Both Prayed to the Same God: Religion and Faith in the American Civil War

Of the thousands of books written about the American Civil War, few have focused on its crucial religious dimensions. Robert Miller has done much to remedy that deficiency in this important volume. Readers will find here the stories of believers-and even skeptics-in North and South, of Protestants and Catholics and Jews, of clergy and laypersons, of soldiers and civilians, chaplains and generals, men and women, slaves and free people, woven together in a tapestry that offers a vivid picture of the importance of religion in the Civil War.

Robert J. Miller has performed a miracle of sorts in bringing together a large but disparate literature on American religion and the Civil War to give us the first synthesis of this vital subject. He does so with conviction, conscience, and considerable insight into the many ways matters of faith and religion informed, and even drove, ideas and interests in politics before the war and shaped soldiers’, civilians’, slaves’, and others’ understandings of the war. The result is a book of remarkable reach into the very soul of America during its ordeal by fire.

Robert J. Miller has written an impressive overview of a broad and crucial subject: the role of religion in the Civil War era….Miller…has managed the rare feat of authoring both an accessible-‘popular’ in the best way-and very scholarly monograph….Original and masterfully researched….Miller’s lively book is essential reading….The book is rich in edifying and surprising details.

The centrality of faith and religion in every aspect of life in early nineteenth century America is often ignored or marginalized by the modern generation, the religious fervor of which pales in comparison. The lack of a shared experience restricts our understanding of the powerful manner in which religion has helped shape our national identity. Yet, in that period of our nation’s history, religion was regarded as the ‘foremost of the political institutions’ and was profoundly intertwined in the sectional controversy over slavery that resulted in bloody civil war. The author is uniquely qualified to address the religious influence that directed Americans on the course to civil war and provides a clear and crisp, yet powerful and compelling evaluation of role of faith in the causes, conduct, and consequences of America’s bloodiest conflict.

The role of religion has been a strangely neglected subject in Civil War studies. Robert Miller’s well researched and carefully argued book does a great deal to remedy that deficit. It is both a reliable synthesis of existing scholarship and a thoughtful contribution because of Miller’s own insights. Students of the Civil War and of religion in American history should welcome this fine book.

This is an important book for anyone interested in the history of the Civil War era beyond a narrow ‘battles and generals’ focus. . . . This book is both worthwhile and stimulating to read, in addition to providing a foundational basis of ideas and facts from which further study can proceed.