Book Review: “Upon the Altar of the Nation” by Harry S. Stout

Numerous books address the central characters of the Civil War as well as the tactical maneuvers of the battles.  Books on Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and countless others along with the battles (Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg, etc.) abound—but few address the morality of the war itself.  Whereas Mark Noll deals with the war’s theological crises from various religious sects, Harry S. Stout’s “Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War” (Penguin Books, 2006, $18.00) deals with one particular theological issues: was the Civil War a just war? 

He goes through the entire history of the Civil War, both politically, militarily, morally, and religiously.  He examines the rhetoric from both sides who invoked God’s name as One who was favorable to their cause.  Victories were seen as God’s favor, losses were seen as disobedience to the divine cause to which God called them. 

Most interesting (at least in the mind of this reviewer) were the messages resounding from the pulpits.  At the beginning of the war, the spiritual and the political were distinctly separate (for the most part).  As the war went on, the cause of the Union and the Confederacy melded into one with the spiritual—and, as Stout contends (and rightly so), a new civil type of religion was born.  Patriotism and the spiritual were one.  To be a good Christian was to be a good American—and vice versa.

Stout asks throughout the book the question few asked during the war: is this a moral war?  When the War began, the “West Point Code” prevailed—leave citizens and their property be and only go after the opposing troops in the field.  As the war wore on, the citizenry were seen more as the enemy, enabling the troops and being fair game.  This is why William Tecumseh Sherman’s burning of Atlanta and the March from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864 completely changed how succeeding armies engaged in warfare.  The “West Point Code” gave way to total war.  Warfare went from defeating armies to demoralizing and breaking the will of the people. 

The Civil War is the defining moment in American history that established our identity.  It settled all the loose ends left by the Founding Fathers.  Some of the answers may have been satisfactory, others not so much.  But Stout rightly reminds us never to assume that just because it’s our cause, it’s a just one.  If one invokes God’s name believing their cause just, one must beware of projecting their passions and convictions upon God, believing He approves. 

I highly recommend this work.