Browsing by Author "Morgan, Anita J."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    An Average Regiment: A Re-Examination of the 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry of the Iron Brigade
    (2016) Crocker, Jared Anthony; Saak, Eric; Morgan, Anita J.; Towne, Stephen
    The 19th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment is one of the most famous regiments of the Civil War through its membership in the Iron Brigade of the Union Army of the Potomac. This brigade has been hailed as an elite unit of the Civil War. This thesis is a regimental history which critically examines the socio-economic profile of the 19th Indiana and the combat record of the Iron Brigade. This thesis finds that the 19th Indiana is largely reflective of the rest of the Union Army in terms of its socio-economic profile. Also, the combat record of the brigade was not overly successful and not necessarily deserving of being singled out from among the hundreds of other brigades in the Civil War.
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    Hysteria on the Hardwood: A Narrative History of Community, Race, and Indiana's "Basketbrawl" Tradition
    (2012) Eskew, Kelly R.; Morgan, Anita J.; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-; Coleman, Annie Gilbert
    In 1964, Muncie Central High School got the “death penalty” at the hands of the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s (IHSAA) new commissioner, Phil N. Eskew, after post-game brawling at a boys basketball game led to a broader investigation of the entire program. In the closing moments of the game, a Muncie Central opponent was bloodied by an inbound pass to the face and fans erupted in violence, swarming the floor. The ensuing investigation revealed racial tensions, issues of sexual mores, political discord, and deep problems in the web of interrelationships that make up the phenomenon of Hoosier Hysteria. After a closed-door hearing and two days of deliberations, Eskew and the IHSAA Board of Control announced their decision, and the punishment prescribed made front page headlines across the state and beyond.
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    Senator Oliver P. Morton and Historical Memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction in Indiana
    (2016-02) Rainesalo, Timothy C.; Morgan, Anita J.; Fuller, A. James; Towne, Stephen
    After governing Indiana during the Civil War, Oliver P. Morton acquired great national influence as a Senator from 1867 to 1877 during Reconstruction. He advocated for African American suffrage and proper remembrance of the Union cause. When he died in 1877, political colleagues, family members, and many Union veterans recalled Morton’s messages and used the occasion to reflect on the nation’s memories of the Civil War and Reconstruction. This thesis examines Indiana’s Governor and Senator Oliver P. Morton, using his postwar speeches, public commentary during and after his life, and the public testimonials and monuments erected in his memory to analyze his role in defining Indiana’s historical memories of the Civil War and Reconstruction from 1865 to 1907. The eulogies and monument commemoration ceremonies reveal the important reciprocal relationship between Morton and Union veterans, especially Indiana members of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). As the GAR’s influence increased during the nineteenth century, Indiana members used Morton’s legacy and image to promote messages of patriotism, national unity, and Union pride. The monuments erected in Indianapolis and Washington, D. C., reflect Indiana funders’ desire to remember Morton as a Civil War Governor and to use his image to reinforce viewers’ awareness of the sacrifices and results of the war. This thesis explores how Morton’s friends, family, political colleagues, and influential members of the GAR emphasized Morton’s governorship to use his legacy as a rallying point for curating and promoting partisan memories of the Civil War and, to a lesser extent, Reconstruction, in Indiana.
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    Shillelaghs, Shovels, and Secrets: Irish Immigrant Secret Societies and the Building of Indiana Internal Improvements, 1835-1837
    (2009) Perry, Jay Martin; Wokeck, Marianne Sophia; Kelly, Jason M.; Morgan, Anita J.
    In the 1830s, Indiana undertook an ambitious internal improvements program, building the state’s first railroad and multiple canals. To complete the projects, Indiana used Irish immigrant laborers. The Irish laborers developed a reputation for brawling amongst themselves, highlighted by a riot involving 600 laborers working on the Wabash and Erie Canal in 1835. Multiple volumes of Indiana history identify the Wabash and Erie riot as a one-time event inspired by Protestant and Catholic animosity imported from Ireland. A review of the historical record, however, contradicts these long-held assumptions. Inspired by Irish traditions of faction fighting and peasant secret societies, Irish immigrant laborers formed secret societies that used violence against competitors in hopes of securing access to internal improvement jobs for their own membership. The rival secret societies, the Corkonians and the Fardowns, organized based on their provincial origins in Ireland. Examples of Corkonian and Fardown violence occurred throughout the country. In Indiana, a pattern of Corkonian and Fardown conflict resulted in skirmishes on at least three different construction sites between 1835 and 1837. In contrast to the traditional narrative, the Corkonians and Fardowns were both pioneers of the first wave of large-scale Irish Catholic immigration whose rivalry centered on job protection and economic grievances.
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    The Woman's Relief Corps: "Missionaries of the Flag," 1893-1918
    (2016) Schulze, Stephanie Marie; Morgan, Anita J.; Robertson, Nancy M.; Schultz, Jane E.
    Patriotic education began when the Woman’s Relief Corps was established. The earliest patriotic education was done on Memorial Day rather than on a daily basis in the schoolroom. The WRC’s plan for patriotic education went into full gear in 1893. The history of the Woman’s Relief Corps and the implementation of patriotic education is a fascinating one that shows how a conservative organization of women implemented a regimented daily routine that today shows more about the women and their beliefs than one might expect. As time passed after the Civil War, more and more Union veterans died leaving the legacy to keep the memory of the War alive to the WRC. Patriotic education provided a perfect avenue to keep that memory alive as well as to inculcate the students with patriotism and how to be good citizens. As patriotic education evolved and grew, there was a pattern of changing rhetoric among educators and the WRC. This is visible when one looks at the discussions amongst the members of the WRC during and immediately after a war. Generally, during a war, the women of the WRC would step back into a supportive role of American military and then immediately after a war would take advantage of the patriotic fervor to further expand patriotic education.