The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the six special military units which were authorized and created by the War Department under the direction of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. In relating the military history of such special units the study determines what contributions and significance they made to the Union war effort.

This study surveys the dreams and ideas of the missionary movement as shown in the life of the Worcester-Robertson family who lived among the Cherokee and Creek Indians. The sources include pertinent material in the papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), Houghton Library, Harvard University; the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia; the Indian Archives and Alice Robertson papers, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City; the Alice Robertson Collection, University of tulsa; family papers, interviews and correspondence.

This study examines the role of southern black union workers in the struggle against racism in the United Packinghouse Workers America's activities in the Trans Mississippi region of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and south Kansas.