Faith in the Fight

For both the Union and Confederate soldiers, religion was the greatest sustainer of morale in the Civil War, and faith was a refuge in times of need. Guarding and guiding the spiritual well being of the fighters, the army chaplain was a voice of hope and reason in an otherwise chaotic military existence. The clerics' duties did not end after Sunday prayers; rather, many ministers could be found performing daily regimental duties, and some even found their way onto fields of battle. Identifies for the first time 3,694 ministers who were commissioned as chaplains in the Union and Confederate armies and serves as a starting point for any research into the neglected area of Civil War chaplains.

Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr., is an alumni distinguished professor of history and the executive director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech. William C. Davis is professor of history and director of programs of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies. John Brinsfield is a retired army chaplain in Atlanta, Georgia. Benjamin Maryniak is a lifelong student of the Civil War in Lancaster, New York.