Charles Todd Quintard

Charles Todd Quintard (1824–1898) was an American physician and Episcopal clergyman whose life brought him into the religious and political upheavals of the nineteenth-century South. Born in New York, he trained in medicine before entering the ministry and became the second Episcopal bishop of Tennessee. During the Civil War he served as a chaplain in the Confederate army. These experiences shaped his writing, which reflects the intertwined worlds of faith, public life, and war. Quintard is also associated with the founding of the University of the South at Sewanee, an institution that grew from the Episcopal Church’s efforts to establish a university for the Southern states.

Quintard is best known to later readers through The War Journal of the Rev. Charles Todd Quintard, published after his death. Its record of a chaplain’s wartime life offers a firsthand perspective on the religious work and daily circumstances of the conflict. His writings also include sermons and church-related addresses, where he speaks as a pastor and advocate for the Episcopal Church. His prose is direct and shaped by its practical purposes: recording events, instructing readers, and expressing religious conviction. Together, these works help place an individual voice within the larger history of Southern religious life. If you’re curious about that history, his journal is a useful place to begin exploring Quintard’s writing.