In this work the Bishop describes the organization of the Episcopal Church in the Confederacy, the church's work among the soldiers, its attitude towards the Negroes, its trials and burdens, its publications, and, finally, the reunion of the northern and southern branches of the church. Following the last chapter he included a brief study of the life of Thomas Atkinson, Bishop of North Carolina, 1853-1881, who had been one of the most important exponents of the reunion of the church in 1865. In general, the critics praised the Bishop's work as a significant contribution. Of it the _Outlook_ remarked: "His account of the attitude of the Church in its political relations throughout those sad and trying times is free from any tinge of bitterness. Its narrative of the work of bishops and councils, and of the ministries of the church to the soldiers and to the slaves, deserves to be widely read for the little-known facts it records." _The Churchman_, of New York, declared: "The temper of Bishop Cheshire's narrative is admirable, his account of perplexing constitutional questions that arose from the relations of the Church to the Confederacy and to the Union is clear, his analysis of the issues is penetrating and acute, his conclusions will be generally accepted." The church periodicals, North and South, were unanimous in their praise of the Bishop's work. They felt he had done the American Episcopal Church a great service in preserving this phase of her history. _The Church Times_, of London, thought that while the book was interesting and informative, it was not fair to the northern church. Many of the reviewers considered the last chapter of the work, which discussed the reunion of the church in 1865, the most interesting and significant. The Bishop was able to write of this particular subject with intimacy, since his father had taken an active part in the reunion. _The Church in the Confederate States_ is Bishop Cheshire's most important historical contribution. In it his style is direct, simple, and restrained. It describes and interprets a phase of Civil War history which had never before been adequately treated, and since its publication no work on the subject has superseded it. For his information Bishop Cheshire relied almost entirely upon original sources. Some of the more personal incidents, however, were gained from actual participants in that stormy period.