The Episcopal Church in North Carolina
During the War Between the States

This publication is expanded from a lecture given by the author at historic St. James' Episcopal Church, Kittrell, North Carolina, on August 31, 2010. Drawn primarily from the 1861-1865 journals and newspaper of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, this study summarizes how the diocese became part of the Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America, opinions about secession and its effect on church polity, church operations during the war, African-Americans in the church, Episcopal Confederate chaplains, Robert E. Lee's connection to Episcopal North Carolina, and the unique role that North Carolina's Bishop Thomas Atkinson played in the national reunion of the Episcopal Church in 1865. It contains five appendices listing congregations, clergy, chaplains, and the names of every lay delegate and alternate delegate elected to all diocesan conventions held during the war. North Carolina was the only Southern diocese able to hold its annual convention every year during that conflict and to publish journals of each such gathering. There is a comprehensive index and Mississippi Bishop William Mercer Green's prayer for the success of the Confederate Army. The Episcopal Church in North Carolina During the War Between the States contains much specific information not published elsewhere.