Yesterday I received a very nice comment on my St. Patrick’s Day ‘Father Corby’ post, which led to the exchange of some friendly emails with our friend and fellow blogger Jim Schmidt from Civil War Medicine. Jim has written some excellent articles that have appeared in many Civil War magazines and he has a new book coming out titled Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War. I for one cannot wait to read and review it. As I am somewhat of an authority on the Southern Protestant-chaplain representations during the war, Jim is equally well-versed in the North’s Catholic contingency, specifically Notre Dame’s contributions to the war effort. In fact he is working on some interesting projects dealing with this theme that I cannot wait to pillage for reference.

Anyway, this got me thinking about my own path from a casual Catholic to a passionate Protestant. You see, I was baptized and raised in the Roman Catholic Church in western PA. My mother was a Baptist, my father, a Lutheran, who both converted in order to attend a nearby Catholic church in our borough. My family was active in the church and attended service regularly (they still do). Growing up, I went to CCD and had my First Communion and Confirmation. When I graduated from High School I stopped going. My wife was an active Presbyterian and we were married and later had our children baptized into that denomination. After moving to Virginia in 1994, we felt a strong calling to return to the church. So we both took classes, I converted officially to Presbyterianism and we have been extremely active ever since.

We go on Sundays and Wednesdays and our church family has become an extended part of our own family. My oldest daughter is an Acolyte. My oldest son is in the Youth Group. My wife works in the nursery and counts offering, while I sometimes lead a Men’s Bible study and contribute articles to the newsletter. Both of us attend a couple’s class too. We love it more than anything and it is woven into every aspect of our life. The majority of people that we know also have a similar lifestyle. The opposite was true up north. As one who has worshipped in both of these worlds I would never say that one is better than the other. And I would never consider one to be more ‘Godly’ than the other. I respect both denominations and I understand their theological differences. I often watch Mass broadcast from the Vatican after returning from our services on holidays and I hope to visit St. Peter’s Basilica someday. Here is my point though in regards to the Civil War.

In our town of Fredericksburg, I pass no less than nine Protestant churches and four public schools that are used as Non-denominational churches on the way to my church, Spotsylvania Presbyterian. Here in the South, we have churches on every corner and now they are popping up in strip malls. Buildings everywhere from old movie theaters to motorcycle dealerships are being converted for use as houses of worship. There appears to be a great revival going on. However, there are a mere two Catholic churches in the entire tri-county area and zero synagogues. I would also like to add that there is an apparent distinction between black and white churches down here (denominational), but that the non-denominational and even ‘super-churches’ have no racial demographic. There are no minorities or majorities in regards to race there, but there is a distinct majority when it comes to citizens who attend church.

So what is my point? Well, there have been some discussions circulating among historians about the longstanding ‘slanted memory’ of the War Between the States painting the idea that the South was the only religious ones participating in the conflict. Our good friend Richard Williams recently posted on Gary Gallagher’s new book Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten: How Hollywood and Popular Art Shape What We Know about the Civil War, and Kevin Levine has also commented on this tendency to narrow the scope of religious fervor to the Confederacy. (NOTE: I would like to give Kevin props for changing the imagery that he originally used and for acknowledging the potential insensitivity to Christians that it posed especially during the Easter holiday. As a Christian I do appreciate his compromise very much.)

This bias is reinforced by the paintings, movies, books, and other materials that routinely depict Confederate commanders kneeling in prayer and hardly ever picture those who wore the blue uniform. I will be the first to acknowledge the imbalance, but I personally don’t think that this is an intentional snub of the Union’s faith, rather I think that the South actually cares more about this representation, therefore the market favors them. Why? My opinion on the matter is quite simple. Historically speaking its a case of supply vs. demand.

Almost everyone I know from the North is a Catholic and virtually everyone I know from the South is a Protestant. None of the Catholics up there give a hoot about the Civil War, yet most of the Protestants that I know do. None of the Catholics I know up there would buy a Civil War painting, yet most of the Protestants down here do. So as one who has lived and worshipped in both of these camps I can understand exactly why the majority of Christian and/or religious studies and presentations of the war are biased towards the South (including my own work). Simply put, IMO, it means more to the people down here in the Bible-Belt to acknowledge, celebrate, and honor all things of faith because that’s how we look at every aspect of our lives, not just Civil War history. Now I am not saying that everyone above the Mason-Dixon Line is uninterested in the spiritual aspects of the Great Divide, but I am saying that the majority of them probably don’t obsess over it. Down here, it is a much different story.

For some reason people here in the South need to identify with these people on a spiritual level. (I'm guilty as charged.) We shape our lives after their examples and we need to feel a personal attachment to them. We are probably all guilty of practicing idolization as Lee and Jackson are held in the highest of regards, but it is this 'faithful memory of faith' that drives us to pursue the preservation and presentation of history. Frankly, I couldn't write a book on an atheist as it would be too difficult for me to pursue the subject matter. This is because I am a Christian first, and a historian second.

Please don’t misunderstand, I do not in any way question the sincerity or importance that religion held in the day-to-day lives of our northern brethren during the Civil War. I do question whether or not it means as much to their descendents to remember them specifically for their faith. It’s not that the Grants and Shermans of the world were not believers, in fact they were. It’s just that they wore the wrong colored uniform to be remembered for it today. At least that is my theory. And I should know, I’ve been on both sides.

[UPDATE 3/26: My post has generated some great comments and emails. I want to thank everyone who has communicated with me on it. I do want to add that this 'theory' represents my own personal observations based upon my own experiences. It is far from anything that I have formally researched or seriously looked into. My point is that I have witnessed a distinct difference in both the northern Catholic and southern Protestant churches in regards to Civil War memory and the commemoration of it, or lack thereof. To me, it appears to 'mean' a lot more here in the South to have that representation included.]