Date of Award

Spring 5-11-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA History

Department

History

Advisor

Larry Greene, Ph.D

Committee Member

Dermot Quinn, D.Phil.

Committee Member

Vanessa May, Ph.D.

Keywords

Gettysburg, Popular Memory, Historiogrpahy, Reconcilation

Abstract

The relationship between history and memory is an essential and complicated concept that significantly affects how the public remembers the past. A prime example of this complex relationship between history and memory is true in the most famous battle of the Civil War. Gettysburg is one of the most critical events in American history, for which thousands of books and countless historians have retold this momentous battle. In the case of the popular memory of Gettysburg, I argue that the significant amount of academic historiography, popular media, and American history textbooks have established a reconciliationist memory. This memory focuses more on the courage and bravery of the soldiers on both the Union and Confederate lines while omitting the importance of slavery, emancipation, and the period of reconstruction to preserve an incredible event in Americanhistorywithoutdamagingthe legacy of General Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy.

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