African American Soldiers in the Philippine War: An Examination of the Contributions of Buffalo Soldiers during the Spanish American War and Its Aftermath, 1898-1902 (open access)

African American Soldiers in the Philippine War: An Examination of the Contributions of Buffalo Soldiers during the Spanish American War and Its Aftermath, 1898-1902

During the Philippine War, 1899 – 1902, America attempted to quell an uprising from the Filipino people. Four regular army regiments of black soldiers, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, and the Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Infantry served in this conflict. Alongside the regular army regiments, two volunteer regiments of black soldiers, the Forty-Eighth and Forty-Ninth, also served. During and after the war these regiments received little attention from the press, public, or even historians. These black regiments served in a variety of duties in the Philippines, primarily these regiments served on the islands of Luzon and Samar. The main role of these regiments focused on garrisoning sections of the Philippines and helping to end the insurrection. To carry out this mission, the regiments undertook a variety of duties including scouting, fighting insurgents and ladrones (bandits), creating local civil governments, and improving infrastructure. The regiments challenged racist notions in America in three ways. They undertook the same duties as white soldiers. They interacted with local "brown" Filipino populations without fraternizing, particularly with women, as whites assumed they would. And, they served effectively at the company and platoon level under black officers. Despite the important contributions of these soldiers, both socially and militarily, …
Date: August 2017
Creator: Redgraves, Christopher M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Many Battles of Glorieta Pass: Struggles for the Integrity of a Civil War Battlefield (open access)

The Many Battles of Glorieta Pass: Struggles for the Integrity of a Civil War Battlefield

This study focuses on modern-day attempts to preserve the site where Union volunteers from Colorado defeated a Confederate army from Texas at the 1862 Battle of Glorieta Pass to curtail Confederate expansion westward. When construction workers in 1987 accidently uncovered remains of the war dead, a second battle of Glorieta Pass ensued. Texas and New Mexico officials quarreled over jurisdiction of the war casualties. Eventually Congress authorized the National Park Service to expand the Pecos National Park through purchase and donation of land to include the battlesite. Sources include local records, newspapers, federal and state documents, and interviews with preservation participants.
Date: August 1999
Creator: Hull, William Edward, 1945-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Progressivism/Prohibition and War: Texas, 1914-1918 (open access)

Progressivism/Prohibition and War: Texas, 1914-1918

This thesis focuses upon the impact of war upon the progressive movement in Texas during 1914-1918. Chapter I defines progressivism in Texas and presents an overview of the political situation in the state as relating to the period. Chapter II discusses the negative impact that the first two years of World War I had upon the reform movement. Chapter III examines the revival of the Anti-Saloon League and the 1916 Democratic state convention. Chapter IV covers the war between James E. Ferguson and the University of Texas. Chapter V tells how the European war became a catalyst for the reform movement in Texas following America's entry, and its subsequent influence upon the election of 1918. Chapter VI concludes that James E. Ferguson's war with the University of Texas as well as World War I were responsible for the prohibitionist victory in the election of 1918.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Antle, Michael Lee
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Muse of Fire: Liberty and War Songs as a Source of American History (open access)

The Muse of Fire: Liberty and War Songs as a Source of American History

The development of American liberty and war songs from a few themes during the pre-Revolutionary period to a distinct form of American popular music in the Civil War period reflects the growth of many aspects of American culture and thought. This study therefore treats as historical documents the songs published in newspapers, broadsides, and songbooks during the period from 1765 to 1865. Chapter One briefly summarizes the development of American popular music before 1765 and provides other introductory material. Chapter Two examines the origin and development of the first liberty-song themes in the period from 1765 to 1775. Chapters Three and Four cover songs written during the American Revolution. Chapter Three describes battle songs, emphasizing the use of humor, and Chapter Four examines the figures treated in the war song. Chapter Five covers the War of 1812, concentrating on the naval song, and describes the first use of dialect in the American war song. Chapter Six covers the Mexican War (1846-1848) and includes discussion of the aggressive American attitude toward the war as evidenced in song. Chapter Six also examines the first antiwar songs. Chapters Seven and Eight deal with the Civil War. Chapter Seven treats derivative war songs, including …
Date: August 1984
Creator: Bowman, Kent A. (Kent Adam), 1947-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Development of Myth in Post-World-War-II American Novels (open access)

The Development of Myth in Post-World-War-II American Novels

Most primitive mythologies recognize that suffering can provide an opportunity for growth, but Western man has developed a mythology in which suffering is considered evil. He conceives of some power in the universe which will oppose evil and abolish it for him; God, and more recently science an, technology, were the hoped-for saviors that would rescue him. Both have been disappointing as saviors, and Western culture seems paralyzed by its confrontation with a future which seems death-filled. The primitive conception of death as that through which one passes in initiatory suffering has been unavailable because the mythologies in which it was framed are outdated. However, some post-World-War-II novels are reflecting a new mythology which recognizes the threat of death as the terrifying face the universe shows during initiation. A few of these novels tap deep psychological sources from which mythical images traditionally come and reflect the necessity of the passage through the hell of initiation without hope of a savior. One of the best of these is Wright Morris's The Field of Vision, in which the Scanlon story is a central statement of the mythological ground ahead. This gripping tale uses the pioneer journey west to tell of the mysterious …
Date: August 1974
Creator: Hall, Larry Joe
System: The UNT Digital Library
China's Propaganda in the United States During World War II (open access)

China's Propaganda in the United States During World War II

The study examined China's conduct of its most important overseas propaganda activities in the United States during World War II. The findings showed that the main characteristics of China's propaganda in the United States in the war years included, (a) official propaganda in the United States was operated by the Chinese News Service and its branch offices in several cities; (b) unofficial propaganda involved work by both Americans and Chinese, among them, missionaries, newspapermen, and businessmen who tried to help China for different reasons; (c) both China lobby and Red China lobby, changed people's image about China, either the Nationalists or the Communists; and (d) propaganda toward the overseas Chinese in the United States was to collect donations and stir up patriotism.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Tsang, Kuo-jen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social and Economic Factors Involved in the Reconstruction of the South Following the Civil War (open access)

Social and Economic Factors Involved in the Reconstruction of the South Following the Civil War

This thesis discusses the Reconstruction period in the southern United States, including the events leading up to Reconstruction, the socioeconomic factors of Reconstruction itself, and the effect it had on both black and white societies.
Date: August 1944
Creator: Rowan, Nell
System: The UNT Digital Library
Their Faltering Footsteps: Hardships Suffered by the Confederate Civilians on the Homefront in the American Civil War of 1861-1865 (open access)

Their Faltering Footsteps: Hardships Suffered by the Confederate Civilians on the Homefront in the American Civil War of 1861-1865

It is the purpose of this study to reveal that the morale of the southern civilians was an important factor in determining the fall of the Confederacy. At the close of the Civil War, the South was exhausted and weak, with only limited supplies to continue their defense. The Confederacy might have been rallied by the determination of its people, but they lacked such determination, for the hardships and grief they endured had turned their cause into a meaningless struggle. Therefore, the South fell because its strength depended upon the will of its population. This study is based on accounts by contemporaries in diaries, memoirs, newspapers, and journals, and it reflects their reaction to the collapse of homefront morale.
Date: August 1977
Creator: Spencer, Judith Ann
System: The UNT Digital Library
Establishing the American Way of Death: World War I and the Foundation of the United States’ Policy Toward the Repatriation and Burial of Its Battlefield Dead (open access)

Establishing the American Way of Death: World War I and the Foundation of the United States’ Policy Toward the Repatriation and Burial of Its Battlefield Dead

This thesis examines the policies and procedures created during and after the First World War that provided the foundation for how the United States commemorated its war dead for the next century. Many of the techniques used in modern times date back to the Great War. However, one hundred years earlier, America possessed very few methods or even ideas about how to locate, identify, repatriate, and honor its military personnel that died during foreign conflicts. These ideas were not conceived in the halls of government buildings. On the contrary, concerned citizens originated many of the concepts later codified by the American government. This paper draws extensively upon archival documents, newspapers, and published primary sources to trace the history of America’s burial and repatriation policies, the Army Graves Registration Services, and how American dead came to permanently rest in military cemeteries on the continent of Europe. The unprecedented dilemma of over 80,000 American soldiers buried in France and surrounding countries at the conclusion of the First World War in 1918 propelled the United States to solve many social, political, and military problems that arose over the final disposition of those remains. The solutions to those problems became the foundation for how …
Date: August 2015
Creator: Hatzinger, Kyle J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Confederate Military Operations in Texas, 1861-1865 (open access)

Confederate Military Operations in Texas, 1861-1865

This study examines several of the Confederate military operations in Texas from the years 1861 to 1865, including early defensive moves, the Battle of Galveston and the Battle of Sabine Pass.
Date: August 1957
Creator: Crow, James Burchell
System: The UNT Digital Library
Confederate Texas: A Political Study, 1861-1865 (open access)

Confederate Texas: A Political Study, 1861-1865

"No adequate history of the activities of the Texas state government during the Civil War has been written. Instead this phase of state history has been treated only in a limited manner in general state and Civil War histories. A history of the state government's functions and role during this period is essential to understanding Texas' development as a state and its place in the Confederacy. This work is an attempt to provide such a history. A study of the internal political affairs of Texas during the war years, this work begins with the movement toward secession and ends with the collapse of the state government and the establishment of military rule in Texas. Emphasis has been placed on revealing how the state government attempted to cope with the numerous problems which the war engendered and the futility of these attempts." -- p.iii
Date: August 1969
Creator: Ledbetter, Billy D.
System: The UNT Digital Library

Fire Eater in the Borderlands: The Political Life of Guy Morrison Bryan, 1847-1891

From 1847 to 1891, Guy Morrison Bryan was a prominent Texas politician who influenced many of the policies and events that shaped the state. Raised in his Uncle Stephen F. Austin's shadow, he was a Texas nationalist who felt responsible for promoting the interests of his state, its earliest settlers, and his family. During his nineteen years in the Texas Legislature and two years in the United States House of Representatives, he safeguarded land grants, supported internal improvements and education, and challenged northern hostility towards slavery. Convinced that abolitionists would stop at nothing to destroy the institution and Texas, he led his state's walkout of the National Democratic Convention in 1860 and became a leading proponet of secession. During the Civil War, he served as a staff officer, and his ability to mediate conflicts between local and national leaders propped up the isolated Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department. Finally as Speaker of the House, he helped oust Governor Edmund J. Davis in 1874 and "redeem" the state from Republican rule before convincing President Rutherford B. Hayes to adopt a conciliatory policy towards Texas and the South. Despite the tremendous influence Bryan wielded, scholars have largely ignored his contributions. This dissertation establishes his …
Date: August 2020
Creator: Kelley, Ariel Leticia
System: The UNT Digital Library
The United States and Irish Neutrality, 1939-1945 (open access)

The United States and Irish Neutrality, 1939-1945

During the second world war relations between the United States and Ireland deteriorated to the point that many Irishmen feared that an American invasion of Ireland was imminent. At the same time many people in the United States came to believe that the Irish government of Eamon de Valera was pro-Nazi, This study examines the causes for the deterioration of relations between the two countries and the actual attitudes of David Gray, the United States minister to Ireland, and other American officials toward Irish neutrality. Since there are few secondary works on the subject, the research was undertaken almost entirely among primary sources, personal and diplomatic papers, various American newspapers, and memoirs. Of particular importance were David Gray's personal papers, especially his frequent letters to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.. Copies of some letters, not available among Gray's personal papers at the University of Wyoming, were furnished by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York. The study has also made extensive use of the diplomatic papers published by the Department of $tate in the various volumes of the Foreign Relations of the United States. Finally, the author corresponded with more than a dozen of those still living who were …
Date: August 1973
Creator: Dwyer, Thomas Ryle, 1944-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Confederate Arkansas: a Study in State Politics (open access)

Confederate Arkansas: a Study in State Politics

Arkansas state politics during the Civil War was influenced by the preceding thirty years and many of the state's problems for which political answers were sought were similar to problems experienced in this period of political development. The war simply magnified and multiplied the problems faced by the state. This thesis is concerned with identifying the political forces in the state and their development, with investigating problems to which political solutions were sought and attempts made to solve these. Finally, an effort is made to determine the effectiveness of the various political moves made during the terms of Governors Rector and Flanagin.
Date: August 1971
Creator: Cox, James L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The British-Loyalist Strategy to Recover the Southern Provinces During the American Revolution (open access)

The British-Loyalist Strategy to Recover the Southern Provinces During the American Revolution

This thesis examines the efforts of the British loyalists in Georgia and the Carolinas to assist the British army bring the southern provinces back under royal control. These efforts and a judgment of the reasonableness of the trust in the zeal and strength of the southern loyalists are the subjects of this study.
Date: August 1966
Creator: Griffin, Roger Allen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Company A, Nineteenth Texas Infantry: a History of a Small Town Fighting Unit (open access)

Company A, Nineteenth Texas Infantry: a History of a Small Town Fighting Unit

I focus on Company A of the Nineteenth Texas Infantry, C.S.A., and its unique status among other Confederate military units. The raising of the company within the narrative of the regiment, its battles and campaigns, and the post-war experience of its men are the primary focal points of the thesis. In the first chapter, a systematic analysis of various aspects of the recruit’s background is given, highlighting the wealth of Company A’s officers and men. The following two chapters focus on the campaigns and battles experienced by the company and the praise bestowed on the men by brigade and divisional staff. The final chapter includes a postwar analysis of the survivors from Company A, concentrating on their locations, professions, and contributions to society, which again illustrate the achievements accomplished by the veterans of this unique Confederate unit. As a company largely drawn from Jefferson, Texas, a growing inland port community, Company A of the Nineteenth Texas Infantry differed from other companies in the regiment, and from most units raised across the Confederacy. Their unusual backgrounds, together with their experiences during and after the war, provide interesting perspectives on persistent questions concerning the motives and achievements of Texas Confederates.
Date: August 2014
Creator: Williams, David J. (History teacher)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Slavery, Fear, and Disunion in the Lone Star State: Texans' Attitudes toward Secession and the Union, 1846-1861 (open access)

Slavery, Fear, and Disunion in the Lone Star State: Texans' Attitudes toward Secession and the Union, 1846-1861

This work is a study of white Texans' attitudes toward their role in the federal Union and their right to secede from it during the antebellum period. The central question of the study is why did people so strongly Unionist in 1846 became so strongly secessionist by 1861. In tracing this significant shift in Texans' sentiment, the author especially emphasizes the racial attitudes of white Texans, their emotional defense of the institution of slavery, and their strong conviction that the Negroes, if emancipated, would destroy white society. Of special importance to this study is the relationship of Texans' racial attitudes to their attitudes toward the Union.
Date: August 1972
Creator: Ledbetter, Billy D.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Black Opposition to Participation in American Military Engagements from the American Revolution to Vietnam (open access)

Black Opposition to Participation in American Military Engagements from the American Revolution to Vietnam

This thesis includes two background chapters based largely on secondary works; Chapters I and II trace the historiography of black participation in American military engagements from the American Revolution through the Korean conflict. Chapter III, based largely on primary sources, places emphasis on black resistance and attitudes toward the Vietnam crisis. Evidence indicates that the Vietnam era of black protest was not unique but was an evolutionary process that had its roots in other periods in American history. Some blacks questioned their involvement in each American military conflict from the American Revolution to Vietnam.
Date: August 1976
Creator: Alexander, Vern L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Bands of the Confederacy: An Examination of the Musical and Military Contributions of the Bands and Musicians of the Confederate States of America (open access)

The Bands of the Confederacy: An Examination of the Musical and Military Contributions of the Bands and Musicians of the Confederate States of America

The purpose of this study was to investigate the bands of the armies of the Confederate States of America. This study features appendices of libraries and archives collections visited in ten states and Washington D.C., and covers all known Confederate bands. Some scholars have erroneously concluded that this indicated a lack of available primary source materials that few Confederate bands served the duration of the war. The study features appendices of libraries and archives collections visited in ten states and Washington, D.C., and covers all known Confederate bands. There were approximately 155 bands and 2,400 bandsmen in the service of the Confederate armies. Forty bands surrendered at Appomattox and many others not listed on final muster rolls were found to have served through the war. While most Confederate musicians and bandsmen were white, many black musicians were regularly enlisted soldiers who provided the same services. A chapter is devoted to the contributions of black Confederate musicians.
Date: August 1987
Creator: Ferguson, Benny Pryor
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bass Reeves: a History • a Novel • a Crusade, Volume 1: the Rise (open access)

Bass Reeves: a History • a Novel • a Crusade, Volume 1: the Rise

This literary/historical novel details the life of African-American Deputy US Marshal Bass Reeves between the years 1838-1862 and 1883-1884. One plotline depicts Reeves’s youth as a slave, including his service as a body servant to a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War. Another plotline depicts him years later, after Emancipation, at the height of his deputy career, when he has become the most feared, most successful lawman in Indian Territory, the largest federal jurisdiction in American history and the most dangerous part of the Old West. A preface explores the uniqueness of this project’s historical relevance and literary positioning as a neo-slave narrative, and addresses a few liberties that I take with the historical record.
Date: August 2015
Creator: Thompson, Sidney, 1965-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Economic Development in Texas During Reconstruction, 1865-1875 (open access)

Economic Development in Texas During Reconstruction, 1865-1875

The study challenges many traditional stereotypes of Texas during Reconstruction. Contrary to what Democrats charged, the Davis government did not levy exorbitant taxes. Radical taxes seemed high in comparison to antebellum taxes, because antebellum governments had financed operations with indemnity bonds, but they were not high in comparison to taxes in other states. Radical taxes constituted only 1.77 percent of the assessed value of property in Texas, which was lower than the average for the United States and about the same for other states undergoing Reconstruction. In Texas most of the tax increases during Reconstruction were made necessary by the Civil War and the increase in population. The tax increases paid for state and local governments, frontier and local protection, public buildings, internal improvements, and public schools. Edmund J. Davis, Radical governor, contributed significantly to Texas government when he attempted to focus attention on reforming the tax system,limiting state expenses to state income, limiting state aid for railroad companies, and protecting the public from railroad company abuses.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Adams, Larry Earl
System: The UNT Digital Library
Constitutional Change in Texas During the Reconstruction, 1865-1876 (open access)

Constitutional Change in Texas During the Reconstruction, 1865-1876

In the decade following the Civil War the Texas political scene was dominated by revisionist activity with regard to the state's constitution. In that period the organic law of the state was altered three times, twice because of the exigencies of National Reconstruction and a third time to satisfy the retrenchment impulses partially stimulated by the Reconstruction experiment. None of the three constitutions written during this ten year period can be properly understood in isolation from the other two, nor can any of them be correctly interpreted separate from the serious post-war political, social, and economic issues faced by the entire nation. Hence, a uniform study of the three constitutions in their local context and their relations to national problems of the period provides a field of significant research and evaluation. It is the purpose of this study to analyze the constitutional changes of the Reconstruction era in Texas in their historical perspective, giving special attention to both the internal political structures and the socio-economic considerations dominant during that period.
Date: August 1967
Creator: Carrier, John Pressley
System: The UNT Digital Library
Life of the Enlisted Soldier on the Western Frontier, 1815-1845 (open access)

Life of the Enlisted Soldier on the Western Frontier, 1815-1845

In contrast to the relatively rapid changes occurring in the modern American army, the period between the end of the War of 1812 and the beginning of the Mexican War offers a definite period for a study of military life when reform came slowly. During the period of study, leaders made few attempts to reform the general structure of the military institution as a social system. On the other hand, many changes can be discerned which improved weaponry and equipment, tactics, supply and administrative procedures, moral guidance, recreational facilities, and pay.
Date: August 1972
Creator: Graham, Stanley Silton, 1927-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Importance of Charleston in Southern History (open access)

Importance of Charleston in Southern History

This study describes the history of Charleston, South Carolina before the Civil War.
Date: August 1940
Creator: Miles, Jim Tom
System: The UNT Digital Library