From May 1861 until April 1865 the city of Richmond, Virginia served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, during the American Civil War. Throughout the course of the war it operated alongside the established governments of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the County of Henrico, and Richmond City. The body that experienced the greatest fluctuation and change was the municipal government, which consisted of a city council, mayor, and hustings court. The city government faced existential challenges that included an increase in its population, an influx of Confederate soldiers, and the constant threat of the Union army. While developing and implementing policies that responded to these situations, it refused to neglect or yield the duties that it had always performed. This included maintaining the gas and water works, funding police and fire departments, providing land for burial in cemeteries, and ensuring basic resources were available to its denizens.

The main theme of this thesis is the precise role of the navy department in the struggle to maintain the Union. However, naval operations themselves are not within the scope of this thesis. To what degree did the navy department assist in the successful prosecution of the war? What problems were faced by Welles in the purchase, charter, and construction of naval vessels? What was the relationship between the department and Congress? What evidence of fraud and corruption existed?

This historical study investigated the genesis, unfolding, contributions, and demise issues associated with the institution of Storer College. The primary goal was to produce an institutional narrative of Storer College that acknowledged the depth and dimension of its 90-year history, and recognized its three utmost administrators: the Doctors Brackett, McDonald, and McKinney. The inquiry incorporated a broad range of primary and secondary sources, including previously untapped archival resources, in reconstructing the institution’s narrative. The study is predominantly set against the divergence of compounding social, economic, and political forces, including its relationship with the State of West Virginia that outlined the institution’s development over time. The global questions that framed the study were: What was Storer College? How did it change over time? Following the Civil War’s destruction, the nation underwent an extended period of reconstruction. Storer College grew out of several efforts exerted by the Free Will Baptists, a northern denomination under the aegis of the Northern Baptist Convention, who believed that education should be the primary focus for improving freedmen in the Shenandoah Valley. Storer College was first established in West Virginia by the Free Will Baptists Home Mission Society through its Shenandoah Mission center, as the Harper’s Ferry Mission School in 1865. In time, the institution experienced four overlapping developmental phases: (a) Mission School, 1865 – 1867, (b) Secondary Division, 1867 – 1884, (c) Secondary Expansion Division, 1884 – 1921, and (d) Collegiate Division, 1921 – 1955 before its closure in the wake of the 1954 Brown et al. v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas decision. With the outgoing class of 1955, the institution was ultimately dismantled and subsumed under the federal aegis of the United States Department of Interior by 1960. Despite limited funding, Storer College functioned as a social change agent since through its institutional development it correspondingly contributed to the individual development of its students’ literacy, morality, self-dependency, self-advocacy, and self-assertion. These collective actions were among the first efforts toward community-building between and among the African-American community and consequently the community’s greater relationship with the American society. / Ph. D.

The 17th Indiana Volunteer Regiment was part of “Wilder’s Lightning Brigade”, a mounted infantry brigade under Col. John T. Wilder. Through his efforts he mounted his infantry on horseback and equipped them with Spencer Repeating Rifles. This paper argues that these changes were deliberate on the part of John T. Wilder rather than emulating others, led to a conscious and noticeable change in tactics, that these changes were effective, and examines the Brigade’s influences on future military tactics. Through the use a various Primary and Secondary sources, with heavy emphasis placed on diaries, letters, unit histories, and drill manuals, I show that the changes made were deliberate, noticed by the men and their adversaries, highly effective, and an early example of future forces like mechanized infantry.

Thesis (M.A.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on July 29, 2010). Department of History, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): John R. Kaufman-McKivigan, Robert G. Barrows, Kevin C. Robbins. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-151).

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The Kimblerlin Family, first white settlers of Scott County, Indiana is used as a focal point to study the impact of the Copperhead movement on southern Indiana during the Civil War. The author has been granted acces to dozens of family letters, to and from the battlefield, that have never been subjected to academic scrutiny. They provide a fascinating mirror that reflects cultural attitudes toward the War, and ultimately, the courage it took to stand firmly for the Union in Copperhead country. / This is the story of the Kimberlin Family that sent 33 fathers and sons, brothers and cousins to fight for the Union cause during the Civil War. Ten family members were killed, wounded, or died of battlefield disease, a 30 percent casualty rate that is unmatched in recorded Scott County history. Of the 134 known deaths of Scott County soldiers, ten were members of the Kimberlin clan. While we know that the Kimberlins suffered disproportionately, our only clues to their feelings about the war come from 40 letters to and from the battlefield that have survived to this day. Were they fighting to save the Union or to free the slaves? How did they express grief over the loss of a brother? Did they keep up with their business and the women at home? And what did they think about “secesh” neighbors in southern Indiana who tried to undermine the Union cause? The answers to these questions will help determine if the Kimberlins were unusual in their patriotism or simply acting as any Union family would in an area of the nation known as Copperhead Country

Arkansas occupied a key position in the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department. It offered a gateway for Confederate troops to move north and secure Missouri for the Confederacy, or for Union troops to move south towards Texas and Louisiana. During the war, Union and Confederate armies moved back and forth across the state engaging in numerous encounters. This paper is a year by year study of those encounters and engagements occurring in Arkansas between 1861 and 1865. Emphasis is necessarily placed on the significant campaigns and engagements. Actions which occurred in adjacent states but which militarily affected Arkansas are also discussed. The majority of the material was compiled from the Official Records.