Our Trust Is in the God of Battles

by Bunting, R. F.; Cutrer, Thomas W.

• ISBN13: 9781572334588
• ISBN10: 1572334584
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-06-27
• Publisher: Univ of Tennessee Pr

Summary

Robert Franklin Bunting was a Princeton-educated chaplain who served in the Confederate 8th Texas Cavalry, popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers, which saw combat at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. The manuscript consists primarily of ninety-five letters that Bunting wrote to a variety of Texas newspapers. Designed primarily to describe the unit's movements and actions in detail, the letters also strove to maintain morale as the Confederates' prospects dimmed. Unlike most Civil War soldiers, Bunting wrote with the explicit purpose of publishing his correspondence, seeking to influence congregations of civilians on the home front just as he had done when he lectured them from the pulpit before the Civil War. Bunting's letters cover military actions in great detail, yet they were also like sermons, filled with inspiring rhetoric that turned fallen soldiers into Christian martyrs, Yankees into godless abolitionist hordes, and Southern women into innocent defenders of home and hearth. As such, the public nature of Bunting's writings gives the reader an exceptional opportunity to see how Confederates constructed the ideal of a Southern soldier. Taken as a whole, the letters provide a glimpse into a little-understood aspect of Civil War historiography: the way in which religion influenced the ideology of soldiers and civilians. They also provide a rare first-person perspective on the role of the chaplain in the Confederate Army. Finally, Bunting's letters display an example of successful wartime propaganda: the consistent optimism maintained in the letters doubtless encouraged soldiers in the ill-fated Army of the Tennessee to remain in the ranks for four long years.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Peter S. Carmichael, Series Editor
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction	xvii
Editorial Practice	xxxi
The Civil War Letters of Robert Franklin Bunting
1. Expect Stirring News from This Region: 19 September 1861-26 February 1862	3	(34)
2. A Brilliant Future Is Opening before This Regiment: 20 March 1862-22 April 1862	37	(24)
3. A Brilliant Blunder and a Magnificent Failure: 6 May 1862-3 November 1862	61	(28)
4. Whenever the Rangers Confronted Him He Was Routed: 11 November 1862-8 January 1863	89	(32)
5. The Rangers Are Always There: 2 February 1863-7 July 1863	121	(54)
6. Texas Will Do Her Duty: 21 July 1863-20 October 1863	175	(40)
7. Thus Passes Away All Our Bright Hopes: 29 October 1863-6 February 1864	215	(28)
8. Immortal in Their Country's History: 26 February 1864-8 October 1864	243	(46)
9. We Are Not Whipped Yet: 7 December 1864-8 April 1865	289	(28)
Appendix 1. Field Grade, Company Grade, and Staff Officers of the Eighth Texas Cavalry	317	(18)
Appendix 2. Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of the Eighth Texas Cavalry	335	(46)
Notes	381	(32)
Bibliography	413	(8)
Index	421