CT - Catholic Telegraph: The Civil War era

The Catholic Telegraph:
The Civil War era

Archbishop John Baptist Purcell

By David J. Merkowitz

(second in a series)

After some initial doubts as to the best way to deal with divisions between the North and the South, Cincinnati's second Catholic leader, Archbishop John Baptist Purcell, led his flock and his paper quickly toward the Union side in opposing both secession and slavery. In doing so, he and the paper went against the prevailing mood in Cincinnati.

Named bishop in 1833, archbishop in 1850 and leading the still-young archdiocese until 1880, Archbishop Purcell saw the local Catholic population increase from 7,000 Catholics, 14 priests and three churches to nearly half a million Catholics, 500 churches and 480 priests. Much of the increase was the result of German, and then Irish, immigration into the area in the second half of the century.

When the Civil War began, there was little doubt that Ohio would remain in the Union, but quite a bit of debate occurred across the river in Kentucky before that state moved toward a position of pro-Union neutrality.

Up and down the Ohio and Miami rivers, a vocal minority of pro-Confederate supporters ("Copperheads," in the parlance of the day) made themselves known in the press and on the streets. In opposition to slavery, the archbishop and The Catholic Telegraph stood against the gathered opinion of most of the Catholic press. Archbishop Purcell even publicly criticized the Catholic newspaper in New Orleans for accepting advertising on the hiring of slaves.

There were a small number of vigorously pro-slavery and Confederate Catholic papers; the New York Freeman's Journal and Charleston, South Carolina's Catholic Miscellany were prominent examples. Although most papers supported the Union, they were not particularly moved by the slavery debate; among these papers, the Boston Pilot was the leader. The Catholic Telegraph was the exception with its strong anti-slavery and later abolitionist position and a strong pro-Union sentiment from the onset of battle.

During the Civil War period, the editorial position of the paper closely tracked the feelings of Archbishop Purcell and his advisors: Father

Part of an oft-cited 1863 Catholic Telegraph editorial responding to criticism for its condemnation of slavery.

Edward Purcell, his brother; and Bishop Sylvester Rosecrans, his auxiliary bishop and brother of a Union general. It's no surprise to learn that Father Purcell served as editor of The Catholic Telegraph for nearly 40 years during his brother's episcopacy.

As a result of being outspoken on the slavery issue, The Catholic Telegraph makes it most significant appearance in the history books in chapters on the Civil War. Many historians have looked to the pages of the Telegraph to understand American Catholicism and to see what sort of divisions existed in the nation's largest church.

Madeleine Hooke Rice drew extensively from The Catholic Telegraph in her 1944 doctoral dissertation, "American Catholic Opinion in the Slavery Controversy," which continues to be an important book on the topic today.

The Telegraph's editorial of April 8, 1863 proclaiming itself against slavery appears in two published works: the first modern collection of documents from American Catholic history put together by John Tracy Ellis, the preeminent mid-20th-century Catholic historian, and in a more recent collection documenting examples of American Catholics speaking on issues of national import. Most comprehensive histories of American Catholicism mention the special significance of the abolitionist sentiment expressed by Archbishop Purcell, his brother, Edward, and their diocesan paper.

In one of the strongest recent additions to the history of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame historian John McGreevy authored a book entitled Catholicism and American Freedom, which explores the question of how American Catholics reconcile differing views of freedom held by Catholics and Americans. In particular, McGreevy uses The Catholic Telegraph as he explains Archbishop Purcell's decision to move against slavery in an American Catholic community that had a deep antipathy for abolitionists - most of whom were northern evangelical Protestants who seemed to abhor Catholicism as much as they did slavery.

In the recent history of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Faith and Action, Roger Fortin devotes a section of his book to the response of the Purcells and the Telegraph to slavery and Civil War.

While the April 8, 1863 editorial has garnered the most attention from historians, another editorial later that year on June 10 also makes clear where the paper stood on the issue of slavery:

"Most people had supposed that the question of slavery could never be discussed by Catholic citizens, owing to the unanimity with which they defended the system, or at least voted for those who were favorable to its existence. We find, however, notwithstanding their apparent apathy, that many Catholic minds, in all sections of the country, have been brooding over the multitudinous wrongs and anti-Christian proclivities of the 'peculiar institution.' Men who all their lives practice the precept of "doing unto others as they wish they would do unto them," are too honest, too sincere and too Christian to be caught and made fools of by the slave-drivers. Hence we have been in receipt of letters from all parts of the country, from persons who wished to express their satisfaction that there was a Catholic-Church paper which was not afraid to raise its voice in favor of the most oppressed people on earth. It is somewhat strange, too, that a majority of the letters we have received on this subject have been received from the two States whence we expected least - Kentucky and New York. It is impossible for a religious people to consider slavery, as a moral question, without being filled with horror at its enormities. Its aspect is everywhere repulsive. To talk about argument, when the question under discussion is the sale of a man's wife and children, is ridiculous. When a political or moral question comes to that, the strong arm of the injured man is the only answer it deserves."

The Catholic Telegraph made the case that while Catholics should always be proud to be Americans, they should not fear challenging the nation to be even better. As time passed and other wars were fought, it was a theme that would be repeated.

(Next week: the newspaper enters the 20th century)

A Catholic editor goes South

Father James Ignatius Mullon, The Catholic Telegraph's first editor, was born in Ireland in 1793 and ordained for the then-Diocese of Cincinnati in 1925.

Just two years after the paper was founded, Father Mullon traveled to New Orleans to raise funds for Catholic orphans and to solicit subscriptions to The Catholic Telegraph.

He was invited to stay in New Orleans by the bishop there, to become a pastor to the city's Irish immigrants. After much wrangling and delay, then-Bishop Purcell reluctantly allowed him to do so.

Father Mullon died in 1866, but in 1908, The Morning Star, then the newspaper of the New Orleans archdiocese, paid tribute to the priest as "an ardent champion of the South" during the Civil War years, who frequently blessed regimental banners and addressed "the boys in gray" as they went off to war.

When Federal forces occupied New Orleans, Union General Ben Butler summoned Father Mullon to answer a change that he had refused to bury Union soldiers with the proper rites.

The priest denied the charge, and according to The Morning Star, assured the general, "I would bury all the Federal soldiers, and you, too, with the greatest pleasure."