With the occupation of Natchez by Union troops on July 13, 1863, the city was placed under martial law.

This meant that the military governed Natchez, and their laws were to be obeyed. Breaking of these laws could lead to an arrest and conviction without benefit of a trial.

In early 1864, the Union commander, Brig. Gen. James M. Tuttle, tried to enforce an order that all Natchez clergymen had to pray for President Abraham Lincoln.

The most Rev. William Elder, Roman Catholic bishop of Natchez, resisted because he felt that this was a violation of the church being separate from the state.

In an effort to present his case, Elder wrote a letter to President Lincoln, which reached Union Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

According to John Stanford Coussons in his master’s thesis, “The Federal Occupation of Natchez, MS, 1863-65,” Stanton ruled in the Bishop’s favor. However, Gen. Tuttle was replaced by Col. Bernard G. Farrar, who in turn was replaced by Gen. Mason Brayman in July 1864, and Brayman reinstated the mandatory prayer order.

Elder wrote to Brayman, regarding his case and Stanton’s original ruling.

Brayman responded by stating that military orders are to be obeyed without question. According to Steven A. Channing’s “Confederate Ordeal: The Southern Home Front,” he further wrote, “If you are a patriotic and loyal man you will read the prayer with pleasure.” Elder refused to obey and wrote to Stanton complaining of the situation. Before Elder could receive a reply from the Secretary of War, Brayman ordered that Elder be expelled from Union lines, and that churches under his jurisdiction be seized by the army. Although Brayman later rescinded the order about seizing church property until he heard from Stanton, he had Elder exiled across the Mississippi River to Vidalia.

According to Coussons, “The bishop’s case stirred the local folk considerably. Catholic and Protestants alike volubly denounced Brayman’s action. When the bishop left for Vidalia, ‘a great concourse of people’ gathered to show their loyalty and to receive his blessing.” For the next 17 days the bishop remained in exile in Vidalia.

Gen. Lorenzo Thomas, Brayman’s superior, heard about Elder’s troubles and sent an order on Aug. 12, 1864, to have the bishop returned to Natchez, and absolved him from delivering the presidential prayer.

The local newspaper, The Natchez Courier, reported in its Aug. 23, 1864, edition that the bishop returned “amid the acclamations of the whole of Natchez and the ringing of joy bells.”

Coussons wrote that Brayman had this to say: “…Special Order No. 31 is suspended until further orders; leaving all persons conducting Divine Worship, at liberty to manifest such measure of hostility, as they may feel, against the Government and Union of these States, and their sympathy with the rebellion, by omitting such application, if so minded…”.

Elder served as a respected clergyman in the Natchez area from 1857 to 1880. He transferred to Cincinnati, in 1880, and was named archbishop there in 1883. He held that post until his death on Oct. 31, 1904. Cincinnati’s parochial school, Elder High School, in is named in his honor.

H. Clark Burkett is a historian at Historic Jefferson College.