Browsing by Subject "Indiana History"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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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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    How America Remembers: Analysis of the Academic Interpretation and Public Memory of the Battle of Tippecanoe
    (2011) Abercrombie, Brent S.; Scarpino, Philip V.; Labode, Modupe; Wokeck, Marianne Sophia
    The Battle of Tippecanoe marked the turning point in relations between Anglo/American and Native American cultures, whose incompatible ways of understanding and living on the land and religious views made co-existence improbable. The battle also served as a last ditch effort by young, desperate warriors following the orders of a Prophet whose promises of invincibility and dominance proved untrue. The victory at Tippecanoe, and subsequent success during the War of 1812, strengthened the military prowess and popularity of the battle’s commander William Henry Harrison and his men. Overtime, the legacy of Harrison, his men, and Battle of Tippecanoe grew in significance. This thesis is an examination of the academic interpretation and public memory of the Battle of Tippecanoe. Until the cultural history movement by scholars in the mid-twentieth century, historical interpretation and public memory mirrored one another in the remembrance of the battle. As historians aimed to provide a more balanced and nuanced understanding of the Battle of Tippecanoe, the public memory of the battle remained entrenched in the teachings highlighted during Progressive Era. The purpose of this thesis is to trace the origins of both schools of thought as the importance and significance of the battle’s interpretation changed over the last 200 years.
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    The Impact of Caleb Mills on the Hoosier Education Debate: An Edition of Two Unpublished Addresses
    (2007) Natali, Bethany Leigh; Wokeck, Marianne Sophia
    This thesis examines how the writings of Caleb Mills impacted the development of public education in Indiana and includes an edition of two unpublished addresses by Mills, “A Lecture on Popular Education” and “Knowledge is Power.” The addresses provide a much-needed glimpse of some of Caleb Mills’ efforts other than his famous addresses as “One of the People.” The works demonstrate how the education reformer outlined his views regarding the ideals of proper education found in his much better known “One of the People” addresses and also highlight the education debate that has continued into the early twenty-first century.
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    Indianapolis women working for the right to vote : the forgotten drama of 1917
    (2013) Kalvaitis, Jennifer M.; Morgan, Anita A.; Monroe, Elizabeth Brand, 1947-; Barrows, Robert G. (Robert Graham), 1946-
    In the fall of 1917, between 30,000 and 40,000 Indianapolis women registered to vote. The passage of the Maston-McKinley partial suffrage bill earlier that year gave women a significantly amplified voice in the public realm. This victory was achieved by a conservative group of Hoosier suffragists and reformers. However, the women lost their right to vote in the fall of 1917 due to two Indiana Supreme Court rulings.
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    Kindling the Fires of Patriotism: The Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Indiana, 1866-1949
    (2014) Sacco, Nicholas W.; Labode, Modupe; Morgan, Anita A.; Towne, Stephen E., 1961-
    Following the end of the American Civil War in 1865, thousands of Union veterans joined the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the largest Union veterans' fraternal organization in the United States. Upwards of 25,000 Hoosier veterans were members in the Department of Indiana by 1890, including President Benjamin Harrison and General Lew Wallace. This thesis argues that Indiana GAR members met in fraternity to share and construct memories of the Civil War that helped make sense of the past and the present. Indiana GAR members took it upon themselves after the war to act as gatekeepers of Civil War memory in the Hoosier state, publicly arguing that important values they acquired through armed conflict—obedience to authority, duty, selflessness, honor, and love of country—were losing relevance in an increasingly industrialized society that seemingly valued selfishness, materialism, and political radicalism. This thesis explores the creation of Civil War memories and GAR identity, the historical origins of Memorial Day in Indiana, and the Indiana GAR's struggle to incorporate ideals of "patriotic instruction" in public school history classrooms throughout the state.
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    Overlooking the Indigenous Midwest: Prince Maximilian of Wied in New Harmony
    (2021-11) Wertz, Kyle Timothy; Guiliano, Jennifer; Wokeck, Marianne S.; Rowe, Stephanie
    In the winter of 1832-1833, German scientist and aristocrat Prince Maximilian of Wied spent five months in the Indiana town of New Harmony during a two-year expedition to the interior of North America. Maximilian’s observations of Native Americans west of the Mississippi River have influenced European and white American perceptions of the Indigenous peoples of North America for nearly two centuries, but his time in New Harmony has gone understudied. This article explores his personal journal and his published travelogue to discover what Maximilian’s time in New Harmony reveals about his work. New Harmony exposed him to a wealth of information about Native Americans produced by educated white elites like himself. However, Maximilian missed opportunities to encounter Native Americans first-hand in and around New Harmony, which he wrongly thought required crossing the Mississippi River. Because of the biases and misperceptions caused by Maximilian’s racialized worldview and stereotypical expectations of Native American life, he overlooked the Indigenous communities and individuals living in Indiana.
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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.