Throughout the Civil War, soldiers and civilians on both sides of
the conflict saw the hand of God in the terrible events of the day,
but the standard narratives of the period pay scant attention to
religion. Now, in
God's Almost Chosen Peoples, Lincoln
Prize-winning historian George C. Rable offers a groundbreaking
account of how Americans of all political and religious persuasions
used faith to interpret the course of the war.
Examining a wide range of published and unpublished
documents--including sermons, official statements from various
churches, denominational papers and periodicals, and letters,
diaries, and newspaper articles--Rable illuminates the broad role
of religion during the Civil War, giving attention to
often-neglected groups such as Mormons, Catholics, blacks, and
people from the Trans-Mississippi region. The book underscores
religion's presence in the everyday lives of Americans north and
south struggling to understand the meaning of the conflict, from
the tragedy of individual death to victory and defeat in battle and
even the ultimate outcome of the war. Rable shows that themes of
providence, sin, and judgment pervaded both public and private
writings about the conflict. Perhaps most important, this
volume--the only comprehensive religious history of the
war--highlights the resilience of religious faith in the face of
political and military storms the likes of which Americans had
never before endured.