegheny Arsenal munitions laboratory exploded. Investigations in the disaster’s aftermath, and more recent analysis, have remained largely hesitant in placing chief blame as to its cause. Furthermore, for an event that would seem so significant, its story has inadequately been told. Given that the national spotlight was elsewhere at the time, as the Battle of Antietam was fought on the same day, existing literature has …

Letter From The Editors, Christopher T. Lough, Brandon Neely, Cameron T. Sauers

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Interpretation Of The Civil War In Bluegrass Music, Carter W. Claiborne

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

While the Civil War has long fit well thematically within the existing bluegrass idiom, the way that bluegrass has approached the war over time has changed greatly. Despite bluegrass largely originating from areas with little enthusiasm for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the genre not emphasizing partisan aspects of the war for several decades, several cultural changes culminated in the late 1960s to turn the genre on a heavily pro-Confederate tilt, with numerous songs in the early- to-mid 1970s glorifying the Confederate States of America and its leaders, while also emphasizing Lost Cause arguments. To see how this …

"Good Neighbourhood": Canada And The United States' Contentious Relationship During The Civil War, Michael R. D. Connolly

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

For the majority of the Civil War, Canadians were divided in their loyalties to the Union and to the South. However, in 1864, after years of sending agents and conspirators into Canada, the South became bolder in their affairs north of the border. These efforts culminated into two attacks, planned and executed from Canada by the South: The seizing of the Philo Parsons on Lake Erie on September 19, 1864; and the raid on St. Albans, Vermont, a month later, on October 19, 1864. These two attacks forced Canada and Great Britain to reassess their neutrality and, under pressure from …

Heaven Hung In Black: Grant’S Reputation And The Mistakes At Cold Harbor, Samantha J. Kramer

The Gettysburg College Journal of the Civil War Era

This article examines Ulysses S. Grant’s command of the Union army after receiving his commission as Lieutenant-General through analyzing his decisions both before and during the bloody battle of Cold Harbor. By examining the various factors leading to his tactical decisions, including the ever-looming threat of the upcoming presidential election, the article questions whether or not his reputation as a butcher of his own men is truly deserved. That he made mistakes is undeniable, but the mess of Cold Harbor was not solely his fault. Through the use of a variety of biographies and personal journals and memoirs, the article …

Military Occupation, Sexual Violence, And The Struggle Over Masculinity In The Early Reconstruction South, Cameron T. Sauers

Student Publications

This inquiry centers on the way that sexual violence became the terrain upon which the struggles of the postemancipation and early Reconstruction South were waged. At the start of the Civil War, Confederate discourse played upon the fears of sexual violence engulfing the South with the invasion of Union armies. The nightmare never came to Southern households; rape was infrequently reported. However, Southern women, especially if they were African American, were subjected to sexual violence, which likely increased as the war dragged on. Sexual violence includes, but is not limited to, rape. Destruction of clothing, invasion of domestic spaces, and …

Close, But No Cigar: Tobacco Usage During The Civil War Era, Benjamin M. Roy

Student Publications

Tobacco carried a range of gendered, social, regional, and racial meanings in America during the nineteenth century, and these disparate meanings were symbolized through different forms of consumption. The cultural meaning inherent within chewing tobacco, cigars, pipes, and cigarettes, are the object of this research. I will examine the class associations linked to chewing tobacco, the manly identities symbolized through cigars and pipes, and explore cultural movement and racial meaning through the cigarette. Through tobacco, I will explain how nineteenth century Americans comprehended addiction, and establish the organic agency of consumable commodities to influence the consciousness of their users.

The Contradictions Of Freedom: Depictions Of Freedwomen In Illustrated Newspapers, 1865-1867, Carolyn Hauk

Student Publications

Between 1865 and 1867, artists working for Northern illustrated newspapers travelled throughout the South to document its transition from slavery to a wage labor society. Perceiving themselves as the rightful reporters of Southern Reconstruction, these illustrators observed communities of newly freed African American men and women defining their vision of freedom. Northern artists often viewed the lives of African Americans through the cultural lens of free labor ideology in their efforts to provide documentary coverage of the South as objective observers. This paper will examine how illustrations of Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper reveal the contradictions between free …

John B. Bachelder’S Artistic Vision For The Gettysburg Battlefield, Shannon R. Zeltmann

Student Publications

John Bachelder was an important artist and historian to Gettysburg, shaping the early interpretation of the battle during the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association period (1863-1895). While he is mainly discussed as the first park historian, it is important to look at his career as an artist and how it influenced his career at Gettysburg. Looking at Bachelder’s entire career, one can see how Bachelder’s vision for the battlefield changed over time. Bachelder wanted to create a grand history painting of the battle, which ultimately became his Isometric Map of Gettysburg. He corresponded with veterans to get their accounts, leading Bachelder …

Girl Talk: How Friendships Between Moravian And Native Women Sustained The Moravian Mission At Shamokin Pennsylvania, 1742–1749, Lindsay R. Richwine

Student Publications

From 1742 to 1755, Moravian missionaries attempted to establish a mission at the Indian town of Shamokin. While the Moravians failed to convert any native peoples, they succeeded where other missionaries failed by maintaining a continued presence. By using evidence from sources such as the Shamokin mission diary, this project asserts that it was the friendships forged between Native and Moravian women in the early years of the mission that integrated the Moravians into the community at Shamokin. Through an examination of the lives of the women present at Shamokin in this period, this project situates itself within existing research …

Our Monuments, Our History, Temma F. Berg

English Faculty Publications

Beginning with Toni Morrison's concept of "rememory" and the recent completion of the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers on the University of Virginia campus, this essay explores the current monuments controversy by focusing on four Viennese monuments which have much to tell us about how new memorials might contextualize and reframe history. The first Viennese monument, a celebration of a series of fifteenth-century pogroms, was built into the wall of a house opposite the Judenplatz, a square in the center of what was once a thriving Jewish community. Four hundred years later, from 1998 to 2008, three additional memorials were built …

Cives Arma Ferant: Reconstructing Infantry Combat And Training In The European Theater Of Operations, Phil R. Kaspriskie

Student Publications

A common theme in memoirs, oral histories, and other sources dealing with servicemen in World War II seems to be a focus on the experience of combat. Training, particularly individual training, is rarely discussed beyond a cursory mention, and if it is discussed at all, the overwhelming tendency is to paint a picture of half-trained cannon fodder, at best.

This paper’s goal is twofold: First, explore methods of instruction at the individual and unit levels, and explain the reasoning behind the evolution of training as the Army Ground Forces’ understanding of contemporary warfare changed; second, provide a case study at …

Neighborhood Change Within New Jersey: The Evolutionary History That Led To The New Newark, David Medina

Student Publications

As Newark lies 10 miles west of Manhattan, there is an increased encroachment from investors and gentrifies as surrounding cities such as Hoboken and Jersey City become too expensive and overcrowded. Known as the “Brick City”, Newark has history dating back to 1666. Leading up to World War II Newark was thriving, until an increase in suburban development and white flight that altered the race demographic. After years of racial stigma, the history of Newark is at risk as gentrification and neighborhood change looms over the city and its 282,862 residents, many of which are minorities.