Abstract
This chapter discusses the importance to the churches of sending off young volunteers and preparing them to meet the day of battle. Here was a chance to present Bibles and Testaments, bless company flags, talk with the young men, and grasp their hands—perhaps for the last time. In Rochester, New York, a beloved Sunday school teacher received a sword, sash, and belt; in Natchez, Mississippi, priests held special masses for Catholic soldiers, making sure they received the sacrament before marching off with a prayer book, crucifix, and medal. The departures were painful. Attending a service in a camp near Abingdon, Virginia, Lizzie Hardin could only describe the scene in the era's sentimental language. On such occasions the messages often became thinly disguised recruiting sermons that relied on time-tested revivalist techniques.
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