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John B. Gordon and the “Gospel of Reconciliation” Ralph L. Eckert John B. Gordon of Georgia became one of the most popular and important Southerners in the decades following the American Civil War. The reputation he earned while “wearing the gray” not only endeared him to former Confederates and eventually won him the respect of his opponents in blue but also influenced almost every aspect of his life over the next forty years. Although only twenty-eight years old at the war’s outset and lacking any formal military training, Gordon nevertheless proved himself a natural soldier on all of his battlefields. The courage, instincts, and audaciously offensive spirit he displayed in the Eastern Theater made him a superb combat officer. Gordon’s speeches before battle, his martial bearing, and his coolness under fire inspired men and allowed him to draw greatness from them. His spectacular rise from untrained captain to trusted corps commander was unmatched in the Army of Northern Virginia, an army overwhelmingly commanded by professionals. As a contemporary proclaimed shortly after Gordon’s death, his fame and military record rest “upon his natural, untrained, military genius , supported by courage to which fear was a stranger.”1 Few, if any, soldiers emerged from the war with a record more stunning than Gordon’s, and he ranked probably second only to Robert E. Lee in the adoration of his countrymen. Although Gordon’s military participation in the Confederacy’s attempt to tear asunder the United States served as the central event in his life, ironically it would be his steadfast commitment to healing the emotional wounds of the Civil War, during the last third of the nineteenth century, that provided his most significant and enduring contribution to American history. Make no mistake, he promoted Southern interests and fiercely defended his section and its residents whenever he sensed a threat or an insult, but Gordon also Ralph L. Eckert 254 devoted much of the postbellum period to national pacification and forging a new sense of nationalism that almost all Americans could champion. He sought to supplant still-festering sectional antagonisms and replace them with a shared devotion to building a stronger, more united nation which would cement fraternal bonds between the former warring sections. Gordon demonstrated his commitment to national reconciliation throughout the forty years following the war, but it was during the last decade of his life that his efforts were most spectacular. Indeed, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Gordon became the most prominent, the most outspoken, and the most widely traveled proponent of national reconciliation. He employed several different means to reach the American people, yet he always brought the same message when he enthusiastically preached his “Gospel of Reconciliation.”2 Gordon seemingly began his propitiatory efforts almost immediately after he led the surrender procession of Lee’s army at Appomattox Court House on April 12, 1865. Following the furling of Confederate flags and the stacking of arms, he spoke poignantly to his defeated and dispirited troops of their bravery and heroic service to the Southern cause. Perhaps more important , he offered words of “hope and encouragement” in the face of “the countless and stupendous barriers across the paths they were to tread.”3 He urged them to return home, to obey the laws, to help rebuild the South, and to give “the same loyal support to the general Government [the reunited United States] which they had yielded to the Confederacy.”4 So began John B. Gordon’s nearly four decade commitment to reuniting the former foes of the Civil War. Despite Gordon’s acceptance of defeat almost from the moment of his surrender, and his realization that the Southern way of life would be inevitably altered, he dedicated himself to vigilantly protecting Southern interests and vigorously defending Southerners’ motives and actions in fighting the Civil War. As the future would manifestly demonstrate, whether in the business , political, social, cultural, or historical arenas, Gordon would proudly act as a Southerner. He “never allowed an opportunity to pass,” stressed a close friend, “in which he might reiterate his belief that the South was right in its position. [Yet at] the same time, he urged the people to cherish no malice or bitterness, but to accept without a word the true arbitrament of arms and proceed with all diligence to the upbringing of their depleted fortunes and to the prospering of their own section.”5 However—unlike many unrepentant , hard-line former Confederates who refused ready association with...

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