"Unforgetting the Dakota 38" projects a nuanced light onto the history and memory of the mass hanging of thirty-eight Dakota men on December 26, 1862 following the U.S.-Dakota War in Southcentral Minnesota. This thesis investigates the competing narratives between Santee Dakota peoples (a mixture of Wahpeton and Mdewakanton Dakota) and white Minnesotan citizens in Mankato, Minnesota—the town of the hanging—between 1862 and 2012. By using settler colonialism as an analytical framework, I argue that the erasing of Dakotas by white historical memory has actively and routinely removed Dakotas from the mainstream historical narrative following the U.S.-Dakota War through today. This episodic history examines three phases of remembrance in which the rival interpretations of 1862 took different forms, and although the Dakota-centered interpretations were always present in some way, they became more visible to the non-Dakota society over time. Adopting a thematic approach, this thesis covers events that overlap in time, yet provide useful insights into the shaping and reshaping of memory that surrounds the mass hanging. White Minnesotans routinely wrote Dakota peoples out of their own history, a key element of settler colonial policies that set out to eradicate Indigenous peoples from the Minnesota landscape and replace them with white settlers. While this thesis demonstrates how white memories form, it also focuses on Dakota responses to the structures associated with settler colonialism. In so doing, this thesis argues that Dakota peoples actively participated in the memory-making process in Mankato between 1862 and 2012, even though most historical scholarship considered Mankato devoid of Dakota peoples and an Indigenous history. / Master of Arts / The U.S.-Dakota War wracked the Minnesota River Valley region of Southcentral Minnesota. Following a bloody and destructive six weeks in late-Summer 1862, President Abraham Lincoln ordered the mass execution of thirty-eight Mdewakanton Dakota men as punishment for their participation. This controversial moment in American history produced unique and divergent memories of the Dakota War, the hanging, and the Mdewakanton Dakota place in white American society. This thesis examines the memories that formed between 1862 and 2012, highlighting Dakota perspective and memories to shed new light on the history of this deeply contested event. By doing so, we gain new understandings of Mankato, the U.S.-Dakota War, and the mass hanging, but also a realization that Dakota peoples were always active in the memory-making process even though many have considered their participation nonexistent.

The America Civil War, natural awareness, and forests had a complex relationship. Through their mostly agrarian lifestyle, soldiers during the American Civil War demonstrated varying levels of natural awareness by writing in their diaries and letters about their daily interactions and observations of trees, agriculture, landscape, water, and destruction. One of the greatest demonstrations of natural awareness by Civil War soldiers centered on their interactions with and observations of wood and wood products. Soldiers needed wood for fires, transportation, and fortifications. They hunted for it, and dealt with shortages of the product. By examining what diaries and letters revealed on wood, we get a better picture of the relationship between the war and the natural environment. Besides using large amounts of wood, the Civil War also had an impact on conserving trees. The passage of the Morrill Land Grant act and the formation of a Department of Agriculture during the war helped the expansion of the Forest Conservation movement from 1865 to 1880. / Master of Arts

The Civil War transformed nationalism in American society and created a notion of national identity closely tied to flag iconography. Flag symbolism developed as the prominent visualization of nationalism in American culture during and after the Civil War. The flags of the Civil War - namely the American flag, the Confederate national flag, and the Confederate Battle Cross - grew into iconic images within American communities. Their status as symbols of nationalism, patriotism, and an American historical past often advocated by newspapers, individual citizens, and the soldiers of the war themselves, initiated an American tradition of flag iconography for the purpose of nationalism unforeseen in American culture before the war. After the war, the issues of reconciliation and of what context the war would be placed in American history also became influenced by flag imagery. With the potential for post-war bitterness and lengthened disunity, the American flag offered a symbol that allowed Americans to remember the war as the deeds of patriotic citizens and as part of a continuous American national narrative. In doing so, the American flag became the iconic symbol of American nationalism. / Master of Arts

Situated in Virginia's Lower Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, Virginia, endured numerous occupations during the Civil War. Arguably the worst the townspeople endured was General Robert Huston Milroy's—January 1, 1863-June 15, 1863. A staunch abolitionist and fervent supporter of the Union, Milroy fought a war not only against Confederate troops, but against the Confederate population as well. He firmly believed that only an Old-Testament style scourge of the land could rid this country of slavery and restore the Union. Milroy's strong convictions moved him to inflict his will on Winchester's population. Exiles, arrests of civilians (women and children included), secret detectives, and widespread destruction of property, were the norm during Milroy's occupation. While this study examines Milroy's biography from birth to death, its focus is on his six month tenure as military commander in Winchester. General Milroy has never before been the subject of an in depth biographical study. His military career was plagued by his constant bickering with West Point graduates. Ultimately it was his contempt for West Pointers that brought a rapid conclusion to his military career. He despised professional soldiers and spent his Civil War career trying to prove that non-professional volunteer officers were equal or better in ability to graduates of the United States Military Academy. "My will is absolute law" also serves as a valuable tool for scholars interested in understanding the undying Confederate spirit on the home front and how Federal soldiers initially enforced President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in occupied areas. / Master of Arts

John D. Wagg was a native of Ashe County, North Carolina and a Southern Methodist circuit minister active immediately before and during the Civil War. His surviving journal, sermons, and received letters allow us to employ him as a window into a particular time, place, and set of conditions. To facilitate this, selections from the Wagg documents have been transcribed, edited, and presented as a Web-based digital edition, the Digital John D. Wagg Papers. This edition is designed to work with many other editions of similarly narrow historical and geographical scope as one historical witness in a network of witnesses. We must draw from several varieties of documents in the John Wagg collection and from contextualizing historical scholarship to construct a history of Wagg as a product of and participant in his times. Born 8 July 1835, Wagg began keeping a journal in 1854 as he worked toward a degree in medicine at Jefferson, North Carolina, the Wagg family hometown. As a diarist he often explored the place of humanity in a God-made world, a theme that foreshadows his turn from medicine and entry into the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South in October 1858. Wagg spent the Civil War years preaching throughout western North Carolina and southwest Virginia, generally striving to keep his heavily Confederate-leaning politics from the pulpit. This lifestyle allows the Wagg Papers to bring an alternate point of view to any archive of Civil War documents consisting primarily of the letters of combatants. / Master of Arts

This study was designed to identify recurring themes in Civil War legends that are told in reference to antebellum homes in regions of Southwest Virginia. Existing literature indicates that collecting these legends is an important task because doing so helps others to better understand the community of legend-tellers. Previous research has also indicated that legends form a type of American mythology with reveals the way the legend-tellers perceive the specific subject they describe in the legends. Eight historic homes were visited in six southwestern counties of Virginia. Qualitative data were collected from a purposive sample of 12 participants who lived in these houses, previously lived in an historic house, or worked in an historic house museum. Each house was chosen as a site of inquiry because it has some significance for those interested in the Civil War or because it represents typical houses in similar southwestern Virginian communities during the Civil War era. In-depth interviews were the sole means of data collection and provided detailed and unlimited legends used to identify themes. The data were collected analyzed using a multiple case study approach. The findings from this study indicate that Civil War legends are being told in reference to antebellum homes in Southwest Virginia. Additionally, the tellers of the legends have common thoughts about the Civil War. The three major conclusions made in this study are (1) northern soldiers were aggressors during the Civil War; (2) southerners were strong during the Civil War; and (3) ghosts and ghostly activity serve as reminders of the Civil War. By continuing to share these legends, the tellers indicate their own perspectives of the Civil War as well as the perspectives of those who originate the legends. The legend-tellers also provide insight into the culture of today's southwestern Virginians as well as the Civil War era southwestern Virginians. / Master of Science

The massive mortality rates of the American Civil War challenged mid-nineteenth century Americans' understandings and relationship with death. Faced with inadequate methods of individual identification and record-keeping that were unable to keep up with the overwhelming mobilization of both men and resources that the war demanded, many soldiers simply disappeared or were buried under a stone marked "unknown." Even soldiers who kept their names died far from home, away from family, in a manner that challenged nineteenth century traditions of death. These factors caused many soldiers to seek some manner of permanence to ensure that their name would not be forgotten following death. This project examines the ways in which soldiers used visual culture, particularly graffiti, drawings, and studio photographs, to find permanence amidst the destruction and death of war. By looking at the subjects of and the ways that soldiers used the visual culture they created, this thesis seeks to understand the value of visual culture as both an outlet for soldiers of the Civil War and as an invaluable source for historical research today. This project first explores the role of religion as both a subject of and an influence on visual culture. It then moves on to examine how soldiers used visual culture as a means finding permanence, including as a means of claiming a place in and piece of the war and as a form of memorialization. By examining the power of visual culture for finding permanence, this project provides insight into the ways in which soldiers sought to remember each other and their own experiences while also adding to the human conversation on mortality. / Master of Arts / The American Civil War brought an unprecedented amount of death and destruction that left the military largely unable to keep up with the many dead and wounded. Overwhelmed by the logistical realities of war, many soldiers died unknown, far from home. As a result, many soldiers sought some means of permanence in the face of death. This thesis examines the visual culture, particularly the graffiti, drawings, and studio photography that soldiers created and the ways in which those pieces of visual culture reflect soldiers’ views of death and permanence. It begins by examining the “what” of visual culture, examining the place of religion as a subject and an influence on soldiers’ visual culture. It then studies the “how” by studying the ways in which soldiers used their visual culture to claim their place in the war and to remember each other and themselves in the event of death.

<p dir="ltr"> How does the experience of political violence by members of the host community influence attitudes towards refugees? I draw on theories from social psychology and comparative politics to demonstrate the impact of political violence on preferences for migrants. Specifically, I shed light on how an individual's past experience with civil war shapes their attitudes towards refugees. Existing work suggests that exposure to conflict will lead to prosocial behavior. I test my argument using a conjoint experiment embedded in a survey where I ask respondents to evaluate three pairs of refugee profiles, including their reasons for migration. Respondents then decide which of those profiles should be granted refugee status based on the attributes presented. My analysis shows that those exposed to civil war are more prosocial and show a much higher support for refugees in comparison to those who were not exposed to conflict. However, contrary to the expectations set by post-traumatic growth theory that those with a similar experience as refugees will show a higher preference for those refugees with whom they share an experience, I do not find that individuals exposed to civil war show a significant preference for refugees fleeing conflict over other category of migrants. These results ask us to question the implication of different refugee categorizations on attitudes and behavior towards migrants. Although relevant for public policy and resource distribution, for the ordinary person, migrant categories might not much of an effect, especially if all migrants are perceived to be the same. Furthermore, these results inform policy approaches for reducing prejudice, increasing prosocial behavior towards refugees and promoting social cohesion.</p>

In October 1863 the United States Army's Rio Grande Expedition left New Orleans, bound for the Texas coast. Reacting to the recent French occupation of Mexico, President Abraham Lincoln believed that the presence of U.S. troops in Texas would dissuade the French from intervening in the American Civil War. The first major objective of this campaign was Brownsville, Texas, a port city on the lower Rio Grande. Its capture would not only serve as a warning to the French in Mexico; it would also disrupt a lucrative Confederate cotton trade across the border. The expedition had a mixed record of achievement. It succeeded in disrupting the cotton trade, but not stopping it. Federal forces installed a military governor, Andrew J. Hamilton, in Brownsville, but his authority extended only to the occupied part of Texas, a strip of land along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The campaign also created considerable fear among Confederate soldiers and civilians that the ravages of civil war had now come to the Lone Star State. Although short-lived, the panic generated by the Rio Grande Expedition left an indelible mark on the memories of Texans who lived through the campaign. The expedition achieved its greatest success by establishing a permanent Federal presence in Texas as a warning against possible French meddling north of the Rio Grande.

This thesis studies the issue of unionism in Texas during the era of the Civil War.