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

671 Pages·2007·8.75 MB·English

by  Harry S. Stout

Table of Contents

PENGUIN BOOKS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction

PART I PREPARATION - PATRIOTS ALL
CHAPTER 1 - “THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH IS RISING”
CHAPTER 2 - “LET THE STRIFE BEGIN”
CHAPTER 3 - “OUR FLAG CARRIES . . . AMERICAN HISTORY”
CHAPTER 4 - “THE DAY OF THE POPULACE”
CHAPTER 5 - “TO RECOGNIZE OUR DEPENDENCE UPON GOD”
CHAPTER 6 - “THE CHURCH WILL SOUND THE TRUMPETS”

PART II ROMANTICIZATION - THE MAKING OF HEROES
CHAPTER 7 - THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN: “A TOTAL AND
DISGRACEFUL ROUT”
CHAPTER 8 - TRIUMPHALISM: “ADORNED BY THE NAME OF GOD”
CHAPTER 9 - “WILL NOT THE MARTYRS BE BLESSED ... ?”
CHAPTER 10 - “TO HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD”
CHAPTER 11 - “IS IT NOT GRAND ... ?”
CHAPTER 12 - “THE POPULAR HEART”
CHAPTER 13 - “RELIGION HAS GROWN WARLIKE”

PART III DESCENT - HARD WAR, SPILLED BLOOD
CHAPTER 14 - “WHAT SCENES OF BLOODSHED”
CHAPTER 15 - “GOD WILLS THIS CONTEST”
CHAPTER 16 - ANTIETAM: “THE HORRORS OF A BATTLEFIELD”
CHAPTER 17 - “BROKEN HEARTS CANNOT BE PHOTOGRAPHED”

PART IV JUSTIFICATION - THE EMANCIPATION WAR
CHAPTER 18 - “ALL WHO DIE FOR COUNTRY NOW, DIE ALSO FOR
HUMANITY”
CHAPTER 19 - LINCOLN, EMANCIPATION, AND TOTAL WAR
CHAPTER 20 - FREDERICKSBURG: “SO FOOLHARDY AN
ADVENTURE”
CHAPTER 21 - “GOD HAS GRANTED US A HAPPY NEW YEAR”
CHAPTER 22 - “AS SAVAGE AS SAVAGES”

PART V TRANSFORMATION - HEARTS INVESTED
CHAPTER 23 - CHANCELLORSVILLE: “THE CHAMBER OF DEATH”
CHAPTER 24 - GETTYSBURG: “FIELD OF BLOOD, AND DEATH”
CHAPTER 25 - “FOR THE SAKE OF THE CAUSE”
CHAPTER 26 - “A POLITICAL WORSHIP”
CHAPTER 27 - “THE ROCK OF CHICKAMAUGA”
CHAPTER 28 - “IN THAT IMMORTAL FIELD”
CHAPTER 29 - “THE PRESENT UNHOLY WAR”
CHAPTER 30 - “FROM HEAD TO HEART”

PART VI PROPORTION - THE SOLDIERS’ TOTAL WAR
CHAPTER 31 - “I CAN ONLY THINK OF HELL UPON EARTH”
CHAPTER 32 - “NO PLEDGE TO MAKE BUT ACTION”
CHAPTER 33 - “THE MOST INTERESTING MEN IN THE COUNTRY”
CHAPTER 34 - “IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER”
CHAPTER 35 - “JUNE 3. COLD HARBOR. I WAS KILLED.”
PART VII DISCRIMINATION - A CIVILIAN WAR
CHAPTER 36 - “THE PIOUS MEN WILL BE HELD UP AS THE GREATEST
OF PATRIOTS”
CHAPTER 37 - “IF THEY WANT PEACE THEY . . . MUST STOP THE
WAR”
CHAPTER 38 - “RED OCTOBER”: “THE WORK OF DESTRUCTION”
CHAPTER 39 - “A VOTE FOR PRINCIPLE, FOR CONSCIENCE, FOR
CHRIST”
CHAPTER 40 - “I CAN MAKE THIS MARCH, AND MAKE GEORGIA
HOWL!”
CHAPTER 41 - “UPHOLD THE CAUSE AND STRENGTHEN THE HANDS
OF THE FAITHFUL”
CHAPTER 42 - “VENGEANCE UPON SOUTH CAROLINA”

PART VIII RECONCILIATION - MAKING AN END TO BUILD A
FUTURE
CHAPTER 43 - “LET US STRIVE ON TO FINISH THE WORK WE ARE IN”
CHAPTER 44 - “RICHMOND! BABYLON IS FALLEN!!”
CHAPTER 45 - “THE MAN DIES, BUT THE CAUSE LIVES”

AFTERWORD
Acknowledgements
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
PENGUIN BOOKS
UPON THE ALTAR OF THE NATION
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
N. E. H. 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 co-edited the seventeen-
volume series Religion and American Life designed for public schools.

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First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2006
Published in Penguin Books 2007

Copyright © Harry S. Stout, 2006
All rights reserved

Map illustrations by Adrian Kitzinger

Illustration credits: American Antiquarian Society: pages 80, 96, 195, 268, and 399. All others courtesy of
the Library of Congress.

eISBN : 978-1-10112672-1
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861-1865—Moral and ethical aspects.
2. Just war doctrine. I. Title.
E468.9.S94 2005
973.71—dc22 2005042420

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