The Bishop of the Old South

by Robins, Glenn

• ISBN13: 9780881460384
• ISBN10: 0881460389
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-30
• Publisher: Mercer Univ Pr

Summary

Leonidas Polk was one of the antebellum South's most significant religious leaders. The son of a wealthy, slaveholding veteran of the Revolutionary War, Polk graduated from West Point in 1827 and seemed destined for martial service. Instead he pursued a ministerial career and was the first Episcopal bishop of Louisiana. Polk attempted to cultivate a religious solidarity among white Southerners of all classes and to broaden the social and cultural appeal of Episcopalianism in the South. Ultimately, Polk's Lost Cause mythmakers developed a public memory of the bishop general that celebrated the virtue of the Christian gentleman who had waged war for Southern independence. A considerable amount of new information on Polk's family, time at West Point, ministry, life as a planter, role with Sewanee, and his place within the pantheon of Lost Cause icons has been brought to light. What emerges is a clearer portrait of the Bishop of the Old South.

Author Biography

Glenn Robins is an assistant professor of History and director of the honors program at Georgia Southwestern State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Preface	ix
Chapter 1 A Martial Heritage	1	(34)
Chapter 2 Evangelical Origins	35	(39)
Chapter 3 The Planter as Priest	74	(41)
Chapter 4 The Emergence of a Southern Nationalist	115	(36)
Chapter 5 The Bishop as General	151	(41)
Chapter 6 Soldier of Stone	192	(24)
Conclusion	216	(5)
Bibliography	221	(18)
Index	239