Research Catalog

Our trust is in the god of battles : the Civil War letters of Robert Franklin Bunting, chaplain, Terry's Texas Rangers, C.S.A.

Title: Our trust is in the god of battles : the Civil War letters of Robert Franklin Bunting, chaplain, Terry's Texas Rangers, C.S.A. / edited by Thomas W. Cutrer.
Author: Bunting, R. F. (Robert Franklin), 1828-1891.
Publication: Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, [2006], ©2006.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	E580.6 8th .B86 2006	Off-site
Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library		Off-site

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Details

Additional Authors

Cutrer, Thomas W.

Description

xxxiii, 436 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm.

Summary

"Robert Franklin Bunting was a Princeton-educated chaplain who served in the Confederate 8th Texas Cavalry, popularly known as Terry's Texas Rangers. Which saw combat at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, and Chickamauga. The manuscript consists primarily of ninety-five letters that Bunting wrote to a variety of Texas newspapers. Designed primarily to describe the unit's movements and actions in detail, the letters also strove to maintain morale as the Confederates' prospects dimmed." "Unlike most Civil War soldiers, Bunting wrote with the explicit purpose of publishing his correspondence, seeking to influence congregations of civilians on the home front just as he had done when he lectured them from the pulpit before the Civil War. Bunting's letters cover military actions in great detail, yet they were also like sermons, filled with inspiring rhetoric that turned fallen soldiers into Christian martyrs, Yankees into godless abolitionist hordes, and Southern women into innocent defenders of home and hearth. As such, the public nature of Bunting's writings gives the reader an exceptional opportunity to see how Confederates constructed the ideal of a Southern soldier." "Taken as a whole, the letters provide a glimpse into a little-understood aspect of Civil War historiography: the way in which religion influenced the ideology of soldiers and civilians. They also provide a rare first-person perspective on the role of the chaplain in the Confederate Army. Finally, Bunting's letters display an example of successful wartime propaganda: the consistent optimism maintained in the letters doubtless encouraged soldiers in the ill-fated Army of the Tennessee to remain in the ranks for four long years."--BOOK JACKET.

Series Statement

Voices of the Civil War

Uniform Title

Voices of the Civil War series.

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [413]-420) and index.

ISBN

1572334584 (hardcover : alk. paper)

LCCN

2005016216
9781572334588

OCLC

OCM60644675
SCSB-5260920

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries