I am a Lecturer in History at Boston University teaching the Civil War Era, the History of Boston, and Early American History. My dissertation focused on returning Union soldiers and Northern relief organizations, exploring the programs and institutions set up by private charities and state and local governments during and immediately after the Civil War to support discharged soldiers and their families. I have also studied and published on the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts.
Recent blog posts…
Boston’s Civil War Monument and the Emergence of the Massachusetts Grand Army of the Republic
About two hundred thousand people crowded the streets of Boston on the day the city’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument was dedicated. The octagonal granite shaft, ornamented with large bronze statues and low relief panels, had been ten years in the making from conception to completion. It stood 137 and ½ feet tall on Flagstaff Hill,…
Arriving at Camp Misery
The inexperienced recruits of the 11th Rhode Island Infantry marched along a road slick with wet, red clay as they left their camp on Miner’s Hill near Arlington, Virginia on January 14, 1863. They had been posted on that hill since their arrival in Virginia about two months before. Some felt a bit sentimental about…
Rainsford Island Hospital and Marginalized Veterans
My dissertation focuses on the improvised, decentralized network of relief organizations and programs that formed to aid the Civil War veteran during and in the years immediately after the war. I argue that these forms of support were, contrary to some interpretations, generally successful. However, one cannot turn a blind eye to the failures. And…
Patrick T.J. Browne
PhD candidate, History, Boston University
pbrowne@bu.edu
Patrick T.J. Browne 