Posted By
Patrick on January 12, 2010
Not too often in my internet travels do I come across articles that transcend the typical battle or leader profiles. More often than not, when I do come across articles centered upon the lives of soldiers or civilians, one of the typical themes left out is their religious mindset and beliefs. Readers at Uncommon History know that I come from a certain perspective that religion was a driving force, and to a large extent even continues to be so today.
Today I came across an article that very much illustrates the religious passions of one woman during the Civil War that motivated her to exceedingly support the Southern view she and her family had adopted.
Eliza kept a diary throughout the war and although I have not had the opportunity to read it, many of the extracted quotes I have read speak very plainly that there were plenty of American citizens at the time that would, and did, sacrifice all for their religious convictions.
Here are just a few quotes from her diary:
“I am becoming more firmly fixed in my conviction concerning this war that religion will be more intimately interwoven in its history than any which had ever preceded it,” she wrote on October 13, 1862. “The men who have honored God are the men he has chosen to honor on almost every field.”
“And I do feel the judgments of Almighty God will rest upon the heads of the Northern people for their unjust interference, thereby thwarting our plans for the elevation of our colored people in a moral point of view.” Slavery, Eliza Fain believed, was the cornerstone of the war effort – the very reason her kin had pledged to fight and die for the cause.”
“When a band of Federal soldiers passed her home in October 1863, she challenged them to reflect upon their motives to wage war. “They have to acknowledge that slavery has been the inciting cause to this war,” she triumphantly declared.
“They all tell me if they thought they were fighting to free the Negro they would quit and go home.”
I can do no more justice at present on this intriguing woman than the fine writing of Maggiemac at Civil War Women. You can read her article on Eliza at her blog.
Further Reading
John N. Fain (Editor). University of Tennessee Press 2004, Hardcover, 410 pages, $50.63
I wholeheartedly thank those who have participated in Uncommon History’s Virtual Forager missions to date. Unfortunately, the participation-to-viewer rate simply doesn’t support further missions in its current state.
