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One of the things that I find fascinating about the Civil War was the eloquence of a great number of the participants. Those who enjoyed any education, in those times, tended to have a "classical education". Letter writing was also practically universal amongst the literate classes. People were good at writing letters.
It was also one of the last wars where there was almost universal belief in an afterlife. This tended to mould people's motivations and fears. This, combined with an eloquence that is unfortunately rare today, resulted in beautiful prose like that above.
I presume most American's are also familiar with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural speech. These two are also excellent examples of a beautiful command of the language.
Mr Mephisto
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