Although both antagonists believed they were in God's favor a woman in Lewisburg, Virginia, as did others, suggested the termination of public vices would insure victory for the Confederacy: "If our people would only turn away from their sins such as drunkenness, Sabbath breaking, gambling, extortion, etc. I would have more hopes for a speedy termination of our difficulties." March 18, 1862.
Nancy Emerson of Middlebrook, Augusta County, Virginia, expresses confidence of victory because Confederate leaders are Christians, January 1, 1863: "Our President [Jefferson Davis] is a plain, simple, consistent Christian, and appears a member of the Episcopal church . . . We have cause for gratitude more than we can express, that we have civil & military leaders who acknowledge God."
This propaganda potpourri of Yankee atrocities, accounts of Confederate heroines, and miscellaneous military activities, includes a resolution passed at a female prayer meeting in Carrolton, Alabama: "Let every woman's heart be united in prayer. . . . Let each wife, mother and sister . . . beseech the Lord to save us from our cruel enemies . . . We consider prayer the most powerful of all weapons."
In this 1864 letter from Mary Davis to her son, she discusses the role religion plays in her other son's life. "Jemmy is very reserved on the subject of his religious feelings - and has only alluded to them since the passage I quoted, in acknowledging God's protection in the midst of danger - but cousin (?) (who is but just recovered from a long attack of cough) heard that he as well as her Jemmy has connected himself with the church."