Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0499-3654
Defense Date
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
History
First Advisor
Kathryn Shively
Abstract
This thesis presents a case study of the transformation of veteran identity and civic culture in Northeastern Pennsylvania, tracing the profound shifts in the way Americans remembered war, commemorated sacrifice, and defined what it meant to be a veteran, from the turn of the twentieth century to the dawn of World War II. By examining the complex interactions and relationships between three distinct and overlapping generations of veterans—those of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I—this study argues that veteran identity was neither static nor monolithic, but was continually renegotiated through commemorative practice, organizational culture, and public ritual.
As the United States engaged in new wars abroad in 1898 and 1917, veterans of these conflicts returned to communities still shaped by the legacy of the aging Civil War generation. Spanish-American War and World War I veterans, however, often found that their new experiences of imperial expansion, trench warfare, and modern mass mobilization did not fit neatly within the Civil War–era frameworks of battlefield heroism and national salvation. Thus, through new organizations, rituals, monument forms, and publications, these succeeding generations of veterans adapted the traditions they inherited and redefined the meaning of veteranhood to emphasize collective service and continuing civic duty, rather than singular battlefield glory. In doing so, they shifted veteran identity from a localized, retrospective claim to moral authority rooted in one defining conflict, to a broader civic status centered around ongoing service to both the community and the modern state.
But in redefining veteranhood to better reflect their experiences and suit the needs of a rapidly industrializing modern age, the Spanish-American War and World War I generations also unwittingly contributed to the erasure of their own wars from popular memory. In emphasizing the broad ideals of service over the remembrance of specific battles or campaigns, the details of their experiences were soon absorbed into larger narratives of national sacrifice, leaving the causes and consequences of their conflicts less visible in public commemorations and historical consciousness.
Crucially, these negotiations unfolded not in isolation, but within families, neighborhoods, and shared civic institutions, where fathers, sons, and neighbors participated in overlapping organizations and ceremonies, intensifying both continuity and tension. Drawing on the records of veterans’ groups, vernacular monuments, and local newspapers, among other sources, this study shows how national narratives were refracted through local relationships and experiences, producing a contested and evolving veteran culture that bridged the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and helped lay the groundwork for the modern conception of veteranhood later associated with the World War II generation.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
4-16-2026