| An
anthology of writings from Confederate chaplains who served
from 1861 to 1865
In this anthology
of Civil War memoirs, we get a clearer impression of some
of the chaplains who served during that Great Conflict. Chaplains
were among the most omnipresent observers on the battlefield,
and some wrote extensively about their experiences. Eighty-seven
of the 3,695 chaplains who served in both armies wrote regimental
histories or published personal memoirs, not counting a multitude
of letters and more than 300 official reports. Yet, there
has never been an extensive collection of memoirs from chaplains
of both the Confederate and Union armies presented together.
In this groundbreaking
work, many of the Confederate chaplains write that they opposed
secession and submitted to it only when war was inevitable.
Moreover, some of the ministers who became chaplains were
active in ministry to black slaves. They spoke out against
the neglect and abuse of those held in bondage both before
and during the war. For example, Reverend John L. Girardeau
formed a large mission church for slaves in Charleston, South
Carolina, before the war; Reverend Isaac Tichenor criticized
the abuses of the slave system before the Alabama Legislature
in 1863; and Chaplain Charles Oliver preached to black laborers
in the Army of Northern Virginia in 1864 with the thought
that more needed to be done for them. While these efforts
may appear trivial in the face of the enormity of the entire
slave system, they do reflect that a social conscience was
not completely lacking among the Southern chaplains.
From the battlefield
to the pulpit, Confederate chaplains were surprising and complex
individuals. For the first time, explore this aspect of the
great struggle in each chaplain’s own words.
John Wesley Brinsfield, Jr. is the Chaplain Corps
Historian at the Army Chaplain School, Ft. Jackson, South
Carolina. He has degrees from Vanderbilt, Emory, and Yale
Universities, and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Mansfield
College, Oxford. He taught at West Point and at the Army War
College for eight years, and recently at Erskine Theological
Seminary. He is the author of four books and many articles.
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