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Military History

Military History at Between the Lakes Group

 

Public interest in past wars gave rise to writings that may be of interest not just to students of military history, but to our other readers as well.

 

Our military history publications -- and many tend to fit neatly into the local history category as well -- are listed below. We invite you to examine our offerings. 

 

As well, please visit our pages about World War I --  "The Great War".  The centennial of this "war to end all wars" began in 2014, and the United States officially entered the war in 1917.  We have a number of World War I-era publications, several of which are rare and difficult to locate -- in honor of that event.  Our publications related to The Great War will be found on that page.  Click HERE to go to our page about World War I.

A new subject here is the role of women spies during American conflicts.  It was suggested and the early implementation done by one of our interns, and we recommend the page on that topic to you.  Please click here to go to the Women Spies page.

Please let us know if military history is an interest of yours.  We prioritize our publications largely on what we hear from people who visit our website.


Military History that is currently available:

Rose Greenhow, in Pinkerton's Spy of the Rebellion

Our first offering in the Women Spies Collection. The chapter concerns one Rose Greenhow, the famous Confederate spy in Washington D.C. Please see our Women Spies page for more information.

Provost Marshal of Charleston

Provost Marshal of Charleston -- first publication The Letter Book of Colonel Alexander Haskell Brown, Provost Marshal of Charleston 

Edited with an Introduction by Robert G. Carroon.  More information is available about this publication.

Fountain County, Indiana

Fountain County's Activities in the World War

Compiled for the Fountain County Council of Defense by Verna Glascock.  More information about this publication is available. 

If World War I is of interest to you, please visit our pages about World War I --  "The Great War".

Jefferson County, New York, In the World War

Highlights include two lengthy lists: those from Jefferson County who served, and those who died.  See our Jefferson County page for more information. 

If World War I is of interest to you, please visit our pages about World War I --  "The Great War".

The 143rd Regiment, New York Volunteers, Infantry

Originally published (1892) by Watchman Print, Monticello, NY.  More information about this publication is available.

Civil War Centennial Commemoration - Columbia County, NY - 1862 – 1962 

This program for the Columbia County’s American Legion Posts’ commemoration of the Civil War’s centennial (notably the 128th Infantry Regiment, drawn from Columbia County) was a relatively modest affairs, particularly when compared with other centennial activities in the former Confederate states.  The booklet provides a list of the officers and men of the 128th, and a drawing and some information about the Battle of Cedar Creek, in which the 128th played an important role.  Going forward, the document may be of equal interest to those who had some connection with the American Legion in Columbia County in the 1960, because the Legion posts in Columbia County are enumerated, along with the names of those who organized the activity. See our Columbia County page for more information.

Cold Cheer at Camp Morton – Prisoners of War in the Civil War

Articles from The Century Magazine, Volumes 41 & 42 (1891).  Camp Morton, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, was actually one of the better and more humane POW facilities of the Civil War, contemporary historians tell us.  Regardless, by modern standards POWs were not treated well there, and in this set of articles, we have an initial report by a former prisoner, John A. Wyeth, MD, with an official rebuttal following in the next issue, with a rejoinder by Dr. Wyeth.  It’s interesting that this series of articles originally appeared in 1891, more than 20 years after the war ended.  See our Indiana page for more information.

Convention Troops in Connecticut

Some Revolutionary War history from the Connecticut Quarterly (volume III - 1897).  Of particular interest to those studying the Norfolk CT area.  Download 6+ pages, PDF format, $1.75.

 Convention troops in Connecticut

Marking General Herkimer’s Route to Oriskany

By Charlotte A. Pitcher (1912),  The colonists’ victory at the Battle of Oriskany is viewed today as one of the pivotal battles of the American Revolution.  More than a century after that battle, a number of hereditary, patriotic, and civit organizations in the Utica/Oriskany area embarked on a project to mark the route taken by General Herkimer and his troops to that engagement with a series of monuments.  While sketching out the actual route of the march in more detail than one usually finds in accounts of the battle, the article also describes the efforts of the sponsoring organizations to appropriately mark it and the celebrations that accompanied the unveiling of the markers.  More information is available on our Herkimer County, NY page.

A Brief Military History of Salisbury, Connecticut

An address by Malcolm D. Rudd (1911) from the historical collections of the Salisbury Association.  30+ pages.  More information is available about this publication.

Salisbury (CT) in War Time

A Memorial Day 1910 address by Thomas Lot Norton, with a list of Salisbury men who fought for the Union.  See our Salisbury page for more information about this publication.

"Military" chapter from French's Gazetteer of the State of New York (1860)

The remarkable thing about this short (3+ pages) article is just how few words it took to describe  New York's military establishment on the eve of the Civil War. Within four years, this organization was to have expanded exponentially. Download now in PDF format, $1.50

 The Military chapter from French's Gazetteer

Montgomery County in the War of the Rebellion

from History of Montgomery County, by Washington Frothingham (1892). Montgomery County, New York, was an active participant in the efforts to win the Civil War, as this chapter shows. The number of regiments in which Montgomery County citizens participated was indeed a large one.  See our Montgomery County page for more information.

 

Provost Marshal of Charleston, SC

This is the transcription of the letter book of the Provost Marshal of Charleston, SC during the portion of the Civil War when that city was under martial law.  See our South Carolina page.

 

The Civil War chapter from Edgar C. Emerson's Jefferson County, New York (1898). 

The chapter includes general material about attitudes toward the war in Jefferson County, and lists units raised in the county, including officers (commissioned and non-commissioned) as well as the history of each unit. Please see our Jefferson County, NY page for more information.

Albany County in the Civil War

from The Landmarks of Albany County, New York by Amasa J. Parker (1897)  This chapter of Parker’s volume includes some of the history leading up to the Civil War and material about those years and events following it.  The chapter includes units raised in Albany County, their officers and NCOs, their casualties, and their campaigns.  See our Albany County page.

Schuylkill County, PA: 100th Anniversary

While this is a general history of the county on its centennial, the county's contribution  to the Union during the Civil War was considerable and the few pages identifying the units its men joined will be of interest to some.  See our Schuylkill County, PA page for more information.

Military History From The History of Hanover, Massachusetts, by Jedediah Dwelley and John F. Simmons (1910)

The military history in this volume begins with King Philip’s War (1675), and continues, in great detail, through all of the conflicts that had been completed by 1910.  It concludes with what was called a “mimic war” – the Blue and Red War of 1909 – which presumably would be closest to what military re-enactors do today, except in terms of numbers: evidently more than 10,000 troops participated in these war games.  It seems refreshingly naïve given what befell the world beginning only four years after the volume was published.  See our Massachusetts page for more information.

The War of the Rebellion chapters from History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, by Franklin Ellis (1882). 

This county history is detailed in its documentation of the county’s efforts in the Civil War, as the chapters in this selection show.  Chapter 17 is an account of Fayette’s first companies, the 8th and 11th Regiments, reserves.  Chapter 18 covers the 85th Regiment and the 2nd Heavy Artillery.  Chapter 19 details the 116th and 142nd Regiments.  Chapter 20 covers the 14th Cavalry, while Chapter 21 covers the 16th Cavalry.  In all cases, rosters of men from Fayette County are provided, along with casualty data, and in something not often seen in county histories, mustering in dates even for private soldiers.  See our Pennsylvania page for more information.

Connecticut’s Soldiery

From the Connecticut Quarterly, Volume III (1897).  The article, written sufficient years after the end of the Civil War that first-hand memories of Army life have faded for the most part, discusses the Connecticut National Guard as 1900 and a century of new warfare looms.  Charles W. Burpee describes garrison life during “summer camp” in peacetime and provides a bit of history of the Connecticut Militia, nee Trainband, as well as making a case for the more serious nature of the Connecticut Guard at that point in time.  See our Connecticut page for more information.

Torrington in Wartimes

from Orcutt’s History of Torrington, Connecticut (1878).  This section from that book – Chapter 18, Wartimes – covers the American Revolution and the Civil War, and has added material about the efforts on the home front, as well as on special topics such as women in the wars.  Not confined to lists of muster rolls (although these are included) it is useful for anyone with an interest in either of these wars and their impact in rural New England.  See our Torrington page for more information.

 

Annals of Augusta County, VA (1902)

While not properly military history, the expanse of Augusta County saw extensive involvement in conflicts:  Indian Wars, the War of 1812 (less so), and the War of Secession (known in our part of the world as the Civil War).  There is plenty of military history to be found in this volume, and much of it is written from the perspective of a land where the battles were fought and blood shed.  Please see our Virginia page for more information. 

 

Patience Wright, America's First Female International Spy

An article about Patience Wright, an international spy on the side of the United States, during the Revolutionary War.  The article appears in The Lure of the Litchfield Hills  - Volume XX, no. 3, Winter 1960. 

 

See our Litchfield County CT page for more information on downloading the entire issue.

 

Andrustown – A Page from Herkimer County’s Past

by Dr. Grace M. Norris.   (1911) Herkimer County Historical Society Papers, Volume IV.  The demise of the tiny community of Andrustown in a massacre during the Revolutionary War. Civilian massacres are part of the collateral damage of wartimes even when they are not part of the military strategy.  Here is the story of an example of such an episode.  See our Herkimer County page for more information.

 

The Tories of Connecticut

 

from the Connecticut Quarterly, Volume IV (1898).  It did not take much to be considered a Tory during the times of the American Revolution -- being committed to maintaining the status quo was really the only requirement to be categorized as such.  As a consequence, Connecticut had many, many people who fell in this category.  This article provides background information about Connecticut's Tories and what it meant to be one.   See our Connecticut Miscellany pages for more information.


In our collection, major projects not yet scheduled for publication:

The Story of the Great War

This five volume set, by Francis J. Reynolds, Allen L. Churchill, and Francis Trevelyan Miller, was published by P. F. Collier & Son in 1916.  Approximately 3500 pages in length, it covers only the then-current perceptions about the run-up to the war, and the first two years of actual hostilities.  It is of particular interest for several reasons:  (1) the viewpoint did not yet reflect a United States eager to be involved, (2) it was not yet certain how the war would come out, and (3) the details presented are not viewed through the lens of history -- they are the then-current perception of the situation.  Uncommonly for books of that era, there are abundant photographs, including many that are not in the usual compendiums of World War I history.  If this is of interest to you, please let us know so we can prioritize it. 

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We've just acquired a copy of Columbia County in the World War.  It's a 958 page compendium of the effort Columbia County, New York, made during World War I and includes several hundred pages of short articles about Columbia County people who served in the armed forces during that conflict, most with photographs.  Many counties around the nation produced books documenting their efforts during that war, but this is the most ambitious effort we've encountered to date.  We know that the information in it will be of great value to anyone with an interest in any of the hundreds of people who served.  We're thinking that this will become a series of downloads.  Come back for more information!

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Philadelphia in the World War: 1914 - 1919

A new acquisition for us.  785 pages covering just about every aspect of the involvement of Philadelphia, PA in the First World War that we can think of.  It appears on first look to be very thorough and well researched and produced.  Almost certainly it will be a series of downloads.  Let us know if this -- or if some aspect of this -- is of interest to you so we can prioritize it.

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Our War with Spain and Cuba's War for Freedom, by Gonzalo de Quesada. (1898) (602 pages)

If one wants to get a flavor of the arguments for the Spanish-American War, this book is a useful place to begin.  The last paragraph of the introduction summarizes it:

 

The United States did not wage war with Spain for revenge, for that is unchristian; not to relieve the starving, for relief had been sent them.  We came to put an end to a government whose whole history had been one of oppression, and whose whole course had become intolerable.

 

Be sure to let us know if this is of interest to you.  We think that there is no substitute for reading contemporaneous material to get a flavor for the way nations are encouraged to support wars.  This one is a classic, in our opinion.

      

 

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Between the Lakes Group is located at 372 Between the Lakes Road, in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut.  More specifically, we're in Taconic -- a hamlet  in the Twin Lakes area of the Town of Salisbury.  Questions about us or about our products?  Go to our Frequently Asked Questions page.  

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          Taconic, CT  06079-0013
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