Browsing by Subject "American Civil War (1861-1865)"
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Item Civil War-Era Democrats and President Abraham Lincoln: Two Assessments of Loyal Opposition in Wartime(2019-07-29) Towne, Stephen E., 1961-A review essay of two recent books on political opposition in the North during the American Civil War finds historians have not adequately researched the Democratic opposition to the Lincoln administration. Historians must focus their attention on the words and actions of the rank-and-file membership of the Democratic Party to understand why they took violent measures to oppose the Republican government across the North.Item An Ethical Responsibility? Research Access to Unique Manuscripts in the Custody of Private Collectors(The Manuscript Society, 2023-02) Towne, Stephen E., 1961-Asks if manuscripts collectors have ethical responsibilities to make the unique materials in their possession available to researchers. Gives a case study of an historical record in private hands kept inaccessible to a researcher.Item A Lesson for All Rebels at Home: The Holmes County, Ohio, Rebellion of 1863 Revisited(2019-09) Towne, Stephen E., 1961-The Holmes County, Ohio draft-enrollment-resistance episode during the Civil War is well known to historians, but has been poorly understood. Previous studies have characterized the violence as a minor eruption of ethnic localism. New research based on previously unseen archival records reveals a geographically widespread and organized uprising involving partisan Democrats that included many ethnicities. The United States Army and federal and state law-enforcement authorities worked diligently in the uprising's aftermath to deter similar outbreaks.Item The Many Social Selves of an Indiana Soldier: David W. Voyles, M.D.(Department of History, Indiana University Bloomington, 2020-09) Towne, Stephen E., 1961-Introduction to an edition of letters of David W. Voyles, who served as regimental surgeon of the 66th Indiana Volunteer Infantry regiment. Voyles wrote the letters to his wife, Susan, from 1862 to 1864. The introduction examines the several social selves exhibited in the letters, including the spouse, father, soldier, moralist, and patriot. The introduction also notes records in the Indiana State Archives and the National Archives written by Voyles concerning his efforts to be appointed regimental surgeon and events in Washington County, Indiana.Item 'Soldiers are continually advised by letter to desert:' Finding Democratic Voices in the 1863 Campaign to Discourage Civil War Soldiers(University of Nebraska Press, 2024-09-21) Towne, Stephen E., 1961-In 1863, during the American Civil War, family members and acquaintances of federal soldiers from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois sent letters to those troops in an effort to persuade them to reject the war effort, desert, and return home. The letter writers frequently used racist arguments to encourage desertion. Receipt of these letters angered many soldiers, who sent them to hometown newspapers with requests that editors publish them in order to shame the writers. This article examines these letters, which represent a new body of evidence for studying the discourse of Democrats resident in Midwestern states.Item Three Newly Uncovered Letters of George Armstrong Custer(Kent State University Press, 2024-04) Towne, Stephen E., 1961-Three letters written by George Armstrong Custer, previously unknown to historians and biographers, provide new details about President Abraham Lincoln's visits to the Army of the Potomac in 1862 and the battle of Antietam.