May/June 2002

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God has come back as an important character in the story of war. Since September 11, political and military leaders claim God's side, while characterizing their opponents as satanic, pure evil. Daily newspapers expound ancient religious texts, and in the next day's op-ed, contrary texts are cited. Mosques and churches are full. Millions of ordinary people pray to God for victory, though they pray on opposite sides for opposite ends.

So it was also in our American Civil War, so much so that the wisest and shrewdest politician in our history, Abraham Lincoln, devoted his most important speech of 1865 largely to religious claims. Ronald White has written a book about Lincoln's Second Inaugural, a speech so brief it fits easily on two pages of a book. This might seem to be the ultimate in scholarly overkill, 234 pages to account for only two, but White's efforts pay off.

Lincoln gave the speech just when the end of the war seemed in sight, only weeks before Lee's surrender. Any decent speechwriter would have found the occasion easy. First Lincoln ought to celebrate promises fulfilled. The Union had stayed the course and won the war, saving the world's last best hope and freeing millions of slaves to boot. Then, Lincoln should turn to plans and prospects. How soon could they expect the final triumph, and what policies would peace bring? How would the evil of slaveholders and traitors be punished? How would the faithfulness of Union soldiers (and their widows and orphans) be rewarded? But Lincoln spoke to none of these issues. He gave a quiet, deep speech in which every crafted line tolls like a funeral bell.

Lincoln began by indicating what he would not do: any of the above. Instead he took up an extremely peculiar topic: how little ...