"The whole world seems to be getting out of joint": The Catholic Response to the Start of the Civil War in the Border South

Abstract

Catholic clergy from Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland offered a unique interpretation of events that transpired from the presidential election of 1860 through the Confederate invasion of Kentucky in the fall of 1862. Due to their location within the border region, where sympathies remained divided throughout the Civil War, the clergy sought to remain apolitical while advocating a peaceful resolution to the national crisis. Despite their endorsements of neutrality and compromise, Catholic prelates and priests from the region remained openly critical of the perceived negative influence of radical religion in American society. Border State clergy viewed the triumph of the Republican Party, the secession movement, and the start of the war as products of Protestant fanaticism in the United States. Catholic clergy argued that if more Americans embraced Catholic principles, especially respect for the law and the maintenance of social order, then secession and civil war could have been avoided.