Upon the Altar of the Nation

by Harry S. Stout

  17 Southern Christian Advocate, November 9, 1861.

  18 Thomas V. Moore, God Our Refuge and Strength, 11. See also Lamar, A Discourse; DeBeaux, Fast-Day Sermon; George Foster Pierce, Word of God; and Henry Holcome Tucker, God in the War.

  19 Elliott, How to Renew Our National Strength, quoted in Chesebrough, God Ordained This War, 314-15. See also Palmer, National Responsibility before God; Henry Niles Pierce, God Our Only Trust; and Randolf, Address on the Day of Fasting and Prayer.

  20 Henry H. Tucker, God in the War, quoted in Chesebrough, God Ordained This War, 343-44.

  21 Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 237.

  22 On the Christian Commission see Shattuck, Shield and Hiding Place, 24-33. On educating slaves, see David Brion Davis, Emancipation Moment.

  23 Beecher, Modes and Duties of Emancipation, reprinted in his Patriotic Addresses, 328, 333.

  24 Spring, State Thanksgiving, 17, 34-35.

  25 Richmond Daily Dispatch, January 10, 1862.

  26 San Antonio Herald, January 18, 1862.

  27 On millennialism in the colonial wars, see Hatch, Sacred Cause of Liberty.

  28 Hughes’s letter was widely reprinted in the press; see, for example, the New York Herald, September 4, 1861.

  29 Banner of the Covenant, December 7, 1861.

  10. “TO HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD”

  1 Richardson, Messages and Papers of Jefferson Davis, 1:188. On Davis’s drift toward Providence, see Eaton, Jefferson Davis, 147-49.

  2 J. B. Jones, Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, 112.

  3 Religious Herald, February 20 and 27, 1862.

  4 Lt. Charles C. Jones Jr. to Rev. and Mrs. C. C. Jones, February 27 and March 3, 1862, reprinted in Myers, Children of Pride, 206, 207.

  5 American Presbyterian, December 19, 1861.

  6 Basil Manly, “Sermon on Judges 6:13,” February 28, 1862, Manly Family Papers, William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library, University of Alabama. For a discussion of Manly’s activities as a chaplain during the Civil War, see Fuller, Chaplain to the Confederacy; 287-308.

  7 Democratic opposition would get its full wind in the fall of 1862, when Lincoln committed himself publicly to emancipation; see Neely, Union Divided. On Democratic politics and culture, see chapter 29 of Upon the Altar of the Nation.

  8 Reverend C. C. Jones to Lt. Charles C. Jones Jr., February 18, 1862, reprinted in Myers, Children of Pride, 203-5.

  11. “IS IT NOT GRAND ... ?”

  1 Christian Herald and Presbyterian Recorder, June 26, 1862.

  2 Presbyter, October 2 and 9, 1862.

  3 Nancie Jourdan to George Frederick Jourdan, December 9, 1861, Civil War Papers, Box 1, Folder 9, AAS.

  4 Sarah Baker, Charlie the Drummer-Boy, 14-15. On sentimentalized children’s literature, see Fahs, The Imagined Civil War, 256-86.

  5 Ibid., 150-54.

  6 Uncataloged panoramas, AAS. I am indebted to Professor Sallie Promey for calling this broadside to my attention.

  7 Marten, Children’s Civil War, 16.

  8 New York Evangelist, June 26 and April 3, 1862.

  9 Christian Herald, June 25, 1863. McPherson’s For Cause and Comrades, 58-60, 77-82, explores the motives of soldiers and shows how the lessons on cowardice were well learned by soldiers and officers alike. See also Linderman, Embattled Courage.

  10 Marten, Children’s Civil War, 116.

  11 Boykin, Boys and Girls Stories of the War, 12.

  12 Ezell, “Southern Education for Southrons,” 303-27.

  13 Rable, Confederate Republic, 179-84.

  14 For a bibliography of Confederate texts, see Stililman, “Education in the Confederate States of America,” 462-67.

  15 Sewart, Geography for Beginners, 42—43.

  16 Stillman, “Education in the Confederate States of America,” 243.

  17 See, for example, Lander, Our Own Primary Arithmetic, 49, or Moore, First Dixie Reader, 56. Northern textbooks developed many of these same themes minus the proslavery apologias. But since they were often reprinted from earlier editions in verbatim fashion, there was no direct commentary on the war. See Marten, Children’s Civil War, 59.

  18 Marinda B. Moore, Primary Geography, 14.

  19 On slave reform in education, see Stillman, “Education in the Confederate States of America,” 396-410.

  20 Nancie Jourdan to Fred, December 9, 1861, Civil War Papers, Box 1, Folder 9, AAS.

  21 See Faust, Mothers of Invention, 40-45, and Rable, Civil Wars, 154-201.

  22 I am indebted to Joanne Chaison of the American Antiquarian Society for calling this recently acquired archive to my attention. Of all government jobs available to women, the largest proportion, and best paying, were with the Treasury Department. See Faust, Mothers of Invention, 88-92.

  23 L. E. Hughes to Memminger, October 21, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 4, Folder 3, AAS.

  24 Eugenia Hyde to Memminger, October 3, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 4, Folder 3, AAS.

  25 Mary Gifford to Memminger, November 28, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 4, Folder 2, AAS.

  26 This estimate is taken from Holmes, “‘Such is the Price We Pay,’” in Vinovskis, Toward a Social History of the American Civil War, 174. On widowhood in the Confederacy see Gross, “‘Good Angels,’” in Clinton, Southern Families at War, 133-54.

  27 Beecher, National Justice and Penalty in his Patriotic Addresses, 374.

  28 New York Times, August 5, 1862.

  12. “THE POPULAR HEART”

  1 Masur, “The Real War Will Never Get in the Books,” 45.

  2 Bernard, Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War, foreword. See also Heaps, The Singing Sixties, and Olson, Music and Musket.

  3 See, for example, Massachusetts Volunteers 25th Regiment Band Books, Manuscript Collection, AAS.

  4 New York Times, November 23, 1861, quoted in Bernard, Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War, 48.

  5 Bernard, Lincoln and the Music of the Civil War, 58. General McClellan went so far as to forbid Hutchinson from performing before the Army of the Potomac.

  6 “The Bonnie Blue Flag” (Baltimore, 1862), Union Imprint Song Sheets, John Hay Library, Brown University.

  7 “The Bonnie Blue Flag” (Augusta, 1861). For similar themes see, for example, “Up with the Flag” (Richmond, 1863), Confederate Sheet Music Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University.

  8 “All Quiet Along the Potomac To-night” (Richmond, 1862), Confederate Sheet Music Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University.

  9 See McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 77-82.

  10 Let Me Die Face to the Foe (New York, 1862), Union Imprint Song Sheets, John Hay Library, Brown University. The War Song of Dixie (Augusta, 1862). Confederate Sheet Music Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University.

  11 Howe’s account is quoted in Commager, Civil WarArchive, 378.

  12 Masur, “The Real War Will Never Get in the Books, 45.

  13 Edmund Wilson, Patriotic Gore, 95-97. Howe’s poem is reprinted in Commager, Civil War Archive, 378-79.

  14 Cullen, Civil War in American Drama, 17. On Stowe, see Birdoff, World’s Greatest Hit.

  15 See Donald, Lincoln, 568-70.

  13. “RELIGION HAS GROWN WARLIKE”

  1 Livermore, Numbers and Losses in the Civil War, 47.

  2 Technology was one thing, military practice in the heat of battle another. Many battle lines closed to one hundred yards or less, effectively neutralizing rifles that could hit targets at one thousand yards or more. Nor did accuracy on a practice range extend to the battlefield. One recent analysis of accuracy in Civil War battles concludes that soldiers averaged only one “hit” per one hundred shots—a figure not that different from hit rates in the Mexican War. See Nosworthy, Bloody Crucible of Courage, 574-93.

  3 William Augustus Willoughby to Wife, April 14, 1862, Papers, 1861-64, Manuscripts Collection, AAS.

  4 Following Bull Run, Sherman’s fortunes ran temporarily downhill in Kentucky, where he backed away from engagements wi
th the enemy because, out of fear, he exaggerated their strength.

  5 On the Battle of Shiloh, see Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April; McDonough, Shiloh—In Hell before Night; and T. Harry Williams, P.T.G. Beauregard, 121-30.

  6 Sherman, Memoirs, 260.

  7 Christian Instructor and Western United Presbyterian, September 1, 1862.

  8 Edwin Wheelock to Dr.————, April 17, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 3, Folder 5, AAS.

  9 Halleck’s strategy was grounded in the maneuver and siege tactics of Jomini, in contrast to Clausewitz (and Grant), whose strategy centered on the destruction of armies on a massive scale. See Johnson, Just War Tradition, 288.

  10 John E. Anderson, Reminiscence, Civil War Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, 34, AAS.

  11 In practice, Lincoln was probably a better military strategist than Jefferson Davis, who refused to appoint a general in chief until forced to by Congress. But in fact, neither was the distinguished military mind he thought he was. On Davis, see Eaton, Jefferson Davis, 249.

  12 The Liberator, March 21, 1862.

  13 Ibid., May 2, 1862.

  14 Martha LeBaron Goddard to Mrs. [Mary] Johnson, August 3, 1862, Manuscript Collection, AAS.

  15 Horace James to Sabbath Society, June 21, 1862, Horace James Correspondence, 1852-1870, Manscript Archives, AAS.

  16 Banner of the Covenant, May 31, 1862.

  17 Richmond Daily Dispatch, March 29, 1862.

  14. “WHAT SCENES OF BLOODSHED”

  1 The literature on McClellan and the Army of the Potomac is enormous. Among the more important works are T. Harry Williams, Lincoln and His Generals; Sears, George B. McClellan; and McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 428-545.

  2 The journalistic mythmaking began with the account of Manassas printed in the Richmond Daily Dispatch, July 29, 1861. See Royster, Destructive War, 68-69.

  3 Woodward, Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, 499-500.

  4 T J. Jackson to R. L. Dabney, July 24, 1862, Manuscript Archives, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond.

  5 Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 21, 1862.

  6 Quoted in Eliot, West Point in the Confederacy, 53.

  7 See Webb’s classic account The Peninsula (vol. 3 in Scribner’s series Campaigns of the Civil War). For more recent accounts see Dowdey, Seven Days; and Sears, To the Gates of Richmond.

  8 Quoted in McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 470. In all, McClellan lost 3,214 to Lee’s 5,355.

  9 In Just War Tradition, 290, ethicist James Turner Johnson argues “it is not enough to write off enormous battlefield casualties because they have been inflicted only on combatants.”

  10 Richmond Daily Dispatch, June 26, 1862.

  11 American Presbyterian, July 10, 1862.

  12 Daniel, “The Diary of Mary W. Taylor, 1860-1864,” 927.

  13 See McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, 471—72, for casualty figures, and 464—71 on Jackson’s failure to arrive on the scene.

  14 Philadelphia Inquirer, July 1, 1862.

  15 Ibid., July 5, 1862.

  16 In 1862 Lee was still perceived as a coequal with Davis, Johnston, and Jackson. But by year’s end, he would be in a class by himself. See Connelly, The Marble Man, 11—26.

  17 Richardson, Messages and Papers of Jefferson Davis, 1:229-30.

  18 Jeremiah Bell Jeter’s sermon notes are preserved at the Virginia Baptist Historical Society in Richmond. Special thanks to the society and its director, Fred Anderson, for access to these notebooks. All quotations are taken from the microfilm collection at the Baptist Historical Society.

  19 Ibid.

  20 Richmond Daily Whig, February 26, 1862.

  21 Jones, Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, 124.

  22 Richardson, Messages and Papers of Jefferson Davis, 1:227-28.

  23 Richmond Examiner, May 19, 1862.

  24 Here I follow the argument set forth in Gallagher, Confederate War.

  25 Richmond Examiner, February 17, 1862.

  26 Ibid., February 18, 1862.

  27 Ibid., September 5, 1862.

  28 Robert L. Dabney to the Board of Directors of Union Theological Seminary, April 21, 1862, Manuscript Archives, Union Theological Seminary, Richmond.

  29 Sears, Civil War Papers of George B. McClellan, 306-7.

  30 Ibid., 344-45.

  31 See chapter 29.

  32 O. R. (War of the Rebellion ... Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies), series I, vol. 12, pt. 3, 473-74.

  33 Quoted in Grimsley, Hard Hand of War, 88-89. Italics mine.

  15. “GOD WILLS THIS CONTEST”

  1 On Lincoln’s resolve to mount a total-war strategy, see Sutherland, “Abraham Lincoln, John Pope, and the Origins of Total War,” 567-86.

  2 Basler, Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings, 650.

  3 See Fellman, Inside War.

  4 In Hard Hand of War, 142-71, Grimsley marks the onset of “hard war” on civilians at 1864.

  5 Coulter, Confederate States of America, 393-95.

  6 Davis, Jefferson Davis, 409—10.

  7 Among the more important analyses of Confederate nationalism are Gallagher, Confederate War, 63-111; Faust, Creation of Confederate Nationalism; Emory M. Thomas, Confederate Nation; Rable, Confederate Republic; McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 94-102, 170-76; and Mitchell, “Creation of Confederate Loyalties,” in Abzug and Maizlish, New Perspectives on Race and Slavery in America. Still useful is Potter’s “The Historian’s Use of Nationalism and Vice Versa,” in Potter, The South and the Sectional Conflict, 34—83.

  8 Quoted in Neely, Last Best Hope of Earth, 26.

  9 Quoted in Grimsley, Hard Hand of War, 86.

  10 A. W Bill to “Dear Friend,” August 8, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 2, Folder 8, AAS.

  11 Richardson, Messages and Papers of Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy, 1:268-74.

  12 Quoted in ibid., introduction by Allan Nevins, 1:29.

  13 Scandlin, Diaries, 1849-64, AAS.

  14 Christian Instructor and Western United Presbyterian, July 26, 1862.

  15 A. W. Bill to a Friend, August 8, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 2, Folder 8, AAS. For further descriptions of the effects of General Orders No. 5, see two articles by Sutherland: “Abraham Lincoln, John Pope, and the Origins of Total War,” 582, and “Introduction to War,” 120-37.

  16 See chapter 19.

  17 Frederick A. Dickinson to George Dickinson, August 27, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 1, Folder 7, AAS.

  18 The best examination of Second Manassas is Hennessy, Return to Bull Run.

  19 Jeter, “Notes and Sermons,” Virginia Baptist Historical Society, Richmond.

  20 MacDonell, “Sermon on Revelation 21:3-4,” June 8 and July 16, 1862. Manuscripts Collection, Georgia Historical Society.

  21 New York Evangelist, September 11, 1862.

  22 Philadelphia Inquirer, August 18, 1862.

  23 Basler, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 5:419-25, 433-36. For a discussion of Lincoln’s “meditation” and its relationship to his “fatalism,” see Donald, Lincoln, 370-71.

  24 Hodge, “The War,” 143.

  25 Liggett, “Our National Reverses,” printed in Holland, ed., Sermons in American History, 250, 253.

  26 Henry A. Boardman, Sovereignty of God, 21-22.

  27 Richardson, Messages and Papers of Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy, 1:268-69.

  28 Richmond Daily Whig, September 18, 1862. On Richmond’s suffering, see Kimball, Starve or Fall, 119.

  29 Jeter, “Sermon on Psalm 126:3,” September 18, 1862, Virginia Baptist Historical Society, Richmond.

  30 Tupper’s sermon is reprinted in Holland, ed., Sermons in American History, 240-46. On parallel rhetorical themes in the American Revolution, see Stout, New England Soul, 282-311.

  31 For an example of comparable sentiments in the secular press, see Richmond Daily Dispatch, September 27, 1862.

  32 Livermore, Numbers and Losses in the Civil War, 47.

  16. ANTIETAM: “THE HORRORS OF A BATTLEFIELD”

  1 �
�Give Us Back Our Old Commander,” Union Imprint Song Sheet Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University.

  2 To be sure, General in Chief Halleck supported McClellan in this theory as both ran scared of Lee’s and Jackson’s cunning. On the lost orders and McClellan’s tardy response, see McPherson, Crossroads of Freedom, 106-9.

  3 For outstanding analyses of the battle and significance of Antietam, see, in addition to McPherson’s Crossroads of Freedom, Sears, Landscape Turned Red, and Gallagher, Antietam.

  4 McPherson, Crossroads of Freedom, 122.

  5 Charles Ward to Brother Sammy, September 17, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 2, Folder 6, AAS.

  6 On McClellan’s timidity and inability to impose his will on demoralized officers, see Sears, George B. McClellan, 318—23.

  7 Livermore, Numbers and Losses in the Civil War, 92—93.

  8 Philadelphia Inquirer, September 23, 1862.

  9 Franklin Bullard to Aunt, October 4, 1862, Civil War Papers, Box 2, Folder 8, AAS.

  10 Greiner et al., Surgeon’s Civil War, 27-28.

  11 Bower, “Theology of the Battlefield,” 1019.

  17. “BROKEN HEARTS CANNOT BE PHOTOGRAPHED”

  1 Photography was a relatively new and nonportable medium in the Civil War. The technology had evolved from the original daguerreotype photograph—remarkably detailed but quite expensive and image-reversed—to the more inexpensive and portable collodion technique that bonded photosensitive chemicals to glass and paper. Though cumbersome to employ, photography had reached the point where shots could be taken outdoors.

  2 See Meredith, Mr. Lincoln’s Camera Man, 54.

  3 Brady quoted in Andrews, The North Reports the Civil War, 88.

  4 Frassanito, Antietam, 53.

  5 Quoted in Keith F. Davis, “A Terrible Distinctness,” in Sandweiss, Photography in Nineteenth Century America, 170.

  6 New York Times, October 20, 1862, reprinted in Frassanito, Antietam, 15-16.

  7 New York Times, October 20, 1862.

  8 Gardner’s view of photography was more modern than Brady’s, seeing the image as a form of journalism and current news. Brady, on the other hand, retained a more traditional sense of photography as historical record. As such, Brady was content to arrive at battle scenes days or weeks later, while Gardner rushed to be immediately on the scene.