Upon the Altar of the Nation : A Moral History of the Civil War

by Stout, Harry S.

• ISBN13: 9780670034703
• ISBN10: 0670034703
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-19
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

A timely reconsideration of just war,” this landmark history closely examines the moral underpinnings of the War Between the States When the nation tore itself apart during the Civil War, the North and the South marched under the banner of God. Yet the true moral aspects of this war have received little notice from historians of the period. In this gripping volume, Yale religious historian Harry S. Stout demonstrates how both groups’ claims that they had God on their side fueled the ferocity of the conflict and its enduring legacy today.Proceeding chronologically from the election of Lincoln to the start of Reconstruction, Stout explores how the fundamental moral conduct of the war shifted from a limited conflict fought over constitutional issues to a total war in which slaughter both on and off the battlefield was justified as the only means to unconditional victory. As North and South alike enshrined their causes as sacred, a kind of national religion emerged based on martyrdom and rebirth through violence.Drawing on a fascinating array of Civil War letters, sermons, editorials, diaries, and battle photographs, Stout reveals how men and women were ensnared in the time’s patriotic propaganda and ideological grip and how these wartime policies continue to echo in the debates today. Sure to provoke a major reevaluation of this bloody and tormented period and appeal to readers of James McPherson, Garry Wills, and David Herbert Donald, Upon the Altar of the Nationis a provocative and surprising examination of motive and conduct, both on and off the battlefield.

Author Biography

Harry S. Stout is the Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History at Yale University and the author of The New England Soul. He has received an NEH Research Fellowship and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, among other awards. Currently the editor of the twenty-seven volume series of The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Professor Stout has coedited the seventeen-volume series Religion and American Life designed for public schools.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Prologue	1	(8)
Part I: PREPARATION
Patriots All
November 1860 to July 1861
``The Spirit of the South is Rising''	9	(8)
``Let the Strife Begin''	17	(9)
``Our Flag Carries . . . American History''	26	(9)
``The Day of the Populace''	35	(12)
``To Recognize Our Dependence Upon God''	47	(6)
``The Church Will Sound the Trumpets''	53	(8)
Part II: ROMANTICIZATION
The Making of Heroes
July 1861 to March 1862
The Battle of Bull Run: ``A Total and Disgraceful Rout''	61	(12)
Triumphalism: ``Adorned by the Name of God''	73	(9)
``Will Not the Martyrs be Blessed . . .?''	82	(13)
``To Humble Ourselves Before God''	95	(5)
``Is It Not Grand . . .?''	100	(10)
``The Popular Heart''	110	(8)
``Religion Has Grown Warlike''	118	(9)
Part III: DESCENT
Hard War, Spilled Blood
April 1862 to October 1862
``What Scenes of Bloodshed''	127	(12)
``God Wills This Contest''	139	(11)
Antietam: ``The Horrors of a Battlefield''	150	(6)
``Broken Hearts Cannot be Photographed''	156	(11)
Part IV: JUSTIFICATION
The Emancipation War
October 1862 to May 1863
``All Who Die for Country Now, Die Also for Humanity''	167	(15)
Lincoln, Emancipation, and Total War	182	(9)
Fredericksburg: ``So Foolhardy an Adventure''	191	(8)
``God Has Granted Us a Happy New Year''	199	(11)
``As Savage as Savages''	210	(13)
Part V: TRANSFORMATION
Hearts Invested
May 1863 to April 1864
Chancellorsville: ``The Chamber of Death''	223	(8)
Gettysburg: ``Field of Blood, and Death''	231	(7)
``For the Sake of the Cause''	238	(10)
``A Political Worship''	248	(11)
``The Rock of Chickamauga''	259	(6)
``In That Immortal Field''	265	(12)
``The Present Unholy War''	277	(9)
``From Head to Heart''	286	(9)
Part VI: PROPORTION
The Soldiers' Total War
May 1864 to August 1864
``I Can Only Think of Hell Upon Earth''	295	(13)
``No Pledge to Make But Action''	308	(13)
``The Most Interesting Men in the Country''	321	(8)
``If It Takes All Summer''	329	(9)
``June 3. Cold Harbor. I Was Killed.''	338	(15)
Part VII: DISCRIMINATION
A Civilian War
August 1864 to February 1865
``The Pious Men Will be Held Up As the Greatest of Patriots''	353	(7)
``If They Want Peace They . . . Must Stop the War''	360	(15)
``Red October'': ``The Work of Destruction''	375	(11)
``A Vote for Principle, for Conscience, for Christ''	386	(7)
``I Can Make This March, and Make Georgia Howl!''	393	(13)
``Uphold the Cause and Strengthen the Hands of the Faithful''	406	(7)
``Vengeance Upon South Carolina''	413	(12)
Part VIII: RECONCILIATION
Making an End to Build a Future
``Let Us Strive on to Finish the Work We are In''	425	(9)
``Richmond! Babylon is Fallen!!''	434	(14)
``The Man Dies, But the Cause Lives''	448	(9)
Afterword	457	(6)
Acknowledgments	463	(4)
Notes	467	(46)
Bibliography	513	(23)
Index	536