Washington from mass meetings and from state legislatures asking for their
removal. The higher commanders, however, bore themselves well, and in a few
fortunate cases Southern whites were on most amicable terms with the garrison
commanders. The correspondence of responsible military officers in the South
shows how earnestly and considerately each, as a rule, tried to work out his
task. The good sense of most of the Federal officers appeared when, after the
murder of Lincoln, even General Grant for a brief space lost his head and
ordered the arrest of paroled Confederates.


The church organizations were as much involved in the war and in the
reconstruction as were secular institutions. Before the war every religious
organization having members North and South, except the Catholic Church and
the Jews, had separated into independent Northern and Southern bodies. In each
section church feeling ran high, and when the war came, the churches supported
the armies. As the Federal armies occupied Southern territory, the church
buildings of each denomination were turned over to the corresponding Northern
body, and Southern ministers were permitted to remain only upon agreeing to
conduct "loyal services, pray for the President of the United States and for
Federal victories" and to foster "loyal sentiment." The Protestant Episcopal
churches in Alabama were closed from September to December 1865, and some
congregations were dispersed by the soldiers because Bishop Wilmer had
directed his clergy to omit the prayer for President Davis but had substituted
no other. The ministers of non-liturgical churches were not so easily
controlled. A Georgia Methodist preacher directed by a Federal officer to pray
for the President said afterwards: "I prayed for the President that the Lord
would take out of him and his allies the hearts of beasts and put into them
the hearts of men or remove the cusses from office." Sometimes members of a
congregation showed their resentment at the "loyal" prayers by leaving the
church. But in spite of many irritations, both sides frequently managed to get