| Father William T. Coffey (1827-1909) was the rector at St. Paul's Church during the Civil War. Born in New York City in 1827, Coffey was educated at Columbia University and General Theological Seminary in New York City. He was ordained a priest in 1851 and became the rector at St. Paul's the following year. Father Coffey was a staunch Union sympathizer and outspoken about his feelings concerning the war, reflecting a pattern among Northern ministers who endorsed the Union cause as a religious crusade against the sin of slavery. His correspondence with parishioners who served in the Union army expressed his support for the cause for which they were fighting, and also transmitted news about the homefront. In May 1861 he wrote to one soldier, "I feel a deep interest in the cause in which you are engaged. I know of scarcely another so holy. Common gratitude, self-interest and philanthropy demand the efforts at whatever sacrifice to sustain our government." He also informed the soldier that he had visited his wife yesterday and "found her looking as I thought pretty well. She misses you, as might be expected, very much. She was engaged about her garden." |
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