Tune in for our interviews about Onward Southern Soldiers...

Recently my wife Traci and I had a wonderful conversation with Gina Logue over at the WMOT-FM studios on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, to talk about our book, Onward Southern Soldiers: Religion and the Army of Tennessee in the Civil War.

That interview is scheduled to air on WMOT 89.5 FM radio at 5:30 pm on Monday, June 11th with a repeat at 8:00 am on Sunday, June 17th. Our interview will also be available as a podcast on the WMOT website starting Monday, June 18th. We hope you'll tune in to hear us talk about religion and the Civil War, and the important role that archives played in telling the stories of the soldiers and ministers who served on the battlefield.

And BIG news just announced by Nashville Public Television... NPT will air the latest in their series "Tennessee Civil War 150" with an episode entitled, "Crisis of Faith." Here's an excerpt from the press release with further details...

The vast majority of Americans in the first half of the 19th Century were highly religious, overwhelmingly Christian, and believed America was destined for greatness, in part because of their belief in God. This conviction was particularly strong in the heavily-protestant South. The belief among Southerners that they were ordained for greatness by God, though, was put to the ultimate test by The Civil War, making the war not only a crisis of country and conscience, but also a crisis of faith.

“Crisis of Faith,” the latest episode in Nashville Public Television’s  “Tennessee Civil War 150” series, a joint production between NPT and the Renaissance Center, examines how positions on slavery and biblical interpretations on its morality divided religious denominations, and ultimately, the nation.  Written and produced by NPT’s Justin Harvey (“Nashville: The 21st Century in Photographs ,” “Nashville World War II Stories ”), “Crisis of Faith” premieres Thursday, June 21 at 8:00 p.m., on NPT-Channel 8.  It is the fifth episode in the “Tennessee Civil War 150” Series, a multi-part project coinciding with the Sesquicentennial anniversary of the Civil War. Previous installments include “Secession,” “Civil War Songs and Stories,” “No Going Back: Women and the War” and “Shiloh: The Devil's Own Day.”

With interviews from notable religion and history scholars, including Mark Noll, James Byrd, Dennis Dickerson and Traci–Nichols Belt, among others, “Crisis of Faith” tracks the argument over slavery from the American Revolution, through the division of the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian Churches into northern and southern factions before the Civil War,  and how that eventually led to a divided nation.

Begun in 2011, and scheduled to continue for the next two years, “Tennessee Civil War 150” focuses on several areas of life in Tennessee, including the role of women, rivers & railways, music, the African-American experience and the Battle of Shiloh. The series will be supported by a comprehensive website and short broadcast vignettes that expand on the content in the documentaries.

"Tennessee Civil War 150" is made possible in part by The Tennessee National Heritage Area, the Tennessee Dept. of Education and the Tennessee Sesquicentennial Commission.

If you're interested in hearing more from us about Onward Southern Soldiers, you can also listen to a podcast of our television interview on "A Word on Words with John Seigenthaler" which also recently aired on Nashville Public Television. Also, Traci's radio interview on WJLE-FM, taped last year prior to our visit to Smithville, Tennessee, is available online. A link to all of our media appearances can be found on the menu bar at the top of the page of The Posterity Project.