at Antietam; Mt. Zion Church at Richmond, Ky.; St. James Church at Brandy Station; New Hope Church and Ezra Church in the Atlanta Campaign; Ware Bottom Church at Bermuda Hundred; and Namozine Church and Cumberland Church during the Appomattox Campaign, all were significant sites during the war. The frequent appearance of churches on the landscape speaks to the importance of religion to mid-nineteenth-century Americans.
During and following what historians refer to as the Second Great Awakening, a period of Protestant revival that lasted from the late-eighteenth century into the first half of the nineteenth century, much of the United States experienced a heightened interest in religious matters. Of particular concern to many Protestant worshipers was gaining assurance of their spiritual salvation. This tremendous upsurge resulted in greater church attendance in many places and, thus, a felt need to establish new congregations and construct buildings.
Of particular popularity in Virginia during this era were Baptist and Methodist churches. With most of Virginia still
By Tim Talbott
he names of churches that were on or near some Civil War’s battlefields are familiar to many students of the conflict. Places like Shiloh Church; Dunker Church rural, small churches sprang up across the countryside. Often attended by both free and enslaved members, but usually with segregated seating sections, church buildings were frequently located along well-traveled byways and at county crossroad intersections. Churches chose locations that helped facilitate members’ regular attendance and attract new worshipers.
Due to their chosen locations, many churches ended up in the paths of the contending armies and witnessed unspeakable acts of brutality as soldiers fought and maneuvered for strategic routes of travel. In the battles’ aftermath, church buildings often ended up serving as impromptu field hospitals. As one post-war traveler noted after visiting the battered Wilderness Church: “Red Mars [the god of war] has little respect for the temples of the Prince of Peace.”
The following are five examples of central Virginia church buildings associated with the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. These structures ended up either engulfed in the fighting or became significant sites of military operations. Some still stand much as they were at the time fighting raged around them over 160 years ago; others have been added on to or replaced with more modern buildings on their wartime locations.
Several church buildings in Fredericksburg suffered damage from both Union and Confederate shelling during the fighting of December 11-14, 1862, and to a lesser extent on May 3, 1863. Caught in the crossfire, virtually from the beginning to end of the battle, the First Baptist Church on Princess Anne Street displayed vivid evidence of its brutal ordeal.
Built in 1855, this impressive edifice with its prominent steeple sustained significant damage to its exterior. Period photographs show numerous craters and pockmarks on the outside walls caused by exploding shells and solid shot. Broken windows, smashed louvers, and a pelted roof vividly demonstrate the power of Civil War artillery. Fredericksburg Baptist Church’s interior also received rough treatment.
With a casualty tally that climbed past 12,000, the Army of the Potomac needed hospital space to treat the wounded wherever they could find it. Accounts from Fredericksburg’s citizens, as well as Union soldiers and officers, note the staggering amount of damage inflicted on Fredericksburg Baptist Church’s pews, floors, and walls. Lt. Col. St. Clair Mullholland, 116th Pennsylvania, wrote that “In the lecture room of the Baptist church eight operating tables were in full blast, the floor was densely packed with men whose