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
Owen Glendower and the Welsh Fight for Independence (open access)

Owen Glendower and the Welsh Fight for Independence

Owen Glendower led the last military struggle of the Welsh against the English crown for Welsh independence and nationalism. The failure of the Glendower rebellion established the supremacy of English rule over Wales. For six hundred years the status of Wales as a principality of the crown has not been seriously challenged. This paper will show how widespread the idea of "Welshness" was in 1400 and how much support existed for Wales as an independent nation. Welshmen sought to move from the status of a medieval, tribal principality to a position of an independent nation capable and ready to stand with other national in the world. The role of leadership that Owen Glendower assumed in the final rebellion against the English king, Henry IV, lifted him from a popular Welsh prince to an historical legend.
Date: May 1991
Creator: Beims, Phillip Eric
System: The UNT Digital Library
Japanese Attitudes Toward Prisoners of War: Feudal Resurgence in Kokutai No Hongi (open access)

Japanese Attitudes Toward Prisoners of War: Feudal Resurgence in Kokutai No Hongi

During World War II, the Japanese earned the reputation for cruelty toward their prisoners which surpassed the treatment accorded to POWs held by Germany and Italy. The conduct exhibited by the Japanese soldier was the result of a combination of ancient social and religious traditions made manifest by twentieth century documents. Through constant inculcation of ancient myths nurtured by a national religion, the Japanese believed that their holy mission was world domination. Believing themselves to be of divine origin, they treated all other races as inferior; therefore, the POWs suffered cruelties as sub-humans. The Japanese inflicted punishment and torture in the name of their emperor, believing that they did so through divine instruction. This study reveals how they arrived at this conviction.
Date: December 1990
Creator: Jones, Waller F. (Waller Finley)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Causes of the American Civil War: Trends in Historical Interpretation, 1950-1976 (open access)

The Causes of the American Civil War: Trends in Historical Interpretation, 1950-1976

This thesis examines the trends in historical interpretation concerning the coming of the American Civil War. The main body of works examined were written between 1950 and 1976, beginning with Allan Nevins' Ordeal of the Union and concluding with David M. Potter's The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861. It also includes a brief survey of some works written after 1976. The main source for discovering the materials included were the bibliographies of both monographs and general histories published during and after the period 1950-1976. Also, perusal of the contents and book review sections of scholarly journals, in particular the Journal of Southern History and Civil War History, was helpful in discovering sources and placing works in a time chronology for the thesis narrative.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Tate, Michael Joseph
System: The UNT Digital Library
"The Best Stuff Which the State Affords": a Portrait of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry in the Civil War (open access)

"The Best Stuff Which the State Affords": a Portrait of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry in the Civil War

This study examines the social and economic characteristics of the men who joined the Confederate Fourteenth Texas Infantry Regiment during the Civil War and provides a narrative history of the regiment's wartime service. The men of the Fourteenth Infantry enlisted in 1862 and helped to turn back the Federal Red River Campaign in April 1864. In creating a portrait of these men, the author used traditional historical sources (letters, diaries, medical records, secondary narratives) as well as statistical data from the 1860 United States census, military service records, and state tax rolls. The thesis places the heretofore unknown story of the Fourteenth Texas Infantry within the overall body of Civil War historiography.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Parker, Scott Dennis
System: The UNT Digital Library

John Buchan (1875-1940) and the First World War: A Scot's Career in Imperial Britain

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This dissertation examines the political career of Scottish-born John Buchan (1875-1940) who, through the avenue of the British Empire, formed political alliances that enabled him to enter into the power circles of the British government. Buchan's involvement in governmental service is illustrative of the political and financial advantages Scots sought in Imperial service. Sources include Buchan's published works, collections of correspondence, personal papers, and diaries in the holdings of the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. Letters and other documents pertaining to Buchan's life and career are also available in the Beaverbrook papers, Lloyd George papers, and Strachey papers at the House of Lords Record Office, London, and in the Liddle Hart Collection at King's College, London. Documents concerning Buchan's association with the War Cabinet, the Foreign Office, and the Department of Information are among those preserved at the Public Record Office, London. References to Buchan's association with the British Expeditionary Force in France are included in the holdings of the Intelligence Corps Museum, Ashford, Kent. The study is arranged chronologically, and discusses Buchan's Scottish heritage, his education, his assignment on Lord Alfred Milner's staff in South Africa, and his appointment as Director of the Department of Information during World War …
Date: December 1999
Creator: Mann, Georgia A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Daniel's Battery: A Narrative History and Socio-Economic Study of the Ninth Texas Field Battery (open access)

Daniel's Battery: A Narrative History and Socio-Economic Study of the Ninth Texas Field Battery

This thesis combines a traditional narrative history of a Confederate artillery battery with a socio-economic study of its members. A database was constructed using the Compiled Service Records, 1860 census, and county tax rolls. The information revealed similarities between the unit's members and their home area. Captain James M. Daniel organized the battery in Paris, Texas and it entered Confederate service in January 1862. The battery served in Walker's Texas Division. It was part of a reserve force at the Battle of Milliken's Bend and was involved in the battles of Bayou Bourbeau, Mansfield, and Pleasant Hill. The battery also shelled Union ships on the Mississippi River. Daniel's Battery officially surrendered at Natchitoches, Louisiana, in May 1865.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Perkins, John Drummond
System: The UNT Digital Library
Making a Good Soldier: a Historical and Quantitative Study of the 15th Texas Infantry, C. S. A. (open access)

Making a Good Soldier: a Historical and Quantitative Study of the 15th Texas Infantry, C. S. A.

In late 1861, the Confederate Texas government commissioned Joseph W. Speight to raise an infantry battalion. Speight's Battalion became the Fifteenth Texas Infantry in April 1862, and saw almost no action for the next year as it marched throughout Texas, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory. In May 1863 the regiment was ordered to Louisiana and for the next seven months took an active role against Federal troops in the bayou country. From March to May 1864 the unit helped turn away the Union Red River Campaign. The regiment remained in the trans-Mississippi region until it disbanded in May 1865. The final chapter quantifies age, family status, wealthholdings, and casualties among the regiment's members.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Hamaker, Blake Richard
System: The UNT Digital Library
Americans who did not wait: the American Legion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915-1917 (open access)

Americans who did not wait: the American Legion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1915-1917

This study examines the five American Legion battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force formed in 1915 specifically to recruit American volunteers for the Canadian overseas contingent of the First World War. This study reviews the organization of Canada's militia and Anglo-American relations before examining the formation of the American Legion, the background of its men, and the diplomatic repercussions it sparked. This study is based largely on material in the Public Archives of Canada including war records and the personal papers of several participants. During its brief existence, the American Legion precipitated constitutional, diplomatic, and political problems. The issues the American Legion raised were mostly solved by America's entry in the war. The episode hastened the maturity of Canada as a nation.
Date: May 1996
Creator: Smylie, Eric
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Persistence of Antebellum Planter Families in Postbellum East Texas (open access)

The Persistence of Antebellum Planter Families in Postbellum East Texas

The effect of the Civil War and Reconstruction on the southern planter elite remains a topic of interest to historians. Did the war ruin the planter class? Or, did they maintain economic, geographic, or social persistence? This study focuses on the persistence from 1850 to 1880 of five East Texas large planter families who owned one hundred or more slaves in 1860. An analysis of data primarily from county, state, and federal records formthe basis of this study. Four families persisted as wealthy influential members of their postbellum communities. One family remained geographically persistent but not wealthy. The experiences of these families suggest that large East Texas planter families found it possible to persist in spite of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
Date: May 1998
Creator: Newland, Linda Sue
System: The UNT Digital Library
George Washington's Development as an Espionage Chief (open access)

George Washington's Development as an Espionage Chief

The American Revolution was a war of movement over great distances. Timely intelligence regarding the strength and location of the enemy was vital to the commanders on both sides. Washington gained his early experience in intelligence gathering in the wilderness during the French and Indian War. By the end of the American Revolution, Washington had become a skilled manager of intelligence. He sent agents behind enemy lines, recruited tory intelligence sources, questioned travelers for information, and initiated numerous espionage missions. Many heroic patriots gathered the intelligence that helped win the War for Independence. Their duties required many of them to pose as one of the enemy, and often incur the hatred of friends and neighbors. Some gave their lives in helping to establish the new American nation. It is possible that without Washington's intelligence service, American independence might not have been won.
Date: May 1993
Creator: Ritchey, David (David Benjamin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Gerhart Hauptmann: Germany throught the Eyes of the Artist (open access)

Gerhart Hauptmann: Germany throught the Eyes of the Artist

Born in 1862, Gerhart Hauptmann witnessed the creation of the German Empire, the Great War, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and World War II before his death in 1946. Through his works as Germany's premier playwright, Hauptmann traces and exemplifies Germany's social, cultural, and political history during the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, and comments on the social and political climate of each era. Hauptmann wrote more than forty plays, twenty novels, hundreds of poems, and numerous journal articles that reveal his ideas on politics and society. His ideas are reinforced in the hundreds of unpublished volumes of his diary and his copious letters preserved in the Prussian Staatsbibliothek, Berlin. In the 1960s, Germans celebrated Hauptmann's centenary as authors who had known or admired Hauptmann published biographies that chronicled his life but revealed little of his private thoughts. This dissertation examines Hauptmann's life from his early childhood through his adult life with emphasis on social and political commentaries found in his works, diaries, and letters. Hauptmann told of the social problems alcohol and greed created and used historical events to express his concern about Germany's labor and social conditions. He also used historical events to address the political problems that …
Date: December 1996
Creator: Igo, William Scott
System: The UNT Digital Library
George Orwell As Social Conservative: Populism, Pessimism, and Nationalism in an Organic Community, 1934-43 (open access)

George Orwell As Social Conservative: Populism, Pessimism, and Nationalism in an Organic Community, 1934-43

This thesis argues that a socially conservative tendency informed much of George Orwell's commentary between 1934 and 1943, and that the same tendency reflected a general European trend. The main sources of this thesis are a large selection of George Orwell's works and a smaller selection of works by Frantz Fanon, Jose Ortega y Gasset, and Antonio Gramsci. This thesis relies upon Orwell's involvement in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1937 and his embrace of nationalism in 1940 as major organizational points of reference. This thesis concludes that Orwell's commentary was an example of a general European conservative reaction against Marxist-Leninist thought.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Bauhs, James Anthony
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Political and Congressional Career of John Hancock, 1865-1885 (open access)

The Political and Congressional Career of John Hancock, 1865-1885

John Hancock was a Texas Unionist. After the Civil War, he became an opponent of the Radical Republicans. He was elected to Congress in 1871 and had some success working on issues important to Texas. As the state was redeemed from Radical Republican rule, Hancock was increasingly attacked for his Unionism. This led to a tough fight for renomination in 1874, and losses in races for the U.S. Senate and renomination in 1876. He was an unsuccessful congressional candidate in 1878, but was elected again in 1882. By then his political influence had waned and he did not seek renomination in 1884. Hancock had the potential to be a major political leader, but lingering resentment to his Unionism hampered his political career.
Date: May 1996
Creator: Hancock, W. Daniel
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bolshevik Britain: An Examination of British Labor Unrest in the Wake of the Russian Revolution, 1919 (open access)

Bolshevik Britain: An Examination of British Labor Unrest in the Wake of the Russian Revolution, 1919

The conclusion of the First World War brought the resumption of a struggle of a different sort: a battle between government and labor. Throughout 1919, government and labor squared off in a struggle over hours, wages, and nationalization. The Russian Revolution introduced the danger of the bolshevik contagion into the struggle. The first to enter into this conflict with the government were the shop stewards of Belfast and Glasgow. The struggle continued with the continued threats of the Triple Alliance and the police to destroy the power of the government through industrial action. This thesis examines the British labor movement during this revolutionary year in Europe, as well as the government's response to this new danger.
Date: August 1993
Creator: Mitchell, John A., 1966-
System: The UNT Digital Library

When "The Lie Becomes Truth": Four Historiographic Novels of the Twentieth Century

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
This dissertation is an exploration of relationships between fiction and history as illuminated by historiographic fiction in general and the historiographic novel in particular. Here the term historiography is employed particularly in several of its many meanings: as the study of the materials and techniques of history, the study of what it means to be a historian, and the study of the philosophy of history. All of these are comprehended in the larger definition of issues pertaining to the writing of history. Four twentieth-century novels are presented and analyzed as historiographic novels. The common element in analysis of all the novels is the examination of historiographic material encoded in narrative, plot, characters, theme, structure or style. Each analysis focuses on one historiographic assumption or problem and brings in perspectives of historians or theorists of history as well as non-novelistic, critical perspectives of the authors themselves. E. M. Forster's Howards End (1910) is analyzed as an imaginative exposé of causality in historical thinking. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946) is presented as a gloss on Isaiah Berlin's critique of Leo Tolstoy's second epilogue to War and Peace. Several essays by philosopher Eric Voegelin provide the theoretical framework for …
Date: December 1999
Creator: Detels, Polly Elizabeth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Behold the Fields: Texas Baptists and the Problem of Slavery (open access)

Behold the Fields: Texas Baptists and the Problem of Slavery

The relationship between Texas Baptists and slavery is studied with an emphasis on the official statements made about the institution in denominational sources combined with a statistical analysis of the extent of slaveholding among Baptists. A data list of over 5,000 names was pared to 1100 names of Baptists in Texas prior to 1865 and then cross-referenced on slaveownership through the use of federal censuses and county tax rolls. Although Texas Baptists participated economically in the slave system, they always maintained that blacks were children of God worthy of religious instruction and salvation. The result of these disparate views was a paradox between treating slaves as chattels while welcoming them into mixed congregations and allowing them some measure of activity within those bodies. Attitudes expressed by white Baptists during the antebellum period were continued into the post-war years as well. Meanwhile, African-American Baptists gradually withdrew from white dominated congregations, forming their own local, regional, and state organizations. In the end, whites had no choice but to accept the new-found status of the Freedmen, cooperating with black institutions on occasion. Major sources for this study include church, associational, and state Baptist minutes; county and denominational histories; and government documents. The four …
Date: May 1993
Creator: Elam, Richard L. (Richard Lee)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Saving Society Through Politics: the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas, Texas in the 1920s (open access)

Saving Society Through Politics: the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas, Texas in the 1920s

This study analyzes the rise of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan in Dallas, Texas, in the context of the national Klan. It looks at the circumstances and people behind the revival of the Klan in 1915. It chronicles the aggressive marketing program that brought the Klan to Dallas and shows how the Dallas Klavern then changed the course of the national Klan with its emphasis on politics. Specifically, this was done through the person of Hiram Wesley Evans, Dallas dentist and aspiring intellectual, who engineered a coup and took over the national Klan operations in 1922. Evans, as did Dallas's local Klavern number 66, emphasized a strong anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic ideology to recruit, motivate, and justify the existence of the Ku Klux Klan. The study finds that, on the local scene, the Dallas Klavern's leadership was composed of middle and upper-middle class businessmen. Under their leadership, the Klan engaged in a variety of fraternal and vigilante activities. Most remarkable, however, were its successful political efforts. Between 1922 and 1924, the Klan overthrew the old political hierarchy and controlled city and county politics to such a degree that only the Dallas school board escaped the Invisible Empire's domination. Klavern 66 also wielded …
Date: December 1997
Creator: Morris, Mark N. (Mark Noland)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Jane McManus Storm Cazneau (1807-1878): A Biography (open access)

Jane McManus Storm Cazneau (1807-1878): A Biography

Jane Maria Eliza McManus, born near Troy, New York, educated at Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary, promoted the American maritime frontier and wrote on Mexican, Central American, and Caribbean affairs. Called a "terror with her pen," under the pen name of Cora Montgomery, she published 100 columns in 6 newspapers, 20 journal articles and book reviews, 15 books and pamphlets, and edited 5 newspapers and journals between 1839 and 1878.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Hudson, Linda Sybert
System: The UNT Digital Library
Congressional Reconstruction in Dallas County, Texas: Was it Radical? (open access)

Congressional Reconstruction in Dallas County, Texas: Was it Radical?

Looking at census reports, county commissioners court minutes, Freedmen's Bureau records, manuscript collections, and secondary material, this study investigates the effects of Military Reconstruction, 1867-1870, on Dallas County, Texas. There were few lasting or long-term changes for the area. The county was isolated from communities to the east and south that encountered different effects. There was a small black and Unionist population and virtually no carpetbaggers. Succumbing to apathy in the 1868 election that produced a Republican constitutional convention, county Conservatives successfully determined not to let it happen again and were "redeemed" in 1870. The white population of the county, increasing rapidly during this period, contributed to an attitude that pushed Radical Reconstruction aside and focused on prosperity and growth.
Date: August 1992
Creator: Smith, Melinda Diane Connelly
System: The UNT Digital Library
Obedience and Disobedience in English Political Thought, 1528-1558 (open access)

Obedience and Disobedience in English Political Thought, 1528-1558

English political thought from 1528 to 1558 was dominated by the question of obedience to civil authority. English Lutherans stressed the duty of obedience to the prince as the norm; however, if he commands that which is immoral one should passively disobey. The defenders of Henrician royal supremacy, while attempting to strengthen the power of the crown, used similar arguments to stress unquestioned obedience to the king. During Edward VI's reign this teaching of obedience was popularized from the pulpit. However, with the accession of Mary a new view regarding obedience gained prominence. Several important Marian exiles contended that the principle that God is to be obeyed rather than man entails the duty of Christians to resist idolatrous and evil rulers for the sake of the true Protestant religion.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Culberson, James Kevin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tinstar and Redcoat: A Comparative Study of History, Literature and Motion Pictures Through the Dramatization of Violence in the Settlement of the Western Frontier Regions of the United States and Canada (open access)

Tinstar and Redcoat: A Comparative Study of History, Literature and Motion Pictures Through the Dramatization of Violence in the Settlement of the Western Frontier Regions of the United States and Canada

The Western settlement era is only one part of United States national history, but for many Americans it remains the most significant cultural influence. Conversely, the settlement of Canada's western territory is generally treated as a significant phase of national development, but not the defining phase. Because both nations view the frontier experience differently, they also have distinct perceptions of the role violence played in the settlement process, distinctions reflected in the historical record, literature, and films of each country. This study will look at the historical evidence and works of the imagination for both the American and Canadian frontier experience, focusing on the years between 1870 and 1930, and will examine the part that violence played in the development of each national character. The discussion will also illustrate the difference between the historical reality and the mythic version portrayed in popular literature and films by demonstrating the effects of the depiction of violence on the perception of American and Canadian history.
Date: August 1999
Creator: Lester, Carole N., 1946-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Stoney Burns and Dallas Notes: Covering the Dallas Counterculture, 1967-1970 (open access)

Stoney Burns and Dallas Notes: Covering the Dallas Counterculture, 1967-1970

Stoney Burns (Brent LaSalle Stein) edited and published Dallas Notes, a Dallas, Texas, underground newspaper, from November 1967 through September 1970. This thesis considers whether Burns was the unifying figure in the Dallas counterculture.
Date: August 1999
Creator: Lovell, Bonnie Alice
System: The UNT Digital Library