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The article looks at religion as a possible factor in ongoing legal claims over wartime loyalty. Particular focus is given to Simon Gerstmann and his role as a Southern Jew in the American Civil War. Topics of discussion include Civil War claims, the importance of the U.S. Court of Claims, the Jews' Civil War experiences, and post-war memory. The Southern Claims Commission, the construction of loyalty, and Unionism are also mentioned.

Examines the relationship between religion and Confederate armies' combat motivation. Confederate soldiers' perceptions of death, duty and faith; Major social functions of religion; Conceptual analysis of community, compensation and consolation to understand religion-combat motivation relationship; Integration of religious and military ceremonies.

Looks at the role of Protestant churches and proscribed preachers in Illinois during the Civil War 1861 to 1865 in the United States. Information on John Van Buren Flack, a proscribed preacher; What happened after Flack's refusal to join the Union League's local chapter in Knox County; Details on Rumsey Smithson, a Methodist minister.

The article focuses on the involvement and the role of Peace Churches during the American Civil War. Topics mentioned include the antiwar arguments of the Brethren Church, the Peace Churches' demands for exemptions to President Abraham Lincoln, and the experience of Christians who chose to join the fight.

Many Catholics, particularly the clergy, saw the American Civil War as an opportunity to demonstrate their legitimacy as Americans. Therefore, the Catholic chaplains ministering to military personnel were not only important outlets of faith for Catholic soldiers who fought in the war but also were ambassadors to the wider American population. Their ministries brought new Catholics into the fold, undermined popular prejudices, and encouraged toleration. The author examines the ministries of these Catholic chaplains, seeking a better understanding of their role in, and perception of, the Civil War and the ways in which they helped to promote Catholicism in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the experience of Episcopal Church bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine during the U.S. Civil War. It examines McIlvaine's sense of duty and his interpretation of the mission of the Episcopal Church concerning slavery in the U.S. and sectional strife in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, and his complete support for the Union cause during the war. The article discusses McIlvaine's early life, his experience as the chaplain of the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Senate, and the effectiveness of his preaching style. It also discusses his reputation as an abolitionist evangelical theologian, his relationship with U.S. senator John C. Calhoun, and his acquaintances with several military personnel who became commanders during the Civil War.

The article discusses the theology of Connecticut Congregationalist clergyman and theologian Horace Bushnell concerning the U.S. Civil War, focusing on the years 1861 to 1866. It examines his view that the war was glorious and necessary to rid the nation of its sins of slavery and secessionist feeling. The author comments on Bushnell's views on republicanism, Christianity, and American exceptionalism. Other topics include his thoughts on atonement, national unification, and the Civil War as a sacrament.

An essay is presented on preaching in Missouri during the U.S. Civil War. It comments on political preaching, apolitical theology, and the introduction of martial law in Missouri. Several ministers, including William Greenleaf Eliot, Henry A. Nelson, and Robert Farris are discussed. The author also reflects on Methodist minister David Rice McAnally, an opponent of political preaching. Ideas of ministers' disloyalty and treason are considered.

The article discusses Reverend Berry Hill Spencer, a Methodist minister from High Hill, Missouri, focusing on his alleged disloyalty to the Union and sympathy for the Confederacy during the U.S. Civil War. It examines his exile to Indiana and comments on Missouri under martial law. The author reflects on the petition campaigns of his supporters, including his wife, Carrie Spencer. Other topics include Berry Hill Spencer's loyalty oath to the Union, his proslavery views, and his identification with the Democratic Party. Individuals involved in Spencer's banishment included Provost Marshal General Franklin A. Dick, Colonel George R. Todd, and General Lewis Merrill.

Abram J. Ryan was a young priest of the Congregation of the Mission during the Union's crisis of early 1861. His thoughts mirrored the struggle of Missouri, his home state, as it sought to negotiate its way through the ordeal. When war came, Ryan poetically expressed his sympathy for the Southern cause. Within fifteen months, he had left the Vincentians for an Illinois parish. Although tradition attributes his departure to his Southern views, recent biographers have identified a problem with authority. Vincentian superiors considered Ryan and his classmates troublesome because of their sense of liberty and independence that caused a disregard of Vincentian rules. In December 1863, Ryan departed his parish under mysterious circumstances. Some accounts alleged his involvement with a woman, while others claimed that the affair was manufactured to discredit him. Vincentian authorities put credence in Ryan's "scandalous fall," which was one of similar lapses by his classmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Dred Scott decision in 1857, Abraham Lincoln embarked on a public campaign to prevent the expansion of slavery in the federal territories. Lincoln's opposition to Dred Scott was, however, bound up with a certain theoretical orientation that is often rejected in the general milieu of modern constitutional theory. Within the context of two recent revisionist accounts of slavery and American constitutionalism, I argue that our retrospective evaluations of the sixteenth president's statesmanship must enter into a deeper engagement with Lincoln's attachment to natural law and his theological interpretation of the Civil War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers how the correspondence between U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Quaker activist Eliza Gurney, born Elizabeth Paul Kirkbride, portrays the political, social, and religious position of the Religious Society of Friends towards slavery and the U.S. Civil War as well as Lincoln's opinions regarding God, religion, and the Quakers. Gurney met Lincoln with three other Quakers at the White House in October 1862 as part of an envoy of spiritual support and comfort. The article also presents both a facsimile and transcript of Lincoln's September 4, 1864 letter written to Eliza P. Gurney.

Since the end of the Civil War, historians have constantly referred to Oliver Otis Howard as the “Christian General.” Howard earned this title during the war due to his intense religious devotion with which he carried himself on a daily basis. Yet, most historians have failed to address Howard's Christianity at a deeper level, preferring to assail him for his poor performances in the Eastern Theater while casually referring to him as the “Christian General.” This study examines the origins of Howard's faith and its influence on his Civil War career. However, it deviates from prior historical scholarship by focusing less on Howard's faith and its effect on his performance as a general during the war and more on the role that Howard's faith played in his personal religious struggle. Through the examination of Victorian ideals of masculinity and the conflicting ideals regarding Christians and warfare coming forth from the pulpit in the decades leading up to the Civil War, one can better understand the deep crisis that Christians such as Howard faced in nineteenth century America. Although a poor general, Howard provides historians with an excellent case study to explore the relationship between faith and theological crisis among American soldiers of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the influence of religion in the American Civil War referencing the Spring Resolutions of the 1861 Assembly which declared the support of the Old School Presbyterian Church to the government. Bases for the natural union of the country according to Charles Hodge; Highlights of the events during the Assembly; Discussion on the issues surrounding slavery.

Examines the relationship between the idea of the Civil War as a sacred spiritual possession and the construction of patriotism and nationalism during the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the United States' entry to the First World War. Considering the celebration of the Memorial Day in the North and South; Supporting of American militarism; Fascination in modern warfare.

Focuses on the conflict between the Pacifists and the Peace Democrats during the American Civil War. Peace Democrats' denouncement of the war policies; Pacifists' advocation of a negotiated settlement between the North and South; Peace Democrats' failure to share the ideological commitments of Pacifists.

Discusses the views and activities of Catholic Diocese of Boston, Massachusetts's assistant rector Hilary Tucker during the Civil War. Aversion to the North and loyalty to the South; Intensely emotional reactions to the issues of the Civil War; Attitude toward race; View on the Catholic hierarchy; View on abolitionism and Protestant fanaticism; Work as a rector.