Say “Neigh” to Abuse: On the Treatment of Horses and Mules in the Civil War

The stuffed head of Old Baldy, General George Meade’s favorite horse, can be found mounted on the wall of the Grand Army of the Republic Museum in Philadelphia. General Robert E. Lee’s horse, Traveler, received gifts and international adoration even after the war’s end, and General Ulysses S. Grant’s three war mounts, including one pony stolen from a plantation belonging to Jeff Davis’ brother, rested comfortably in fame and verdant pastures until the ends of their lives [excerpt]

Remember Harpers Ferry: Masculinity and the 126th New York

“The Harpers Ferry Cowards” is not an enviable nickname, but it is the one with which the 126th New York Infantry was stuck after September 15, 1862, the date that saw the largest capture of United States troops until the Battle of Bataan roughly 70 years later. The regiment, which had been active for a mere 21 days, was stationed on Maryland Heights and had been successful in fending off Joseph Kershaw’s brigade on September 12 and 13, but when the 126th observed their colonel, Eliakim Sherrill, being carried from the field after receiving a wound to the face, a few companies lost all bearings and fled. After the surrender on September 15, the 126th was paroled at Camp Douglas in Chicago until November. [excerp

Solar heating system

A system is disclosed for using solar energy to heat the interior of a structure. The system utilizes a low cost solar collector to heat a recirculating air mass which then flows through a series of interconnected ducts and passageways without the use of exterior fans or blowers. Heat is transferred from the air mass to the structure's interior and the air mass is then reheated

Dead Broets Society: Masculinity in Walt Whitman’s War Verse

There are two images of masculinity in Walt Whitman’s Drum-Taps, his collection of wartime poetry: one, the strong, hardened soldier, the image of manliness, and the other the boyish, rosy-cheeked recruit. Whitman’s sexuality, while not the Victorian social norm, was no secret, and he wrote openly of the hospitalized soldiers during his time as a Union nurse with admiration, affection, and love. Some critics, such as Thomas Wentworth Higginson, castigated Whitman’s queer themes to be overwhelming, distractingly sensual, and unmanly, while others, like William Sloane Kennedy, dissented, arguing instead that the overt sexuality present in Whitman’s work was precisely what contributed to its masculinity, whether its desires were traditional or not. Whitman’s work, Drum-Taps included, certainly does overflow with themes of gender and sex with hardly any mention of women. How, then, did the poet find himself in a crossroads of contradicting ideas of masculinity, and what are the implications of this dichotomy? [excerpt

Take Me Out to the Ball Game (And Away From Camp): How Soldiers Used Sports to Cope During War Time

Snowball fights during the Civil War were a pretty big deal. In fact, sports and fitness in general played a role in shaping ideals of honor, courage, and idolization among the Armies of the Potomac and Northern Virginia, and they proved to have an impact on the life of the individual soldier by distracting him (or possibly her) from the monotonous routine of camp life and establishing bonds of comradeship. [excerpt

Multi-colored layers for visualizing aerodynamic flow effects

A method is provided for visualizing aerodynamic flow effects on a test surface. First, discrete quantities of a sublimating chemical such as naphthalene are distinctively colored via appropriate dyes or paints. Next, a uniform layer of the sublimating chemical having a particular color is applied to the test surface. This layer is covered with a second uniform layer of a different colored sublimating chemical, and so on until a composite of multi-colored layers is formed having a discrete thickness. Friction caused by an airflow results in the distinctly colored layers being removed in proportion to such aerodynamic flow characteristics as velocity and temperature, resulting in a multi-colored portrait which approximates the air flow on the underlying test surface

Solar engine

A solar engine is disclosed in which a fluid, which is first heated and then cooled, forces a piston outward as the fluid is heated, and then draws the piston inward as the fluid is cooled. The piston is connected to a shaft and produces work as it moves outward and inward. A displacer plate moves between an absorber plate and a cooling plate to form an air space between the displacer and one or the other of these two plates for heating and cooling the fluid. The displacer plate is moved from one plate to the other by the displacer push ring as the piston nears the midpoint of its travel on the outward stroke and again on the inward stroke

My Mother\u27s Body

On Friday, April 20, 2018, Gettysburg College students organized a campus-wide walkout to protest all forms of gun violence as part of Gettysburg College’s first annual Peace and Justice Week. Over the next several days, SURGE published the poems and personal testimonies of the student speakers who participated in the event. Begin in sukhasa–easy pose–with your legs crossed the way children used to sit during show and tell before they had to worry about what position gives them enough time to stand and scramble toward the door when the shooting starts. [excerpt

A Middle East Perspective: Civil War Memory in Syria and at Home

Last summer, while on a trip with the Eisenhower Institute’s Inside the Middle East program, I stood at the Israeli edge of the Golan Heights and heard a bomb explode across the border in Syria. We had spent the day within several miles of the war-ravaged nation with all remaining quiet until that moment, and while none of us wanted to admit it, we had the smallest hope that we might catch a glimpse of the conflict. However, when the sound of the detonation roared across the hills, excitement was replaced by a sense of fear and grief. I had lived a year in Gettysburg, yet I had never felt so close to a battlefield. [excerpt