q __
INCIDENTS
UNITED STATES
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION
15 Y
REV. EDWARD P. SMITH
FIKI.D SECRETARY OF THR COMMISSION
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1 8 6 (J
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
HOKAIiO GATES JONES,
Secretary of the Trustees of the U. S. Christian Commission,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, tor the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania.
LIPPINOOTT'S PRE
P H I L A D K LP II I A .
TO THE
CHKISTIAN SOLDIEES AND SAILOES
OF THE
WHO, BY TOIL AND PIETY UNDER ARMS, IN LOYALTY TO COUNTRY
AND TO CHRIST, ENDING OFTEN IN CHEERFUL
DEATH, HAVE FURNISHED THE
INCIDENTS
WHICH ARE HERE GROUPED TOGETHER-IN JUST PRAISE OF THE
SURVIVING AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE DEAD,
THIS BOOK
GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED.
ADVERTISEMENT.
By the vote of the U". S. Christian Commission, at
its final meeting, five residuary Trustees -were appointed,
through whom the -profits accruing from the sale of this
book are to be expended for "the spiritual and temporal
benefit of those -who are, have been, or may be, soldiers or
sailors in the service of the United States"
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
THIS volume has its origin in the peculiarity of the war in the
United States against rebellion — not of the forces arrayed against
each other, or of movements executed, or of victories wrought ;
but of the forces of Christianity developed and exemplified
amid the carnage of battle and the more perilous tests of hos
pital and camp.
These religious forces were not begotten of the Christian
Commission ; they came with the army from the Christian homes
of its citizen soldiery. The Commission was, rather, born of
them. Certainly it began because of their existence and need of
help, and became, at once, their helper and recorder.
The officers of the Commission felt that the five thousand
Delegates, a majority of them ministers of the Gospel, who had
gone to the field laden with good cheer and tokens of love for
the soldiers, and had thus been enabled to come into the closest
sympathy with them, and to bring back to the fireside fresh,
truthful pictures of camp-life, must have witnessed scenes of
faith and heroism, of conversion to the new life and dedication to
Christ, and in chapel-tents and fever-wards and on bloody fields
6 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
have heard manly testimony for truth and taken messages from
the lips of death, such as would make a record that ought not
to be lost to the Eepublic or to the Christian Church, nor left
in unwritten fragments to degenerate into army traditions.
They, accordingly, not only provided for the permanent record
of the Christian Commission, in its organization and work, by
the Home Secretary, Rev. Lemuel Moss, but also instructed the
Field Secretary " to prepare a volume of such Incidents as may
be regarded by him as fully authentic, and the most valuable of
those which have occurred during the work of the Commission."
Entire absorption by the secretary, thus instructed, in another
labor growing out of the war, and unexpected difficulties in
gathering and authenticating so many Incidents, have occasioned
a much longer delay than was anticipated in the preparation of
the volume.
For most of the Incidents names of the authors are given ; and
persons thus named, unless mentioned as belonging to some other
relief organization, or as in the army for some other purpose, are
Delegates of the Christian Commission.
Where an Incident is credited to a Delegate who is not named,
the name of the person receiving it from the Delegate is given.
The few Incidents taken from the religious press generally
bear the names of their authors. In the exceptions to this, the
character of the periodical in which they originally appeared is
offered in evidence of their authenticity.
The five hundred and more Incidents here gathered have been
preferred out of over ten thousand that were in hand, on the
principle of the largest variety of character in their subjects and
of time and place in their occurrence.
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 7
No such collection of stories can be made without the peril of
sameness, even to satiety ; and the more perfect each sketch may
be in itself the greater the peril. A relief has been attempted
by marshalling the Incidents along the line of army operations
in both place and time. Thus an Incident recorded for a given
day becomes a part of the army history of that day — an illus
tration in the case of one man of what may have been transpir
ing with hundreds of others ; and thus it receives an historical
and topographical interest which may help carry the reader with
less weariness towards the end.
The briefest possible sketch of army movements and results
of great battles is all that could be allowed for such an historical
line. The materials of this sketch, or skeleton record, and often
the words in which it runs, have been freely taken from Mr.
Greeley's " American Conflict/'
In the Incidents furnished out of the author's own army ex
perience it has seemed best, for securing authenticity with sim
plicity in the form of statement, that he should use the third
person and speak of himself very much as of others.
Whatever excellence this book may possess is fairly to be
credited to its friends, as follows :
To the Delegates and members of the Commission, who have
responded so kindly and heartily to requests for Incidents occur
ring under their own observation ; to the watchful care of the
Committee of Publication, who have counselled at every chapter ;
especially, to Charles Demond, Esq., of Boston, who has patiently
and with great profit to these pages read them all in proof; and,
more than all, to Eev. John Irving Forbes, who, by his long
and intimate connection with the work of the Christian Com-
8 INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.
mission at the Philadelphia office, was eminently fitted for a
helper. In personal interviews with many Delegates in different
parts of the country, he has taken from their lips not a few of
the gems of this collection, and by his patience and skill and
industry, amid other duties, has wrought most of the mechanical
and intellectual labor of putting the volume to press.
When strong men are to be aroused to action, or youth are to
be incited to deeds of valor and virtue, no portion of human
history is more frequently used than words quoted out of the
smoke of battle and from the lips of men dying for a principle.
Most of the Incidents here gathered relate to memorable scenes,
in which men, if ever, say and do what is worthy of mention
and imitation. It is fondly hoped that they may be not without
good to all who read them, and of special service to those who
are to help and teach others to be truly noble.
EDWARD P. SMITH.
ROOMS OF AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION,
New York, Oct., 1868.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE EASTERN ARMIES: UNTIL THE RETREAT FROM THE PENINSULA: APRIL,
1861— JULY, 1862 13
CHAPTER II.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: FROM POPE'S BATTLES UNTIL HOOKER TAKES COM
MAND: JULY, 1862—JANUARY, 1863 35
CHAPTER III.
THE WESTERN ARMIES: UNTIL AFTER THE STONE RIVER BATTLES: APRIL,
1861— JANUARY, 1863 58
CHAPTER IV.
THE WESTERN ARMIES: FROM AFTER THE STONE RIVER BATTLES UNTIL THE
SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG: JANUARY, 1863— JULY, 1863 91
CHAPTER V.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: FROM THE BEGINNING OF 1863 UNTIL LEE'S SECOND
INVASION: JANUARY, 1863— JUNE, 1863 125
CHAPTER YI.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: GETTYSBURG: JULY, 1863 159
CHAPTER VII.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: FROM GETTYSBURG UNTIL GRANT'S ADVANCE ON RICH
MOND: JULY, 1863— MAY, 1864 190
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WESTERN ARMIES: THE CAMPAIGNS IN TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA: JULY,
1863— DECEMBER, 1863 215
CHAPTER IX.
THE EASTERN ARMIES : GENERAL GRANT'S ADVANCE ON RICHMOND : MAY AND
JUNE, 1864 244
10 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
THE WESTERN ARMIES: FROM THE BEGINNING OF 1864 TO THE FALL
ATLANTA: JANUARY, 1864— SEPTEMBER, 1864
CHAPTER XI.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: FROM THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG UNTIL THE
CLOSE OF THE WAR: JUNE, 1864— APRIL, 1865 296
CHAPTER XII.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: FROM THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG UNTIL THE
CLOSE OF THE WAR: JUNE, 1864— APRIL, 1865 (CONTINUED) 322
CHAPTER XIII.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: FROM THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG UNTIL THE
CLOSE OF THE WAR: JUNE, 1864— APRIL, 1865 (CONCLUDED) 351
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EASTERN ARMIES: OPERATIONS NEAR WASHINGTON AND HARPER'S FERRY:
JUNE, 1864— JUNE, 1865 372
CHAPTER XV.
THE PRISONERS IN THE SOUTH : WITH NOTICES OF THOSE WHO RETURNED TO
ANNAPOLIS 395
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WESTERN ARMIES: FROM THE FALL OF ATLANTA TO THE CLOSE OF COM
MISSION WORK; WITH SOME NOTICES OF HOSPITAL AND OTHER WORK
BEFORE ATLANTA FELL: JUNE, 1864— SEPTEMBER, 1865 414
CHAPTER XVII.
THE WESTERN ARMIES: WORK ALONG AND NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER:
JULY, 1863— DECEMBER, 1865 441
CHAPTER XVIII.
ALONG THE COAST: 1861—1865 465
CHAPTER XIX.
THE HOME SIDE 477
INDEX....
ILLUSTRATIONS.
UPRISING OF THE PEOPLE (STEEL PLATE) FRONTISPIECE.
THE WAR BEGUN (STEEL PLATE) FRONTISPIECE.
PAGE
NOT ENEMIES 37
GIVING UP THE BUSINESS 70
"GET THE SHIP BY, BOYS" 124
"THE HUMISTON CHILDREN" 175
"ALMOST UP" 233
DYING IN GEORGIA 291
THE LAST LETTER 294
"THAT'S WORTH A HUNDRED DOLLARS" 310
QUESTIONING GENERAL GRANT 359
NEWS IN LIBBY PRISON 396
CRUTCH EXCHANGE 419
" SONGS FOR SIGHING" 432
"I CANNOT COME NOW— I WILL NOT" . 463
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
UNTIL THE RETREAT FROM THE PENINSULA.
April 1861 — July 1862.
No attempt has been made to give a representative
record of Incidents before the Commission began its
active work. A very few such accounts are inserted, —
here and in the chapters introducing the labors in other
parts of the army, — but they will only serve to show
that the necessities, before and after the origin of the
Commission, were the same.
The Fulton Street Prayer Meeting in New York was
the centre of a deep Christian interest for the soldiers.
It, with the numerous meetings like it throughout the
land, had some influence in leading men to feel the need
of an agency such as the Commission. The Sunday-
School Times of June 29, 1861, gives the report of a
story told in that meeting, a few days before. A speaker
rose and said :
A drummer-boy went from Brooklyn on shipboard to Portress Mon
roe. He was a Sunday-school scholar. One evening, overcome with
13
14 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
fatigue, he had lain down upon the deck and fallen asleep. The
dews were falling. The Colonel came along, shook
TJic Drummer- . . . . ..
So 's Pra er ^ shoulder, told him he would take cold,
and advised him to go below. As he was getting
up, his Bible fell out of his pocket. He picked it up, replaced it,
and went below to prepare himself for bed. When all ready, he
knelt down — many loudly-talking men standing around — and put
ting his hands together in the attitude of prayer, poured out his
heart silently to God. He heeded not the noise around him. In a
moment all that noise was hushed : the company, awed by the con
duct of a boy, reverently stood silent until he had finished.
After this pleasing account had been given, another in the meeting
stated that this praying drummer-boy had been killed in a late
battle. The news had just been received by his father. A thrill of
tearful sympathy instantly passed through the meeting. A few days
later, it was stated that the little boy had prayed every day up to
the time that he was killed. He was also constantly reading his
Bible, as he could snatch the opportunity. So anxious was he to
read it, that he was known sometimes to rise in the night to do so.
Gen. McDowell's army began its advance into Vir
ginia on Tuesday, July 16, 1861. On the following
Sunday the first battle of " Bull Run" was fought, and
the Union forces retreated to Washington. The Sun
day-School Times of August 24, 1861, gives this account
of a scene in that battle, related in the Fulton Street
Meeting :
A clergyman stated that a soldier told him, that immediately after
the first fire, in which many were killed and wounded, he heard a
cry, which could only come from a man on the borders of eternity,
" God have mercy on my soul." The cry soon be-
came contagious ; and he himself, though fighting
with all his might, joined in repeating the words,
" God have mercy on my soul." The soldier stated that he was not
a pious man, yet the impression received from that cry on the bat
tle-field had never left him; and for several nights after his return
AFTER BULL RUN. 15
to New York, he had not been able to sleep, but through all the
silent hours he would hear that continual cry, made as none but the
dying could make it, " God have mercy on my soul."
Mrs. E. N. Harris, of Philadelphia, who visited the
hospitals in Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria,
immediately after the battle, wrote to Rev. Dr. Taylor,1
as follows :2
Another, whose benignant, placid expression told of great peace,
to the remark, " You have been shielded in the day of battle, — per
haps in answer to a mother's prayers," replied —
"Yes, to those of a sainted mother; but especially
. . Shielded by
to those of a praying wife, who, in a letter just re- prayer
ceived, says, ' I spent the whole of Sabbath in prayer
for you,' not knowing I was in battle; but her Father and my
Father knew it. That was enough. I went into the battle with
prayer, and returned with thanksgiving for a spared life."
I was about to pass on, when the position of his arm arrested me.
" You are wounded in the arm ?"
"Yes."
"I hope not seriously."
"Yes, it was amputated at the elbow before I left the field."
Wholly unprepared for such an announcement, my feelings over
powered me. He soothingly said —
" It is only my left arm. That is not much to give my country. It
might have been my life."
Another, a lovely youth, whose bright, restless eye and flushed
cheek told of suffering, grasped my hand and gently pulled me to
wards him ; I knelt beside him and said —
" My dear boy, what can I do for you ? Shall I
, n , * -r „„ Mother and
talk to you of Jesus ? A .
^xTvTvfrvi
"Oh yes," he said, "I am used to that. I have
1 Then Pastor of a Reformed Protestant (Dutch) Church in Philadelphia.
Now Secretary of the American Bible Society.
2 Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 90-92.
16 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
loved Him, but not near enough, for two years; and now He is going
to take me home."
" You are very young. Have you a mother?"
" Oh yes ;" tears filled his eyes.
" It must have been a great trial to give you to your country."
" Yes, it was. When I first mentioned it, she would not hear me ;
but we both prayed over it, and at last she consented, saying — ' My
country deserves this sacrifice. I gave you to God at your birth, and
this is His cause.' "
As I fanned the dear boy, brushing back the hair from his beau
tiful forehead, he fell into a sleep. When I withdrew my hand, he
started and exclaimed —
" Oh, I dreamed that was Annie's hand. Won't you put it on my
head again ?"
"Who is Annie?"
" My twin sister. We were seventeen since I left home."
This dear youth is now with the Saviour. He died from his wounds
the next day.
Gen. McClellan was called from Western Virginia to
Washington, immediately after the battle of Bull Run ;
the command in his department devolving on Gen. Rose-
crans. In September, there was some severe skirmishing
at Cheat Mountain. The New York Advocate and Jour
nal relates an incident of that battle:
A soldier, the night before the battle, received a letter from his
mother which he opened and began to read. He had proceeded but
a few lines, when scalding tears bedewed it, and prevented his read
ing further ; he handed it to a comrade and requested
L tter him t0
own heart melted by the tender appeals of that
mother to her boy — to come to Christ. The last words of the letter
were, "O my son! my son! will you not take your mother's Saviour
for your Saviour ?"
He went into the battle and was killed. In the morning, as they
THE FIEST DELEGATES. 17
gathered the dead, he was found with one hand firmly grasping that
letter baptized now in his own heart's blood, as well as his tears.
The members of the Commission, shortly after its
organization in November, 1861, visited Washington, to
survey the yet scarcely attempted work.
Passing near Fort Albany,1 then occupied by the 14th Mass., one
of the company asked a soldier —
" Have you any praying men in the regiment?"
Going Dovm
" Oh yes, a great many, he answered. t jj
" And do you ever meet for prayer ?"
" Every day."
" Where do you meet ?"
" Just come here."
The party went inside the new and beautiful fort which the regi
ment had been building.
" I can see no place for prayer," said one.
" Look down there," said the soldier, raising a trap door as he
spoke.
" What is down there?" for it was like looking into darkness itself.
" That's the bomb-proof, and down there is the place where we
hold our daily prayer meetings."
" That's going down to get up, isn't it ?" was the questioner's
reply.
The army defending Washington lay inactive during
the autumn and winter. In April, 1862, it began the
advance upon Richmond by the way of the Peninsula.
A month's delay before Yorktown gave opportunity for
several skirmishes ; sickness set in ; and by the time the
army moved from Yorktown, there was a call upon the
Christian benevolence and patriotism of the North,
which could not be longer refused ; very shortly after
wards, the long-delayed messengers of the Commission
1 About a mile from Long Bridge, in Virginia.
2
18 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
came. Unknown as the organization was, it met at first
with but a doubtful reception. Ilev. Geo. J. Mingins,1
one of the first seven Delegates sent out from Philadel
phia to Fortress Monroe and Yorktown, in May, 1862,
gives a graphic account of the advent at Old Point
Comfort :2
I remember my introduction to the Medical Director at Fortress
Monroe. We had then no printed commission. In Baltimore, we
had had hard work to obtain a pass to the Fortress; and the moment
The Advent at we set foot on land there, we were marched, like a
Old Point Com- file of Indians, to the Provost-Marshal's office, and
made to take the oath of allegiance, before they
would permit us to open our mouths. I remember, after we
had taken the oath, we found we could not go anywhere, but were
bumping up against a sentry at almost every corner, and were
asked, every hundred or thousand yards, for our passes. Well,
we went back to the Provost-Marshal and told him —
" We can't go anywhere."
And he replied, " I know it."
We said, " We wanted to see the Medical Director, and tried to
get into the Fortress and couldn't."
" I know it."
" But, sir, can't you give us a pass by which we may obtain an
interview with the Director ?"
" Who are you ?" he asked.
" We are Delegates of the United States Christian Commission."
And he said, " What's that ?"
I doubt whether you could find a squad of soldiers to-day who
would need to ask that question. But at last he gave us a pass, and
we went into the Fortress. We felt very strange, but finally ob
tained an interview with the Director. We stood in his office. In
a brusque manner he looked up and said —
1 Then Pastor of (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, Huntingdon Valley, Pa. Now
the Superintendent of City Missions in New York.
2 From a public address.
THE FIRST DELEGATES. 19
" Well, gentlemen, what can I do for you ?"
One of us became spokesman. I did not ; I was afraid ; I had
had enough " bluffing off" already ; from that day to this I have had
a wholesome fear of a military man, when sitting in an office, with a
quill behind his ear instead of a sword in his hand. I can face him
with a sword, but I can't bear him with a quill. An Episcopalian
minister stepped forward, and began to tell him that we were Dele
gates of the Christian Commission. I do not know whether he
thought that he would astonish the Director — but I can testify that
he did not astonish him.
"What's that?" was all his answer.
W^e told him then what it was. He replied^
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! What do you want down here?"
Then this gentleman gave him a pretty good idea of what we
wanted. He rose, put down his pen, and said — •
" So, gentlemen, you have come down here to see what you can do
for the sick and wounded ?"
" Precisely so," I ventured to remark.
He said, "Aye. Well, who are you, in the first place ?"
We told him that we were four clergymen and three laymen.
When we talked of " clergymen," I noticed a smile lurking round
the corners of his mouth. But he said, "And you want to do some
thing?"
We said, "Yes."
" Then I will give you work in ten minutes. There are three
hundred sick and wounded men lying on board one of the trans
ports at the wharf. I want three men to accompany them to
New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore — I don't know where they
are going ; you will get your orders when you are on board. Will
you go?"
Three of us at once volunteered. He said —
" Gentlemen, do you know what you are going to do? You are not
going to preach, mind. I tell you what — I want you as nurses."
He looked into their eyes, but they never flinched. Two of them
were " clergymen." When they were gone, he gave us work also.
" But, mark me, gentlemen," he said, " I want men who will wash
wounds, who will scrub floors, if necessary, — in fact, who will
perform the duties of a hired nurse, — and then, after that, I have
20 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
no objection at all that you put into practice any higher mission you
jpay have."
We separated and went to our work. A few days after, the
same Director sent for us ; this time there was deference in his
manner, a kinder tone in his voice. He sent us to the three thou
sand wounded and sick at Yorktown. When we met him two or
three weeks afterwards again, we found that the young Christian
Commission had conquered a way to his heart.
Thus, the work, in spite of obstacles, was begun and
prospered. The following bit of Rev. Mr. Mingins'
experience will show how it gained favor with the men
in the ranks, for whom it was especially intended. The
scene is at Yorktown ; the subject an Irishman :l
Well, this was a very tough Irishman I assure you. It was at a
time when a great many were sick at Yorktown, — men who had
marched and dug and delved, until they were completely broken
down. A great many of them had no clean shirts
The Difficult
Irishman ' °n> & a ^arSG suPP*7i anc* was g°ing
through the tent, giving them to the poor fellows.
I came to this Irishman.
" My dear friend," said I, " how are you ? You seem to be an
old man."
" Shure an' I am an ould mon, sir."
" Well, how came you here in the army, old as you are?"
"Och, sir, I'm not only an ould mon, but an ould sojer too, I'd
have ye know." He had been twenty years in the British service in
the East Indies, and had fought America's foes in Mexico.
"Yes, sir" he continued, "I'm ould, an' I know it, but I'm not
too ould to shoulther a musket, and hit a rap for the ould flag yit."
"You're a brave fellow," said I, "and I've brought these things to
make you comfortable," as I held out to him a shirt and pair of
drawers. He looked at me. Said he —
1 Taken from an address at the Washington Anniversary of the Commission,
February 2, 1864.
YOKKTOWN. 21
" Is't thim things f '
"Yes, I want to give them to you to wear."
" Well, I don't want thim."
" You do want them."
" Well I don't ;" and he looked at me and then at the goods, and
said somewhat sharply, as I urged him again, " Niver moind, sir ; I
don't want thim ; and, I till ye, I won't have thim."
" Why ?"
" Shure," said he, " d' ye take me for an objic uv charithy ?"
That was a kind of poser. I looked at him.
" No, sir," said I, " I do not take you for an object of charity, and
I don't want you to look on me as a dispenser of charity, for I
am not."
" Well, what are ye, thin ?"
" I am a Delegate of the United States Christian Commission, bear
ing the thank-offerings of mothers and wives and sisters to you brave
defenders of the Stars and Stripes." And I thought, surely, after
such a speech as that, I would get hold of the old fellow's heart.
But he looked at me and said —
" Any how, I won't have thim."
I felt really hurt. I did not at all like it. I have told you, he
was an Irishman, and I happened to be a Scotchman. I was de
termined not to be conquered. I meant to try further, and when a
Scotchman means to try a thing, he will come very near doing it.
I didn't talk any further then, but determined to prove by my
acts that I had come down to do this old man good. So day after
day I went about my work, nursing, giving medicines, cleaning up
the tent, and doing anything and everything I could.
One day, as I went in, a soldier said— Descriptive
" There's good news to-day, Chaplain." l
"Ah, what is it?"
" Paymaster's come."
" Well that is good news."
" Yes, but not to me, Chaplain."
"How is that?"
1 The soldiers, almost uniformly, styled the Christian Commission Delegates,
" Chaplains."
22 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" I've not got my descriptive list, and if a fellow's not got that,
the Paymaster may come and go, and he's none the better off for it."
" Well, why don't you get it?"
" I can't write, Chaplain ; I've got chronic rheumatism."
" Shall I write for you ?"
" If you only would, Chaplain."
I hauled out paper and pencil, asked the number of his regi
ment, name of his Captain, company, &c., and sent a simple request
that the descriptive list might be remitted to that point. When I
had done this, I found a good many who wanted their lists, and I
went on writing for them until I came to the cot next to the old Irish
man's. It was occupied by another Irishman. I asked him if he
had his descriptive list.
" No."
"Shall I write to your Captain for it?"
" Av ye plaze," and I began to write.
I noticed the old Irishman stretching over, — all attention. I
spoke now and then a word meant for him, though I affected not to
notice him. After I had written the request, I asked the young
man if I should read it to him aloud. " Av ye plaze, sir," and I
read him the simple note. When I had done, the old Irishman
broke out with —
" Upon me sowl, sir, ye wroite the natest letther for a dishcrip-
tive list, that I iver heerd in me loife. Shure an' a mon wud
think ye'd been a sojer all yur days, ye do wroite so nate a letther."
I turned round and asked, "Have you got yours?"
" An' I haven't, sir."
" Do von want it ?"
"An' to be shure I do," said he, flaring up ; " an' thot's a quare
quistyun to ax a man, av he wants his dischriptive list — av he
wants his pay to boy some dillicacies to sind home to the on Id
woman an' the chilther. I do want it, and av ye'll lind us the
sthroke uv yur pin, Chaplain, ye'll oblige us."
I sat down and wrote the letter, and when I had done said,
" Now, boys, give me your letters and I'll have them postpaid and
sent for you."
When I returned, sad work awaited me. One of Massachusetts'
sons lay in the tent, dying. I spoke to the dying boy of mother,
YOKKTOWK. 23
of Jesus, of home, of heaven. I believe it to be a great character-
Mother.
istic of the American heart, that it clings to home
and mother. I remember passing over a battle-field
and seeing a man just dying. His mind was wandering. His spirit
was no longer on that bloody field ; it was at his home far away. A
smile passed over his face — a smile, oh of such sweetness, as looking
up he said —
"O mother! O mother! I'm so glad you have come."
And it seemed as if she was there by his side. By and bye he
said again —
" Mother, it's cold, it's cold ; won't you pull the blanket over
me ?"
I stooped down and pulled the poor fellow's ragged blanket closer
to his shivering form. And he smiled again :
" That will do, mother, that will do !"
And so, turning over, he passed sweetly into rest, and was borne
up to the presence of God on the wings of a pious mother's
prayers.1
But to come back to the case in the tent. After I had done all I
could for the dying man, and had shaken his hand in farewell, I
turned to leave the tent. Who should meet me at the door but the
old Irishman ? He looked very queerly. There was
certainly something the matter with him. He was „
scratching his head, pulling at his beard, and other
wise acting very strangely ; but I did not take much notice of him,
1 Kev. E. P. Goodwin, Pastor of the Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio,
narrates a story related to him by Inspector Eeed of the U. S. Sanitary Commis
sion in the Western Department, which beautifully illustrates the law or charac
teristic of which Rev. Mr. Mingins speaks : — " A number of wounded lay out at
Elizabeth, Ky., literally in the mud, and utterly uncared for. The Sanitary
Commission sent an agent down, with beds, clothing, &c. Among the neglected
men was a sick youth, who, while he was being cared for, was entirely uncon
scious of it. In the morning, when the Surgeon came around, he found the suf
ferer very much brightened up. He spoke to him pleasantly. The little fellow
was entirely bewildered. He had looked around, and found clean sheets and
bedding, and something to read at the head of his cot. By and bye, after rubbing
his eyes and getting the mist away, he spoke out in a kind of faint whisper : ' Oh
yes, — I guess — I'm better. Somehow it seems as if mother had been here.' "
24 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
as I had been so solemnly engaged. He came up to me and clasp
ing my hands, said —
" Be me sowl, sir, ye're no humbug, anyhow."
" What do you mean ?" I asked.
" Oh," said he, " haven't I watched ye ivery day, as ye've been
goin' through the tint, carin' for the byes? An' ye've been loike a
mother to ivery wan uv thim. Thanks to ye, Chaplain, thanks to
ye, and may God bliss ye," he repeated, as he again wrung my
hand. " And," said he, " ye do all this for nothin'. The byes 've
been tillin' me about ye."
" Oh," said I, "that's a mistake."
" Well, now, how's thot? They've been tillin' me, ye wur a Pris-
bytharian ministher, an' thot ye came away from yere home down
here, for the love ye had for the byes. But ye don't do it for
nothin', eh? Who, thin, pays ye — the Guvermint?"
" No. If it had to pay me, it would take a great deal more
money than it can spare."
" Well, does the Commission pay ye?"
" No."
" Well, thin, av the Guvermint doesn't pay ye, nor the Commis
sion doesn't, who does pay ye ?"
I looked the man straight in the eyes and said —
" That honest, hearty grasp of the hand, and that hearty ' God
bless you,' are ample reward for all that I have done for you. Re
member, my brave fellow, that you have suffered and sacrificed for
me, and I couldn't do less for you now."
He was broken down. He bowed his head and wept, and then
taking me by the hand again, said, " Shure an' av thot's the pay ye
take, why thin, God bliss yc ! God bliss ye! Ye'll be rich uv the
coin uv me heart all yere days." And then, after a few minutes'
pause, he added, "An' now, Chaplain, av ye'lljist give us the shirt an'
the dra'rs, I'll wear thim till there's not a thrid uv thim lift."
Rev. George Bringhurst of Philadelphia,1 who still
retains, as a precious memorial of the war, the simple
papers which designate him the first Delegate of the
2 Rector of All Saints' Prot. Episc. Church, Moyamensing, Philadelphia.
YORKTOWN. 25
Commission, narrates the series of incidents which fol
low, — beginning with this first trip to the army :
In how many instances was the precious Gospel brought to the
soldiers, in the strains of music set to Psalms and Hymns. In camp
and hospital, on march and field, the sweet songs of Zion wooed
many a prodigal back to the Father's loving embrace.
None possibly were more effectual than that familiar
hymn, " Rock of Ages." We heard it sung for the first time in the
army, on the beach at Fortress Monroe, by some Delegates of the
Christian Commission, just beneath the " Lincoln Gun." Its grateful
truth, borne by the winds, fell upon the ear of a soldier on the
parapet ; not only so, but touched his heart, and in time led him to
build on the " Rock of Ages."
Again, we heard the same hymn at Yorktown, sung by some of
the same Delegates. After its singing, as we were returning to our
quarters, one of the Delegates was overtaken by a soldier, who be
longed to the " Lost Children."1 He asked—
"Won't you please tell me how I may be built on the ' Rock' you
sang about ? I was thinking of it while on guard the other day."
He told his story in brief: he was from New York City, had received
his mother's dying blessing. Before she breathed her last, she sang
this hymn, and said —
" George, my son, I would not feel so badly about your enlisting,
if you were only built upon that 'Rock/"
These sacred memories were revived by the singing of the hymn ;
and as the Delegate and soldier knelt on the dusty road-side, be
neath the stars, the wanderer lost his weariness and thirst for sin, in
the shadow of the " Rock of Ages."
Mr. Bringhurst continues, — for it is better to antici
pate, than to break the unity of the series :
Eighteen months after this incident, the same Delegate, going to
Fortress Monroe, on a boat which had as part of her passengers a
gay and happy company of the Signal Corps, conversed, sang and
1 The name of a New York Eegiment, — "Enfans Perdus."
26 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
prayed with them. He related to them the foregoing incidents, sang
" Rock of Ages," and retired to his state-room. Soon after, a gentle
tap called him to the door, where he found a tall, graceful Lieuten
ant, who, with tears streaming down his face, said —
" O sir ! I could not let you go to bed to-night until I had told
you what you have done. As I sat, with my head leaning against
a spar, and listened to your words and to that hymn, you brought
back my dead mother with all her prayers and love. I have been
a wanderer until this night, and now by God's grace I want to hide
myself in that ' Rock of Ages.' m
In Rev. Mr. Bringhurst's experience at Mill Creek
Hospital, near Fortress Monroe, occurred the two follow
ing incidents :
A dying soldier, placed, on account of the awful nature of his
disease, in a tent far away from his comrades, when asked by me, if
he was not lonely, replied, with his hand upon his Testament —
"My companion is here; how can I be lonely?"
Not Lonely. rpl .
Ine same night he passed away into the country
wherein there shall be neither sickness nor loneliness any more.
" I know not, oh ! I know not
"What social joys are there ;
What pure, unfading glory ;
What light beyond compare.
O Garden free from sorrow !
O Plains that fear no strife !
O princely Bowers, all blooming !
O Realm and Home of life !" 2
As I was reading the fifteenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel, audi
bly, one Sunday afternoon, in a ward of the hospital, I came to the
words, " I will arise and go to my father."
1 None who were present will ever forget the tearful solemnity which fell upon
the company, when these little stories were told by Mr. Bringhurst, in the hotel
parlor, one evening at Washington, when the Commission was gathered in that
city, for its last anniversary.
2 Rev. Dr. Neale's translation of Bernard's " Celestial Countrv."
WILLIAMSBUKG. 27
A soldier near me at once cried out. " That's me :
"That's me."
that's me."
Going to his side, I found him very anxious. I pointed him to
the Father, and very soon he gave his heart to Jesus.
Two years later, he laid down his life at Fredericksburg. His
path meanwhile had been like that of the just, "shining more and
more unto the perfect day."
The pursuit of the enemy retreating from York town
was prompt and energetic. On May 4th, the place was
evacuated. On the next day, Hooker, Kearny and
Hancock fought the battle of Williamsburg. The Union
loss was nearly 2000 in killed and wounded. Nearly
800 Confederates, mostly severely wounded, were left in
the hastily evacuated defences of Fort Magruder. The
work of death had begun in earnest.
Several days after the battle, a soldier came hurriedly to a Chap
lain's tent, with the message —
" Chaplain, one of our boys is badly wounded, and wants to see
you right away."
Following the soldier, writes the Chaplain, I was
, , , . , , "Thank God for
taken to a cot on which lay a noble young man. He , ' ...
J J such a mother !
was pale and blood-stained from a terrible wound
above the temple. I saw at a glance that he had but a short time to
live. Taking his hand, I said to him —
" Well, my brother, what can I do for you ?"
The poor, dying soldier looked up in my face, and placing his
finger where his hair was stained with blood, said —
"Chaplain, cut a big lock from here for mother, — mind, Chap
lain, for mother /"
I hesitated to do it. He said —
"Don't be afraid, Chaplain, to disfigure my hair; it's for mother,
and nobody will come to see me in the dead-house to-morrow."
I did as he requested me.
" Now, Chaplain," said the dying man, " I want you to kneel
down by me and return thanJcs to God."
28 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"For what?" I asked.
" For giving me such a mother. O Chaplain, she is a good mother.
And thank God that by His grace I am a Christian. Oh, what
would I do now if I wasn't a Christian ? ' I know that my Re
deemer liveth.' I know that His finished work has saved me.
And, Chaplain, thank God for giving me dying grace. He has
made this dying bed ' feel soft as downy pillows are.' Thank Him
for the promised home in glory. I'll soon be there — where there is
no war, nor sorrow, nor desolation, nor death — where I'll see Jesus,
and be ' for ever with the Lord.' "
I knelt by the dying man, and thanked God for the blessings He
had bestowed upon him — the blessings of a good mother, a Christian
hope, and dying grace. Shortly after the prayer, he said —
" Good-bye, Chaplain ; if you ever see mother, tell her it was all
well."1
Dr. Greene, in an address to a graduating class of
Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Mass., says :
Let me relate one incident that occurred while I was upon the
Peninsula, during the bloody campaign of last summer. At the
battle of Williamsburg, in the edge of the forest skirting the field,
a soldier was struck by a bit of shell which severed
\amef" ' ^ie ^racn^a^ artery. Faint from the profuse hem
orrhage, he fell, just as a Surgeon was riding rapidly
past towards the front to get orders for establishing a hospital at a
certain point. The poor fellow had just strength to raise his bleed
ing arm and say —
" Doctor, please." The Surgeon dismounted, and rapidly ligated
the vessel, applied a compress and bandage, and administered a
cordial. As he turned to go away the man asked —
" Doctor, what is your name ?"
"No matter," said the Surgeon, and leaping on his horse, dashed
away.
" But, Doctor," said the wounded man, " I want to tell my wife and
children who saved me."
1 See p. 95.
TO RICHMOND AND BACK. 29
The march towards Richmond was a slow one. Rain
fell frequently ; the roads were horrible ; so that Gen.
McClellan's headquarters did not reach White House
until May 16th, nor Cold Harbor until the 22d. The
first collision between the hostile armies occurred May
24th, near New Bridge. On the 27th, the battle of Han
over Court House was fought by Fitz John Porter ; and
on the last day of the month occurred Fair Oaks, or
Seven Pines.
Gen. Lee had now succeeded to the chief command of
the Confederate forces in Virginia. The month of June
passed almost to its close, and very little seemed to have
been done. The sluggish Chickahominy with its miry
swamp bottom was sending pestilence through the Union
ranks. The Confederate commander determined to
strike a decisive blow. The battles of Mechanicsville
and Games' Mills followed each other in quick succes
sion ; Gen. McClellan decided to retreat. White Oak
Swamp and Glendale closed the month. The struggle
of Malvern Hills on July 1st, though resulting in the
complete repulse of the enemy, was followed by the
retreat of the Union Army to Harrison's Bar.
The Delegates of the Commission were as busy as pos
sible with the limited means at their disposal, through
out these terrible scenes. Mr. Chas. Demond,1 of Boston,
relates the following :
A Delegate found sixty-five men, sick and wounded, lying on the
second floor of a barn, just under the roof. The Virginia sun was
pouring upon the building, but a few feet above their heads, with
1 One of the original members of the Commission, who throughout the war
paid personal attention to its extensive and varied interests in New England.
The extract is from Mr. Demond's Williams College Alumni Address, pp. 24, 25.
30 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
July heat. They were suffering much. The Dele-
,„ " gate gave them some delicacies, and then asked the
soldier-nurse to wash their hands and feet.
" I did not enlist to wash men's feet," was the reply.
" Bring me the water, then, and I will do it." The water was
brought, and the gentleman washed the heads and hands and feet of
the sixty-five suffering men.
Mrs. Harris, who was freely helped from the Com
mission stores, during this campaign, writing from near
Savage's Station, June 22d, says :
Passing a forlorn-looking house, we were told by a sentinel that a
young officer of a Maine regiment l lay within, very sick. In a cor
ner, on a stretcher, we found him, an elegant-looking youth, strug
gling; with the last enemv. His mind wandered, and
In the Battle , .
, j. as we approached him, he exclaimed —
"Is it not cruel to keep me here, when my mother
and sister, whom I have not seen for a year, are in the next room ?
They might let me go in."
Once for a moment, he seemed to have a glimpse of his real
condition. Drawing two rings from his finger, placed there by a
loving mother and sister, he handed them to an attendant, saying —
" Carry them home." A moment more and he was amid battle
scenes, calling out, " Deploy to the left." " Keep out of that ambus
cade." " Now, go, my braves, double quick, and strike for your flag."
"On, on," and he threw up his arms as if cheering them ; "you'll
win the day."
His very last words were about his men. A graduate of Water-
ville College, some twenty of his company were from the same in
stitution; this, in a measure, accounted for his deep interest in
his soldiers. He was an only son; the thought almost choked us,
as we whispered a few sentences of God's Book into his ear. He
looked up, smiling thankfully ; but his manner betokened no under
standing of the sacred words.
1 Lieut. Col. Wm. S. Heath.
GAINES' MILLS. 31
Here is a memorial of Games' Mills :
Two wounded brothers were brought to Savage's Station and laid
at the foot of a tree. When found by a friend, their arms were en
twined about each other, and they were trying to administer mutual
comfort. They talked of loved ones at home, of their
. . J „ .. . ! ,. , "Poor little
longings to see mother; then of the service in which j^o&'s asiee »
they had been engaged, and their love of country.
They prayed for each other, and for their friends far away, and espe
cially that mother might be comforted. In a little time the younger
went up home ; the survivor, blind from a shot in the face, knew it
not, but continued to speak encouraging words to him. No response
being made, he said in a pleased, gentle way —
" Poor little Hob's asleep."
In a few minutes more he too slept — and awoke with his brother.
The wounded were conveyed to White House, until
that place was evacuated. Rev. Chas. H. Corey,1 a Del
egate here, writes :
I assisted in taking a young man on board one of the hospital
steamers at White House. He was scarcely nineteen years old. I
saw that he was dying, and watched him breathing his last. As I
bathed his hands, the soldier reached up his arms,
threw them round my neck, and drew my face close
down to his own. There was more of gratitude and affection in the
simple act than any words could ever have told. All that could be
known of him was that his name was Watkins. Afterwards, amid
the din, a low murmur of talk was heard from his dying lips ; but
the only intelligible words were something about "drill." Poor
fellow, his drilling on earth was done. The next morning, I saw him
lying in the dead-house. All unconscious as he may have been, there
was a strangely true meaning in the soldier's words, if the " upper
country" be indeed a place of growth and blessed toil.
The following account was given by the soldier him-
~astor of Baptist Church, Seabrook, N. H.
32 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
self to the German Agent of the Commission in the
Army of the Potomac, some time subsequent to the
occurrence :
George Greedy, of Co. C, 3d Pennsylvania Reserves, had received
a pocket Testament from the ladies of Bucks county, when he took
his departure from home. It had these inscriptions: Psalm xci. 11 :
" He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep
A Testament ^ ^ " „ ^ Timoth yi 12: «Fij?llt the
saves Life. J *~ . ,
good fight." This Testament he always carried in
his bosom pocket, In the battle of White Oak Swamp, a minie ball
passed through his left arm, shattering the bone severely; then,
through his coat into the Testament, splitting it from Revelation to
St. John's Gospel, llth chapter; passing out, the ball wounded him
slightly in the stomach. But for his Testament, he would have been
killed on the spot. I asked him to give me the book to show to the
committee of the Commission. He willingly assented, but added —
" I would never sell it, for it saved my life."
Mr. John Patterson's1 graphic account of White
House Christian Commission " Station," in June, just
before the retirement from the Peninsula, will form a
fitting close to the chapter :
We had two tents and a cook-shed ; one tent for sleeping in, the
other for storage. We were three Delegates of the Commission,
assisted by a young convalescent soldier, and cooked for by a negro
boy and woman, wrhose hoe-cakes were our great
The Cnmmis- soiace three times a day. We worked in pairs ; two
sion Station at . ,1 i •, i . \i j , , ,-\
,ir. ,A rr at the hospital, two at the store-tent, and two at the
White House.
cook-shed. We tolerated no drones in our bee-hive.
When the negro boy wras not employed in chopping wood and carry
ing water for Dinah, he was regaling himself and a circle of select
admirers with a genuine Virginia "breakdown ;" and when Dinah had
1 Of Philadelphia. An earnest and indefatigable Delegate of the Commission,
from the beginning to the close of its work. The extract is from "Hospital Re
collections," a series of papers published in the Presbyterian, of Philadelphia.
WHITE HOUSE. fc 33
fixed up all the odds and ends about the tents, she began manufac
turing corn-starch, in huge cauldrons-full, five or six times a day.
The two store-keepers were kept busy from morning to night by a
hungry-looking crowd, which we called the "staff brigade," who
begged for themselves, and their comrades incapable of locomotion.
Supplies were here dispensed in the shape of shirts, drawers, hand
kerchiefs, books, papers, combs, soap, pickles, sugar, tea, bread, and
nearly everything eatable, wearable and usable to be found in a
regular " Yankee-notion" country store.
But the two itinerants had the most exacting and delicate duties.
It was theirs to visit the sick and dying, to bear them little comforts;
to cheer the despondent ; to soothe the agony of some, the last mo
ments of others ; to play, as occasion required, the parts of nurse,
physician and clergyman. Evening brought no rest. The semi-sec
ular employments of the day gave place to the religious labors of
the night, and so pleasant and blessed were these, that we longed
for the evening, when we could meet the eager congregations.
We began early, and ended late — so that more than once we paid
the penalty of our protracted devotion, in arrest by the night guards,
whose duty required them to stop all stragglers. But the young
Delegates were well known and easily recognized, and no authority
would cage them. Such meetings, too, as we enjoyed, would repay
one for an occasional arrest, and for the dark and muddy walks by
which they were reached.
After a short sermon, studied between our tent and the church,
came a prayer and inquiry meeting. This was open to all. One
after another would lead in prayer, testify to a newly-found faith, or
make an exhortation to his comrades. Some were hoary-headed sin
ners; others mere boys. Some would flounder painfully as they tried
to express their feelings, frequently bursting into tears ; while others
would charm with the simplicity and power of their native elo
quence. From such men we had no difficulty in securing an effective
corps of tract distributors. Every morning a number of bronzed
faces would look in at our tent door, and then, supplied with loads
of tracts, papers, hymn books, &c., the men betook themselves to the
different houses and tents, and to the camp of the "Lost Children."
One day, the quiet was disturbed by the thunder of distant can
non. Soon after stragglers from the front came in; then a battery
^ CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
of field artillery which had desolated the path of the advancing
enemy. Then came the order to break up the hospital as soon as
possible, which was interpreted to us to mean twelve hours. That
evening, all who could walk or hobble to our tents were there. We
distributed our entire remaining stock. Farewell addresses, de
livered by two of us, were answered by the hearty cheers of our
audience, and the whole was concluded with a hymn.
In the middle of July began the retreat from Harri
son's Landing. The points of embarkation were New
port News, Fortress Monroe and Yorktown. Gen.
McClellan reached Acqnia Creek on the 24th. Thus
ended the unfortunate campaign of the Peninsula.
CHAPTER II.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
FROM POPE'S BATTLES UNTIL HOOKER TAKES COMMAND.
July 1862— January 1863.
WHILE McClellan was before Richmond, Major Gen
eral Pope was assigned to the command of the three
corps of McDowell, Banks and Sigel. The first inten
tion had been to advance upon Richmond, while cover
ing Washington and protecting Maryland ; but the result
of the Seven Days' Battles frustrated this design. To
secure co-operation between the two armies, Major-Gen
eral Halleck was called to Washington, as commander-
in-chief. General Pope's object now was to effect a
diversion in favor of the army retiring from the Penin
sula. After some cavalry movements to sever commu
nication between Richmond and the Shenandoah, Gen.
Banks, early in August, occupied Culpepper. Pushing
forward from that place, he was met at Slaughter's or
Cedar Mountain, on August 9th, by a vastly superior
force of the enemy under Jackson, and after a desperate
encounter compelled to retreat with severe loss. On the
1 8th, Pope withdrew to the north side of the Rappahan-
nock. Jackson soon after moved into the Shenandoah,
and then through Thoroughfare Gap into Pope's rear.
Some blind manoeuvring followed in an attempt to cut
35
36 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
off his retreat, which brought on the second battle of
Bull Run, August 29th. Gainesville and Chantilly were
fought immediately afterwards. Pope's retreat to Cen
tre ville began on September 1st. As soon as the army
had been drawn back within the Washington entrench
ments, he resigned. The command again devolved on
Gen. McClellan.
Rev. Chas. H. Corey,1 after the evacuation of White
House, had hastened to Warrenton, and, with several
others, met there the wounded from Cedar Mountain,
rendering them signal service.
During the final retreat he came upon four car-loads of wounded,
who would have fallen into the enemy's hands, if he had not, with
such assistance as the wounded could themselves render, rolled the
four cars with their living freight of mangled men,
over four miles, to a point where locomotives took
Delegate.
them. In doing this he wore his shoes entirely oft,
and came afterwards into Fairfax C. H. barefoot.
The scene at Fairfax Station was sorrowful indeed. There were
literally "acres" of wounded men, many of whom had tasted neither
food nor drink for one and two days. The Commission had not yet
learnt how to equip its Delegates.2 In Washington
The Wounded ^ couM find n() bucketSj and were obliged to sub-
at Fairfax Sta-
stitute butter-tubs. Having no lanterns, as they
went over the doleful ground after nightfall, one
hand must serve as candlestick, the other as ministrant. The Dele
gates filled their "tubs" with coffee, as fast as the "contraband"
charged with its preparation could distill it, and, candle in hand, went
from man to man, distributing the refreshing drink with soft crack-
1 See p. 31.
2 The outfit of a Delegate, for any point whence he was liable to be called to
the "front," afterwards consisted of rubber and woolen blankets, haversack, straps,
canteen, two woolen shirts, blanks, badge and memorandum-book. The Base and
Field Stations were kept supplied with other articles of service, which were not
BO easily carried.
NOT ENEMIES.
Page 37.
POPE'S BATTLES. 37
ers, until before the morning dawned all had been served. About
seven hundred were lifted aboard the box-cars; the helpless carefully
carried and laid inside on the floor spread with hay; while those who
could walk were arranged on the car-roofs. So the wounded were
borne on to Washington.
Mr. James Grant, of Philadelphia, who labored among
the men at Fairfax Station, tells this story of a Testa
ment :
I was busy removing the bloody garments from a wounded Union
soldier. In his pocket I found a small book ; taking it out to ascer
tain his name, I discovered that it was a Testament. On opening it,
to my surprise, I found the name of a North Caro
lina soldier. I inquired how he came to have it. He
told me that he was disabled at Hanover C. H., and YOU"
lay on the field nearby a severely wounded Rebel, who
was crying piteously for water. Desirous of relieving the poor fellow's
thirst, he crawled to a stream, filled his canteen, and returning held
it to the dying man's lips, while he greedily drained its contents. In
return, the North Carolinian took out his Testament, and handing it
to the Union soldier, said —
" I have no way to thank you for this, but to give you the thing I
love best of all, — my precious Testament."
In an hour afterwards, the grateful sufferer was silent and without
thirst in death. The " precious Testament" will be an heirloom in
the family of the Union soldier, — a sacred memento of Christian
love in scenes of hate and carnage.
Col. James C. Rice, of New York, whose noble Chris
tian death we shall hereafter be called to chronicle,1 tells
this story of his interview with a dying sergeant, in a
Washington hospital, about ten days after the battle of
Bull Run :
As I was passing through the numerous wards, viewing with feel-
1 See p. 247.
38 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
ings of sympathy and pride, the mutilated but uncomplaining pat
riots, two strangers— a sister and an aunt of one of the young
heroes — accosted me to ask if I would be so kind as
The Sergeant1 a ^ ^^^ by the couch of their relative, while the
Surgeon re-amputated his limb, — an operation on
which his only chance for life depended. They were both weeping,
but the wounded soldier, though suffering intensely, smiled as he
gave me the military salute. I sat down by his couch, and took his
hand in mine. He told me that he was a Sergeant in the 5th New
York,— Duryea's Zouaves ; that he was wounded late in the action,
left upon the field, and remained where he fell from Saturday until
• the following Wednesday, "with no food save a few hard crackers left
in my haversack, and with no water save that which God gave me
from heaven, in rain and dew, and which I caught in my blanket."
After a paroxysm of suffering, the Sergeant continued :
"You know, Colonel, how God always remembers us wounded
soldiers, with rain, after the battle is over, when our lips are parched
and our tongues are burning with fever. On Wednesday, I was
found by a Surgeon, who dressed my wound and sent me in an ambu
lance to Washington. I arrived there late on Thursday evening,
my limb was amputated, and I— The Sergeant again paused in
his story, and I begged him not to go on. I noticed that his voice
became weaker, and his face more pale and deathlike ; a moment
afterwards, blood began to trickle down upon the floor from the rub
ber poncho on which he was lying. I at once called the Surgeon.
He examined the limb, and, after consulting with other Surgeons,
said it was impossible to save his life ; that re-amputation would be
useless ; that the soldier was fast sinking from exhaustion, and in all
probability would not survive the hour. They desired me to make
known their decision to the aunt and sister.
With such language as a soldier might command, I informed them
that the Sergeant must soon rest. Tears filled their eyes, and they
sobbed bitterly ; but their grief was borne as Christian women alone
can bear such sorrow — for they heard the voice of the "Elder
Brother" speaking to them, as to Martha :
" I am the Resurrection and the Life ; he that believeth in Me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live."
The sister, wiping away her tears and offering me a small prayer-
AFTER SECOND BULL RUN. 39
book, asked if I would tell her brother how soon he must go, and
read to him " the prayer for the dying." I went again to the couch.
"Sergeant," said I, "we are going to halt soon — we shall not march
much further to-day."
"Are we going to halt, Colonel, so early in the day ? Are we going
into bivouac before night ?"
" Yes, Sergeant," I replied, " the march is nearly over — the bugle-
call will soon sound 'the halt.'"
His mind wandered for a moment, but my tears interpreted my
words.
"Ah, Colonel," he said, " do you mean that I am so soon to die?"
" Yes, Sergeant," I said, " you are soon to die."
" Well, Colonel, I am glad I am going to die — I want to rest — the
march has not been so long, but I am weary — very weary — I want to
halt — I want to be with Christ — I want to be with my Saviour."
I read "the prayer for the dying," most of which he repeated;
then the sister knelt beside the couch of her brother, and offered up
to God a prayer full of earnestness, love and faith. The life-blood
of her dying brother trickled down the bedside and crimsoned her
dress, while she besought the Father that his robes might be "washed
and made white in the blood of the Lamb." The prayer was fin
ished; the Sergeant said "Amen ;" we stood again by the bed-side.
" Sister — aunt — do not weep : I am going to Christ ; I am going to
rest in heaven. Tell my mother, sister, — " and the soldier took from
his finger a ring and kissed it — " tell my mother, sister, that this is
for her, and that I remembered and loved her, dying."
He took another ring from his hand, kissed it and said —
" Sister, this is for her to whom my heart is pledged ; tell her — tell
her to come to me in heaven."
" Colonel," said he, turning to me, his face brightening with the
words, " tell my comrades of the army — the noble Army of the Po
tomac — that I died bravely, — died for the good old flag."
His pulse beat feebler and feebler, the blood trickled faster and
faster, the dew of death came and went, and rippling for a moment
over the pallid face, at last rested, — rested for ever. The Sergeant
had halted ; his bivouac now is in heaven.
Chaplain Brown, of Douglas Hospital, Washington,
40 CHKISTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
gives an illustration of the power of Christ's presence to
make the soldier happy amidst pains :
"Chaplain," said Sergeant Me , "are you the Chaplain of this
hospital ?"
" Yes, sir," said I, " and shall be glad to serve you."
" Oh, I'm so glad we have a Chaplain here. I'm
"The Happiest ^ }iappiest man you ever saw!" and his whole
Man You Ever * . . .
Saw» countenance was radiant with joy.
" How is that ?" I replied. " You have lost a leg,
and—"
" No matter about my leg," he quickly replied ; " I shall have both
legs in heaven ; I tell you I'm the happiest man you ever saw," and
bis very heart seemed to leap with gladness.
" Well, what makes you so happy ?" I inquired.
" I will tell you," he said. "As we were going into battle, I said to
myself, ' this is serious work ;' so I prayed God to spare my life and
pardon my sins ; or if I should be killed, to take me to heaven.
Presently a shell struck my leg below the knee, and I just lay still
and prayed. I was left on the battle-field all that night, but I lay
still and prayed. O Chaplain, that was the happiest night of my life!"
and again his countenance was lit up with inexpressible joy.
" How could you be happy under such circumstances ?" I asked
again.
" Oh, I just prayed, and Christ seemed to come and stand by my
side all night, and He comforted me ; I felt sure that my sins were
all pardoned and washed away in His blood ; and I do tell you,
Chaplain, that I forgot all about my wounds for the moment : it was
the happiest night of my life."
This conversation occurred twelve days after the battle; I said —
"And you feel as happy still ?"
" Oh, yes, I'm the happiest man you ever saw."
And so indeed it seemed. He lingered several days, happy all the
while ; then sweetly fell asleep in Jesus.
Gen. Lee did not follow McClellan into the entrench
ments surrounding Washington. Joined by D. H. Hill's
fresh division from Richmond, he put it into his van at
ANTIETAM. 41
Leesburg, thence crossed the Potomac and moved on
Frederick, which was occupied Sept. 6th. McClel-
lan brought his army hastily to the north of Wash
ington, and on the 12th, after a brisk skirmish, entered
Frederick; the main body of the Confederates, two days
before, having gone west. On the 14th, the battle of
South Mountain was fought with Longstreet, for the
possession of Turner's Gap, and the enemy worsted.
Jackson, meanwhile, recrossing the Potomac, had
hastened to Harper's Ferry, which was surrendered to
him, the day after South Mountain, with 12,000 pris
oners. Gen. Lee took up a strong position along An-
tietam Creek in front of the village of Sharpsburg,
and here, on the 17th, the victory of Antietam was
gained, after one of the bloodiest days of the war. The
official reports make the loss of killed and wounded
between 11,000 and 12,000 on each side. On the morrow
the shattered armies watched each other, and in the
evening Lee quietly recrossed the Potomac.
Immediately after South Mountain, several Delegates,
in charge of four ambulances, well filled with stores, left
Washington. They reached Antietam in advance of
other stores. Other Delegates followed, the next day,
from Philadelphia and Baltimore via Hagerstown and
Frederick ; and soon, over seventy were at work in the
hospitals and on the field. Several, at the "Stone
Bridge," near McClellan's headquarters, were exposed,
throughout the whole day of the battle, to the fire of
the enemy's artillery. Rev. Archibald Beatty,1 one of
these, writes :
1 Hector of Cranmer (now Trinity) Prot. Epis. Chapel, Philadelphia. After
wards Chaplain U. S. A.
42 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
After laboring all day among the wounded, amid the roar of can
non, with shells above and around us, at eleven o'clock, completely
exhausted, I lay down on the ground among the wounded to rest. I
had just fallen asleep when I was aroused by the re-
Songs on the . . , . , ,. . ., . n
-n ,,, ,. 77 quest to visit a dying soldier who desired to see me.
Battle-field. J
I went and found him lying in a wagon, evidently
near his end, and anxious to know the way to Christ. As briefly as
I could I spoke of Jesus, His death, His love ; and then raised my
voice in prayer. As soon as that sound went out upon the night air
over those thousands of wounded men, every moan and groan of the
sufferers who could hear was hushed ; and in the solemn stillness I
prayed for him, so soon to me«t the Judge, and for his comrades about
us. After the prayer, a lady sang most sweetly :
" In the Christian's home in glory
There remains a Land of Eest,
There my Saviour's gone before me,
To fulfill my soul's request."
And then Mrs. Harris stooped down and kissed him. We left him,
and early in the morning, when we returned, we found a kind friend
just closing his eyes, — his spirit having gone away to be with Him to
whom the last, grand song of the redeemed shall be raised.
Mr. James Grant was also one of the Delegates on
this field during the battle. He gives the following
account of a life saved :
While moving around amongst the wounded of Gen. Sedgwick's
Division, on the night after Antietam, my attention was called by a
disabled officer to a friend of his, badly wounded in the face, and
lying out somewhere without a covering. Following
his directions, and throwing the rays of my lantern
towards the foot of a wooden fence, I soon discovered the object of my
search.
He was a Lieutenant of a Pennsylvania Regiment.1 The ball had
entered one side of the cheek and passed out at the other, grazing
First Lieut. Anthony Morin, Co. D. 90th P. V. Afterwards Captain.
ANTIETAM. 43
his tongue, and carrying away several of his teeth. His face was
horribly swollen, and he could not speak. On asking him if he was
Lieut. M., of Philadelphia, he assented by a nod of his head.
It was raining pretty heavily and he was quite wet ; straw was pro
cured, a bed made, and he was left for the night as comfortable as
possible. During the next two days, the Surgeons were all so busy,
that his wound, which had been hurriedly dressed on the field, re
mained untouched ; yet he showed no signs of impatience. In the
inflamed, wounded condition of his mouth, nothing could be passed
down his throat. On the third day, as the Surgeons still had more
to do than they could manage, we assisted them in washing and re
dressing wounds, most of which had remained untouched since the
battle. With some hesitation, I took the Lieutenant's case in hand,
and, after two hours' labor, succeeded in cutting away his whiskers
and washing the wound pretty thoroughly, both inside and outside
the mouth. This done, and all the clotted blood and matter cleared
away, the swelling abated, and he began to articulate a little. A
day or so afterward, he could swallow liquids ; and being carefully
washed daily, in less than a week he was able to travel to Phila
delphia.
I saAV him next in his own house. Tears of gratitude filled his
eyes and those of his wife ; and it amply repaid me to be introduced
to Mrs. M. by the gallant soldier, as " the man who picked me up at
midnight and dressed my wound, when I had given myself up to die."
Another of Mr. Grant's reminiscences shows the
warm, unselfish heart so often belonging to our soldiers,
and prompting them to so many kindnesses, even sacri
fices, on behalf of enemies :
No one who traversed Antietam battle-ground, while the dead lay
unburied, can ever forget the long, deep road or cut which ran along
the edge of a corn-field, and formed a natural rifle-pit for the Rebels
during the fight. The impetuous bravery of the Irish
Brigade at last dispossessed them, though only after nor j,?
very severe loss, — the road for half a mile being
literally covered with dead and wounded.
The disabled from this vicinity were mainly carried to a farm-
44 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
house overlooking the bloody ground. We found them suffering and
destitute. Our own supplies were at once exhausted, the stock of
clothing being reduced to a single shirt. Looking round to discover
the most needy, I observed an elderly soldier of a New York regi
ment, leaning against the barn-door. He was severely wounded in
the breast, and appeared weak from the loss of blood. He had no
shirt, but had substituted for it a few blood-soaked, weather-hardened
fragments of an outer coat.
" You are the very man I am looking for," said I ; " nobody could
need this ' last shirt' more than you."
His reply thrilled me: "I'm much obleeged t' ye, sir, but, — " and
he pointed to a spot on the hill-side near by, " down yonder there's
a poor ' Johnny' l far worse off nor I am, an' av ye'll plaze t' give 't
till me, I'll put it on him by-and-bye."
I handed him the shirt, and its benevolent errand was soon accom
plished.
Rev. Robert J. Parvin2 had charge of an important
part of trie Commission's operations at Antietam. The
following incident occurred in his work :
Three or four clays after the battle, he sent out Rev. S. W. Thomas3
and another Delegate, to search for wounded men who might be lying
neglected on the field. Walking a long distance over the bloody
ground, thirst led them to a deserted farm-house for
The Scouting ,TT1 „ , . , . ,
parti water. While drinking at the pump, they noticed
lying in the barn-yard what seemed to them at first
bundles of rags. Looking closer, they were found to be the bodies
of two dead soldiers. Near by thirteen living men were discovered,
— all badly wounded. Word was at once sent to Sharpsburg, the
Commission headquarters, and an ambulance came down with Mr.
Parvin and other Delegates, bringing a supply of needful things. It
was a scene not easily forgotten. None of the wounded men could
move. The Delegates carried out the dead from among the living, —
1 The general soubriquet in the army for a Confederate soldier.
2 Rector of St Paul's Prot. Episc. Church, Cheltenham, Pa. Now Secretary
of the P. E. Evangelical Education Society.
3 Of Philadelphia Conference, Meth. Episc. Church.
ANTIETAM. 45
a poor Alabamian, one of whose legs was gone, all the while moan
ing out in a despairing voice, " Water ! water ! water !" A fire was
kindled in the barn-yard ; water boiled, and tea made. Every pos
sible ministry of mercy was performed for the poor men, who were
nearly all Confederates. Help was procured from a regiment near
by, and all were moved to a Field Hospital on Michael Miller's farm,
only three-quarters of a mile away. Had they remained unattended
one night more, there would have been no survivors.
The help came from the regiment encamped near, in the following
manner. A Captain riding by was attracted by the ambulance near
the barn. Just as he came up, Mr. Parvin was kneeling in the cow-
yard, praying with the dying Alabamian. The Cap
tain reined in, uncovered his head, and listened rev- -r, • a^
Prince.
erently to the petition. In answer to a question, the
dying soldier said —
" Yes, yes, my trust is in the Lord Jesus."
He moaned it out through grooves of pain ; the whole scene was
absolutely wretched with filth and mire and pale, pained faces ; yet
out of the midst of it went up the words of Christian victory:
" My trust is in Jesus. I'm as happy as a prince."
The Captain, awestruck by the scene, volunteered all the needed
help, sending ambulances, and afterwards riding over again to see
the dying man. In a conversation with Mr. Parvin, he confessed
that he had been more touched by what he had beheld in that barn
yard, than by all the sermons he had heard in his lifetime.
Mr. Demond's Williams College Alumni Address1
contains this incident :
After the battle of Antietam, a gentleman2 passing over the field
of blood, saw a man washing at a brook ; as he came near he recog
nized a Doctor of Divinity, the Pastor of one of the largest Churches
in Philadelphia, and a Delegate. Said he :
" Doctor, what are you doino-?" A Dwnity-
™. Doctor Washing
I he Doctor straightened up, and pointing with his shirts
finger, said —
1 See p. 24.
Rev. Geo. J. Mingins, a Delegate.
46 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Over yonder, are six hundred wounded men ; most of them lying
in the bloody shirts in which they were wounded. Our shirts are
out, and we shall have none till to-morrow morning ; so I thought I
would take a few of the worst out here, and wash and dry them in
the sun. Do you think there is any harm in it ?"
Said the gentleman :
" Doctor, I know God has blessed you abundantly, in your work
in Philadelphia, but I do not think the Master ever looked upon any
act of your life with more pleasure than upon this."
" I believe it," said the Doctor, and turned to his washing.
The prospect of a battle often induced deep solemnity
in the army. A reminiscence by Rev Geo. J. Mingins
shows that the retrospect was sometimes very solemn
also :
One day we were burying some poor fellows who had fallen in the
battle, and a soldier was helping us. He told us how he had passed
through the fierce conflict unharmed :
" For which," said he, " I thank God."
Not the Rebels' m
Sad Shooting" Thank the rebels for being such bad marksmen,"
said a man near us.
The soldier, looking him in the face, replied, "I ain't no Christian,
God knows ; but after what we passed through, I ought to be a better
man. You may think as you like; J think God saved me, not the
rebels' bad shooting."
Hospitals for the Antietam wounded were scattered
thickly over Western Maryland, the chief one remain
ing at Sharpsburg. They were visited, as long as they
lasted, by the Commission Delegates. The Baltimore
Committee, in whose field of work they lay, was very
active in its exertions. The impressions made on the
wounded rebels by the care taken of them were deep
and lasting. Some learned to look upon the Southern
sympathizers who visited them as not their truest
friends.
ANTIETAM. 47
In one instance, while members of the Committee were standing
by, a lady approached a wounded Confederate, who was lying between
two Union soldiers. One leg of each had been amputated. The
lady said to her friend —
'"Here, soldier, I have brought you some nice
tl€S»
things, and I want you to put them by your side ;
and don't let these men have any of them."
" Madam," replied the suffering man, " these men share everything
they get with me, and if I cannot share what you give me with them,
I cannot take it."
Many wounded were taken to Baltimore after the
battle. Rev. R. Spencer Vinton, Chaplain of McKim's
Hospital in that city, relates the following incident :
Sylvester McKinley, of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, was a
noble-looking youth, of fine figure and intelligent face. He had lost
his left arm in the battle, and was very much reduced by his suffer
ings. When brought into the Hospital, he had
neither coat, vest, nor hat. The Ladies of the North p.,,
Baltimore Union Relief Association took his case in
hand, and spared neither means nor labors in his behalf. His con
dition was critical, and I began at once giving him religious instruc
tion. I learned that he had been a Sunday-school scholar, and was
quite familiar with the Bible. He received my assurances of Christ's
interest in him with joy, and was made happy in the belief that his
ransomed spirit would reach its rest in heaven. I visited him daily,
and always found him with his Testament in hand or by his side. I
prayed with him, and had the strongest assurance of his confidence
in God. A faithful nurse was ever by his side.
Near the last, weakened by his sufferings and fainting from ex
haustion, he asked the nurse to hand him his Testament. He read a
brief passage, and closing it said in a feeble voice —
" Now, nurse, put it under my head."
It was placed as he desired, and in a moment he was asleep in
Jesus.
One of the most devoted and efficient Delegates of
48 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
the Commission was Eev. I. Oliver Sloan.1 He was
of the original party which went to Fortress Monroe in
May, 1862, remaining on the Peninsula until McClel-
lan's army was withdrawn. Among the first at Antie-
tam, he continued several months in the Maryland
hospitals. He writes :
Burnside was preparing to move on Fredericksburg, and all who
could possibly go to the front were ordered from the hospitals. I had
become very much interested in a soldier named Monroe, of Co. H,
12th Mass. Eegimeut, who had been left behind very
Christ, the ^^ w]ien tjie armv moved after Lee. Before the
Source of Cour-
age order came lor all who were well enough to go to the
front, the Surgeon had permitted Monroe, who was
sufficiently recovered for such service, to assist me in my hospital
work. He was only nineteen, but I found him a ready helper, — a
faithful Christian in all his conduct. I was sorry to lose him, and
especially to have him join his regiment for the duty of an able-
bodied man. To many of the poor, half-recovered fellows who had
been left behind after the battle, this order to the front was a very
death knell, I was not sure how Monroe himself might receive the
news. His answer was very calm :
" Why should I be away from my regiment, when the other boys
are there fighting ? My life is no more valuable than theirs ; and
besides, God will be with me, and I needn't fear. I shall try to live
near Christ. He will give me courage."
Soon after joining his regiment, he wrote to tell me how glad he
was to be at the post of duty. In the following summer he lost an
arm at Gettysburg.
A long " quiet" followed Antietam. It was not until
October 26th that the army crossed the Potomac. On
November 7th Gen. McClellan was relieved, and Gen.
A. E. Burnside assumed command. The army had bv
Connected with the Fourth (N. S.) Presbytery of Philadelphia.
FKEDEKICKSBUKG. 49
this time reached Warrenton. Gen. Burnside promptly
moved his forces down the Rappahannock to Fredericks-
burg. Gen. Lee kept opposite to him on the south bank.
Our army crossed on pontoons, and Dec. 13th, assaulted
the Rebels in their entrenchments behind Fredericks-
burg. Our repulse was decisive and the slaughter terri
ble. The battle was not renewed, and on the night of
the 15th the entire army was withdrawn north of the
river. About January 20th, 1863, another movement
was contemplated, but a storm prevented it, and on the
28th Gen. Burnside was relieved. Maj. Gen. Joseph
Hooker next assumed command.
A large party of " Minute men"1 went to the front
after the December battle, under the direction of Rev.
Alexander Reed.2 Scenes of distress met them on every
hand. The wounded were carried in ambulances to
Falmouth Station, to await transportation to Washing
ton, via Acquia Creek. The delays at these points of
transferring from one mode of conveyance to another
were wearisome and most painful. Just here, the Com
mission work after this battle came in with most marked
effect.
The New York Observer* gives the following incident
of Fredericksburg, told in the Fulton Street Prayer
meeting :
A speaker held up a Testament, stating that it was from the bat
tle-field. On one of the fly-leaves was this record: "Found on the
1 " Minute men" were distinguished from the regular Delegates, by the facts of
their going in emergencies, at very short notice, and for briefer terms of service.
2 Then Pastor of (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, Parkesburg, Pa.— Now of the
Central Church, Philadelphia.
3 Of March 19th, 1863.
4
50 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
battle-field of Fredericksburg, December 16th, at 2. A. M., while
covering the evacuation of that place, by P. H. B.
William Glo- Taken from begide a dead body>» There wag eyi_
deuce that the book had been read after the owner
was wounded. It was found lying open. On the fly-leaf in front is
this inscription :
"A present to William Glover, from his sister Maggy. Read this
often."
It was a beautiful, gilt-edged Testament, clasped, and bearing the
imprint of the American Bible Society in 1860.
The speaker said : " I find the Gospels show signs of much read
ing. I find two leaves turned down, evidently intended to mark
these passages : 'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved
the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'
" Then I find another leaf turned to point to this passage in St.
Luke : ' Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter
into His glory?'
" Who can estimate the value of this Testament to such a dying
man ?"
Surely no earthly arithmetic can calculate it. The
Bible Society Record narrates a similar incident :
Among the articles returned from the battle-field with the dead
body of a young soldier from one of the Connecticut regiments, was
a Bible, which had been given him by a praying
Testament^1 ^ mother. On examining it a single leaf was found
turned down and pointing to the following verse :
" There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sin
ner that repenteth."
Revs. Christopher Gushing and F. N. Peloubet,1
1 Pastors then respectively of Congregational Churches in N. Brookfield and
Oakham, Mass. Rev. Mr. Gushing is now a Secretary of the Amer. Cong. Union.
j AFTER FREDERICKSBURG. 51
among others, took care of the wounded in Washington,
as they arrived from JVedericksburg. With all that the
Government could do, the bitter weather and the im
mense number of disabled made cases of extreme desti
tution frequent. Mr. Gushing writes :
I found a man taking a rough and coarse shoe from his bosom,
and requesting a comrade to put it on his foot. I inquired what it
meant, and found that he had no means of warming his cold foot,
save by heating the shoe in his bosom, and then
putting it back on his foot. To relieve such suffer- The Cold Shoe.
ing was indeed a blessed ministry.
I asked one poor fellow, who had just been removed from the boat,
why he did not complain. There was rare fortitude
iti his answer — « }yjiy not
" We've been, sir, where it did no good to com- Complain?"
plain."
Sometimes, as we removed the men, we found them wounded in
such a way as not to require a stretcher, and yet it
helped them greatly to put their arms around us, or
. ._. Crutches.
have ours round them. Ihey said we were the best
kind of crutches.
Rev. Mr. Peloubet writes of the same work :
The soldiers thought they must pay for the little delicacies given
them.
" No pay," said I—" free as the Gospel."
" Soldiers don't have much of that kind," they
answered.
" Well, I hope you'll like the Gospel as well as these little things."
"Yes," said some, doubtfully, "the Gospel's good too." But others
said it earnestly, as if they had felt it deep down on the terrible day.
As I was giving some soft white bread to the hungry hospital men
to-day, one of them laughed out.
" What are you laughing at ?" I asked.
" Who wouldn't laugh," said he, " to see such
bread."
52 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
\
It was desirable that Mr. Peloubet and Mr. Gushing
should go down the river ; but for several days, during
the changes in front of Fredericksburg, no passes could
be procured. Mr. Peloubet tells how they got off at
last and what came of it :
We had tried " red tape" until we were tired ; and to-day, the
Captain of a boat returning to Acquia Creek for more wounded, who
had seen us working on the transports and wharves, invited us on
board. We did not hesitate a moment. The boat
The Restless , ,,
„. ht was carrying down a large company ol navvies to
work for the Government. There were no accom
modations on the boat for us. We had brought along bread and
apple-sauce, whereof we eat only bread, keeping the sauce for the
soldiers. The men on board passed their time in retailing stories
and jokes. The placard, " Beware of pickpockets," elicited an
amusing series of comments.
" It'll take two to pick my pockets," remarked one.
" What will the second man do ?" asked another.
" Put something in to be picked," was the rejoinder.
We took turns in sleeping and watching ; no longer wondering that
soldiers forget Sunday, for we already doubted about where and
when we were.
About half-past two o'clock in the morning, the men began to
wake up, hungry and noisy. We were taking down with us, among
other stores, two bags of bread, which it required constant vigilance
to protect. The noise and confusion continued to in-
Peace after A , , , T , . 0
pnner crease. At last 1 proposed some singing, feo we
began with " Shining Shore," and kept on with
"Will you go?" "Star-Spangled Banner," "Red, White and Blue,"
"Coronation," &c. After I had read the fourth chapter of
Second Corinthians, Rev. Mr. Gushing prayed, and made some
excellent remarks. To our joy and astonishment, during the
prayer, nearly all rose and uncovered their heads. The foreman, in
charge of the party, came to us afterwards and told us that he was
" Head-devil " among the men. I suggested to him that it would be
better if he were Head-angel. He said he would try to be, and
WASHINGTON. 53
asked for some singing books, which, he said, would be of special
use to the men on Sundays. Nine of them wanted to buy Testa
ments. After singing a few more melodies we reached Acquia Creek,
and had no difficulty at the Provost-Marshal's office in procuring
passes over the Government road to the front.
Towards the close of the year, the chairman of the
Commission, in one of his frequent army visits, came to
Washington. In a public address1 afterwards, he relates
an incident of his Delegate's work, near the Capitol :
I have visited many hospitals and camps, and have distributed
many of our Commission books ; and I can testify that from the be
ginning until now I have never met a man who refused them, save
one, and he was from my own city — Philadelphia.
I do not believe in being conquered. I never give Greater
. . _ _ Includes the
up anything that is practicable. But here was a case ^m
for me ! The man told me that he was an infidel — •
did not believe in my books — did not need them. Said he —
" I am from Philadelphia ; I live at such a number, Callowhill
street ; if you go there you will find out my character, and that I am
as good a man as you are."
" I trust a great deal better," said I.
"Stuart," said a friend to whom I related the incident, "you are
beaten for once."
" No," I replied, " I'm not done with that man yet."
I approached him, shortly afterwards, again ; said he —
" What was the book you wanted to give me the other day ?"
I told him it was a selection from the Scriptures, called Cromwell's
Bible.
" Oh," said he, " I don't want your Bible ; I've no need of it ; I'm
a good enough man without it," and with a motion of supreme in
difference he turned away his head.
" My friend," said I, " I'm from Philadelphia, too ; I know where
you live, — can find the exact house. On next Sunday evening, if
A* the Washington Anniversary of the Commission, Feb. 2d, 1864.
54 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
(rod spares my life, I expect to speak for the Christian Commission
in the Church of the Epiphany."
He looked at me inquisitively, — " And what are you going to
say?"
"I am going to tell the people that I had been distributing tracts
all day through the hospitals and camps, and that I found but one
man who refused to take them, and he was from Philadelphia."
" Well, what more are you going to say ?" the man asked, with a
steady, apparently defiant, gaze.
" I'll tell them, I began my distribution in the morning at the
White House, and the first gentleman to whom I offered one of the
little books was one Abraham Lincoln ; that he rose from his chair,
read the title, expressed great pleasure at receiving it, and promised
to read it ; but that I came to one of his cooks, here in these quarters,
who was so exceedingly good that he didn't need a copy of God's
word, and wouldn't have one."
"Well," said the man, reaching out his hand, "if the President
can take one, I. suppose I can."
Rev. H. C. Henries, Chaplain of U. S. Gen. Hos
pital at Annapolis, had acted as the Commission's Agent
in Annapolis, and Parole Camp near by, from the time
its active relief work was begun. His only compensa
tion was the assistance afforded him by occasional Dele
gates, who labored under his direction throughout his
immense parish of disabled men. The Holy Spirit was
near to bless the work done. Rev. R. J. Parvin, who at
one time labored thus with Chaplain Henries, communi
cates this incident :
One morning, towards the close of July, 1862, Chaplain Henries,
passing through the rooms of the Hospital at the Navy Yard, placed
on the vacant bed of a soldier a single-paged tract, entitled, Will you
It was a copy of the hymn bearing that name.
"/ 'will Try to go." T « , r
Its first lines read :
ANNAPOLIS. 55
" We're travelling home to heaven above ;
Will you go ?
To sing the Saviour's dying love ;
Will you go ?
Millions have reached that blessed shore,
Their trials and labors all are o'er,
But still there's room for millions more :
Will you go?"
Other lines of it read :
" The way to heaven is straight and plain ;
Will you go ?
Eepent, believe, be born again ;
Will you go ?
The Saviour cries aloud to thee,
' Take up thy cross and follow Me ;
And thou shalt My salvation see ;'
Will you go?"
Soon after, the soldier came in and sat down on his bed. He
picked up the hymn, looked at the title, read a few lines of the invi
tation, and threw it down. Again he picked it up and read a little,
then threw it upon the floor. But the invitation he was so
unwilling to hear had reached him, through this silent messenger
of the Lord. Playing with the tract for a while with his foot, the
soldier picked it up for the third time, and now read it carefully
through. It was thrown down no more. The soldier read and re
read it, and then holding it a while thoughtfully in his hand, as if
listening to the solemn voice speaking to him, " Will you go ?" he
drew a pencil from his pocket, and deliberately traced round the
margin of the tract, these words —
" By the grace of God, I will try to go. John Waugh, Co. G,
10th Eegt. P. E. V. C."
A soldiers' prayer meeting was held that night in the Hospital.
Waugh came, and when opportunity was given, — with his wounded
arm in a sling, and the little tract in his other hand, — he told his
comrades of his conflict with that bit of paper. He read the pro
mise which he had written on the margin, and asked all to pray that
he might keep it and never be ashamed of his Saviour, adding —
56 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" I'm not ashamed of Christ now ; but I am ashamed of myself for
having been so long ashamed of Him."
Some months later, on opening my morning paper, I read a brief
account of "A skirmish yesterday in Virginia. Ten persons killed."
Glancing over the list of names, I stopped at this one, — " John
AVaugh, Co. G, 10th Regt. P. R."
It was a comfort to me to lay down my paper, take up the little
tract, then and now in my possession, and read once more the
pencilled pledge on its margin, — " By the grace of God I will try
to go."
Since then, the faithful Chaplain, who laid the printed page upon
the soldier's cot, has been called from earth ; and there is good reason
for believing that, now, both Chaplain Henries and Private John
Waugh know, much better than we, the full import of these other
lines of that hymn :
" We're going to walk the plains of light ;
Will you go ?
Far, far from death, and curse, and night ;
Will you go ?
The crown of life we then shall wear,
The conqueror's palm we then shall bear,
And all the joys of heaven share ;
Will you go?"
Eev. Geo. Bringlmrst,1 writing from Annapolis, Octo
ber 27th, 1862, gives an incident which illustrates the
power of the cross to quell even the worst human pas
sions :
Arriving at Parole Camp, I found a scene of fearful insubordina
tion, caused by the recklessness of a few inebriated soldiers. Several
buildings had been fired, others threatened with destruction. Fiend
ish yells, accompanied with bitter oaths, rent the air.
b the Cross ' while ^- companies of the 131st New York and
three of a Maryland Cavalry Regiment, made des
perate efforts to restore order. In the midst of the confusion, I as-
1 See p. 24.
X
ANNAPOLIS. 57
sembled about fifty men around me, and began singing, " Say, broth
ers, will you meet us ?" Hundreds replied practically, and soon I
was surrounded by a large audience. After singing, we united in
prayer, and then with earnestness they listened to my brief address,
— the simple story of Jesus. Order was restored, not by the sword,
but by the cross, which is " the power of God."
I was gratified to hear subsequently from the Colonel in command,
that a quieter night had not been experienced in the camp, although
it then contained seven thousand six hundred and sixty-two soldiers,
CHAPTEE III.
THE WESTERN ARMIES.
UNTIL AFTER THE STONE RIVER BATTLES.
April, 1861— January, 1863.
THE first Delegation to the West, from the central
office, was to the Cumberland Army, immediately after
the Stone River battles, December 31st, 1862. Earlier
in the war, much valuable work was done in the "West
ern armies, upon every principal battle-field, by the
various "Army Committees/71 organized in Chicago,
Peoria, St. Louis, &c.
The war in Missouri was a succession of forced
marches, toilsome retreats, and desperate battles between
comparatively small armies. Gens. Fremont and Hunter
were successively displaced from the chief command,
and Gen. Halleck, in November, 1861, assumed charge
of the Department.
Among the troops campaigning in Missouri was the
famous "Normal School" regiment, the 33d Illinois.
Mr. B. F. Jacobs,2 of Chicago, gives the story of a
1 These " Army Committees" were appointed by the Young Men's Christian
Associations of the places named. A particular account of their origin is given
in the Annals of the U. S. Christian Commission, chap. vi.
2 The faithful and devoted Secretary of the Chicago Army Committee, and of
the Northwestern Branch of the Christian Commission, until the close of the
war.
58
MISSOURI. 59
Friday evening prayer-meeting, held in the First
Baptist Church of that city, in the Fall of 1861, which
is connected with the history of the regiment :
Towards the close of the meeting, an officer rose and said —
" I am a stranger to you, and in this city. My reason for speak
ing is that I have a trust to execute. Our regiment, — the 33d Illi
nois, — in the early part of its campaigns, at a town in Missouri,
received a box containing a few hymn-books and
Testaments, some papers, housewives, and other
soldier comforts. A little ticket within the box in
formed us that it came from a lady of the First Baptist Church,
Chicago. So anxious were the men for the hymn-books that on ac
count of the short supply, they loaned the precious volumes to each
other, and more than one hundred committed to memory the principal
hymns, that they might be able to sing readily at the meetings. The
books penetrated into the hospital. One of my men sent for me to
visit a dying soldier there. His words were few but full and
precious :
" ' Captain, I am dying : I long to see my wife and children, but I
know I shall die without that. I've been trying to think what I
could send my wife. I have nothing except these books,' and taking
one of the Testaments and hymn books from under his head, he added
' Send these ; and Captain, if you are ever in Chicago, I want you to
go to the First Baptist Church, and tell the lady who sent those
hymn books that the 27th hymn has led me to Jesus. I am going
home to wait for her.' "
The story of the stranger Captain deeply impressed the audience.
There was a pause in his talk for a moment, when he went on again :
"Among others in the regiment, there was a little boy, the ser
vant of one of the Captains, who on account of his known religious
principles was nicknamed ' Little Piety.' The Chris
tian soldiers of the regiment organized a prayer
meeting ; and were holding it one evening in a tent, near the quarters
of the officer of the day, a very profane man, who hearing the
singing, started out, exclaiming with an oath, ' I'll stop that noise.'
As he approached the tent, the fly-door was up ; ' Little Piety' was
speaking, standing near the cracker-box which served as a desk, so
60 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
that the light of the only candle in the tent lit up his face. The
little fellow was telling of his mother's last counsel to him as he went
away from home : ' My son, there are a great many men who don't
love Christ, and who will tempt you to swerve from your fidelity and
purpose. You may be subjected to trials on account of your faith ;
but, my son, I want you to promise that whatever else you forget,
you will not forget your mother's Saviour/ With tears in his eyes
the little fellow told how he was trying not to forget Him. The sight
of the boy and the tone of his voice stopped the Captain. He listened
till the meeting closed, when the leader asked —
" ' Where shall we hold our next meeting ?'
" Stepping forward out of the darkness, the Captain responded, ' In
my tent.'
" That Captain was afterwards converted to Christ, and since that
time has been one of the most earnest Christians in the regiment."
The stranger sat down ; and we felt in our prayer meeting, that
night, our hearts somehow knit closer to the men who had gone out
from our midst, and that we owed them thenceforth more of prayer
and more of work.
During the desultory operations in Missouri, Gen.
Grant was in command at Cairo. He moved down the
Mississippi, and, on Nov. 7th, fought the battle of Bel-
mont, opposite Columbus, the Confederate General Folk's
headquarters. The Chicago Army Committee sent a
Delegate1 to Cairo, to care for the wounded from the
battle-field. Rev. G. S. F. Savage, District Secretary
in Chicago of the American Tract Society, was at Cairo
on a similar errand. He writes :
A Lieutenant in an Iowa regiment, wounded by a ball in the shoul
der, was brought into the hospital. At first, it was thought that
he would recover, but after a few days, he rapidly declined. Just
before his death a ladv nurse said to him —
" Not a Cloud." aT.
Lieutenant, you have but a tew moments to live;
1 Mr. D. L. Moody, of Chicago.
FOKT HENEY. 61
if you have any word to send to your wife and little one in Iowa,
you must speak it very quickly."
He looked up at her, his face shining like an angel's, and said —
" Tell my wife, that there is not a cloud between me and Jesus."
The Rebels had constructed in Tennessee, a few miles
south of the Kentucky line, and within about eleven
miles of each other, two strong and extensive works,
Forts Henry and Donelson, controlling respectively the
passage up the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Gen.
Grant, with the aid of Commodore Foote's powerful flo
tilla of gunboats, undertook the task of reducing them.
On Feb. 6th, 1862, Fort Henry fell ; and ten days after
wards, Fort Donelson, after a brilliant siege and some
hard fighting.
Commodore Foote was a decided Christian. A cor
respondent of the Boston Journal^ writing at this time,
says of him
He is not afraid to have all men know that he recognizes his obli
gation to his Divine Maker. A gentleman remarked to him, on the
day after the capture of Fort Henry, that ,he was getting nervous,
and was afraid he did not sleep well. The Commo-
, . , Commodore
dore replied-
" I never slept better in my life than night before
last, and never prayed more fervently than on yesterday morning;
but last night I couldn't sleep for thinking of those poor fellows on
the ' Essex.' "
The " Essex," it will be remembered, was pierced, during the bom
bardment of Fort Henry, in an unguarded spot, its boiler penetrated,
and the vessel instantly filled from stem to stern with burning steam.
Capt. Porter and forty of his crew were severely scalded.2
1 Mr. C. C. Coffin ; better known by his nom de plume, " Carleton."
2 This incident recalls the Commodore's noble order, " Number Six," which
62 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
A beautiful little story connected with, the siege, was
related at a Western Sunday-school convention in 1863:
A young man was wounded, and left by his comrades, who pressed
on in the battle. When they returned, they found him resting
against a tree, dead, with a book open in his hand at this hymn :
"Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee ;
E'en though it be a cross
Nearer to Thee. That raiseth me ;
Still all my song shall be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee."
Mr. B. F. Jacobs was one of the Chicago Army Com
mittee Delegates to the wounded, after the surrender.
From him we gather the incidents which follow :
A week after the surrender, our own men had all been cared for.
he issued to his fleet; and which, while he commanded, was carefully en
forced :
CAIRO, Dec. 17, 1861.
A strict observance of Sunday, so far as abstaining from all unnecessary work,
and giving officers and men the opportunity of attending public worship on board,
will be observed by all persons connected with the flotilla.
It is the wish of the commander-in-chief that on Sunday the public worship
of Almighty God may be observed on board of all the vessels composing the flo
tilla ; and that the respective commanders will, either themselves, or cause other
persons to, pronounce prayers publicly on Sunday, when as many of the officers
and men as can be spared from duty may attend the public worship of Almighty
God.
Profane swearing being forbidden by the laws for the better government of the
navy, all officers and men will strictly observe this law ; and every officer who
uses profane language towards the men, in carrying on duty, will be held amen
able for such gross violation of law and order.
Discipline, to be permanent, must be based on moral grounds, and officers must
in themselves show a good example in morals, order, and patriotism, to secure
these qualities in the men.
ANDREW H. FOOTE, Flag Officer,
Com' ding U. S. Naval Forces on the Western Waters.
FORT DONELSON. 63
That Sabbath evening we were to start down the river with the last
of the wounded. Mr. Moody went with me to visit the Rebels, who
crowded the twenty-three log-house hospitals at
Dover. In one of them we found almost every inch jr
of room occupied. In a kitchen corner, on some
straw, there was an old, gray-haired man. I went up to him, knelt
down by his side, and asked if I could do anything for him.
" No," said he ; " you can't."
" Don't you want anything f is there nothing that might comfort
you?"
" Oh yes," was his answer ; " I want to go home. I have a wife
and six children in Tennessee, and oh, how I want to go home and
see them !"
" Well," said I ; " 'maybe you'll be exchanged."
He looked up at me with an expression of astonishment.
"Why," said he, "Til never go home. I'm dying; don't you
know it ?"
" No, I didn't know it ; but, my friend, if you are dying, are you
not going home f Don't you know how Christ said He had gone to
prepare a home for those who loved Him ? Have you never thought
of that home in heaven ?"
He gazed at me with an expression of perfect despair.
" My wife has talked to me about this for thirty-five years ; and
God knows how I have treated her. I've rejected every invitation,
and I'm dying here without Christ, — without Christ."
He kept groaning out for a long time, " I can't die : I can't die."
And with no light to show him the heavenly way, he went alone into
the darkness of death.
In another of the huts I found a man lying on the floor, who, as
I went up to minister to him in his turn, was unable to speak. We
carried him down to the hospital-boat that was going out, and nursed
him during the trip. He had been shot through the
lower jaw, and was too weak to stand. Wounded in jfarcis^ °^ °'
the first day's fight, he had lain on the field for forty-
eight hours before he was picked up. In the storm, his back froze
fast to the ground where he lay, and both his feet were frozen also.
After we had him on the boat a while, I learned that his name was
Burgess, and that I had previously known him in Chicago.
64 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
At Cairo we put him into a hospital, exacting a promise from one
of the nurses that he should receive special care. Six months after
wards the man walked into my store. He was on his way back to
the army. He stopped to tell us that, under God, he owed his life to
the care which had been taken of him on the boat ; and that he in
tended to prove his gratitude to God who had given him back his
life, by serving Him for evermore.
That night, as we steamed down the river, I had charge of the
patients after ten o'clock. I found in a state-room a young fellow
shot through the lungs. I asked him if there was anything he
wanted.
Living Waters. ,. T , . -, „ , .
" I want a drink, was his answer.
I went to get him some water out of the Cumberland. He looked
at it — so muddy and impure — for a minute, with an expression of
intense desire and longing : " Oh, for one cupful of water out of my
father's well."
I asked him if he had ever heard of the " Living waters."
He turned towards me a face of joy, as he answered " yes," and
told me of the inner fountain of refreshment and cleansing.
We stopped for about half an hour at Paducah, and improved the
time by distributing books in the hospitals. I gave one young
soldier, whose appearance interested me, a little volume containing
Scripture texts arranged for each day in the year.
yerse Returning again from Fort Donelson, by the same
route, a week later, I sought out my young friend.
With a countenance all aglow with joy, he answered my inquiries as
to his health, by pulling out the little book, and opening it to point
to a verse near the middle :
" That little verse has led me to the Saviour ; and I have enjoyed
Him — oh ! how much."
That was all. Even the verse has gone from my memory ; but
that soldier's face, with its glance of transfiguration and peace, can
never pass away.
Rev. Dr. Robert Patterson,1 returning from work at
Fort Donelson, stopped over at Paducah. He relates
Pastor of Reformed Presbyterian Church, Chicago.
PADUCAH HOSPITALS. 65
an incident which is connected with one of the same
little books :
In the corner of the room used as a hospital for the Rebels at the
Campbell House, lay a young boy, John Posey, looking very weak
and sick.
" How old are you, John ?"
Fourteen, sir." Drops"
for Hations.
" You have been very ill, I learn. How did you
feel when you thought you might die '?"
" I knew the Lord would take care of me."
" Why so ; do you love the Lord Jesus ?"
" Yes, sir, indeed I do."
" How long is it since you became a Christian ?"
" About two years."
" How did you manage, John, to retain your love for Christ in the
camp ?"
He drew from under his pillow a diminutive volume, somewhat
over an inch square, called "Dew Drops," issued by the Tract
Society :
" Sir," said he, " I lived on that."
" Carleton" tells the story of Frankie Bragg, who
died in a Paducah hospital i1
He was a brave and noble boy. There were several kind ladies
takiDg care of the sick. Their presence was like sunshine. Wher
ever they walked, the eyes of the sufferers followed them. One of
these ladies thus speaks of little Frankie Bragg :
" Many will remember him ; the boy of fifteen,
J cause so Young
who fought valiantly at Donelson, — one of the and strong.
bravest of Birge's sharpshooters, and whose answer
to my questioning in regard to joining the army was so well worthy
of record :
" 'I joined because I was so young and strong, and because life ivould
be worth nothing to me unless I offered it for my country.™
1 Days and Nights on the Battle-field, pp. 277-280.
2 Hospital Incidents, New York Post, Oct. 22d, 1863.
66 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I
" I saw him die. I can never forget the pleading gaze of his violet
eyes, the brow, from which ringlets of light-brown hair were swept
by strange fingers, bathed in the death-dew, the desire for some one
to love him in his last hours.
Love makes
Death Easy. ^ ' -1- am SOIUS to die, and there is no one to
love me/ he said. 'I didn't think I was going to die
till now ; but it can't last long. If my sisters were only here ; but I
have no friends near me now, and it is so hard!'
" ' Frankie/ I said, 'I know it is hard to be away from your rela
tives, but you are not friendless ; I am your friend. Mrs. S. and the
kind Doctor are your friends, and we will all take care of you. More
than this, God is your friend, and He is nearer to you now than
either of us can get. Trust Him, my boy. fie will help you.'
"A faint smile passed over the pale sufferer's features.
"'Oh, do you think He will?' he asked.
" Then, as he held my hands closer, he turned his face more fully
towards me, and said —
" 'My mother taught me to pray when I was a very little boy, and
I never forgot it. I have always said my prayers every day, and
tried not to be bad. Do you think God heard me always?'
" ' Yes, most assuredly. Did He not promise in His good book,
from which your mother taught you, that He would always hear the
prayers of His children ? Ask, and ye shall receive. Don't you re
member this? One of the worst things we can do is to doubt God's
truth. He has promised and He will fulfill. Don't you feel so,
Frankie?'
"He hesitated a moment, and then answered slowly —
"''Yes, I do believe it. I am not afraid to die, but I want some
body to love me.'
" The old cry for love, the strong yearning for the sympathy of
kindred hearts. It would not be put down. 'Frankie, I love you.
Poor boy, you shall not be left alone. Is not this some comfort to
you ?'
" ' Do you love me ? Will you stay with me and not leave me ?'
" ' I will not leave you. Be comforted. I will stay as long as you
wish.'
"I kissed the pale forehead, as if it had been that of my own
child. A glad light flashed over his face.
CAMP DOUGLAS. 67
" ' Oh, kiss me again ; that was given like my sister. Mrs. S.,
won't you kiss me too ? I don't think it will be so hard to die, if
you will both love me.'
" It did not last long. With his face nestled against mine, and
his large blue eyes fixed in perfect composure upon me to the last
moment, he breathed out his life."
Camp Douglas, near Chicago, became the receptacle
for the prisoners taken at Fort Donelson. Before we
return to the operations of Gen. Grant's army, a few
reminiscences of Kev. Dr. Patterson may be given, of
the Army Committee work among the Confederates and
others of this camp :
Perceiving the hospital flag flying over a cavalry stable in Camp
Douglas, I directed my steps towards it, and was met at the door by
one of our Chicago city physicians in charge — a volunteer. I asked
him if the building was used as a hospital. He said
it was, and told me of his connection with it. He M£
said that a number of the men were in a dangerous
condition, some of them dying; that no minister had yet called to see
them.
The long building was filled with cots, most of which were occu
pied. In the furthest corner lay a man in the agonies of death.
His voice was yet unimpaired, though the contracted lips, the pale,
bloodless face and the glazing eye too plainly told that his hours were
almost over. He was conscious of his situation, but utterly indiffer
ent to the friends who stood around him and to anything that might
be said by mortal man. One only prayer issued from his lips : " God
have mercy on my soul," uttered with all his dying energy. Fainter
and fainter the cry became, till his voice ceased in death.
The solemn phrase and the sad departure of the man's spirit made
a profound impression upon all in the hospital. As I turned my face
away towards the other end of the room, a hand was raised from a
cot away down the row, beckoning me to approach.
I did so, and seated myself on an adjoining empty "Won't you
cot to listen to the soldier's request. ^each me a
<i o • Prayer?'
btranger, said the man, an East Tennessee Con-
68 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
federate, with feverish energy, " the man that lay on that cot was
taken out this morning; and I have got the same sickness. I don't
know how soon my turn may come. I want you to tell me what I
ought to do."
I explained to him the way of salvation, as I supposed, with great
simplicity. He looked me in the face with an earnestness which I
can never forget, and said —
"Stranger, couldn't you make it very plain to a poor feller that
never got no schoolin' ?"
His words, jerked out in the energy of his fever, had a strangely
intense force in them. I tried again, and endeavored to simplify and
illustrate my instruction, succeeding, I hope, in bringing the atoning
death of Christ before his mind. I concluded by saying —
" You must pray to God to forgive you your sins for Christ's
sake."
" Preacher," said he, " I can't pray. Nobody never taught me
nothing."
Said I, "Have you never prayed?"
His manner grew almost fierce as he ejaculated —
" I tell you I never got no schoolin' ;" and then, as if recollecting
himself, he raised his head and added, " Stranger, couldn't you teach
me a prayer? and if I said it, 'maybe the Lord would hear me."
I replied, " I will teach you a prayer and the Lord \\ill hear you,
if you say it sincerely."
I began to recite the 51st Psalm: "Have mercy upon me, O God,
— according to Thy loving-kindness : According unto the multitude
of Thy tender mercies — blot out my transgressions. Wash me
thoroughly from mine iniquity, — and cleanse me from my sin. For
I acknowledge my transgressions : — and my sin is ever before me."
"Yes," said he, raising his finger, "that's it, that's it, exactly. But,
stranger," rubbing his hand across his fevered brow, and looking
at me more piteously than ever out of the pain-encircled eyes —
" stranger, my head's full of the fever, and I can't mind it. If it
was writ down now, and I was to read it, don't you think the Lord
would hear me. I could spell it out, preacher, — if you think He'd
hear me."
"It is written down, my poor brother, and I'll get it for you, if
there's a Bible in this hospital, and God will hear you."
CAMP DOUGLAS. 69
I set out to find a Bible, and in that camp, containing hundreds of
nek and dying men and some thousands of Rebel prisoners, there
was not an accessible copy of the Word of God ! I returned from
my unsuccessful search, and told him —
" There is not a Bible I can lay my hands on in camp, but I will
bring you one to-morrow, if God spares me."
"Yes; but, stranger," said he, wistfully, "what's to become of a
poor feller if I should die to night?"
It was a most serious question.
After our regular meetings in the Chapel at Camp Douglas were
dismissed, a little band of Christians were wont to gather on the plat
form and have a season of conference and prayer. The lights in the
hall were extinguished at such times — one or two
Out of Dark-
only being left burning, near the speaker s stand. negs into
These cast little or no light into the large room,
which looked then like a great, dark, forsaken cavern. One night,
as the exercises of one of these supplemental meetings were about
concluding, a tall, stalwart Sergeant stalked forth from the gloom
into the uncertain light near us, and in a voice trembling with
emotion, said —
" Friends, there is something in this religion after all. I wish I
had it. Will you pray for me that I may become a Christian ?"
Tears came into his eyes as we knelt down with him and prayed.
On one occasion a number of Delegates visited Camp Douglas and
found a party of boys dancing round a fiddler. The visitors pro
posed a prayer meeting, very much to the disgust of a burly Corporal,
the leader of the entertainment. However, after
,. ,, .. . Instrumental
putting the matter to a vote of the company, in ^ .
true democratic fashion, it was agreed by a large
majority that we should have a meeting for a while. We asked the
fiddler, who was accustomed to dispense the music of the place, to
assist us in the line of his profession. He replied that he knew
"nothing serious but 'John Brown's body lies a-mould'ring in the
grave.' " But after tasking his memory somewhat he hunted up
some other tunes, and quite acceptably led the music of the meeting.
At its conclusion, the Corporal who had opposed us, mounted a
box, and alluding to some remarks we had made about card-playing,
began a little speech which concluded thus —
70 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Shying up " Xow all of you fellers what want to give up this
business, jest do as I do and shy up your cards."
He put his hand into his pocket as he spoke, pulled out a pack of
cards and " shied" them right up into the air as high as he could.
Immediately from all sides a shower went up and came down flutter
ing into the mud and were trampled under foot.
At one time we had in our Chicago Army Committee rooms a
peach-basket full of cards which had been traded off for books.
" I am with you," said an artillery officer, " in everything to pro
mote instruction and good morals among the soldiers."
Intimating the hope that he was a Christian himself, he replied—
"No, I am a 'Tom Paine' infidel, and don't believe
With us and . ,, ,. . . . ~ -.. . i , •/?
, . , in the divine oriinn ot religion, but 11 your tracts
Against us. ° J
and preaching keep the men from gambling and
drinking, I will help you ;" and he did render me most efficient
service.
The victory at Fort Donelson was followed up by im
portant successes throughout Kentucky and Tennessee.
Simultaneously with the fighting at Fort Donelson, Gen.
Mitchell, with the van of the Army of the Ohio, now
under Gen. Buell, entered Bowling Green ; Sidney John
ston, the Confederate commander, retreating towards
Nashville. On the 24th of February, that city surren
dered. Gen. Buell's army was afterwards quartered
around it. Operations for opening up the Mississippi
were undertaken. Columbus, Island "Number Ten,"
Forts Pillow and Randolph, and the city of Memphis
fell successively, — the last on June 5th.
In March, meanwhile, Gen. Grant's army began a
movement up the Tennessee river, which met its first
resistance, from Johnston's forces, at Pittsburg Land
ing. A desperate battle followed on Sunday, April
Cth ; Grant being forced back into a dangerous position.
A part of Buell's army arrived at night-fall, however ;
GIVING UP THE BUSINESS.
ee 70.
PITTSBURG LANDING. 71
and on the next day the scale was turned against the
enemy. Our troops followed the foe to Corinth, Miss.
which was evacuated on the 29th.
The history of this battle is especially rich in inci
dents. Mr. Moody, who went, as usual, from the Chi
cago Branch, recalls two stories of his service :
A Surgeon going over the field to bandage bleeding wounds, came
upon a soldier lying in his blood with his face to the ground. Seeing
the horrible wound in his side and the death pallor on his face, he
was passing on to attend to others, when the dying
.-....., . -Dying with
man called him with a moan to come just for a mo- Face Upwards
ment, — he wanted to be turned over. The Doctor
lifting the mangled body as best he could, laid the poor fellow on his
back. A few moments after, while dressing wounds near by, he
heard him say —
" This is glory, — this is glory !"
Supposing it was the regret of a dying soldier, correcting, in this
scene of carnage, his former estimate of the "pomp and circum
stance of war," the Surgeon put his lips to his ear and asked —
" What is glory, my dear fellow ?"
" O Doctor, it's glory to die with my face upward !" and moving
his hand feebly, his forefinger set, as if he would point the heavenly
way, he made his last earthly sign.
There was a man on one of the boat-loads of wounded from the
field, who was very low and in a kind of stupor. He was entirely
unknown. A little stimulant was poured down his throat, and Mr.
Moody called him by different names, but could get
"Even So must
no response. At last, at the name William, the HebeLiftedu "
man unclosed his eyes and looked up. Some more
stimulant was given, when he revived. He was asked if he was a
Christian. Though replying in the negative, he yet manifested great
anxiety upon the subject :
" But I am so great a sinner that I can't be a Christian."
Mr. Moody told him he would read what Christ said about that.
So, turning to St. John's third chapter, he read the 14th verse :
" And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so
/Z CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
must the Son of Man be lifted up : that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God so loved the
world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
" Stop," said the dying man ; " read that over again, will you ?"
It was read again.
"Is that there?"
"Yes," said Mr. Moody; "that's there just as I read it to you."
" And did Christ say that?"
" Yes."
The man began repeating the words, settling back upon his pillow
as he did so, with a strange, solemn look of peace in his face. He
took no further notice of what was going on about him, but contin
ued murmuring the blessed words until Mr. Moody left him.
The next morning, when the soldier's place was visited, it was found
empty. Mr. Moody asked if any one knew aught about him during
the night. A nurse, who had spent the hours with him until he died,
replied —
"All the time I was with him he was repeating something about
Moses lifting up a serpent in the wilderness. I asked him if there
was anything I could do for him, but he only answered what he had
been muttering all along. Just before he died, about midnight, I
saw his lips moving, though there was no sound escaping. I thought
he might have some dying message for home, so I asked him for one.
But the only answer was the whispered words ; 'As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up : that whosoever believeth in Him' — and so on until his voice died
away and his lips moved no longer."
Rev. Dr. Robert Patterson writes :
A brave and godly Captain in one of our Western regiments told
one of us his story, as we were removing him to the hospital. He
was shot through both thighs with a rifle bullet — a wound from which
he could not recover. While lying on the field, he
Jf ^ M suffered intense agony from thirst. He supported
his head upon his hand, while the rain from heaven
was falling around him. In a little time, quite a pool of water
PITTSBURG LANDING. 73
collected in the hole made by his elbow. If he could only get to
that puddle he could quench his thirst. He tried to get into a posi
tion to suck up a mouthful of muddy water, but was unable to quite
reach it. Said he, " I never felt such disappointment before, — so
needy, so near, and yet so helpless. By-and-by night fell, and the
stars shone out clear and beautiful above the dark field; and I began
to think of the great God, who had given His Sou to die a death of
agony for me, and that He was up there — up above the scene of
suffering, and above those glorious stars ; and I felt that I was going
home to meet Him, and praise Him there ; and that I ought to praise
Him, here in my wounds and in the rain ; and I began to sing with
my parched lips —
" ' When I can read my title clear
To mansions in the skies,
I bid farewell to every fear,
And wipe my weeping eyes.'
There was a Christian brother in the brush near me. I could not
see him, but I could hear him. He took up the strain ; and beyond
him another and another caught it up, all over the battle-field of
Shiloh ; and long into the night the echo was resounding, as we made
the field of battle ring with hymns of praise to God."1
It was a solemn place indeed, that interval on Sunday
night between the two contending armies, which were to
assail each other on the morrow. Mr. Demond2 pre-
1 A Delegate writing in September, 1863, after the Chickamauga battle, says :
" If anybody thinks that when our men are stricken upon the field, they fill the
air with cries and groans, till it shivers with such evidence of agony, he greatly
errs. An arm is shattered, a leg carried away, a bullet pierces the breast, and the
soldier sinks down silently upon the ground, or creeps away, if he can, without a
murmur or complaint — falls as the sparrow falls, speechlessly; and like that spar
row, I earnestly believe, falls not without the Father's care. The dying horse
gives out his fearful utterance of almost human suffering, but the mangled rider
is dumb. The crash of musketry, the crack of rifles, the roar of guns, the shriek
of shells, the Rebel whoop, the Federal cheer, with an indescribable undertone
of grinding, rumbling and splintering, make up the voices of the battle-field."
2 Address at the Closing Exercises of the Commission at the Capitol.
/4 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
serves an incident, showing how some men, who lay
there, realized their position :
There was a man wounded in the first day's fight. He lay all Sun
day night in a tent, held by the Kebels, on the ground, in the mud,
uncared for. During the long and terrible night, amid the rain and
roar of the artillery, there came vividly back to him
"God, Country, ,
Mother " a argument of a sermon he had
heard twenty years before. The next day, when our
troops succeeded, he was rescued and taken to St. Louis, where he
was cared for by the members of the Army Committee. The Holy
Spirit sent home the impression of that night, and the seed, twenty
years buried, sprang up and brought forth fruit in his conversion. He
lived six weeks to give testimony to God's goodness, and died in joy
and hope, his last words being, " My God — my country — my
mother !"
Mr. K. A. Burnell,1 of Milwaukee, who accompanied
the lamented Gov. Harvey2 and others, on a State mis
sion to look after Wisconsin sufferers, writes :
The morning before leaving for home, I visited the hospital tent
of the 14th Wisconsin. As I entered the room, a pale-faced boy
raised himself on his elbow and gazed eagerly at me. Addressing
each man as I went along, I came at last to the
Many Days youth's cot, and offered him my hand. He looked at
me earnestly and said —
" Don't you know me ?"
I could not remember him.
" Why, don't you remember the boy you talked to and prayed with
1 Afterwards Field Agent of the St. Louis Committee on the Mississippi
River.
2 We have not room for an exceedingly interesting reminiscence by Mr. Bur
nell, — an account of the last religious service ever attended by Gov. Harvey, — a
prayer meeting conducted by Mr. Burnell on the boat which bore the Governor's
party of relief to Shiloh. It was held just about opposite Fort Henry. Gov.
Harvev was drowned eight davs after in the Tennessee.
PITTSBUKG LANDING. 75
at Milton, Wis., some three years ago, one Sabbath morning as you
were going to a meeting ? Don't you remember finding me by the
roadside, and how you talked to me about breaking the Sabbath ?"
The circumstances came back very freshly to my memory as the
boy recalled them. When I told him that I did remember him, tears
came into his eyes :
" From that time to this I have often thought of you and longed
to see you. The moment you came in that door, I knew you. Oh !
how glad I am to see you once more!"
Gov. Harvey was so much impressed by my account of one of his
boys, that he went the next day to see the young soldier. It was a
beautiful meeting between the weak youth, suffering for the flag, and
the noble Governor who had done so much to vindicate its honor
and purity.
" God bless you, young man from Wisconsin ;" was the Governor's
greeting, as he extended his hand and warmly grasped the soldier's.
The boy, proud and glad and pale, responded in tears —
u I am glad to see you, Governor."
We talked about Jesus, and after prayer separated.
Some two years later, on a cotton plantation opposite Vicksburg,
after an open-air service, while passing hurriedly away, a soldier
came hastening after me, calling out ; " Mister, Mister !" I turned
and met my boy of the Shiloh tent, looking hearty and strong. He
thanked me again for the " comfortable wrords" spoken to him two
years before, and for the reproof addressed to him in Milton. After
a few earnest words of encouragement wre again bade each other
good-bye.
Again on the Red river I met him, and once or twice still later in
the war, as he bronzed into a "veteran." And it always did me
special good to see him, for his words each time showed how faithfully
he was walking in the upward way.
Mr. Burnell continues :
The " City of Memphis" arrived at Mound City, with over 750
wounded from the battle. Her lower, hurricane and upper decks
were crowded full. Before sunlight on the morning of April 19th,
with others, I began unloading the boat. Until seven o'clock
76 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"Let not your in the evening we were kept busy, carrying the dis-
Heart be Trow- al3lecj on litters, assisting those who could walk and
distributing the men through the various wards of
hospitals.
About one hundred men had been comfortably lodged in tents on
the hurricane deck. In one of these tents were six badly wounded
men. As I entered, I noticed that one man lay very still. The
others raised themselves on their elbows and asked eagerly when they
were going to be taken ashore. The still man never moved. I asked
his comrades why he was so still. With thoughtful and solemn faces,
they said —
"He is dead."
I moved the blanket off his face — the men had already kindly
straightened him out. My heart melted, thinking of loved ones at
home. For some reason taking hold of his arm to move it, I dis
covered under it his pocket Testament. It was open. I looked into
it as it lay, and my eye caught these words of eternal consolation to
the Christian.
" Let not your heart be troubled."
Of course I could not be sure that the soldier had read these words
last, and yet it was very beautiful to think so. His comrades told
me how his life had been like a Sabbath psalm and his death like
the entrance into the Kingdom of God.
As one by one the dead man's comrades were taken to the hospital,
they left their earnest injunctions with me to see that he was decently
and tenderly buried, for his mother's and sisters' sake — that the beau
tiful life might end in a beautiful grave.
Rev. E. P. Goodwin1 went to Pittsburg Landing, from
the State of Ohio, on an errand similar to that of Mr.
Burnell. He says :
Inspector Eeed, of the Sanitary Commission, told me this story of
a hospital scene in Nashville a short time after the battle : " Private
Andrew McGurk, of the llth Illinois Regiment, was dying of typhoid
Pastor of Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio.
PITTSBUEG LANDING. 77
fever. He lay near a window of the hospital, and
. . , , . , „ Al In the Battle
as he looked out, his eye always caught sight 01 the ^ ^agt
flag floating from the dome of the Capitol. His
regiment had been fearfully cut up at Fort Donelson. And after
Shiloh, they were almost wholly employed as orderlies and for
special duty. In his delirium, the poor fellow seemed to get back
into the fight again. He broke out into a kind of whisper —
" ' Fought — till — almost — the — last — man — fell.'
"Then catching sight of the ever-waving banner on the dome, he
articulated with difficulty again —
" 'Ah !— the— old— flag !— It— waves— still.'
" Very soon afterwards he expired."
Returning from the Landing, two incidents occurred,
which Rev. Mr. Goodwin records :
On the boat there was an intelligent German, very low with
pneumonia ; we worked with him a long time, trying to restore con
sciousness, but he was too far gone. The question had been raised
as to who he Avas ? Searching in his pockets, we
found two or three letters ; one was from his wife, amon the Let-
in very broken English. It appeared that he had ters.
been only very recently married. She wrote with
out any knowledge of his sickness, and gave a simple, touching
account of the death of their little child :
" Dear Philip, do come home. If you can't come, I want you to
write something to put on baby's tombstone."
Right among the precious letters, was a little tract, like many af
terwards circulated by the Christian Commission. It had on it the
soldier's name, Philip Schaub ; and was endorsed, " Presented by
Chaplain Chidlaw."
We knew little of the dying man. But the discovery of the few
pages wrapped up with the letters from home and lying so close to
his heart, led us to hope that the father had gone to the baby's
home in the better land.
A number of the poor fellows we had on board died as we came
down the river towards Fort Henry. I told Dr. Smith, our Surgeon-
General, that we ought to pay some special attention to the last sad
78 CHEISTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
AT , rites of these. One of them was a German who had
Nameless Graves.
left among his memoranda some remarkable expres
sions of attachment to the country of his adoption. As we ap
proached the shore, the steamer's head was put to, the bell tolled —
and there, under the long ruins by the bank, close beside which were
opened the fresh graves, we committed "dust to dust, ashes to ashes."
The silent company with uncovered heads bowed, while a brief prayer
was offered and a few last words uttered. It was a simple scene _
too simple to attract the notice of the hurrying world, but it was the
burial of men who had died that we might live, and we could not
tell, as we cast our last looks upon the silent, nameless graves, how
many hearts would ache, how many lives be saddened, to hear of
our mournful work.
Many of the wounded were brought to Cincinnati af
ter the battle. Mr. A. E. Chamberlain,1 of that city,
visited them often, in the Fourth Street Hospital. Our
reminiscences of Pittsburg Landing may close with
his :
A poor fellow was brought in, whose right arm was almost shot
into pieces. I found him a very bright Christian. The Surgeon
told me he must die : " It is no use to take off his arm. It will not
nim-" So his father was telegraphed. He came
The Prat er of
Faith. next morning ancl went in to see his boy. He stood
up in our daily prayer meeting at noon, with this
request —
" Brethren, I have great faith in the power of prayer. I have a
son in Fourth Street Hospital. The Surgeon says he must die. I
believe if you will pray God to restore him to health, He will do it.
Will you not pray ?"
The request struck us as very strange ; but prayer was offered as
the old man had requested.
The next day, I went into the hospital. Surgeon Norton met me :
1 Afterwards the Chairman of the Cincinnati Branch ; and until the close of the
war, an earnest worker for the soldiers.
CINCINNATI HOSPITALS. 79
" Contrary to all our expectations, sir, that young man you are
interested in is improving."
He grew better every day. Once afterwards, I found the father
sitting by his son's cot. Dr. Norton came along.
" Tell me, Doctor," said I, " how do you account for this ? You
physicians told me he was going to die ; how do you explain his con
dition to-day?"
" Well, sir," replied the Surgeon, " I can only say that I consider
it a miracle. It is not anything we did."
" Doctor," said the old man, " I can explain it. God has heard
the prayers of His people in behalf of this boy."
The Surgeon passed on in silence.
A week or so after that, the soldier went home on a furlough, safe
and sound.
The cot of one soldier whom I visited was in the upper ward of
the hospital, at the very end of the room. He was a handsome,
noble-looking boy. Indeed his appearance quite deceived me, he
was so like a young man in perfect health. I said
/ * Coming to Jesus.
as much to him, when he replied —
" I suppose I do look well, but the physician says I must die. My
wound is a bad one ; and I am only waiting here for my life to pass
away."
"Are you a Christian ?" I asked.
" No, sir ; but I want to be very much."
I prayed with him and gave him Newman Hall's little book, Come
to Jesus.
II That's just what I want to do, sir."
" That little book will tell you how to come, I trust ;" and after
some further conversation I left him.
Next morning I thought a good deal about him, and finally went
round to the hospital again. His bed was in such a position that he
could see me as I came up the stairway, and I found that he was
anxiously watching for me.
" I was so afraid you wouldn't come in this morning," was his
greeting. " The Surgeon says I will probably die during the day; and
I didn't want to die until I saw you and thanked you for giving me
that little book. Everything for the future is bright and pleasant
80 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The Surgeon's words were true. He died that day, " Coming to
Jesus" indeed.
A month after Pittsburg Landing, I was getting on a train for the
West at Seneca Falls, N. Y., when a Baptist Deacon of the village,
whom I well knew, caught sight of me and shouted out that his son
George was in Fourth St. Hospital, Cincinnati, about
Thanking God n. ~. . .
, , -rrr j to die nud not a Christian. As soon as I reached
JOT rr OUtlCtS •
home the next day I went to see him. His right arm
had been taken off at the shoulder, and he felt very much dejected.
I talked with him long and earnestly ; and mentioning the case to
Rev. Mr. Robinson, a Baptist clergyman of the city, the soldier re
ceived many visits from that gentleman. He became a Christian,
Rev. Mr. Robinson told me afterwards.
I asked him just before he died, whether he did not think it hard
to die in the hospital.
" No, sir," was his reply ; " I thank God I ever entered the army,
because if I had not, I would never have lost this arm ; and if I
hadn't lost that, I would never have been brought to this hospital ;
and if not brought here, I would probably never have found Christ."
Mr. Robinson was bidding him good-bye, when the man thanked
him earnestly for his care and attention.
" It will be but a very few days, sir, before we will be together
again in the New Jerusalem. I shall wait for you
Not long Parted. J
there."
On the next day the soldier was buried. Only a few days had
passed, when Rev. Mr. Robinson was himself taken down with typhoid
fever and died. So that the convert had not long to wait for the
coming of his guide and friend. The soldier's case, his dying words,
and Rev. Mr. Robinson's sudden decease excited a profound interest
throughout the city.
The Deacon's son was the last of a family of seven or eight chil
dren to find the Saviour. He entered the army from Hillsdale,
Michigan.
Gen. Buell left Corinth in June, moving East towards
Chattanooga. Bragg, the new Confederate commander,
determined on a bold movement. In the close of August,
PEEEYVILLE. 81
crossing the Tennessee a few miles above Chattanooga,
he hastened northward into Kentucky. Meeting with
no serious opposition, he soon succeeded in thoroughly
alarming Louisville and Cincinnati. Buell, leaving
Nashville as well garrisoned as he could, hastened to
Louisville, and arrived only a few hours in advance of
the enemy. Bragg retreated slowly; Buell following
cautiously until October 8th, when the indecisive battle
of Perryville was fought. Bragg continued his retreat,
but moving more rapidly.
Rev. B. W. Chidlaw1 was Chaplain of an Ohio regi
ment engaged in this battle, and afterwards worked un
tiringly among the wounded. He writes :
In making my way to the door, passing between two rows of suffer
ers, in one of the village meeting-houses, where over a hundred of
the victims of the battle-field were lying, I felt some one pull at
my coat. I turned round, and a poor fellow said —
'"Preacher, are you in a hurry?"
" No, my friend ; what do you wish ?"
"Well, I am not like John over there; he is ready to die, and
knows what is to become of him after death. I am in the dark. I
am not like him ; tell me, oh tell me, what I must do to be saved ?"
Poor man ! he had neglected his soul's salvation and the Bible ;
deep darkness brooded over his awakened mind ; but he was now
honestly and earnestly inquiring the way to be saved. Blessed priv
ilege to tell him of Jesus, the sinner's friend, — of the salvation of
the dying thief on the cross, and of that comrade John on his cot,
who knew the Lord and trusted in Him. The prayer of the publi
can, " God be merciful to me a sinner," filled his soul, and found
utterance from his lips, and who can doubt that it reached the ears
1 Of Cleves, Ohio, — the well-known Western Agent of the American Sunday-
School Union. Later in the war he was connected with the Cincinnati Branch
of the Commission, as General Agent.
6
82 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
of our merciful and faithful High Priest, "Who can have compassion
on the ignorant and them that are out of the way ?"
Mr. Chidlaw continues :
In an old tavern at Lebanon, Ky., used as a hospital for the
wounded from Perryville, was a brave youth of an Ohio regiment,
seriously wounded, yet cheerful, patient and happy. "With the bene
factions of kind friends at home, I was enabled to re-
A Deserter ... , . , . , , ,. '
Mmtered in e physical wants, adding greatly to his com
fort while lying on his bed of straw. I found that
though he had been a Sunday-school scholar, yet he had never pro
fessed his faith in Christ. He was anxious now to do so ; and such
was the clearness and fullness of the evidence which he gave me of
his entire trust in Christ, that I baptized him as he lay among his
comrades, who looked upon the ceremony with a mixture of awe
and wonder and silence. After commending this dear brother in
Christ, and all his companions, to the care and blessing of the God
of all grace and consolation, I was about to leave the room, when
another soldier, with a tremulous voice, said to me —
" O brother, I am a deserter."
" Why no, my friend, you are not a deserter ; where did you lose
your limb?"
" It was cut off the night after the battle, and I am willing to fight
and to die for my country. But three years ago I joined the church
at home in Indiana, but alas! I wandered from God, I left the ranks,
and deserted to the enemy. Oh ! how I have sinned against God
and my own soul ! Kow, I want to re-enlist; will you muster me in?"
I soon was fully persuaded that the soldier's wish to be again mus
tered in was from a full and penitent heart. I gave him my hand,
as he renewed his vows of fidelity, and welcomed him back to the
Lord's ranks ; bowed down with wonder at His mercy who could
make even the room of pain in the old Lebanon tavern the very
House of God and the Gate of Heaven.
Chaplain J. C. Thomas, afterwards General Reading
Agent of the Army of the Cumberland, was at this bat
tle with his regiment, the 83d Illinois. He says :
PERRYVILLE. 83
While the battle was in progress, I was at a house, ministering to
the wounded. A soldier shot through the abdomen lay writhing on
the floor. Stooping down by him, I asked —
" Do you love the Saviour ?"
* . "Happy in J&w."
Ihe lines or agony instantly disappeared and a
smile of joy lighted up his countenance as he said —
" Oh, yes, and now He does not forsake me."
The next morning, while passing near, a hand pressed my shoulder;
I turned, and the soldier's comrade said eagerly —
" You remember the man who lay here in such pain ?"
"Yes."
" He is dead."
" How did he die ?"
" Happy in Jesus."
In certain circumstances the simplest words in a
soldier's mouth became pregnant with the real history
of a soul :
One of the wounded at Perryville, when told by the Surgeon that
he had just five minutes to live, replied — •
"This is the best moment of my life. It grows «. 1/^jf7
brighter and brighter.-"
And then he went away into the country where light dwells.
When Buell started north after Bragg, Rosecrans was
in command in Northern Mississippi and Alabama.
Battles were fought and the Rebels defeated by him at
luka and Corinth, in September and October. A few
days after the last conflict he superseded Buell. The
army had been much reduced by its hard battles and
long marches ; the enemy's raids too, were a source of
continual impediment ; so that a careful work of organi
zation was now necessary. When this was completed,
Rosecrans moved forward from Nashville against Bragg,
84 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
December 26th, 1862. On the last day of the year the
terrible battles of Stone Elver began. On the first day
of the New Year the armies watched each other. Or
the second, the Union forces had the advantage ; and or>
the night of the third, the enemy evacuated Murfrees-
boro'. Colonel Granville Moody, better known in the
Army of the Cumberland as the "Fighting Parson,"
relates an interesting piece of the history of the move
ments which preceded this battle :
The advance from Nashville began near the close of the week.
Rain, mud and mist were the order of the day. The enemy's cavalry
were harassing the front. The march under such difficulties made
the troops unusually weary. Gen. Rosccrans called
n <e a9l a council of war to ask his generals' opinions on
SK/e of the Old ^ .
Muster." several matters connected with the movement. The
question was raised, Shall the army march or rest on
Sunday ? The decision was doubtful. Some thought that a day
would be lost thus ; others suggested that the troops needed rest. At
last, after nearly all had given their opinion, Gen. Crittenden, who
had been stalking back and forth under the trees during the discus
sion, was asked for his judgment. Turning round towards the group,
and pointing his finger solemnly upward towards the wet sky, he
said earnestly —
" Gentlemen, I don't know how you feel about that, but we are
going into a battle in a day or two, and I always have thought it
best to be on the right side of the Old Master. The army can wait,"
That Sunday the soldiers rested.
At 11 P. M. of the first day of the battle, a party of
thirty-two Delegates, well equipped and supplied, started
from Philadelphia for the scene of slaughter. A
company from the Chicago Army Committee, on the
same errand, found them at Nashville. This was the
herald of an organized and precious work, soon to be in-
STONE EIVEE. 85
augurated in the Cumberland Army. Rev. A. G.
McAuley,1 who headed the Philadelphia deputation,
relates the following incident :
At this battle, Captain B. F. Haskett, Co. C, 51st Ohio Vols., was
mortally wounded. He was carried to an old house near the field,
which was used as a hospital. The Surgeon saw at once that his
case was hopeless, and began to ask him his name,
P mi i • -IT i n The Captain's
regiment, &c. Ihe dying soldier was unable to J£ 'ta h
speak and signed for writing materials. Paper and
pencil were given him. With a tremulous hand he wrote :
" Take me to my home in Knox co., Ohio, and there let me be
buried beside my wife. Let there be a monument erected, and on it
let it be written : 'All with me is well : I died in the cause of my
country — a cause second to none, save the cause of my blessed Re
deemer in whom I trusted in life, and who did not forsake me in
death. Meet me in heaven.' "
Soon after the Christian soldier expired.
Sometimes the same blessed peace of God in the heart
needed no words of the sufferer's own to make it mani
fest. Again and again, in hospital and on the field, it
shone into the very eyes of Death, imprinting upon the
untenanted body some picture of the Everlasting Hope :
During one of the lulls of the terrible fight, a youthful voice was
heard calling for aid. Soon it was drowned by the tumult of battle.
After the fight was over, some soldiers went to look for the sufferer.
On going through some high bushes, they saw a boy
of about sixteen sitting up against a tree. As they ,., „
came nearer, they found that both his feet had been
carried away by a cannon ball. Upon his lap, above the bloody
stumps, lay his open Bible. His eyes were raised to heaven. A
look of joy was on his face, while his finger, stiff and cold in death,
was laid upon this verse of the 23d Psalm :
"Yea, though I walk through the valley and shadow of death, I
1 Pastor of the Fifth Eeformed Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.
86 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff they
comfort me." l
Chaplain C. C. McCabe,2 afterwards a Christian Com
mission Agent, gives the story of one of the wounded at
Stone River, who was taken to a hospital in Nashville :
A wounded hero was lying on the amputating table, under the
influence of chloroform. They cut off his strong right arm and cast
it all bleeding upon the pile of human limbs. They then laid him
gently upon his couch. He awoke from his stupor
and missed his arm. With his left hand he lifted
Arm !
th? cloth, and there was nothing but the gory
stump !
" Where's my arm T' he cried, " get my arm ; I want to see it once
more."
They brought it to him. He took hold of the cold, clammy fin
gers, and looking steadfastly at the poor dead member, thus addressed
it, with tearful earnestness —
" Good-bye, old arm ! We have been a long time together. We
must part now. Good-bye, old arm ! You'll never fire another
carbine nor swing another sabre for the government," and the tears
rolled down his cheeks.
Looking round on those standing by, he said —
" Understand, I don't regret its loss. It has been torn from my
body, that not one State should be torn from this glorious Union."
Was not the poet speaking for him when he sung t —
" Some things are worthless, some others so good
That nations that buy them pay only in blood ;
For Freedom and Union each man owes his part,
And here I pay my share, all warm from my heart."
Mr. A. E. Chamberlain met some of the wounded
from this field in the Cincinnati hospitals. He writes
of an interview with one of them :
1 Related by Chaplain Crozier, 37th Indiana Regiment.
2 Of 121st Ohio. A member of Ohio Conference, M. E. Church.
CINCINNATI HOSPITALS. 87
I found a man from Stone River, near the door of Washington
Park Hospital, just as I was going out. I handed him a little book.
Without a word, he threw it on the stand by his bed. No soldier
had ever done the like to me before. I stepped up ^ Backslider
closer to his cot. There was another little book in
my hand, The Sinner's Welcome to Come to Christ. I noticed that
the title immediately caught his eye. I thought I would hold it,
while I talked with him, so that he could still see it. Not saying
anything about the way in which he had acted, I told him that I felt
interested in him and would like to know if he was a Christian.
" No, and I don't want to be."
" Can you give me a good reason for not being one ?"
" No, and I don't care whether I can or not."
We talked on a little while, his answers being as curt and mono
syllabic as possible. I found out that he had a wife and three chil
dren. His wife was a praying woman. Quite suddenly the thought
came to me, he is a " backslider." I determined to test its truth by
asking him a decisive question :
" My dear sir, haven't you been a praying man ?"
I was entirely unprepared for the shock which at once seemed to
convulse his whole frame:
" Yes, sir, I have ; but I have departed further from God than any
poor sinner ever did."
He was fairly broken down, and told me how happy he was when
he had had a family altar :
" First of all, sir, I forgot to pray to God, myself, in secret. Then
I threw my Bible away, and now I haven't read in one for
months."
I observed that he still kept watching the little book I held in my
hands, so I gave it to him.
" Do you suppose Jesus would receive such a backslider as I am ?"
I told him about the " chief of sinners," and kneeling down, prayed
with him. He was convalescent then, and was to go, the next morn
ing, to his regiment. I gave him a Testament with the little books,
and commending him to the care of the Shepherd who looks after
His wandering sheep, left him. He gave me his promise, evidently
one which he meant to keep, to read the Testament often and to be
continually mindful of secret prayer.
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Missouri had all along been much annoyed by guer
rillas and "bushwhackers," as well as by more formidable
movements from Arkansas. In the summer of 1862,
several new regiments were raised for State defence.
Among these was the 33d Missouri, a St. Louis regi
ment, recruited by Clinton B. Fisk1 of that city.
While the regiment was organizing at Benton Barracks, Col. Fisk
. was in the habit of conducting religious meetings with his men in
the great amphitheatre of the St. Louis fair grounds. These meet
ings were- of great interest. Thousands of citizens
Swearing for a .
Regiment. were regularl7 m attendance to join in the services,
and some one of the loyal clergymen was present
each Sabbath to preach. One Sabbath, Eev. Dr. Nelson, of the First
Presbyterian Church, was preaching earnestly upon the necessity of
a pure life, exhorting the men to beware of the vices incident to the
camp, and especially warning them against profanity. The Doctor
related the incident of the Commodore who, whenever recruits re
ported to his vessel for duty, was in the habit of entering into an
agreement with them that he should do all the swearing for that ves
sel ; and appealed to the thousand Missouri soldiers in Colonel Fisk's
regiment to enter into a solemn covenant that day with the Colonel
that he should do all the swearing for the Thirty-third Missouri.
The regiment rose to their feet as one man and entered into the cov
enant. It was a grand spectacle.
For several months no swearing was heard in the regiment. Col.
Fisk became a Brigadier, and followed Price into Arkansas. But
one evening2 as he sat in front of his headquarters at Helena, he
heard some one down in the bottom-lands near the
"It had to be .
done Eight off." river' swearillg ni the m°st approved Flanders style.
On taking observation he discovered that the swearer
1 One of the original members of the Christian Commission, and a most
active one throughout the Avar. His headquarters were always well stocked
with the Scriptures, hymn books and religious newspapers. A card was promi
nently posted up — " 'SWEAR NOT AT ALL.' Attention is called to the 3d Com
mandment, and the 3d Article of War."
2 February, 1803.
IN AKKAXSAS. 89
was a teamster from his own headquarters, a member of his cove
nanting regiment, and a confidential old friend. He was hauling a
heavy load of forage from the depot to camp ; his six mules had be
come rebellious with their overload, had run the wagon against a
stump and snapped off the pole. The teamster opened his great
batteries of wrath and profanity against the mules, the wagon, the
Arkansas mud, the Rebels, and JefF Davis. In the course of an hour
afterwards, as the teamster was passing headquarters, the General
called to him and said, " John, did I not hear some one swearing
most terribly an hour ago down on the bottom ?"
" I think you did, General."
" Do you know who it was?"
" Yes, sir ; it was me, General."
" Do you not remember the covenant entered into at Benton Bar
racks, St. Louis, with Rev. Dr. Nelson, that 1 should do all the
swearing for our old regiment?"
" To be sure I do, General," said John ; " but then you were not
there to do it, and it had to be done right off!"
Gen. Fisk related this story in January, 1865, in the hearing of
President Lincoln, at the Anniversary Meeting of the Commission,
in the Hall of the House of Representatives at Washington. The
President, if one might judge from his demonstra
tions on the occasion, enjoyed the incident hugely. , , „-
The next morning, Gen. Fisk was waiting in the
ante-room at the White House to see Mr. Lincoln. A poor old man
from Tennessee was moving about, among the large number in
attendance, with a very sorrowful face. Sitting down beside him, the
General inquired his errand, and learned that he had been waiting
three or four days to get an audience. On seeing Mr. Lincoln
probably depended the life of his son, who was under sentence of
death at Nashville for some military offence. Gen. Fisk wrote his
case in outline on a card, and sent it in with a special request that
the President would see the man. In a moment the order came, and
past Senators, Governors and Generals, waiting impatiently, the old
man was ushered into the President's presence. He showed Mr.
Lincoln his papers. He took them and said with great kindness that
ta would look into them, and give him an answer on the following
90 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
day. The old man, in an agony of apprehension, looked up into the
President's sympathetic face, and cried aloud —
" To-morrow may be too late. My son is under sentence of death.
The decision must be made right off."
The tall form of Mr. Lincoln bent over the old man in an instant.
" Come," said he, " wait a bit ; that ' right off' reminds me of a
story." And then he went on to relate the case of " John Todd,"
which Gen. Fisk had told the evening before. As he told it, the old
man became interested ; for a moment he forgot his boy and sorrow,
and President and listener laughed heartily together.
Mr. Lincoln took up the papers again, and bent over them a sec
ond to write a few magic words. The old man's eyes were filled with
tears again when he read them ; but now they were tears of joy, for
the words had saved the life of his boy.
CHAPTEE IY.
THE WESTERN ARMIES.
FROM AFTER THE STONE RIVER BATTLES UNTIL THE SURRENDER OF
VICKSBURG.
January 1863— July 1863.
THE Army of Gen. Rosecrans remained inactive at
Murfreesboro' until midsummer of 1863. This period
of comparative quiet afforded a rare opportunity for
inaugurating more fully the work of the Commission.
Eev. Edward P. Smith1 was appointed the General Field
Agent in the Army of the Cumberland, and entered the
lines, with several Delegates, early in April. Organi
zation was at once begun, and the work in the army,
with Nashville as the centre of operations, became
thenceforth rich in effort and in fruit.
The first Delegates carried, along with their other
stores, some children's gifts and letters to soldiers. The
history of one of these mementos has been accurately
traced, and is of peculiar interest :
A little girl in Philadelphia, about seven years of age, sent, with a
Testament, to " some sick soldier" in the hospitals at Nashville, the
following letter :
PHILADELPHIA, April 17, 1863.
MY DEAR SOLDIER : — I send you a little Testament. I am a little
girl seven years old. I want to do something for Little Lizzie's
the soldiers who do so much for us ; so I have saved Letter.
1 See p. 129.
91
92 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
my pocket money to send you this. Although I have never
seen you, I intend to begin to pray that God will make and keep
you good. Oh how sorry I am that you have to leave your clear
mother ! Did she cry when you bade her good-bye ? Don't you
often think of her at night when you are going to bed ? Do you
kneel down and say your prayers? If I were you, I wouldn't care
if the other soldiers did laugh ; God will smile upon you. I am
sorry, very sorry that you are sick. I wish I could go to nurse
you. I could bathe your head and read to you. Do you know the
hymn —
"There is a happy land?"
I hope you will go to that land when you die. But, remember, I
will pray that you will get well again. When you are able to sit up,
I wish you to write to me, and tell me all your troubles. Enclosed
you will find a postage stamp. I live at - - North Ninth street,
Philadelphia. Good-bye.
Your friend,
LIZZIE SCOTT.
Mr. Caleb J. Milne, a Delegate from Philadelphia, carried the
Testament and letter to Nashville. Not knowing how better to ful
fill Lizzie's trust, Mr. Milne determined, one evening at a prayer
meeting in the convalescent ward of Hospital No. 8, to give it to the
first man who should ask for prayers. When the invitation was
given, the first man upon his feet was a Michigan cavalryman. He
was in earnest about the great question of salvation, and, at the close
of the meeting, Mr. Milne, after a few words of counsel, handed him
the child's package, — with what effect the cavalryman's letter, written
shortly afterwards, will tell :
NASHVILLE, TEXN, April 24, 1SP.3.
DEAR SISTER LIZZIE: — I received your kind letter from Mr. C.
J. M. A beautiful present indeed, and I trust that it will be one of
the means of converting others, as well as the receiver. May God
bless the giver ! You have done a good work. Continue to pray,
dear sister, and God will answer you. He says so in His Word.
My dear mother is in the grave. It is nearly eleven years since
she died ; but she died happy, and I trust I shall meet her in heaven.
NASHVILLE. 93
I will try and pray for myself. I have been in the hospital four
mouths, but am now nearly well; will be able to join my regiment to
face the enemy ; and if I should fall on the battle-field, I may have
the blessed assurance of meeting my Saviour in peace.
Yes, " there is a happy land." May we meet in that happy land.
I do not think that my fellow-soldiers will deter me from serving
my Master. There are many others here that His Spirit is striving
with.
I expect to go home to see my dear friends once more. I am very
thankful that the privilege is granted, and I trust we shall have a
happy meeting. Dear Lizzie, I must close. May God bless you, is
my prayer. Write me again. Address,
Your friend,
STANLEY NICHOLS,'
Co. F, 4th Mich. Cav., Nashville.
The Chaplains of the army worked most cordially
with the Delegates, and, as they were able, undertook
volunteer labor in the hospitals of Murfreesboro'. Chap
lain Thomas2 gives the following picture :
One Sunday, I distributed reading matter throughout the nine hos
pitals in Murfreesboro'. At the close of a short service in " No. 8,"
1 Kev. Thomas Atkinson gives the particulars of a very pleasant interview
with Stanley Nichols, at No. 8 Hospital, Nashville, about Chickamauga time.
His regiment had been at New Albany, Ind., and was going forward to the front.
He stopped at his old hospital over night, to see some former friends. " When I
saw him first, he was standing late at night beside a cot. A lamp overhead gave
a feeble light. He was the very picture of everything manly and noble and
Christian. I stepped forward and asked, 'Are you Stanley Nichois?' 'Yes,
sir.' 'Are you a Christian ?' ' Yes, thank God !' ' Have you the letter you got
from little Lizzie?' 'Yes, sir,' said he, and he went on to tell me of the influ
ence it had had upon his life." Mr. Atkinson's interview resulted in the publi
cation, by the American Tract Society of New York, of the original correrpond-
ence, which excited such deep interest throughout the country.
Rev. C. S. Armstrong, Chaplain of Nichols' regiment, writes us that he ever
found him, after the receipt of Lizzie's letter, a true Christian soldier, and of
great service to him in his work among the men.
52 See p. 82.
94 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I glanced along a row of cots to see if there were any bad cases ;
one face arrested my attention. Approaching, I took
Ready to Die. ., , , , n , , ,, 1
a youth s hand, and asked soitly —
" My friend, are you a Christian ?"
Opening his eyes, and gradually entering into the full meaning of
my question, he answered —
" Oh, yes ;" then pressing my hand, with increasing earnestness he
added, " O sir, I'm so glad you've come in here."
He was quiet a moment; then clasping his hands as though he were
beholding the " beatific vision," he exclaimed, " Glory to God !"
His brother, much affected, was at his side.
Seeing a comrade standing near, the sick man called him to his
cot. Taking his hand, the soldier looked up into his comrade's face
and asked most pleadingly —
" Tom, won't you go with us to heaven ?"
Tom began to melt, but not replying, the dying man urged the
question with an intense, almost painful solicitude. I was moved to
tears, and placing my hand gently on Tom's shoulder, said —
" Tom, won't you go with us ?"
" I will, sir," was the answer which had already found its way to
his lips.
I called again in two days ; the young soldier was with Jesus. I
learned from his brother how they both had escaped from the Con
federate army, and, after reaching Nashville, had enlisted on the
Union side. The account given by the survivor of his brother's con
version was a symbol of his life. Sitting in his tent, a large " Sib-
ley," one evening, he was unusually thoughtful. The rest were
playing cards ; there came a lull in the game. He broke the
silence :
" Boys, I've been thinking what kind of a life I've been leading,
TJ T) • • and I'm resolved to quit sinning and begin praying,
— to try and lead a Christian life."
There were no taunts, for all respected him as a faithful soldier
and kind messmate. He improved every opportunity of talking with
his comrades, and so judicious and persevering was he, that in a few
weeks all swearing and card-playing disappeared from the mess.
Continuing to serve Christ, we have seen what he was at the gates of
death.
MUKFKEESBOKO' HOSPITALS. 95
Towards the close of April, Rev. Mr. Smith held a
Sabbath service in the General Hospital just outside of
Murfreesboro'. He writes of it :
After service, one of the nurses asked me to go down to Ward E.
& sick man wanted a Chaplain. Dutton1 and I went. We found
him — an East Tennessean, prostrate with fever, a tall, athletic man
)f middle age, evidentlv wholly unused to sickness.
, . IP i • "Thank Him
I approached him cautiously, saying to myself, this firsi»
is one of those cases of religion sought, not so much
because the man wishes for it, as because he feels that he must
have it. He would not have God when he was well, and wants
me to make it up for him in this last sickness. So I began a long
way off:
" I am sorry to see you in this trouble."
He interrupted me —
" I'm sick, parson, but I'm not troubled ; did the nurse tell you I
was in trouble?"
His cheerful tone and sweet smile showed me my mistake ; that
was a Christian's voice ; and I became as much interested to test his
faith as I had been before distrustful of his sincerity.
" You are very sick ?"
"Yes, and A heap of men are dying in this hospital, but I am not
troubled ; it's all right, parson."
" You have a wife ?"
" Yes."
"Children?"
"Six."
" Do they know at home how you are ?"
" No, sir," said he, for the first time showing emotion, " and I don't
know how they are, but I ain't troubled about 'em. You see, parson,
when the Rebels run me off, my wife fed me in the bushes. One night
she came to tell me the Rebels were getting hot after me, and I must
go directly. We knelt down by a gum tree and prayed together.
She gave me to God, and I gave her and the children to God ; and
then made for the Union lines and enlisted. I haven't heard from
1 Albert I. Dutton, Student of Andover Theological Seminary, Mass.
96 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
them since ; that was eight months ago. But I am not troubled
about 'em. It's all right, parson — all right."
" Why did you send for me ?" I asked.
" I wanted somebody to pray for me."
" What shall I pray for ? You don't seem to want anything."
" Why, parson, can't a man pray without he's in trouble? My
mind is mighty weak and scattered like, and I wanted somebody to
come and help me thank God. You can pray for anything else you
reckon I want, but thank Him first."
We knelt on the ground by the cot, and with tears and difficult
utterance prayed with thanksgiving ; the prostrate soldier occasion
ally breaking in —
" Yes, Lord ; yes, thank God." l
Two weeks later, Eev. Mr. Smith made use of this
wonderful instance of Divine help for a Christian disci
ple. He writes :
I had been preaching in the fortifications to Capt. Bridge's Battery,
taking for my subject, •' Our safety in God's care," as illustrated by
Peter's deliverance from prison. As I walked out of camp, a bat
tery man joined me for a talk :
of Breastwork." " Tliat was a funny doctrine you preached this
morning, Chaplain."
" It is a blessed doctrine," I replied, " and nobody ought to know
it better than a soldier."
" I mean to say that it's a strange doctrine, and I don't see how it
can be true. Don't you think a forty-pounder, striking a fellow fair,
would kill him, whether he was religious or not ?"
" Undoubtedly."
" Do you think if a Christian goes out on a skirmish line, a Rebel
sharpshooter can't hit him ?"
" No," said I ; " I think the Christian would be rather more likely
to be hit than a man who was not a Christian."
" Don't the Christians take sick and go to hospital ; and don't the
' Chronic'2 carry 'em off just like anybody else?"
1 See p. 27.
2 Tliis was one of the soldiers' names for Chronic Diarrhoea ; not unfrequently
it was called " the Chronicle."
MURFREESBOEO'. 97
" Very often."
" Just so," he replied ; " I said to myself while you were going on
about being always just as safe as Peter was, ' I'll make the Chaplain
take part of that back.' "
" But," I replied, " my doctrine is that a minie ball would not hurt,
not that it would not hit."
" Well, now, Chaplain, I've had a little experience of minie balls,
„ and I know they hurt."
" Are you a Christian ?"
" I wish I was, but I have to confess I'm not."
" Suppose you were a Christian, ready to die ; what would that
forty-pounder do for you ?"
" It would take me straight to heaven."
" Would that hurt you ?"
"Not much."
" Neither would the minie balls nor the fever. Now, have you
' made the Chaplain take back' his sermon?"
" Well, but, Chaplain, suppose he should be taken sick, and go to
the hospital, and not die after all ?"
Then I told him of my East Tennesseean, who was " all right,"
and only wanted help to " thank God :" and I asked whether the
fever was hurting him. Before I had finished my story, the battery-
man was in tears. Grasping my hand at his good-bye, he said —
" You are right, Chaplain ; a man that is a real Christian can't be
hurt ; the religion in his soul makes the very best kind of a breast
work."
The Christian soldiers in the army found it necessary
to meet together in voluntary societies, for various pur
poses of mutual edification and encouragement. Rev.
Mr. Smith recalls his meeting with one of these organi
zations near Murfreesboro' :
On a Sunday morning in May, I was on my way to fill an appoint
ment for service with a regiment, when I came upon a group of
soldiers, sitting on logs in a hollow square, under an oak tree. I
found it was a Bible-class of the First Michigan
-T^, . • .,!/>( if i T , i The Bible-Class.
Engineers, with a Corporal lor teacher. I took my^
7
98 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
place as a scholar and went through with the morning's lesson, — the
first chapter of St. James. There were no Commentaries in the
soldiers' knapsacks ; some of them had reference Bibles : the teach
ings of the hour were from the men's hearts, aided by such knowledge
as they had stored away in early life. The question of sin, its
origin and its use, was handled in a true soldier's way, and settled so
as to be of practical use in his life, if not altogether according to
theological terminologies and schools.
After the Bible-class came a meeting of the Christian Association
of the regiment. Wanting a Chaplain, they had formed themselves
into a society. The Articles of Faith to which a candidate for ad
mission must assent were brief and comprehensive,
TheChurchin includi thege three points . i. Salvation through
the Woods. .
an Atoning Saviour ; 2. Belief that this salvation
had been personally experienced ; and, 3. Proof of that experience,
on the testimony of the regiment.
There were several candidates to be admitted this morning. Each
stood up and gave his religious history. Then followed the proof
from the regiment. The candidates were passed upon one by one.
The opinions of comrades as to their fitness or unfitness were most
freely and faithfully given. Few men enter a church at home under
such genuine tests.
Sergeant J. desired to unite with the Association, as he said, not
for its good, but for his own sake :
" I am not worthy, brothers ; you know that very well. You know
my life has not been what it ought to have been as a Christian man.
But if you can take me and help me, I want to come. I mean to be
true; if God and my comrades will help me, I shall
Not Willing to ^ ^^ ^ .f tMnk it win be dangerous to
go Alone. . ,
receive me, perhaps you had better let me wait and
try to go alone ; although I have not much hope, unless I have your
assistance."
Kemarks were called for and most freely given. Sergeant J.'s
life will not probably pass such a severe ordeal again until the final
review. Every word was kind as it was true, and every comrade
closed with the wish that the Sergeant might be tried. He came in
by a unanimous vote.
Corporal S. gave a good religious experience. His account made
MURFREESBORO'. 99
his conversion clear, decided and rather remarkable. His Christian
hopes were delightful. He spoke with deep emotion and moved me
to tears. I supposed there would be no discussion
in his case. But the third-article — proof before the
of Repentance.
regiment, was called for, and there were found to be
decided objections to his admission. To the grief of many of his
Christian comrades, he had persisted in a "gift enterprise," receiving
chances from a firm in New York, and selling them in the regiment.
He insisted that it was not unchristian so to do — that he gave nearly,
if not quite, the value of the money received, in addition to the
chance of a large gain. His comrades, one after another, declared
that they could not see it in that light, and called on Brother S. to
renounce his practice. This he did. He was willing to quit it from
that time forward, especially as it had been forbidden in the army by
Gen. Rosecrans.
Now arose the question, Shall the Corporal come in ? One after
another declared that he ought not only to forsake sin, but to repent
of it:
"Say you are sorry for it, Corporal, and we will receive you."
But the Corporal had taken a position, and could not see the way
to retreat ; nor could the brotherhood see the way open for his mem
bership. Accordingly a committee was appointed to labor with him,
and so wise and faithful was their work, that at the next meeting the
Corporal came, through repentance and confession, into cordial fellow
ship with the Association.
Two soldiers were received who had never united with the church
at home. They desired baptism by immersion. At the close of the
afternoon service, we marched to the banks of Stone River, where
we went down into the water. The comrades of the
men stood near the side of the stream, singing — ,™ -r, ..
" Am I a soldier of the cross ?"
It was a strange and beautiful scene. Those scarred veterans on
the bank, cheering their two comrades who were dedicating them
selves to God, in the very stream which, a few months before, had
run red with the blood of their fellow-soldiers and enemies. Just
above this point, in January, the Confederates had made their
irost furious charge, and were repulsed by Crittenden.
100 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS
Rev. A. B. Dascomb1 came to the army as Delegate
early in May. Mr. D. L. Moody, of Chicago, who
arrived about the same time, was successful in establish
ing a daily prayer meeting in the basement of the
Second Presbyterian Church of Nashville, on May
10th — a meeting of remarkable character, which was
continued until the work closed in the Summer of 1865.
Mr. Dascomb gives an account of one of the first fruits
of this meeting :
I shall never forget one soldier whom I met in Nashville. His
name was J. Z . I learned his story from his own lips after his
conversion. His father was a Presbyterian elder; but the son, from
his early youth, had been disobedient and wicked.
j " A little brother, who used to sleep with him, was in
the habit, every night, of kneeling by the bedside to
say his simple child's prayers. This so enraged Z that some
times he had been tempted to kill him. Once only he seems to have
been convinced of his wickedness ; this was when his sister died. She
had called her wayward brother to her side, and tearfully prayed him
to meet her in heaven. He gave the promise, but after her death,
to escape the memory of her request and his parents' entreaties, he
ran away. He was a boatman on the Ohio for some time after that,
and plunged into every species of vice practised by the most aban
doned of these men.
When the war broke out he enlisted in an Ohio regiment, and
served at Shiloh, Perryville and Stone River. At the last battle he
was wounded ; and, unfitted for longer active service, was sent to the
Barracks, opposite the Nashville Christian Commission rooms, to act
as cook. Here he was drawn into the daily prayer meeting. The
words which he heard brought back into vivid relief the thoughts he
had had on the battle-field after he was wounded, his sister's and his
parents' lessons and love, his child-brother's little prayers. He had
neglected so many early advantages that he was very ignorant ; but
1 Pa-stor of Congregational Church, Woodstock, Vt.
NASHVILLE HOSPITALS. 101
he knew that there was a Deliverer ; he cried mightily for His pres
ence. The Lord heard the poor man's prayer, and in that strength
the soldier renewed the vow made when his sister died. The change
in his life was immediate and manifest. He attended the prayer
meetings regularly, and became a kind of volunteer Delegate among
his fellow-soldiers, carrying to them books and tracts, and praying
with the sick and dying.
"I have served Satan diligently," he would say; "that's all past
now, and can't be helped, God knows ; but I want to serve Christ as
diligently."
This was his life-purpose now. He was a lion that had become
as a lamb. I confess I never before witnessed what was apparently
so great a triumph of grace.
Mr. Dascomb gives in another incident a strange and
vivid picture of the power of that Word that shall not
return unto God void :
It was my custom daily while at Nashville to visit Hospital No.
20. During one of my calls there, I came upon a soldier evidently
near death. I spoke to him earnestly and repeatedly, but received
no satisfactory response. I was puzzled, for it was
impossible to determine whether he was physically p
insensible, or indifferent to what I was saying. I
urged him to pray ; still no answer came. Bending down to him, I
repeated my request, giving him these words of petition :
" God, be merciful to me a sinner ; Saviour, pity ; Jesus, save
me."
There was no reply, and sorrowfully I turned to the next cot, ten
anted by a bright and glowing Christian, in whose words of faith and
hope the speechless sufferer near me was forgotten. A low murmur
of words from his cot recalled him to my mind. In a clear, but
very faint, struggling voice, the words I had said to him were
repeated :
" God, be merciful to me a sinner ; Saviour, pity ; Jesus, save me."
A. flickering glow glanced for a moment into the stony eyes, and
wavered over the wan cheeks and lips, then went away for ever.
102 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Mr. Thomas Atkinson1 tells the story of his first ex
perience as a Delegate in the Nashville hospitals :
The morning after Mr. Moody and I reached Nashville, we stood
upon the hotel steps debating whither we should go. Thinking there
was no time to be lost, we separated and went in different directions,
— he going to Hospital No. 3, and I to No. 8. It
was my first venture into army work. I scarcely
Nothing at All. J
knew what to say or do. Entering the first floor of
the large ward, I stood irresolute. Surgeons and nurses were moving
hither and thither. A half doubt came to me whether I could do
this work which the Lord had put upon me. Suddenly I noticed a
man observing me attentively from a distant cot ; I turned my eyes
away from his, and letting them wander about the room a while,
looked at him again. He was watching me still. Putting up a silent
prayer to God, I went to him. His name was John Hays. He had
a wife and five children :
" You seem to be very low, John."
" Yes, sir, I am."
" Are you a Christian ?"
"No, sir, I'm not, but my wife is. And I was just asking the Lord
this morning, to send me some one to tell me how I could get to be
like her. When I saw you standing over there, I thought, ' 'Maybe
the Lord has heard me. 'Maybe this is the man He has sent to
help me.' "
The soldier's earnestness, my former indecision, the blessed opening
evident, made me strong in faith :
" Yes, John, I am the Lord's messenger ; and, moreover, I have
come to tell you that you are to become a child of Christ."
" Do you think so, sir? Then thank God for it!"
I told him of the only way by which he could come to the cross.
He waited as if I were going to say more, but I only asked him if he
would accept the offered Atonement.
" Why, sir," said he, ;' I didn't think that was the way. I thought
1 Of Chicago. Member afterwards of the Wittenberg Synod (Ohio) of the
Lutheran Church.
NASHVILLE HOSPITALS. 103
I had to be sorry a long time, and — and — ," and here he stopped be
cause he hardly knew what more to say.
" Listen," said I —
" ' Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.' "
"And will He save me that way for just nothing at all?"
"Yes —
" ' Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling ;
Naked, come to Thee for dress ;
Helpless, cling to Thee for grace ;
Vile, I to the fountain fly ;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.' "
" I never knew it before, sir. I never knew it was so easy. Thank
God ! Thank God !"
There was a nurse standing near by. The soldier turned to him
and said —
" Nurse, when this gentleman goes away, I want you to write to
my wife and tell her that I have found out how to trust Jesus. Thank
God ! Thank God !"
He never faltered for a moment, during the five days which in
tervened before his death, in his simple, childlike attachment to
Christ.
At last the morning came when his cot was empty. I asked the
nurse about him. Arrangements had been made by the dying man
for the prompt transmission of his remains to his home. They were
already upon the road. Then I discovered that the
, , . , Sorrow Turned
nurse had neglected the soldiers request to send a jntoj0
letter. The first intimation to the wife, of her
husband's decease, would be the arrival of the mournful case which
contained his body. It was a sad mistake, but could not be reme
died. I wrote her a letter, giving full particulars of her husband's tri
umphant departure. The answer was one of very precious interest :
" O sir, I didn't think there were any earthly words which could
comfort me as did those in your letter. I am afraid I sinned against
104 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
God yesterday, as I stood by my husband's grave. I know I had
hard, rebellious thoughts. No one knew about them but myself and
God. As the minister said, ' Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to
dust,' I almost thought I could stand it no longer. It was hard to
be separated from him thus, and to know so little — nothing about
how he died. When I got back to the house, your letter was lying
on the table. In it I learned that John had found Jesus, and I cried
for joy.
" ' Children,' I said, ' dry up your tears. Your father is not dead.
He is alive in Heaven. Thank God!'
" At the grave, the war had seemed to me very cruel and wicked.
It is all changed now. I shall meet John again ; that is enough.
Thank God who saved my husband."
In November, 1862, Gen. Grant, having completed
his preparations, advanced into Mississippi. In the close
of December, Gen. Sherman, with 30,000 men trans
ported down the Mississippi and up the Yazoo in boats,
made an assault upon Vicksburg, continued for several
days, but entirely unsuccessful. Arkansas Post on the
White River was reduced in January, and in the same
month work was begun on a canal which was intended
to render Vicksburg useless. March rains paralyzed this
effort to flank the Mississippi. Various plans were de
vised to render the reduction of the Eebel stronghold
easier. All were more or less failures. Grand Gulf,
below Vicksburg, was reduced early in May, after
Sherman's victory of Port Gibson. Our army now
slowly approached Vicksburg from the south-east, and
on May 18th crossed the Big Black, after the victories
of Raymond, Jackson and Champion Hills. The grand
assault on the city, May 22d, taught Grant that it could
not be stormed. So he sat down to dig his way into it.
On July 4th the city surrendered.
HELENA. 105
General Fisk's1 command, after one of the fruitless
expeditions " to climb up some other way" into Vicks-
burg, was stationed at Helena, Arkansas. The General
relates an incident which occurred here about February
1st 1863.2
We had been removed for a month from our lines of communica
tion and had received no letters from home. Of course, when the
way was re-opened, our first thought was of the mail. I went to the
post-office tent and received my precious budget from
home — from wife and children, pastor and Sunday- ,.
school children — for I had been reduced from the rank
of Superintendent of the Sunday- school to become a General in the
army. I sat down on a log by my tent to peruse the messages of
love. I had read them through and through, and was about to rise,
when an old soldier, seated near me on the same log, accosted me
with —
" Old fellow, I want you to read my letter for me."
I had nothing on to indicate my rank. I turned and looked at
the man, and then reached for the letter. It was directed to " John
Shearer, Helena, Arkansas." The address began at the top of the
envelope and ran diagonally across to the lower corner.
" Can't you read it yourself, John ?"
" No."
" Then I will, of course ; but why don't you know how to read ?
The fellows that don't know how to read ought by rights to be found
only on Jeff Davis' side."
I learned that he had been born in a slave State, though he was an
Iowa soldier, and that might have helped to excuse him. The letter
was from John's wife. After speaking of the gathering in of the
crops, and entering into all the little affairs of home — mentioning
even Susy's new dress, the new boots for Johnny, and the cunningest
wee bits of socks for the baby — the faithful wife began to read John
a sermon on this wise:
1 See p. 88.
2 Told at Anniversary of the Commission, Philadelphia, Jan. 31st, 1865.
106 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" John, it was quarterly meeting last Saturday, and the Presiding
Elder stopped at our house. He told me that a great many men
who went into the army Christians, came back very wicked ; that
they learned to swear and gamble and drink. Now, John, I want
you to remember the promise you made, as you were leaving me and
the children, that you would be a good man."
Ah ! the soldier wept as he listened, and when we came to the dear
name that closed the precious letter, he raised the sleeve of his old
coat, brushed away the great swelling tears, and said with a full
heart, " Bully for her !"
It was the soldier's Amen, eloquent and expressive.
" Well, have you been ' a good man,' John ?"
Then came the sad, sad story of drunkenness and gambling and
profanity, into which John had been led, and the humble confession
that he had forgotten his vow, but would renew it, and, with God's
help, try to keep it.
I then discovered my rank to him, which disconcerted him at first,
but he soon got over it. I invited him to my tent, and he came to
all our meetings afterwards.
Weeks passed by, and the horrors of the grave-digging on the
Mississippi, where thousands of brave men were laid low in the
swamps, passed over us, sweeping away six hundred of my own
men. Low with the fever, one day, I found John Shearer. I re
ceived his words of faith in the home beyond, his last messages
to wife and children, and then sang by his side the sweet hymn,
beginning —
" Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are."
The soldier's eyes were soon closed in death.
Gen. Fisk kept up constant communication with the
Western Army Committees and with the Central Com
mission, doing all in his power to promote the value of
Delegate work in the army.
The St. Louis Committee sent to Memphis, as their
MEMPHIS. 107
first agent, Mr. K.' A. Burnell,1 who, early in the Spring
of 1863, opened a reading-room in Memphis. He writes:
Four weeks of February and March I spent with the army before
Vicksburg. Coming back to Memphis, I had an interesting conver
sation with an aged soldier. He said —
" I entered the army as a Christian, fully expecting to stand up
for Jesus. I tried hard ; but with no regular Sunday service, no
prayer meeting, no closet even for my own prayers, I think I fell
back instead of advancing. When I found that out
for certain — it was just before the fight of Arkansas -n t
Post — I went to Christ and told Him all about it ;
and He came back to me, brother, and was with me in the midst of
that fight. I can never forget it." The old soldier mused a while and
then went on : " It was peace — peace in the midst of the battle.
Indeed it passed all understanding."
His countenance glowed as he proceeded :
"It seemed as if I wanted to go home in the midst of the fight. I
think I prayed that I might. I felt strong and courageous ; loading
and firing with the calmness of a man alone in a dense forest. Since
that fight I've had no doubts ; and I feel, more and more every day,
that we boys, to know how to fight best, must know how to love the
Lord Jesus with all our hearts."
In one of the Memphis prayer meetings, a man rose and said —
" Two weeks ago I was one of the wickedest men in the army ;
nothing was too bad for me to do or say ; but now, by the grace of
God, I can say I am 'a sinner saved.' This morn-
J The Countersign.
ing, on guard, I forgot my watchword. I was
troubled ; but, as I was thinking of it, this thought came to me : ' I
have another countersign, — Christ, — and with that there is no guarded
line in earth or heaven which I cannot pass.' When I had thought
of that a little while, my other countersign came to mind, and all
was right."
The soldiers, as in the instance last described, often
took the nearest and aptest illustrations of their spiritual
1 See p. 74.
108 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
condition from the commonest incidents of their daily
military life. Mr. Wm. Reynolds,1 who visited the Army
of the Mississippi in April and May, held a prayer
meeting one evening at Milliken's Bend, and writes of it:
At the close of the meeting, many asked me to pray for them, say
ing they wished to be Christians for the rest of their lives. As I left
them, promising to be down on Sunday, I noticed a man following
me. Stopping me, he began —
cc T j T\ • I J. O * O
1 want a JDis- ,T , . , ... ,,
charge» My friend, I want a discharge."
Supposing he meant a discharge from the army, I
said I was afraid that would be hard to obtain, as he appeared to be
recovering.
" Oh," said he, " that's not what I mean ; I want a discharge from
the devil's army. I've been fighting and serving in his ranks for
twenty-five years, and I'm tired and sick of the service. I want to
leave his ranks and enlist under the banner of the cross, and fight
for Jesus the balance of my life."
I told him he could have that discharge by deserting the devil's
ranks, and coming over to the Lord Jesus. I talked and prayed
with him, leaving with him some suitable reading. On Sunday, at
the close of the evening meeting, he told me he had come over and
was a " Soldier of the Cross."
Mr. Reynolds visited Helena, where Gen. Fisk's com
mand was, in April. He gives several reminiscences of
his work there :
I visited an Iowa regiment, and was told that no religious service
had been held in it for over nine months. Gathering the men to
gether, I told them of salvation through Christ. At the close of the
meeting, all Christians were requested to remain.
1 'It would Break , , .
m Heart" Nine tarried. I asked them if they were willing to
live, in the future as in the past, without any relig-
1 President of the Army Committee, and later of the Christian Commission
Branch of Peoria, 111.
IN ARKANSAS. 109
ious services whatever, reminding them of the command, " Forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together." Deep feeling was mani
fested by the little company, with real penitence for past neglect of
duty. At the close of my remarks they all resolved that, with God's
help, they would be more fully consecrated to their Saviour, whom
for so many months they had "followed afar off."
In the evening a prayer meeting was held in a deserted plantation
house near by. At the hour the expected nine appeared, and with
them two or three hundred fellow-soldiers. As the meeting pro
gressed, many, unused to weeping, were bathed in tears ; sobs and
crying were heard in every part of the large congregation. A fine-
looking officer rose and said —
" Soldiers, you are no doubt surprised at seeing me here this even
ing, and you will be more surprised when I tell you that I was once
a Christian, and have now a Christian wife and three children in
Iowa. Before leaving home, my wife made me promise to maintain
my Christian character in the army unsullied. But I soon forgot
that promise. On entering this regiment, I had not moral courage
enough to tell any one I was a Christian. Ashamed to pray, I soon
found Christ was ashamed of me. I fell fast into profanity, intem
perance and gambling. As most of you know, I am now addicted to
all these vices. Do you think I am happy? Oh, no ; I have been
miserable. That faithful wife writes me each week a long letter,
and at the close often says —
" ' O George, if we are never permitted to meet on earth again,
how it comforts me to know we shall meet on the other side of Jor
dan, where there are no wars and no partings.'
" O soldiers, how these letters burn my heart ! How that wife is
deceived! Many a night I have lain awake, thinking over my fallen
condition, and then have drowned my thoughts in the morning with
liquor. The day before yesterday, I received another letter from her,
in which she said —
" ' George, in looking over your letters I am surprised you say
nothing about your religious condition. O George, can it be possible
you have turned your back upon your Saviour, and that you are no
longer living as a Christian ? If I thought for a moment you would
fall in this war, and I should never see you again in this world, and
that we would never meet in the next, it would break my heart.' "
110 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The strong man was broken down. After becoming more calm, he
proceeded again :
" Now, soldiers, as for me, like the Prodigal Son, I am determined
to return to my Father. From this time I am determined to stand
up for Christ as valiantly as for my country."
His after life proved the strength and sincerity of his purpose.
A dying man was brought into the Hindman Hospital at Helena
by two soldiers. As soon as he was set down, he reached out his hand
to the matron and asked her to shake hands with him :
" I am goino; home to my mansion on his:h. I
"Till Pa comes u j i i i T i a • »
l°ve everybody, — but, oh, how 1 love my Saviour.
He died in a few minutes, with a smile of peace
upon his countenance.
On examining his knapsack, we found a very touching letter from
his wife. It told how she had just received a letter from him enclos
ing a little book for George, their young son ; how little George had
put the book into the cupboard, and had said —
" It must stay here till pa comes home."
I took and cut a lock of his hair, gathered up some trinkets from
his knapsack and sent them to his wife in Iowa, with the dying words
of her husband. After my return home I received a letter from her
in which she told me that she could not express her gratitude for the
little things I had sent, — for the lock of hair, and above all for the
precious dying words. Her husband had been converted in the
army, and the assurance she had of meeting him in the world beyond
was of inexpressible comfort in her bereavement.
We went down from Helena to Milliken's Bend, on a boat crowded
to its utmost capacity with soldiers and a wicked set of officers,
returning to the army. They spent their time in drinking and gam
bling. Mr. Burnell and I, as we found, were the only
Christians on the boat. We felt as if somehow we
War into Africa,
must plant the cross right in the midst of the scene.
Immediately after supper, the tables were cleared away and nearly
all began playing cards. We went into our state-room and knelt
down to ask God's help, for it seemed to me at least that anything
we could do was useless. Coming out, we stationed ourselves in the
centre of the room ; all around us were men intent upon their games,
cursing bitterly at losses, laughing loudly over success, and relating
ON THE MISSISSIPPI. Ill
abominable stories. It seemed the very mouth of hell. I began by
singing the hymn —
"All hail the power of Jesus' name."
If a thunderbolt had fallen into their midst, the astonishment
could not have been greater. For a moment every man stopped and
looked at us in perfect amazement. After singing two verses alone,
Mr. Burnell stated that we were Delegates of the Christian Commis
sion on our way to the army at Milliken's Bend for the purpose of
preaching Christ and ministering to soldiers in distress. He then
addressed a few earnest words to the officers, reminding them of the
influence of their example on their commands, — how demoralizing it
sometimes was, and beseeching them to care more for their men's
eternal welfare. He reminded them how many sons, given to the
army by devoted Christian mothers, had been ruined through the
example of wicked officers. For a moment it seemed to make an
impression, but all were soon again engaged in their gambling games.
The tide seemed to have rolled back and covered up what we had
'said for ever.
The service had been so short, that we had little time to notice the
effects, such as they were. At a table just by where we stood, one
man attempted thrice during Mr. Burnell's talk to resume the game,
but he failed. His muttered curses and jeers did not prevail till we
had finished. One of the men at this table looked at us when we
began, then dropped his eyes and sat with bowed head even after we
had concluded ; another rose and left the room.
In the morning, a gentleman came up to Mr. Burnell, and said —
" You ought to be a General, sir."
" I know nothing of military affairs," was the reply.
" Ah, sir," said he, " but you have moral courage. Any man who
could stand up amidst such iniquity and preach Christ, as you did
lust night, is a hero. I was a professor of religion before I came
into the army, but through bad associates and a want of moral cour
age to meet my fellow-officers as a Christian, I soon fell into profan
ity, gambling and drunkenness."
He seemed deeply affected and promised, God helping him, he
would show his colors thenceforth and stand up for Jesus.
While at Milliken's Bend, I was holding a meeting in an Indiana
112 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
regiment. At the close a man came forward and asked me if I had
been on a certain boat two days before. I told him, yes. He asked
me if I was one of two who had sung and preached one evening. I
told him I had helped in such a service.
" Our First Lieutenant," said he, " has been a very wicked man,
but he has just returned from a furlough home and seems to be
entirely different. He says that while he and others were playing
cards a few nights ago on board the boat, two men came out of their
state-room, sung a hymn and said some earnest words about the in
fluence officers had over the morals of their men, and about Jesus.
He tried to play after they had gone, but it w7as no use. Pie lay
awake all night. It revived the memories of childhood, bringing
back a mother's admonitions and prayers. He there resolved, God
being his helper, never to play again, and that his influence in the
future should be different from what it had been in the past. And
indeed, sir, so it has been since he came back."
So God taught me how much might be done even in the midst of
sin ; and how a little faith is the conqueror of the adversary.1
Just after arriving at Milliken's Bend, we held a meeting in an
Iowa regiment. At the close, a man came up to me and said —
" Stranger, would you like to come to a little prayer meeting, out
here in the woods ?"
The Hidden . .
Prayer Meeting. Certainly," said I.
It was about nine o'clock at night. We went half
1 Rev. R. Brown, Pastor of First Congregational Church of Oswego, 111., a Del
egate in the Mississippi field, July, 1864, relates a similar incident which occurred
as he was returning home. He was on board the steamer T. S. Arthur, with
Gen. McArthur and staff and the First Kansas Regiment. The boat had been
fired into from the shore, where Marmadnke had extemporized batteries to impede
the navigation of the stream. Danger past, the cabin was given up to gambling.
With much fear and trembling, Rev. Mr. Brown proposed to organize a meeting
right in the midst of the players. The General consented to preside, and a
precious service followed. Many Christians on board made themselves known to
Mr. Brown, and others with earnestness promised to change their course of life.
"The success of the meeting," he writes, "was a most signal rebuke to our cow
ardice. For two days we had waited for the devil to give place, and because he
did not, we were almost willing to smother our convictions of duty and allow
wickedness to go unrebuked."
MILLIKEN'S BEND. 113
a mile back of the encampments, and there, under the trees, the
moonbeams glancing down through the silent leaves, was a band of
about forty men. As we came up, some one was praying. We
listened until the fervent "Amen" had sounded throughout the group,
and then, without any introduction, I stepped forward and began
addressing them. They were amazed at the unlooked-for appearance
of a civilian among them, but seemed deeply interested. At the
close, they came around me to express their gratitude and pleasure.
Said one —
" Stranger, where did you come from ? did you drop down from
heaven or from where ?"
I told them my Delegate's errand, — that I had come from their
Northern homes to tell them they were not forgotten, and to encour
age them to be soldiers of the cross as they were of the country.
They appeared much affected. To my inquiry why they were meet
ing thus out in the woods, they told me that they belonged to regi
ments of which nearly all, officers as well as men, were opposed to
Christianity, and had interfered with their worship. They had
gathered together thus in this secret place of prayer that they might
come in quiet to Him who hears and answers all human petitions.
I called upon their commanders, and, getting their assurances that
these men should be protected afterwards in their common devotional
exercises, organized a Christian association in each regiment.
Gen. Fisk, in his address at the Anniversary of the
American Bible Society, in May, 1866, relates an inci
dent of this campaign :
More than 25,000 Bibles and Testaments have been given to
soldiers and sailors from my own headquarters. I believed in putting
them beside the Tactics and Army Regulations. Let me tell you a
little incident connected with the distribution. There
was a brave soldier from Iowa, Col. Samuel Rice, — ((rr e™' „
JL ctctics,
a name now honored in the army by the death of
that Christian soldier, who died at Spottsylvania1 with his face to the
foe. Col. Rice commanded a brigade of my division in the Army
1 See p. 248.
114 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
of the Mississippi. In the summer of 1863, the War Department
advised us that a new edition of Army Tactics, prepared by Gen.
Casey, would soon be issued. We were eager to receive the book,
and inquiries at headquarters were frequently made after the new
Tactics.
One morning I received a package of a thousand Testaments
printed by the American Bible Society. They were put up at my
headquarters, in a nice little case, showing the backs with the titles
in gilt letters. Soon afterwards Col. Rice came in, and seeing books
in the case, said —
" So the Tactics have come ; I am glad of it."
" Yes, Colonel," said I, " the Tactics have come."
" Can I make my requisition for them this morning ?"
I replied affirmatively.
" General," said he, " have you read these new Tactics ?"
" Yes, sir, I have ; I have studied them, and I mean to study
them morning and evening while I live."
He made his requisition for "forty-two Casey's Tactics," through
his Adjutant General. When it was presented, I tied up a package
of forty-two Testaments and sent them out to his headquarters. His
officers all gathered round to get the new book. As they opened the
package, out came the Testaments. Of course, there was a moment
ary disappointment in the group, but it was the human means of
leading more than one of them to a saving knowledge of these
Tactics.
Col. Rice, for a long time, had been seriously inclined. He had
been to our meetings and had talked to me on the great subject. He
began reading the Bible from that very day, earnestly and prayer
fully. A few months afterwards, while leading his courageous boys
against the bayonets of General Price, he received a serious wound.
I visited him as he passed up the Mississippi river to his home to die,
and found him rejoicing in hope, clinging to the "sure word of
prophecy" contained in the Blessed Book, and looking forward to the
time when he should join the great army above. I sat down with
him, and we sang together —
" Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel *o?t as downy pillows are,
SIEGE OF VICKSBUKG. 115
As on His breast I lean my head,
And breathe my life out sweetly there."
A few days ago I received from his Chaplain a long epistle, telling
me how triumphantly and gloriously this soldier left earth for
heaven.
Mr. S. E. Bridgman1 preserves a story of the opera
tions of the fleet against Vicksburg, told by Surgeon
Hopkins,2 in a letter to his mother :
You ask for a story, mother ; shall I give you one sad or glad ?
You remember the sad loss of the Cincinnati late* in May. In the
afternoon the wounded were brought in. I will give you the story
of one of them. His name was David Hans. He
Asleep.
was a handsome, finely-developed young man of
twenty-three or twenty-five years. His left leg was shot off just
above the knee, but left hanging by a few shreds of muscles.
In this condition he swam ashore, refusing to be assisted. Pale,
haggard, bloodless, he was brought aboard. Not a murmur, not a
groan, but such a weary, weary aspect. Presently he said —
" Can you put me to sleep ? I am in great pain."
" Yes, yes, we will put you to sleep right away."
His eyes were large, clear and blue, full of an unutterable soul.
They continued their wonderful silent eloquence — noiseless, alternate
light and shade — till the chloroform closed them.
Another patient was brought in, also severely wounded, making
the same request —
" Can you put me to sleep ?"
So I left the first before the amputation was begun, to give relief
to the second. He was of a different temperament from the other and
more clamorous, but after a little while I had him very quiet. Then
I said to the sister —
" Watch him for a few moments ; if he stops breathing, call me ; I
must see the other man."
1 Of Northampton, Mass.
2 U. S. N. Now resident at Newburg, N. Y.
116 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I went. The operation was nearly completed. Soon the dressings
were all applied, and we laid him on a bed. After another amputa
tion, I went to him again. He was awake, and again in pain:
" I want to go to sleep ; will you put me to sleep ?"
0 poor, pale face ! I see it now. Even the tongue was white. I
almost wept. Could I hope ? But I could not hesitate what to do.
That meek " Will you put me to sleep ?" brave, yet bordering on the
plaintive ; having the slightest possible touch of piteousness, yet so
quiet and so grand ! He was teaching me the sublimity of unmur
muring suffering.
" Yes, yes, we will put you to sleep."
His eyes opened and closed so wearily, so wrearily ! They were
wonderful eyes, clear as two perfect stars, and over them the fine
smooth brow and wavy hair, abundant and beautiful.
" Will you give me some wrater ?"
He drank and lay still again. Presently a little stimulant was
brought him. He swallowed it indifferently:
" Will that help me sleep ?"
" Yes, you will sleep now."
Previously a small anodyne powder had been given him. Then
he was quiet for a little.
1 had a hope for him, but with an awful sense that it had no foun
dation. Very soon he grew restless, a restlessness hard for wrords to
picture, — peculiar, and such as I, poor yearling doctor, had already
learned to dread. The restlessness became extreme. I left him for
a while, then returned. Will he be asleep ? He is quiet now.
O beautiful eyes ! — beautiful no longer ! It was the soul that gave
them beauty. Then the soul must be very beautiful. Everything
is calm now. Is he asleep ? Yes, thank God, asleep now ; and an
angel will waken him soon.
The Congregationalist of August 14th, 1863, contained
a short memoir1 of Capt. Henry M. Kellogg, Co. C, 33d
111. Inf., who was killed May 20th, in the charge upon
the Rebel works. We make a few extracts:
Prepared by C. A. Richardson, Esq., one of the editors.
SIEGE OF VICKSBUKG. 117
He had a strong anticipation of his death, and the event did not
find him unprepared. Says the Lieutenant-Colonel of his regiment —
" I saw him when he inarched to his death, with a clear presenti
ment of his fate, calm and resolute. When upon the
,. , . . f The Soldier's
ground he pointed to a little eminence in front, presentiment
saying—
" ' I shall fall about that spot.'
" Then, as they went forward to the attack, he being in advance
of his company, waved his sword above his head, calling out to his
men —
" ' Follow me to victory or death.' "
He fell within ten feet of the spot he had pointed out, and when
removed a few minutes after, his sword was held so firmly as to
require some force in unclasping his hand from the hilt.
A brief letter, written only four days before he fell, discloses his
yearnings for the dear objects of his love, and his entire reliance
upon the Divine will :
SATURDAY MORNING, 2 O'CLOCK.
MY DARLING AMA AND HARRY : — One more word before I en
gage in a deadly conflict with the enemy. This may be my last
message to you, — God knows and will do right. Our
, ^ . "My Body is
heavenly Jb ather has permitted us to spend many y ^ „
happy days together. We shall have more in
heaven.
If I fall, Ama, live and be happy 'for Harry's sake. Remember
I am not dead, but have only put off the body to take a crown of
glory. I shall be just as much with you as ever. Try to think so.
See me not dead but ever at your side. Harry, my precious boy,
you know not how your father's heart yearns for you ; meet me, my
boy, in heaven. There we will pluck flowers that never fade.
I love you both, my treasures — God knows how well, but if it is
best, I can cheerfully die for my country. Ama, let this thought
console you, when you think of me. I do not dread to die. I do
not dread to suffer with wounds, for my body is not me, and its pains
shall not disturb the peace of my soul. I am ready for God's will.
Good-bye, my Ama and my Harry, my wife and my boy, my father
and my mother, my brothers and my sisters. Your
HENRY.
118 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Mr. F. G. Ensign1 about this time was commissioned
by the St. Louis Committee for the Avork on the Missis
sippi, with which he was afterwards so long connected.
He writes :
In June, \vhen we were trying to get into the rear of Vicksburg, we
stopped one day by a little spring to get a drink. A soldier came
down who had a cup in his hand ; he gave it to us to drink from. We
" I W'll " tnanked him for his kindness, and asked if he had
drunk of that water of which the Saviour spoke.
" No," said he, " I have not."
" Well, then, you don't love the Saviour. Why can't you begin
now ?"
" I've been thinking of it, sir, a great deal, and know I ought to."
" Why not decide it now ?" I asked.
" I don't know," said he ;— " I can't."
" But God thinks you can, and is ready for you now."
He thought a moment, and then his reply came firm and clear —
" I will."
Just then some others came to the spring. I gave the soldier a
little book, and commending him to Christ, we separated.
After the surrender, I was back at Memphis in the Soldiers' Lodge,
visiting and ministering to all there as I could. I came to an emaci
ated-looking young man, who seemed to have gone through very much
suffering. Bending over him, I asked what I should do for him.
He opened his eyes and throwing his arms round my neck, said —
" Can it be possible this is you ?"
I did not remember his face, and so I told him :
"You don't know me? Don't you remember the soldier you met
on Chickasaw Bayou, near the spring ? Don't you remember a little
book you gave me ?"
I said that I did remember the circumstances.
" Well," said he, " I gave my heart to Jesus. I am not going to
live long. I am going to die. But I know, when I die I shall go
up home."
1 Student in Chicago (Congregational) Theological Seminary. Since the close
of the war, Western Secretary of the American Christian Commission.
SIEGE OF VICKSBUKG. 119
Rev. Edward P. Smith, under instructions from the
Central Office, left his own field temporarily to visit the
army before Vicksburg, in June. In connection with
the Delegates from Peoria, Chicago and St. Louis, an
earnest work of religious ministration was kept up
during his stay, and until the surrender of the city.
Mr. Smith's health gave way however under the cli
mate. He writes of his sickness and recovery :
I had been in the army but a few days when I was taken sick
with the malarial fever, and carried to a division hospital. It was
my first experience of sickness in camp. I said to myself, when they
had carried me into the tent and left me alone, with-
The Bright Side
out even a sick comrade— where Jesus ^
"Now you will have an opportunity to try the
efficacy of the counsels you have so often given to soldiers in like
circumstances," — for many a time, by the cot of a sick soldier longing
for home, I had said —
"Only trust in Jesus, and He will take care of you here, just as
well as if you were at home."
But I found it far easier to preach than to practice. I knew that
God does all things right and well, but I could not help the feeling
that a change in my present prospects would be an improvement.
I passed a sleepless night — alone, and without a light. The more
I tried to settle into the conviction that God would provide, and
make it good for me, the more I was longing for a change. My the
ology said, " It is right and well for me to be sick among strangers, if
God wills ;" and my heart always added, "Yes, but it would be better
to be sick at home." While I lay thus thinking and tossing on my
blanket, just at the gray of the dawn in the morning, the fold of my
tent parted, and a black face peered through. It was "Old Nanny,"
a colored woman who had taken my washing the day before. I could
hear no one else moving about the hospital; what had sent her there
nt that hour? Looking tenderly at me, she said —
"Massa, does ye see de bright side, dis mornin'?"
"No, Nanny," said I, "it isn't so bright as I wish it was."
120 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Well, massa, I allus sees de bright side."
" You do," said I; "'maybe you haven't had much trouble?"
"'Maybe not," she said; and then went on to tell me, in her
simple, broken way, of her life in Virginia, of the selling of
her children one by one, of the auction sale of her husband, and then
of herself. She was alone now in the camp, without having heard
from one of her kindred for years :
" 'Maybe I ain't seen no trouble, massa ?"
" But, Nanny," said I, " have you seen the bright side all the time ?"
"Allus, massa, allus."
"Well, how did you do it?"
" Dis is de way, massa. When I see de great brack cloud comin'
over " — and she waved her dark hand inside the tent, as though one
might be settling down there ; " an' 'pears like it's comin' crushin'
down on me, den I jist whips aroun' on de oder side, an' I find de
Lord Jesus dar; an' den it's all bright an' cl'ar. De bright side's
allus whar Jesus is, massa."
" Well, Nanny," said I, "if you can do that, I think I ought to?"
" 'Pears like ye ought to, massa, an' you's a preacher of de Word
of Jesus."
She went away. I turned myself on my blanket and said in my
heart, " ' The Lord is my Shepherd.' It is all right and well. Now,
come fever or health, come death or life, come burial on the Yazoo
Bluff or in the churchyard at home, — ' the Lord is my Shepherd.' "
With -this sweet peace of rest, God's care and love became very
precious to me. I fell asleep. When I woke I was in a perspiration ;
my fever was broken. " Old Nanny's " faith had made me whole.
The following incident, illustrating the true manliness
of a Christian soldier, the power of right early training,
the constant solicitude of friends at home, and the way
in which the Commission was, not unfrequently, the
direct channel of good news, has been preserved by an
agent of the Commission, who was for a short time on
duty before Yicksburg :
The night scenes were sometimes grand indeed ; shells discharged
SIEGE OF VICKSBUKG. 121
from the land batteries traced their beautiful, fiery paths high into the
air above the beleagured city, and meeting there the missiles ascend
ing on the same errand from Commodore Porter's
fleet, crossed them in brilliant curves, making the . «• ».!? ^
IS jtClQ/lt*
beholder almost forgetful of the mission on which the
monsters were sent. On one of these brilliant nights, I came upon a
regimental prayer meeting, under a bluff within short musket range
of the enemy's works. Whenever there was a discharge from our
batteries, the Rebel sharpshooters along their lines would reply by a
shower of minie balls, which cut the leaves over our heads, and
occasionally glanced down to the ground at our feet. By order of the
Brigade commander, to prevent drawing the attention, and perhaps
the fire of the enemy, the hymns were sung in a low, muffled voice, but
loud enough to " make melody in our hearts." The meeting was led
by one of the Captains of the regiment. There was something genu
ine and manly in the piety of the leader, which seemed to win the
affection and attention of the soldiers. I was so much struck with it that
I could not forbear seeking his acquaintance ; and, on invitation, meet
ing him the next day, we walked over to the Colonel's tent.
As the custom was, we were courteously offered a drink from the
ubiquitous bottle. As the single glass passed round the circle, near-
ing me every moment, I questioned in my own mind what terms I
should use in declining; but I was yet more interested to see
what course my Christian Captain would take. When the Colonel
called upon him, he declined ; was invited again, and again declined ;
and the third time did it so decidedly, and yet respectfully, as not to
give offence, nor to be further importuned. I said to him afterwards —
" Captain, do you always do that ?"
" Yes," said he.
" Do you mean that you have never taken any intoxicating
liquor?"
"Yes, just that."
" What, not even to ' correct ' this Yazoo water ?"
" Never."
" You must have belonged to the cold water army in your boyhood ?"
"Yes; but I learned something better than that; my mother taught
me this one thing, — ' what is right, is right,' and coming to Missis
sippi don't make any difference. It would not be right for me to
122 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
accept an invitation to drink at home ; I don't believe it's right here,
— therefore I don't drink."
A few weeks afterwards, passing up the Mississippi river, I addressed
a Sabbath evening congregation. After the service, a lady came to
inquire about her boy, — " foolishly," she said, for it was not likely
that in an army of 40,000 men I had seen her boy ; but still she
wanted to ask me if I had met him. She told me of her anxiety for
his welfare, — how she feared that the bad influences of the camp
would lead him astray.
" He promised me that he would do well," said she, " and I have
no reason to think he doesn't do well ; but if I could only see some
body who could tell me from actual knowledge how he is doing, it
would be such a relief."
She told me his name and regiment. I assured her that there was
hardly ground for all the fear mothers were exercising for their absent
boys ; that very many soldiers were actually becoming better men,
growing strong under trial. And then, to illustrate I told her, with
out mentioning names, of my Captain, of the prayer meeting, and
of the scene in the Colonel's tent.
" Oh," said she, " that's beautiful, — that's beautiful. His mother
must be proud of him."
" Yes," said I, " that she is, — and you are the proud mother /"
I never shall forget the joy that shone in her face, and how she
sprang across the carpet, and catching my hand in both hers, wet it
with grateful tears :
" Is that my boy, — is that Will ? It's just like him ; I knew he
would do so. He always was a good boy ; he told me he always
would be, — and I knew he would."
Some instances of the heroism and trust of our sol
diers and sailors before Vicksburg will fitly close this
chapter :
In the terrible charge of May 22d, Sergeant Fainter, of the 18th
Illinois, was mortally wounded. As he lay bleeding to death, he
called two of his comrades to his side. They took his last message
home :
SIEGE OF VICKSBUKG. 123
" I die in peace ; they must meet me in heaven." Dying Beneath
He called for the flag ; they brought it. He looked the Stars and
at the torn banner with all a soldier's love and Stripes.
devotion :
" Say to the boys that I am gone ; but tell them never to give up
the contest until Vicksburg falls."
His voice grew fainter ; comrades bent over to get his last words ;
they could only hear a murmured request that the flag should be
waved over him. Silently and solemnly it swayed above the soldier's
head until he was at rest.
Rev. W. C. Van Meter,1 a Delegate of the Chicago
Committee, relates the following incident :
On my way from Vicksburg, I met A. M. Shipman, an Ohio
volunteer, who was confined for eight months as a hostage in the
Vicksburg jail, but was released at the surrender. A fellow-prisoner,
who had been forced into the Rebel army and had
deserted to ours, was recaptured and shot by the "* am to be
T j- ,x- • x ™ ™- > Shot/or Defend-
enemy. He succeeded in getting into Mr. Shipman's ing my Country."
hands before the execution the following note :
" Kind friend, if ever you reach our happy lines, have this put in
the Northern papers, that my father, the Rev. Leonard Marsh, who
resides in Maine, may know what has become of me, and what I was
shot for. I am to be shot for defending my country ; I love her and
am willing to die for her. Tell my parents I am also happy in the
Lord. My future is bright. I hope to speak to you as I pass out to
die. JOHN B. MARSH."
One of the guards said to Mr. Shipman that when young Marsh
was placed by his coffin and ready to receive the fire of his execu
tioners, he was told he could speak a word if he desired to. Stepping
upon his coffin and looking round on that fierce crowd of Union-
haters, he cried out —
"Three cheers for the Old Flag and the Union /"
Of course the patriotic sentiment met no response from that audi-
Of the Howard Mission, New York city.
124
CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
ence. Then, with his hands pinioned behind and his eye lifted as if
the flag were in view, he shouted forth his own three cheers,
"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!"
The clear, ringing voice had scarcely died away, when the sharp
crack of musketry added another name to the long roll of the mar
tyrs to the dear " Old Flag."
"GET THE SHIP BY, BOYS."
The heroes were not in the army alone :
As Farragut swept up the Mississippi, past the Vicksburg batter
ies, Lieut. Cummings had a leg shot away by a Rebel ball. Refusing
to go below, he shouted out to his brave tars —
"Get the Ship , , . ,
^ Bo g „ " Get the ship by the batteries, — get the ship by,
boys, and they may have the other leg."
CHAPTER V.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF 1863 UNTIL LEE'S SECOND INVASION.
January 1863— July 1863.
AT the beginning of 1863 the Commission had two
stations in the Army of the Potomac ; one at the village
of Acquia, the other at the railroad terminus at Fal-
mouth, opposite Fredericksburg. Burnside's second
attempt to cross the Rappahannock, frustrated by rain,
sleet, mud and cold, put thousands of veterans under the
Surgeon's care in the field hospital at Windmill Point,
on the Potomac, a few miles below Acquia Creek. A
station of the Commission was continued here until the
hospital was suddenly broken up, and the patients re
moved elsewhere.
Mr. T. O. Crawford, of Philadelphia, relates two inci
dents which occurred at this hospital in February and
March :
John B. Mitchell, of Mercer, Pa., was dying of typhoid fever.
His tongue was so parched that he could not speak. I thought a
lemon might slake his thirst and enable him to converse. Getting
the Surgeon's consent, I gave him one. The poor
fellow tried vainly to thank me. When he had Soldier's
eaten it, he could talk quite easily. I found that
though he had been a Sabbath-school scholar, he had no sense of the
125
126 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
comforting nearness of Christ. Earnestly I told him the story of
Jesus crucified for him ; of the agony of that hour of the world's
redemption ; of the dying thief who, even so late, could yet enter
paradise. My heart yearned for the poor fellowr, looking up at me
out of his sore need for help. I asked him if he could not adopt
these words as his prayer :
" Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom."
Hope came into the flushed face, as he answered that he could. I
spent a long time at his side, explaining to him the meaning of
Christ's atonement and sacrifice. I never had such a listener. At
last I turned to go away, saying —
" I'll pray for you, my dear brother, that God, for Christ's sake,
may take you to Himself."
Pie looked after me imploringly :
" Don't go ; don't go ; I want to talk more about Jesus."
I returned to his side and stayed with him some time longer. It
seemed to comfort him very much, Again, when I tried to leave
him, he fixed his large, blue eyes on me, exclaiming —
" O sir, don't leave me ! Can't you stay with me longer? Please,
do stay."
I told him about others who might need me, as he did. At once
he was quiet about his wants. Christ's story had taught him already
the lesson of sacrifice. Telling him I would come again in the
morning and write his friends, I bade him good-bye — my last.
Early the next day I hastened to the tent. The soldier's place was
vacant. The nurse told me how he had gone away home :
"After you left he began praying, and kept on a long time. About
six o'clock he looked around and asked for you. We didn't know
where you were, or we would have gone for you. Then he asked the
other boys in the tent to pray for him ; but they were too sick, or
couldn't. Then he began praying again, and at eight o'clock he
spoke out, so that we could all hear him—
" 'Amen, it's all right now : I am ready to die.'
" In ten minutes he was dead. I've been a nurse seventeen months,
Chaplain, but that was the happiest death I ever saw."
I was sent for by a Drum Major of the 147th N. Y. Eegt. The
conversation which followed the meeting was intensely interesting ;
the soldier opening up to me all the hidden strifes and troubles of his
WINDMILL POINT HOSPITAL. 127
heart, and yearning so earnestly for some relief and
peace. His parents were Christians ; his father, who
A Victory.
had been a Deacon, died when he was fifteen. After
that he had taken no counsel but his own. When twenty-five years
old, he went into a liquor store, and there became a habitual drunk
ard. Through all, however, he managed to make money rapidly.
Warnings of severe sickness were unheeded. Once he told his
mother-in-law, that if he were to meet God after death, he would
laugh to think what a jolly life he had led. Soon he became so much
a slave to rum that he could not do without it. In the Autumn of
1862, he enlisted, thinking that his accumulations would do him little
good if the Rebels were victors. He began to try to get along with
out his stimulant, but became weak — almost helpless — and so took
to the canteen again. A Lieutenant came to his tent every morning
for his "bitters," and the drunkards of the company generally
regarded him as their leader. On the march to Falmouth, in a
drunken spree, he injured himself severely, and was compelled to go
to Windmill Point Hospital.
Now began a terrible mental conflict. At one time he would
resolve, after reading, that the Bible was " all trash ;" at another, its
deep spiritual power would scatter his vain objections, and make him
almost insane with desire for deliverance either from its judgments
or his own sins. He feebly strove to stop his drinking habits ; at one
time he would swear that he would not owe his life to brandy, even if it
could save him ; again, he would take it when the Surgeon prescribed
it. At last the meaning of his conflict with himself began to dawn
upon him. There were more than temptations assailing him — there
was a Tempter. There were more than the words of a book condemn
ing, yet helping him — there was a Deliverer. He saw that the
Tempter had so environed him with the toils of a habit that these
must be broken ere he could gain the victory. So he called on the
unknown Deliverer for help.
It was at this stage I found him. He was told of Jesus, of the
" faithful saying," of the agony and bloody sweat, of the cross and
passion, of the glorious resurrection and ascension. A substitute for
the brandy which had been prescribed was found, and the poor,
weak, erring man began to retrace the way of his lost life. Next to
the Bible, the book which seemed to meet most his inner needs was
128 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION" INCIDENTS.
James' Anxious Inquirer Directed. Slowly strength returned, and
the iron bands of habit relaxed. He stood up a new man. He
spoke earnestly to his former comrades — to the Lieutenant who had
been his boon companion ; and in spite of opposition and ridicule
proved by every day's life, until the regiment marched to the battle
field, that he had really found the Deliverer, and how in His assisting
love there wras freedom and peace indeed.
Rev. Hervey D. Ganse,1 in an address at the organi
zation of the New York Branch of the Commission,
tells a story of his experience at Windmill Point Hos
pital :
Just after my arrival at Windmill Point, I learned that there was
present, in a neighboring tent, a mother, who had came from a
western county of New York to carry home her sick son. He had
died about twelve hours before her arrival. She had
th R ^"^ cas* one ^°°k uPon his features, wasted to a shadow
by the nature of his disease, and declaring that she
could not recognize him, had refused to look again. I went with
others to her tent to offer her sympathy, if not consolation. We
found her swaying back and forth in her chair, in the peculiar ges
ture of distracting grief. There were some Christian ladies in the
company, and they joined their voices in singing tenderly —
" Jesus, lover of my soul."
But it was easy to see that her heart was sealed against comfort. We
offered to pray with her, but she had not come to the attitude of
prayer. She spoke of nothing but her child's sufferings. She was
sure that he had lacked the most necessary attention. Oh that she
had been with him ! I strove to console her by appealing to her
Christian faith. But she turned upon me fiercely and demanded —
" Why did you not give your attention to him ?"
I explained that I had just arrived, but that others who were pres
ent had cared for his comfort. At length, in a quieter frame she
Pastor of Northwest Eeformed Protestant (Dutch) Church, New York city.
WINDMILL POINT HOSPITAL 129
kneeled, while we prayed for her. And when we left her she grasped
my hand, and looking eagerly in my face said —
" Take care of the rest."
I met her again in Washington, and her last words to me again
were —
" Take care of the rest."
Eev. Edward P. Smith,1 afterwards the General Field
Agent in the Western Army, had his first experience
of work among the soldiers in the Potomac Army
during February and March. From his reminiscences
we gather the following incidents
At Belle Plain, passing over from the First Division Hospital,
where I had spent the night with some dying men, I met a young
soldier detailed to fatigue duty in the hospital. Giving him some
reading-matter from my haversack, I asked him
about his personal salvation. He gave me an inter- ~, . /,
esting account of his early life and orphanage, of his
education in the family of a kind Christian man, who had given him
a home, and of the subsequent death of his foster-father. He told me
of an only surviving friend, his Sabbath-school teacher, who occasion
ally had remembered his pupil in the army by a letter. He showed
me one of these letters, full of kindness and tender solicitude for
his conversion. I said —
" Then you are not a Christian ?"
" No, but I wish I was. I have been thinking and talking about
it so long."
" Do you know that you can become a Christian to-day ?"
" You don't mean so soon as that ?"
" Yes ; I mean that you can begin a new life and a true life, — and
that's a Christian life, to-day. Wouldn't you like to try ?"
" Yes, I would."
" Well, just over that hill, near the run, is a place where you will
be entirely by yourself. Go and kneel down by that tree and tell
Pastor of Congregational Church, Pepperell, Mass.
130 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
your Saviour that you want to be a Christian now, and are going
from this time to try and do His will ; then write to your Sabbath-
school teacher what you have done, and find a man in your company
you know to be a Christian. Is there such an one?"
" Yes," said he, " there is ;" and he told me his name. " He is a
Christian, I know."
" Well, find that man to-day ; tell him what you have done, and
ask him to pray for you. Will you do it? I don't mean, 'Will you
thinJc about it?' but, 'Will you do it,' and begin now over by the
tree ?"
" I will try, sir."
I was in haste, and bade him good-bye ; but there was something
in that farewell grasp of the hand, in the manly sincerity with which
he said, " I will try," that made me feel that the issue was already
made.
Three days after, just as I was leaving that army, in a battalion
drill, I saw my soldier on the extreme left. As the line swung past
me, I had only time to step alongside and ask, "Did you do it?" and
to get the answer, quick and firm —
" Yes, sir, I did it."
During the interesting revival meetings, held at Acquia Creek, in
an unfinished hospital building, a Michigan soldier stood up one
evening to give his experience. He had enlisted a year before, leav
ing Katy, his wife, and a little babe of one year in
" her arms. Katy had written him regularly and often.
She was a Christian, and never failed to ask him the
great question, when he too would be a Christian. He had replied
to her letters as often as he could, but never said anything about
becoming a follower of Jesus.
" Two nights ago," said he, " I got this letter. It has made me a
Christian, and I want to read it to you."
He read it as best he could, stopping now and then to wipe his eyes
and choke back his sobs. The letter announced most tenderly and
Christianly the death of " Little Henry," told the mother's sorrow
and hope, and closed saying —
" Now, Henry,"— that was the father's name, too, — " I believe I
shall not live long, and I expect when I die to go straight to
our dear little boy, and he will ask me the first thing, ' Where's papa ?'
ACQUIA CKEEK. 131
Say, Henry, what shall I tell him ? Won't you go with me to see our
boy again, that we may have our home together in heaven?"
" When I got that letter," continued the soldier, " I could not
speak. I read it twice, and put it in my knapsack, and laid clown to
sleep. But somehow I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking all the time
what my little boy would say, — ' Where's papa, where's papa?' I got
up, stirred the fire, read the letter again, and then lay down ; but I
could not sleep yet. It seemed as if I must see my boy once more.
I knelt on my blanket and prayed this prayer, — ' O Lord, take me
to heaven to see Henry ; do let me see Henry once more.' I lay
down again, but couldn't sleep. Then I prayed once more, and while I
was praying, all at once it came over me, Suppose I should go to
heaven, Henry wouldn't want to see me. He is an angel now, and I
am a poor, drinking, swearing, miserable man. He would not know
his father, and if he did he could not love him. Then I began to
pray that Jesus would forgive all my sins and make me fit to go to
heaven. Somehow while I was praying I began to believe and
to hope.. I laid down on my blanket and dreamed of dying,- and of
seeing my boy and Katy and my Saviour ; and that's the way I
became a Christian. It was Katy's letter that did it."
One stormy March evening the New York troops, who had been
doing fatigue duty at the Acquia Creek wharf, were relieved by a new
regiment, which was not yet accustomed to our meetings. We
adjourned the small gathering at the hospital build
ing to our own quarters, a little building where the p ^ m
Delegates lived, slept, wrote and prayed. There were
some ten or fifteen soldiers present. The leader of the meeting asked
that each one should say a word out of his own experience. We had
passed thus round the room ; the Delegates and all the soldiers save
two had spoken. One of the silent ones rose and, pointing to his
throat, made signs that he wanted to speak, but could not ; he was
suffering from acute aphonia. He laid his hands on his breast and
then upon his lips, signifying a full heart that could find no utter
ance. Then, as if he could not be satisfied without some word spoken
for Christ, he motioned to a comrade to stand up beside him, and by
signs,— now of approval, and again of dissent, when his proxy was
speaking beyond the record,— he gave us a very interesting outline of
a soldier's trials and triumphs in the army.
132 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
When he sat down, there was but one left in the room who had not
borne testimony. He was a young man who had come late into the
meeting. When he saw the eyes of us all fixed upon him, after a
long pause, he rose with deep emotion :
"Doubting, I tt ^^ ^ & y strange meeting for me. I came
Stopped Praying.
in to bring back a magazine and get some more read
ing, not knowing that you had a meeting here to-night. I couldn't
very well go back after I got in, and so I have kept my seat — and
such a meeting as it has been ; such memories as have come to me !
I have been living over my life at home while these comrades have been
telling their stories, — and my soldier life,— how strange and wicked
it seems to me to-night ! When I enlisted, I promised myself and
mother and my Sabbath-school teacher that I would be true to
my Christian profession. When we went into camp, I found but one
other Christian in* all my company. He was our Lieutenant. We
soon became fast friends, talked, prayed and read the Bible together.
But in the fight of Antietam and the pursuit of Lee, somehow
we became separated. After we got back on the banks of the
Rappahannock, one evening at dress parade, I heard the Lieutenant
swearing fearfully. I spoke right out to him, without remembering
that he was an officer and I a private :
" 'Why, Lieutenant, is that you ?'
" Then he swore at me to ' hush my impudence and keep my place.'
His oath and angry look stunned me. It seemed as if it could not be
that that Christian man was swearing, and I began to doubt whether
I or anybody else was a Christian, and in my doubting I stopped
praying. Then my doubts grew thick and strong, and it was
not long before I too began to swear, and if you come over to
the regiment you will find no man who can curse harder than I.
But I have done with it now7. Brothers, God helping me, I begin
a Christian life again to-night.
" This is my story. All of my comrades have asked for prayers.
There is not one who needs them as much as I. I know you will
pray for me."
We saw him frequently after this, before the army moved. He
always seemed to be holding on to the true way.
Visiting through the wards of the desolate hospital at Windmill
Point, I came upon a man, who, without claiming to be a Christian
WIXDMILL POIXT HOSPITAL. 133
professed great admiration for the Christian religion, declaring him
self a patron of Christianity, — a fit representative of
no small class of such patrons. He spoke in glowing The Wifis Let~
n, , T-,., , <i • n i ter in the Unread
terms of the Bible, — what a source of intellectual
enjoyment it was to him. He referred to its poetry
with special enthusiasm. His wife, he said, was an earnest Christian
woman. I asked him if he would like me to read him a little from
the Bible. He assented gladly, and saying that he always liked to
read best from the copy which was his wife's farewell gift, he asked
me to get it from his knapsack. Opening the book before him, I
found a letter addressed to himself. He started when he saw the
handwriting.
" Why," said he, in some confusion, " that's from my wife."
He asked me to read it for him. It ivas the parting letter of his
wife, given him ten months before, and this was its first discovery and
reading by this patron of his wife's piety, who had left thus her
loving words to lie so securely between the leaves of the unread
Bible.
I found at the same hospital a Massachusetts soldier, once a Sab
bath scholar, who was in the last stages of disease. He held in his
pale, thin fingers a letter, written apparently by an aged and trem
bling hand. I read the address, — " My dear Son." /J;
It looked worn, as if it had been read many times.
Evidently he had just been over it again, and as he lay back on his
knapsack pillow there was something inexpressibly solemn and sad
in his countenance ; added to this, the death shadow was evidently
stealing upon him. I passed my hand softly over his forehead, part
ing back the hair from as noble a brow as I have ever seen. He
looked at me and his eyes filled with tears, — a rare occurrence when
life is just ebbing. It was a stranger's hand, but laid on his head in
kindness ; perhaps it reminded him of a mother's gentle stroke.
I said in a low voice, after other conversation —
" You are almost through with this world."
" Am I ?" said he.
" Yes, and I hope you are ready for the next."
" No, I am not, — not ready, not ready !"
" Well, my dear friend, Jesus is all ready, and waiting right here.
Come now. Shall I pray ?"
134 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Oh no, no ; it is too lute, too late ! I ought to have come long
And then he told me, as calmly as he could, of the time when he
was " almost a Christian," and decided to let it pass till another
winter.
"That was the time,— I might have come then; why didn't I?
why didn't I?" and pulling the blanket over his face, he sobbed
aloud.
I tried to show him Jesus, waiting now to save him ; but he cried
out —
" Don't talk to me any more— it's too late ; I can't bear it !" and
he motioned me away.
The next morning, bed No. 8 was empty, and in the military mail-
bag was a letter, full of sorrow, on its way to a Christian home in
Massachusetts. The old father was expecting an answer to his last
letter. This was it. Oh, how that voice, between those sobs from
under that soldier's blanket, falls upon my ears and rings through
my soul to this day !
'"Too late,— too late! Why didn't I? why didn't I?"
As I lifted the blanket from his face and took for that father the
last look of the manly form on the stretcher, laid out for burial, I
said to myself —
" I will tell all my young friends, it is not enough to belong to the
Sunday-school; you must belong to Jesus."
The following story of the way by which a soldier
came to Jesus, is from the same pen, and connects itself
with the narrative of this winter on the Rappahannock :
A recruiting officer in a country town in Massachusetts in 1861,
learned that a young man, a farmer's son, was ready to enlist. He
was about eighteen years of age, of frank, open-hearted and generous
mind, but, under the teaching and example of his
Preparing t< fatherj prof.me and wicked. None in the village
school which he attended could equal him in cursing.
He had no taste for a soldier's life, but his sense of duty led him to
say that some one in his father's family should go to war, and he
being the only one who could go, must go. However, when the
IN A NEW ENGLAND VILLAGE. 135
recruiting officer came to the door, he told him he was not ready to
enlist yet, — to come again in a few days. The officer came several
times and was put off, much to his annoyance and to the astonish
ment of the friends of the young man, whose apparent vacillation
was entirely opposed to all their former estimate of his downright,
straightforward character.
But his conduct had its explanation. The boy had a praying sis
ter ; from whom, in the midst of all his waywardness, he had been
receiving unconscious impressions concerning a better life. He after
wards confessed, in giving his religious experience, that he felt that
lie could not enlist until he became a Christian, — on the ground that
he was not ready to die, and he would not put himself into peril
from which he was sure to run, until he was ready. In his own
words, " I am not a cowTard, but I can't go to hell, and so I know I
should run in battle." From this low idea of a Christian life he
started.
Not liking to borrow his sister's Bible, he walked four miles to a
neighboring town after night, and purchased one for himself. He
began to read with this purpose only, — to get ready to enlist by get
ting ready to die.
" I began to read the Bible," said he, " as I would any other book,
at the beginning. It was a very interesting story about the Creation
and Abraham and Moses and the rest ; but somehow it didn't help
me to get ready to enlist. I came in due time in my reading to
the 20th chapter of Exodus. I thought, ' Now I have it sure. I've
got to keep these Commandments, then I can go to war.' I gave two
days to learn them perfectly ; then came the keeping of them.
There was only one of the ten of whose violation I was very con
scious. I knew what it was to take God's name in vain, — that was
the sin which I was to overcome. But the more I
, . -, i T T "Sin Known by
tried, the more I swore. I never swrore so hard in , T „
the Law."
my life as in that week in which I was trying to keep
the third Commandment. I tried and tried again. Every morning
I said to myself, ' I will not swear to-day,' but I never got to break
fast without it. My great trouble was a vicious, brindled cow, who
always kicked when she was milked, and put her foot into the pail, —
and then I kicked and cust her, and somehow, I had to do it.
" It was getting serious. I had told the officer that I would
136 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
be ready for him the next week without fail, — and I could not fool
with him any more. Then I thought, ' I will enlist now, and the
first night in camp I will begin a Christian life, and pray before my
comrades.' This decision reached, I was feeling quite assured ; and
if the officer had come that day I should have enlisted. Then it
occurred to me that I had better try the praying business in some
body's presence before going into camp. My father's hired man used
to go through my room to enter his own. In the
Learning to
pra evening, just as 1 had dropped upon my knees to try
praying, the Irishman opened the door. I jumped
up ashamed, as if I had been caught stealing. Then I thought to
myself, ' Scared out of your senses by an Irishman ! a pretty mess
you'd make praying in camp !' So my troubles were only increased ;
I was swearing every day ; the recruiting officer was coming, — some
thing must be done; I must pray somehow, Irishman or no Irishman.
I rose in the night and knelt by my bedside ; perspiration started
from my hands and face ; I clutched the bed-clothes and could only
articulate, ' Lord, help — help.' As I lay down that night there was
a strange feeling of relief, as if something had really been done. In
the morning I felt strong for my struggle with ' Old Brindle.' Get
ting up early, I prayed again, asking God to help me milk that cow
without swearing. When I sat down my pail, I put both lips between
my teeth and said to myself, ' Now, old feller, if you've any cussin'
to do, you've got to do it all inside.' The cow kicked the pail as
usual, but I didn't swear that morning; and the next morning it was
not so hard, and lately ' Old Brindle' has grown quite gentle.
" From that time I learned to tell God all my troubles, and to ask
for help. I began to find out that there were a good many things
besides swearing for me to learn not to do. When the officer next
came I put down my name. Now I am ready to face anything —
rebels, or death ; I know I shall never run."
This was the story of a soul struggling into light, told to his pastor
in what was probably the first serious religious conversation he ever
held with any one. Afterwards, when he came to unite with the
church, and told his experience before the committee,
The Forgive- , . ,
, 0. ' the pastor said —
ness oj om*.
" You have given us a very remarkable experi
ence, but I have noticed that in it all, you have not once mentioned
ON THE KAPPA HANCOCK. 137
the name of Jesus. You say you hope your sins are forgiven, — how
do you know God can forgive sins ?"
"I don't know," was his answer, "but I have heard if a fellow
wants to do right, and is sorry he has done wrong, and tells God so,
God will forgive him anyhow. I believe God has forgiven me;
but I don't know how He did it."
" But, haven't you heard about Jesus ?"
"Yes, I've heard of Him ; but to tell you the truth I haven't got
to Him yet in my Bible. I've only got as far as the Psalms. I was
thinking the other day I must begin at the other end, and read a
little about Jesus."
He united with the church, and the next day went into camp.
His regiment joined the Army of the Potomac, and spent the
winter of 1862-3 on the Rappahannock. It was there visited by the
pastor of the church in which the young man had enrolled himself
before leaving home. On entering the camp, and
inquiring for the soldier, a comrade said, " He means ~,
the happy boy." " He is looking for the whistling
Christian," said another.
" Yes," said the pastor, " he is all that."
And so he was found to be, in his little shelter-tent, on fatigue
duty, on drill, in daily camp-life, singing, whistling, praying, —
Christian and happy through it all.
After Chancellorsville, in the Summer of 1863, while his regiment
was following up Lee through Maryland, weakened by chronic ill
ness, he fell behind, but would not go to the hospital, though so
ordered by the Surgeon. Every day he made his march, living on the
rations which the army scattered in its path, drag-
i . i . ,. i . i , The March to
gmg his musket alter him when he was too weak to ~
Gettysburg.
carry it, and inquiring eagerly of every one he met
how soon there would be a fight. As the prospect of a battle grew
imminent his strength seemed to revive, and pressing forward he
actually overtook his comrades and fell into line, as they were coming
into position at Gettysburg. That day he fought bravely enough and
long enough to claim a hero's share in the great victory, but before
the evening came a minie ball struck his right leg. He was treated
with amputation and re-amputation, and suffered long in hospital,
lingering close down at death's door. From thence he wrote to his
138 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
mother that he was never happier in his life, — and to his father, who
had steadily opposed his going to war, " I am not sorry for any
thing, unless it is for the poor sneaks who stay at home and wait for
the ' draft.' "
He survived, and is making an honest living on his wooden leg, —
a most consistent, devoted Christian. When asked one day how he
was cured of the bad habit of swearing, he replied —
" By the grace of God, and the help of ' Old Brindle.' "
Mr. John A. Cole,1 who had already served as Dele
gate for nearly six months, was early in the year
appointed General Field Agent of the district compris
ing the Army of the Potomac, and the hospitals and
camps of Washington, Maryland and Western Virginia.
A work of organization was at once vigorously under
taken. Its first fruit was the plan, successfully carried
out. of supplying; every regiment in the army with
1 1 t/ O «/ O i/
Testaments. Delegates and stores in greater abundance
were asked for and received, and until May 3d, six
stations were kept in successful operation. Very inter
esting were some of the scenes of Testament and Bible
distribution. Eev. E. P. Smith writes :
I found one regiment in which there were thirty Germans in a
single company, who had left their homes without the Word of God,
and who had become hungry for it. A squad of these men promised
the Chaplain that they would give him their cards
Cards and Tes- . „ , * -, • m
tamentg anc* play no more, 11 he would give them lesta-
ments.
In another company of this regiment, a single English Testament
had circulated among thirty soldiers, in five different tents, during
the entire winter, and it had seldom lain an hour bij
One Testament 77-7, 7
, mi . . T.T davLiqlit unused,
for Thirty Men. y J
How often on inquiring —
1 Of Medway, Mass.
AKMY OF POTOMAC STATIONS 139
" Would you like a Testament?" the answer comes —
" Yes, I would, very much. I lost mine at Antietam, at South
Mountain, or at Fredericksburg."
Our prayer meetings are full and solemn. This
is a serious time with these armed hosts. They know
from the antecedents of " Fighting Joe," that there is sharp work
before them; and these warm days and Spring voices are perpetual
reminders of coming battle, wounds and death. They feel that some
thing must be done to get ready for these realities, and therefore they
long for the Bible.
A Lieutenant related to the Chaplain of the 1st Conn.
Cavalry an incident which illustrates — what these pages
so often evidence — the potency of appeals from home
upon the soldier's heart :
A young man in the regiment openly embraced religion, to the
surprise of all his comrades. One day he happened in my tent, and
I asked howr his mind was awakened so suddenly. He took out of
his pocket a letter from his mother :
" There is something in that letter which affected -r
me as nothing ever did before."
The letter said, — " We have sent you a box of nice clothes, some
fine cakes and fruits, and other luxuries and comforts ; and many
good times we hope you will have, enjoying them and sharing with
your friends."
Near the letter's close were these words —
" We are all praying for you, Charlie, that you may be a Christian."
" That's the sentence," said the grateful boy, the tears gushing from
his eyes ; " When I was eating the dainties, I thought, ' Mother
is praying for me. I know where she goes to pray, and I can
almost hear the words she says.' All the time I was wearing the
clothes I could not help thinking of the words, — ' We are all praying
for you, Charlie, that you may be a Christian.' How I thank God
for such a mother ! Her prayer is answered and I am happy."
A work of revival began at several of the stations of
the Commission. Earnest prayer meetings, in which the
140 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
soldiers took the most prominent part, were a main fea
ture of this, as of every succeeding manifestation of the
Spirit's power. Rev. Wm. Barrows,1 in a letter to the
Boston Recorder, gives a graphic account of one of these
soldiers' meetings :
A Sibley tent, warmed by an army cooking-stove, lighted by three
candles and furnished with a long mess-table, was the " upper-room."
One real chair and several real boxes, chests, etc. furnished seats for
twenty or more of the soldiers.
A stranger minister, fresh from home, had the meet-
Prayer Meeting.
ing in charge. When a hymn was called for, some
one began the service with no ado about agreeing on the tune and
" pitching " it, by striking up the words —
" Nearer, my God, to Thee."
Then the minister prayed, and before he could turn to his Scripture
lesson for the morning, they started off with —
" My days are gliding swiftly by,"
singing two stanzas. Then was read the account of the blind beggar
Bartimeus, and how Jesus healed him, and how he followed the
Master afterwards. A few words were spoken, showing how poor our
estate is by nature, sitting by the wayside of life, and how blind we
are to our own good and God's glory, till we call on Jesus. Then
somebody began to sing —
" I love to steal a while away,"
and almost all joined, singing but one verse. This was followed by a
prayer, short and fervent. Then came an exhortation from a weather
worn soldier of the cross and the government.
" Jesus, lover of my soul,"
next filled the tent and died away on the hill-side and among the
pines in which the regiment has so charming a location.
Pastor of Congregational Church, Reading, Mass.
A STATION PRAYER MEETING. 141
Here one rose simply to testify, as he said, that he loved Jesus.
He did not use five sentences, but it was all testimony. Then came
a prayer for loved ones at home, the family, the church, the Sabbath-
school, and prayer meeting ; and so still were all, that you would
have supposed the praying man to have been alone in the tent. His
voice trembled somewhat, and if we wiped away a tear or two when
he said amen, we were not ashamed to be seen doing it, for some
others did so. Our thoughts went home also ; how could we help
the tear ?
And then, as if some of them in the chances of battle might miss
the earthly home, a verse was sung, beginning —
" Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood."
Next came a practical talk about following Christ in the army.
The good ideas were briefly, bluntly put, and full of the love of the
Lord Jesus. Then a single stanza went swelling out among the pines
again —
" Come ye that love the Lord."
An exhortation was now addressed to any who had not enlisted
under the Captain of our salvation, and it was pressed home by the
sweet words and familiar air —
" O happy day that fixed my choice !"
Now one kneels down on the clay floor and prays in the first person
singular. It was a short, broken prayer, probably by the brother
who, they said, had lately learned to pray, and in that tent. We have
all heard such prayers, and none ever affect us so much. An exhorta
tion followed, by a sailor on the difficulties of being a Christian
in the army. He showed how they tried to do that at sea, and illus
trated it by an incident.
Then came the hymn —
"Thus far the Lord hath led me on."
The minister here remarked that if we would follow Christ success
fully, we must keep in the ranks, and own to everybody at proper
times that Christ is our Captain. Following Him by side marches
and obscure paths exposes us to the lurking enemy.
142 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
the hour was almost gone, and so followed the doxology—
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
and the benediction.
We thought it worth a trip to the Army of 'the Potomac to learn
from the soldiers how to have a good prayer meeting. No one was
called on to pray or speak and no hymn was given out ; no one said
he had nothing to say, and then talked long enough to prove it; not one
excused his inability to " edify."
The work of distributing the Scriptures to the army
was the one which, more than any other, introduced the
Commission to all the men. It was so extensive and
thorough, and came at such a time, as to command at
tention, inquiry and boundless gratitude. Kev. E. F.
Williams1 gives the following account of this work, on
Sabbath, April 12th, at Fairfax Court House, where
three brigades of cavalry and several artillery companies
O tl J 1
were stationed :
Before morning service, of which due notice had been given by
written " posters" stuck up at the village street-corners and in the
different camps, we walk out to the grounds of the jail kept by Jack
son, brother of the murderer of Ellsworth, now used
Testament Dis- „ rn
tribution a Suar(i'-house. Iwo or three Rebels, accused
of having been guerrillas, ask for reading. It is
granted :
" Will you give us a Testament ?"
One is put into their hands, a few words in regard to the necessity
of trust in Christ are spoken, and we pass on. Outside of the jail
we meet a man who does not care for our papers, but who would like
a Testament. His has been wet, — the leaves are coming out, the
7 &
cover is worthless. He will surely read it. Another lost his at Bull
Run; another would not have lost his for a hundred dollars, — but it
went with his knapsack on one of his raids. It was his mother's
1 Then Pastor of Congregational Church, Whitlnsville, Mass.
AKMY TESTAMENT DISTRIBUTION. 143
parting gift, — one of ours takes its place, though it will not fill it.
Another had given his Bible to his sister, expecting to die in the
army, and is glad to get a Testament, which he will read. In this way
two dozen copies are distributed to the few men around the guard
house and the Post Commissary's quarters. All these men will
attend church. They want to know when they can talk with the
Delegates about home.
At one of the regimental hospitals visited, there is a man so sick
with inflammation of the bowels that we do not venture to speak to
him. After talking, and giving something to each patient, we turn
to leave. As we go, this sickest man of all motions
, . m . The Unread
to his attendant to get a lestament tor him. Ihis Testament
done, a sign of assent given to the question if he has
hope in Christ, he becomes quiet again. In this state, with the Tes
tament under his pillow, he remains till the third or fourth day,
when his spirit takes its flight home.
Another scene at Fairfax Station, on April 30th,
after the arrival of a large box of Testaments, Mr.
Williams thus describes :
On inquiry we learn that three or four regiments of Pennsylvania
troops have not had their share of attention. We load up with read
ing-matter, and get to the top of a hill, where the men are policing
and burnino- brush. They run to meet us :
Eager for God's
" What have you to sell ?" Wor^ J
" Nothing, — nothing but Testaments."
" What do you ask for them ?"
" Only that you read them."
" Bully for you !" " Give me one," — " and me one," — " and me,"
— •" and me."
A ring is formed. Hands press forward for the book. The haver
sack is emptied in less time than it takes to read this account. A
second, third, fourth load goes in the same way. The men had been
in so many fights that scarce one of them had a Testament or any
thing they had brought from home. The regiment contained very
many Christians ; the privilege of obtaining so much of the Scrip
tures as a Testament was eagerly embraced.
144 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The same day a number of teamsters, — some of them belonging to
regiments stationed at Wolf Run Shoals and Union Mills, and some
to the 5th Mich. Cavalry at Fairfax Court House, — seeing the Tes
taments, beeped to be allowed to take twenty or more
The Teamster . ;< ** „ . J
T\- f,.-L apiece to the boys. It was a new thing to consti
tute a dozen swearing teamsters " Bible distributors,"
but it was done ; and their part of the work was faithfully executed.
In some of the companies, a religious interest was the result.
Rev. John. O. Barrows,1 spent a few days of his term
of service with the 18th Maine Regiment, in camp a
little above the old village of Falmouth. He writes of
a visit to a Rhode Island Battery near by :
I had noticed these artillerymen, as they galloped their horses each
day, past my tent door to the brook below. So, one afternoon, filling
my haversack, I paid them a visit. I found them ready to tell me
much of hard fighting, deep mud, long marches and
lonely days, but none could tell me of Jesus' love.
for You. J J '
This was very unusual ; never before had I turned
away from a company of men with so sad a heart. Suddenly some
one called after me. It was a young soldier, and his first words,
as he came up a little out of breath, were —
" Do you belong to the Christian Commission ?"
Almost before I could answer, he went on —
" I saw some of your men at Stoneman's the other day, and I got
a book of them."
That was all the introduction ; with trustful simplicity, he began
to open to me the story of his heart :
" I was as hard as any of them when I came out, but I had a pray
ing mother. It most broke her heart when I left home, for she knew
I was wild and reckless. But she kept praying for me. Every letter
she sent me, whatever else was said, she always told me that. But I
didn't trouble myself much about it, till, one day, a letter came to me
when we were at Poolesville. It wasn't very long, but it took a long time
to read it, for mother was dead. I could see her after that ; see the
Pastor of Congregational Church, Northampton, N. II.
FALMOUTH. 145
tears on her cheeks, and hear her say the old words, over and over
again — ' I'm praying for you.' All through the Peninsula, it was still
the same ; she was right before my eyes continually. But I didn't give
in till it came to Fair Oaks. I had worked hard all day at our gun ;
and when the firing stopped, I sat down on a log by the road, alone.
They were taking away the dead and wounded near me. I thought how I
had been preserved ; and then the question came, ' What has God spared
me for ?' and then another, ' Had my mother's prayers anything to do
with it ?' They were solemn questions, Chaplain. Across the road
there was sitting the only Christian in our battery. He saw I was
thinking seriously ; so he came over and asked me what it was.
I told him. He was quiet for a little, then he asked me to go with
him to a still place and pray. I went with him, and, on my knees,
gave my heart to Jesus ; you don't know how I love Him, Chaplain.
My friend has been with me ever since ; he's been a great comfort
when the boys laughed ; and ridicule isn't much anyways, if I can
keep remembering how my mother's prayers saved me."
He led me to the friend who had prayed with him at Fair Oaks.
Their hearts seemed knit together, like the heart of one man. But it
was indeed " rivers in a dry place, and to a thirsty land streams
of water," to find another to whom they could tell a little of
their Christian fellowship. Tears came into their eyes and mine, as
they told me how it seemed as if I must have come to the army
especially to meet them, and to hear their story.
Somehow, as I went back to my tent, my sorrow and sighing had
fled away.
Rev. Franklin Tuxbury,1 writing in April, narrates
another soldier's history, given at the close of a meeting
in Washington :
A Lieutenant-Colonel came to me with his story. He had a Christian
mother and a praying wife ; though he himself had
1 i • i ,, i i ,, -TT- Unconscious
been, as he said, " a verv bad man." His narrow
Influence.
escapes in battle had awakened him. While going
into the thickest of the fight at Antietam, he had been appalled by
1 Congregational Minister, residing in Exeter, N. H.
10
146 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
the thought of death without Christ. He had resolved to seek and
find Him ; but, the hour of danger past, his impressions had
vanished. At Fredericksburg, in greater danger than ever, his
feelings of conviction returned. This time they were deepened by
noticing the peculiar firmness and steadiness of several Christian
men under fire. Especially was he struck by the noble courage of a
Corporal, who, after several standard-bearers had been shot down,
in turn seized the flag-staff, and as he bravely bore it to immediate
death, calmly said to a comrade —
" If I fall, tell my dear wife that I die with a good hope in Christ,
and that I am glad to give my life for the country."
" I cannot forget that," said the Colonel, " and I want to become a
Christian, for I know there is a reality in religion."
Near Washington at this time, a work of grace was
going on at Camp Convalescent. The scenes at some of
the meetings were thrilling with the emphasis of pathos,
conviction, repentance and gratitude. No pen can ever
adequately tell their story. Rev. Geo. J. Mingins1
details an account given by a soldier at one of the
gatherings :
One evening those who had seen the Commission's work and had
been benefited by it, were invited to rise and say so. One after
another delivered his testimony in the straightforward, manly, can
did style, so much a trait of the soldier. The first
"Heaven Down . ,
m, .„ man who got up, said —
my Throat.
" I hear say, Chaplain, that you are going East to
Massachusetts. Well, tell them there that a Yankee of the Yankees,
who never prayed at home, has learned to ask God morning and
night to * bless the Christian Commission !' "
He sat down. The next that stood up was a young man, with his
hand in a sling and his face pale from long-continued illness from a
wound. He was touched deeply and could hardly speak. At last ho
said —
1 See p. 18.
CAMP CONVALESCENT. 147
" Chaplain, you will know what I think of the Christian Commis-
-ion when I tell you my simple story. I love it, and there is a,
dear old mother out in the West who loves it, and I know she prays
night and morning for God to bless it, because it saved her boy's life.
After I was wounded, I lay all night on the battle-field. I shall
never forget that night. Oh, what a long, terrible night it was!
The stars were out shining brightly, but I could not enjoy them. I
was dying of thirst. Oh, how I prayed that somebody would come
near me, — that God would send me relief! How my mind went home
to my dear old mother ! O Chaplain, I thought it was hard to die
when I knew I might live if I could only get somebody to help me.
But nobody came near me. I prayed that God would shut out the
stars and let the sun come once more, bringing light and morning and
relief. After a while I saw a light glimmering on the field. I won
dered what it could be. At last I saw the shadow of a man carrying
a lantern in his hand. By and bye I saw him stoop down, then get
up, move along a little and stoop down in another place ; and I knew
he was lifting wounded men up and giving them something to drink.
Then I began to pray with all my might that he would come near
me and give me a mouthful of water. I tried to cry out, but could
not; my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. The man came
nearer and nearer. At one time I thought that he did not see me,
and was turning off another way. Oh, how my heart was sickening!
but he came nearer, and I threw my arm about so that he heard
and came to me. In a moment more he was kneeling by my side and
pouring what, I thought, was heaven, down my throat! It was cool
lemonade. The very moment my tongue was loosed, I exclaimed,
' God bless you ! God bless you ! Who are you, sir?' He lifted my
head, and on the lappel of his coat, flashing in the light of the lan
tern, I saw the badge of the Christian Commission. And I could not
help it, but cried out, ' Hurrah, boys ! the Christian Commission has
come ! We are all right now !' ' Thank God ! thank God !' the men
answered back. Ah, Chaplain, the Christian Commission saved my
life that time, and it has saved many and many a life." And he sat
down amid a tearful audience.
Rev. Mr. Mingins began a series of services in June,
at the camp chapel. About three hundred men attended
148 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
the first of these, and about five hundred the second.
On a third evening the chapel was crowded. It could
not be used afterwards, because entirely too small. The
meetings were held outside, — the nightly attendance
reaching two thousand and upwards :
One evening, after a hard day's work, preaching and talking pri
vately to the men, I retired at a late hour. Some one came to the
tent door, wanting admittance. I asked who was there. A voice
replied —
The Lord Ris- „ ^ ^ ^^ Chaplain ?"
ing up to Judge.
I did as requested, and three men stood before me.
One of them, a young soldier, spoke up and said—
"Chaplain, it's a shame to come at this time of night, but I
couldn't help telling you how happy I am ; O Chaplain, I've found
Jesus."
I invited them in. The young man spoke again—
" To-night, while sitting by the cook-house door, I heard your voice
as you were speaking ; I said to a comrade, ' That fellow has a loud
voice ; let's go and hear him, and have some fun at the meeting.' We
came to the meeting, Chaplain, to make fun. The first words I heard
you say were, ' When the Lord riseth up, what will you do ? when
God visiteth, what will you answer?' These words rang in my heart.
I couldn't make any fun ; I was thinking all the time of God and
judgment, and what I should do to answer God for my wickedness.
When the meeting was over, I was so miserable I did not know what
to do. I tried to go to the tent ; I tried to come and see you. I was
afraid to do either. So I went into the woods and began to pray.
My good old mother long ago taught me what I must do to be
saved. So I cried like the Publican, and like him was accepted.
After a while I heard other men praying near me, and found these
two. Speak to them, Chaplain ; they want Jesus."
I spoke to them of Jesus ; and before I left the camp they had
found Him precious.
Gen. Hooker's arrangements for crossing the Kappa-
hannock were carried out successfully in the close of
CHANCELLORSVILLE. 149
April. On May 1st began the disastrous battle of
Chancellorsville, ending, on the evening of the 4th, in
the hasty retreat of our left wing across the Rappahan-
nock, with heavy loss. On May 6th the entire army
had fallen back to the old position. Field hospitals for
the various corps were at once established. They were
immense and widely scattered, so that new Commission
stations were called for. These were located at Potomac
Creek, Howard and Brooks' Stations. A relief work of
great extent and variety was immediately begun.
Rev. W. H. Eaton1 gives many interesting reminis
cences of his hospital work after the battle. He was
especially struck with the unfaltering courage of the
men :
About fifteen hundred of our wounded were left on the battle-field
over the river. For twelve days or more they had little or no atten
tion. Their wounds were in many cases dressed but once, and there
was no shelter from the rain and sun, save such as
the scattered trees afforded. When brought to the ^hancell°^^
Heroes.
hospital they were in a pitiable condition. Many
died very soon after. Others had their wounds filled with loathsome
worms.
" I don't expect to live," said a New Hampshire man, who was in
this condition ; " all I ask is to be kept clean while I do live."
Rev. John M. Durgan, a Free-will Baptist Minister, who was
Lieutenant of Co. B, 12th N. H. Kegt., was severely wounded just
below the heart. On the twelfth day after, he was brought over
with the rest. It was feared that he would not live to reach the hos
pital. But when they proposed to take him from the ambulance on
a stretcher, the brave man utterly refused all assistance, and getting
out alone walked into the ward to his bed. He is still alive, and
able to preach the gospel.
Another, who had lost both legs by amputation, I saw the next
Pastor of First Baptist Church, Nashua, N. H.
150 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
day nonchalantly leaning upon one arm, perusing the Philadelphia
Inquirer. Another had been very severely wounded, but had suc
ceeded after his fall in crawling in under some trees.
The Blessed TT. , ,
g , His was a golden testimony —
" Those twelve days were among the happiest of
my life. I had my Testament with me. All the strength I had was
devoted to prayer and the reading of the Blessed Book. Oh, never
before did the Saviour seem so precious, or His Word so sweet. I
would not part with this little book, which was my light and joy in
those days of darkness and loneliness, for any earthly consideration."
Major Whittlesey, of Gen. Howard's staff, told us of a Chaplain
who had been very attentive to a wounded soldier for several days,
trying if possible to save his limb. It was decided that the leg must
be taken off. The soldier was anxious that his Chaplain should be
present during the operation, but he felt as if he could not bear the
sight. So, when the suffering man was put upon a stretcher and
borne to the amputating-table, the Chaplain remained behind. How
was he surprised and electrified, as he waited sadly for the result, to
hear the voice of his friend sounding forth from the room of pain,
singing those precious lines ! —
" How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
The Sweetest In a believer's ear !
Name. It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives awav his fear."1
1 Kev. I. 0. Sloan relates an incident very similar to this which occurred in
his Delegate's experience at one of the hospitals after Antietam. A young Mas
sachusetts soldier, Charles Warren, had been led by unremitting care and faithful
admonition to give himself up to Jesus. His leg, it was found, must be am
putated to save his life. Mr. Sloan, unwilling to witness the scene, turned away
as they carried the soldier to the operating-table. He had not walked far,
before he heard Warren's cheerful voice, singing —
" There'll be no more sorrow there ;
In heaven above, where all is love,
There'll be no more sorrow there."
He turned back and found the soldier drowsy from the chloroform administered.
Thus he remained, for the operation proved useless, until he passed away.
CHANCELLOESVILLE. 151
i
Rev. E. F. Williams tells the story of the death of
Capt. Isaac R. Bronson,1 shot in the shoulder on the 3d,
and who lingered until the 20th :
Death had no terrors for him, but there was a struggle which only
u parent's heart can know, when he said —
" Oh, if I could only get inside the old homestead and look on the
i'aces of my little ones and my parents and George
, T . T , n , i . „ , „ Death Swattowed
and Lottie, 1 should be satisfied. . ^T. .
up in Victory.
I replied, " We shall come pretty soon."
He answered with a smile as he pointed upward, "Yes, only a little
further on."
Shortly before he breathed his last, he said, " Sing me one of the
songs of Zion."
His wife who had come, asked, " What shall we sing ? ' Rock of
Ages?'"
" Yes, ' Rock of Ages.' "
That, and " Come sing to me of heaven," were sung.
Bending over him as he lay with closed eyes, as if for a moment
asleep, my ear caught the word " Glory," quickly followed by the
expression in a loud, distinct voice —
" Death is nothing to the glory beyond."
I asked, "Is death swallowed up in victory ?" The answered words
came back from the threshold of the heavenly door —
" Death is swallowed up in victory."
The incident which follows, related by the chairman
of the Commission, is a strange sequence of events lead
ing a soldier to Jesus :
After the battle Private D , of the 68th Penna. Regiment, a type
setter from Philadelphia, was detailed for service with the Ambu
lance Corps. Passing over the bloody field covered with all the val
uable wreck of battle, he saw a little torn book lying
on the ground. Picking it up unthinkingly, he put jgojj.
it into his pocket, and soon forgot that he had it.
1 Of Co. I, 14th Conn. Eegt.
152 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Soon after, as lie was removing a wounded soldier to die stretcher on
which he was to be carried to the hospital, the man exclaimed —
" Don't move me ; I'm dying. My name is Jesse Stevens, of the
1st Mass. Regiment. I want you to pray for me."
Private D did not know how to pray, but it suddenly occurred
to him to look at the little book he had picked up ; to his astonish
ment he found on the outside page a prayer, entitled "After sudden
visitation." He at once knelt down, and read in the ear of the dying-
man the words of the petition :
" O most gracious Father, we fly unto Thee for mercy in behalf
of this Thy servant, here lying under the sudden visitation of Thy
hand. If it be Thy will, preserve his life, that there may be place
for repentance: but, if Thou hast otherwise appointed, let Thy mercy
supply to him the want of the usual opportunity for the trimming
of his lamp. Stir up in him such sorrow for sin and such fervent
love to Thee, as may in a short time do the work of many days ; that
among the praises which Thy Saints and Holy Angels shall sing
to the honor of Thy mercy through eternal ages, it may be to Thy
unspeakable glory that Thou hast redeemed the soul of this Thy
servant from eternal death, and made him partaker of the everlast
ing life, which is through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."1
During the prayer the Confederates had been posting themselves
in the immediate neighborhood, and D was made a prisoner.
During his confinement in Libby, the words of the dying man kept
ringing in his ear, — " I am dying ; pray for me." His sins came up
before him, but he found no peace. Subsequently arriving at Camp
Distribution, and hearing of a prayer meeting, he resolved to attend
it. He was one of more than a hundred and twenty, who that even
ing rose to be prayed for. His anxiety was increased after hearing
from his wife, who had become a Christian since he had left home,
and who, in all her letters, was urging him to give his heart to
Christ. He was not long in following her advice and example. Mr.
Stuart bore the message of the soldier's decision to his happy wife,
and still keeps, as a memento of solemn interest, the tattered leaves
of the torn Prayer Book.
1 Written by the late Et. Eev. Bishop Potter of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.
Soldiers' Prayer Book, p. 10.
AFTER CHANCELLORSVILLE. 153
The work of holding prayer meetings among the men
was recommenced as soon as possible after the battle.
Eev. W. H. Eaton gives a graphic account of meetings
at Potomac Creek Station :
Our station was on the thoroughfare between the hospitals of the
3d and 6th Corps, one mile from Potomac Creek. We had three
large wall-tents, put up in such order as to make but one spacious
room. On one side we kept our books, papers and
i ., i . -, Potomac Creek
hospital stores ; the other was occupied as a parlor
by day, a chapel in the evening, and a sleeping room
at night. For our parlor chairs we had rows of planks, five deep,
resting on empty boxes. These answered in the evening for chapel
settees, and at night for spring beds. A small tent close by con
tained our kitchen, in charge of Joseph Jones, of the 84th Penna.
Vols., detailed for us by Col. Bowman. Joseph was an earnest Chris
tian. During the previous winter he had been converted at one of
our stations, and was a decidedly happy man in his post as cook to
the Christian Commission.
Our prayer meetings began at early candle-lighting, although some
of the soldiers used to come in a half hour or so before sunset ; some
with crutches and others with canes; some with bandages about
their heads and others with their arms slung, — all
sore and lame from recent wounds, but able to move
about. They fill up our chapel to the number of one j^t
hundred or more. At twilight, one of us takes half-
a-dozen candles from the box. and, as candlesticks are lacking, we
put one into a potato prepared for the purpose, and suspended from
the roof by a wire ; another into a piece of board ; two or three into
small boxes, filled so as to keep the candles upright. Then the meet
ing begins.
How the men turn back to their homes !
" When I left home," says one, " my father took me by the hand
and told me, ' It would not be half so hard to part with you if I
knew you were a Christian.' I made up my mind to seek Christ
then, and I think I have found Him."
Another said, " I once had a hope, but I have gone astray. The
154 CHKISTIAF COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
dangers of war did not awaken me. I have been in the habit of
gambling since I was wounded. To-day I got a letter from home
with the sad news of the death of a dear sister, who was baptized
on the same day with myself. Ever since I have been in the army,
she has written to me and has prayed for me, that I might not injure
Christ's cause. She has gone to heaven now. I mean to forsake my
sins and to lead a Christian life. Will you not all pray for me?"
" I was wounded on the field," said another. "As I staggered off
to the rear, the bullets kept singing past me and burying themselves
in the ground all about. I expected immediate death. When I got
beyond the hill," nearly out of danger, I fell on my knees and gave
thanks to God. And now I mean to be His for ever."
The two simply-told incidents which follow, occurring
at different stations at about the same time in the month
of June, show alike how the soldiers were met and
touched by little kindnesses, — their very lives sometimes
turned Christward by them. The first is related by
Rev. Geo. N. Harden,1 a Delegate at the Acquia Creek
Station :
A vigorous-looking soldier came in, asking whether we had any
little bags with needles, buttons, &c.
Said he, " I belong to Co. B, 78th N. Y., and lost everything in
the battle of Chancellorsville. I was lying down
Near me all that . „ , ,, .'-. ,, ,
I) U I D when a piece 01 shell struck me on the cartilage of the
nose ; it's all healed now, but 'twas a close hit. I was
very near death then, but I thought of God all the time, and prayed
and trusted Him as never before. A man lying three feet from me
was killed by the same shell. Oh, I hope I love the Lord. I try to
serve Him. He seemed near me all that dreadful day."
I handed him a comfort-bag, saying it was from a little motherless
boy in my own Sabbath-school
" And could you let me have one for McClusky, my tent-mate?"
" Oh yes, with pleasure."
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Boxboro', Mass.
FALMOUTH. 155
" Well, sir, we'll write to these little boys. It's about all we can
do in return for their kindness."
I asked whether McClusky was a Christian :
" He is leaning that way, since the last battle. I have persuaded
him to try to be one. He and I go a little way from camp and pray
together. One of the little books may help him."
I gave the veteran a book for his comrade, entitled " Come to
Jemis" with papers for himself. He departed after bestowing upon
me the warmest, solidest clasp of the hand I had yet received in
Virginia, with an earnest " God bless you !"
The second story is from the pen of Rev. Geo. H.
Morss,1 who at the time was laboring at the Division
Hospital of the 2d and 5th Corps, near Falmouth :
We were visited one morning by an old soldier from Connecticut,
who was acting as orderly for his Colonel. Our breakfast was ready,
and we invited him to stay and eat with us. Heat first objected
because he had not been much accustomed to eat
. . , „ , r , . . . , The Soldier's
with others. However, he did join us at last, and •„ „
seemed to enjoy it exceedingly. He said he had not
sat down to eat at a table with any one since he had been in
the service.
" I have three sons," said he, " in the army. When the third one
enlisted, I felt that I could not remain alone, but must come myself.
I have been a very hard man, and much given to swearing," — indeed,
we had to reprove him mildly for it once, as he was talking about it.
He seemed touched and melted by our kindness. After breakfast
I told him that we were accustomed to have our devotions then, and
asked him to remain. He did so. After reading a portion of Scrip
ture, we sang a hymn. I then offered prayer, commending the
soldier and his sons to the Lord. He came to me afterwards,
took me by the hand, and with the tear glistening in his eye, said —
" You are the first man that ever prayed for me in my presence,
and I thank you for it. I am determined now to live a different life.
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Abington, Conn.
156 CHKISTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Old John Perkins shall be a, better John from this time. I
will never swear again."
As he left our tent, our hearts rejoiced before God that He
had made use of our simple acts of kindness to reach the heart of the
old man.
The work of quieter Christian effort was soon brought
to an abrupt close. Lee, strengthened by Long-street's
Division, called from the siege of Suffolk by the crisis on
the Eappahannock, early in June concentrated his army
at Culpepper, preparatory to another invasion of Mary
land. His troops passed rapidly up the Shenandoah,
scattering Milroy's army before them. General Swell's
Corps crossed the Potomac at Williamsport on June 16th,
only three days after Hooker had started from his lines
in front of Fredericksburg. It soon became evident that
the enemy did not intend to assail Washington, but was
entering Pennsylvania, Hooker crossed the Potomac on
June 26th. On the 28th he was relieved, and Gen.
George G. Meade placed in command.
When Hooker's movement began, the Commission
stores were safely removed to Washington from the old
stations. Messengers found the army at Fairfax Court
House, where a station was already in operation. It did
not long remain, but a vigorous work was entered on,
both there and at Fairfax Station, especially among the
cavalry wounded in the skirmishes and battles, so fre
quent at this juncture. Field Agent E. F. Williams
narrates an incident of this crisis, peculiarly character
istic of an American army :
In the midst of our work, two soldiers of Co. I, 2d Pennsylvania
Cavalry, came into our room in the old church at Fairfax C. H., with
a library of a hundred volumes on their shoulders, which, neatly
BEFORE GETTYSBURG. 157
packed in a box, they have carried eighteen months.
The boys have read it again and again, yet it is still in ^ Front °
good order. Hardly a book has been lost. They
cannot bear to throw it away ; but they have no means of transport
ing it now. It was given them while on their way to the front, by
ladies in Philadelphia.
'' Will the Christian Commission take it and get it to Washington ?
After the present movement is over, perhaps some regiment can be
found which would like the library. There is not much use in thinking
we shall see it again. It is the destiny of the cavalry this Summer to
be pretty busy. Better give the books to a regiment of infantry."
"' And here is my singing book," adds one of the soldiers ; " I have
carried it ever since I came into the service. I must give it up now.
Will you take it, and give it to somebody to whom it will do some
good ? I can't throw it away."
We receive the gift, mark the box, assure the soldiers that we
will get the books to Washington, and if possible return them in
more favorable times.
Mr. Williams adds other interesting reminiscences of
this movement. We have only room for the following,
which occurred at Fairfax C. H. :
On June 23d, two hundred men, who have been driven in ambu
lances over the roughest of roads from the skirmish-field all along the
Blue Ridge, pass our doors for the railroad station. They have four
miles of terrible " corduroy " before them, and have
had no food nor drink since they were wounded. f ti w nd d
They cannot stop now for us to prepare them any
thing. A Commission Agent rides rapidly to the station, has fires
kindled, coffee prepared, and bread cut in slices, buttered and spread
with jelly, water brought, tin cups and sponges made ready, and the
Delegates prepared to give aid and comfort to the men as they are
taken from the ambulances and placed upon the cars for Washing
ton. The work continues all the afternoon and far into the night, for
the train is delayed. Rebel prisoners are not overlooked.
"Is this for me?" said one of their Colonels, to whom a cup of
coffee was handed.
158 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Yes, sir. Will you please drink it ?"
" Well, this beats me. We don't treat our prisoners
Coals of Fire „
on the Head.
11 We make no distinctions," is our only answer.
The Colonel drinks his coffee and eats his bread in silence, but with
tears in his eyes and wonder in his heart.
One man who had been a disbeliever in the Sanitary and Christian
Commissions, considering them as humbugs, began to change his
mind somewhat. It was wonderful to see how the logic of events
graduallv conquered him, until at last he said, with
The Gospel of '
tears
Bread and Coffee.
" That's what I call the gospel. God bless you !
I mean to tell them at home to do all they can for you."
CHAPTEE VI.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
GETTYSBU RG.
July 1863.
THE great battle began on the first day of July, Ewell
and Hill's Corps of the Confederate Army forcing back
our 1st and llth Corps. The greater part of the second
day was consumed by each side waiting for its absent
divisions. The evening's fighting was to the advantage
of the enemy, though it welded our line together for the
struggle of the next day. The story of Bound Top,
the Peach Orchard, and Cemetery and Gulp's Hills is
too well known to need repetition. The sun of July 3d
went down upon a decisive Union victory. Gen. Lee
began his retreat on the following day. Gen. French
captured and destroyed the bridge over the Potomac at
Williamsport. It was some time before the enemy could
rebuild it, but on the 13th this was accomplished, and
in the night the swollen river was safely crossed.
Before the battle closed, the Delegates of the Com
mission were on the ground. At once began the most
successful and extensive work which had yet been
attempted, — a work rich in incidents of sacrifice, devo
tion and Christian ministration. A supply station was
established in the village. Thither stores were pushed
160 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
forward from the Commission offices and from the whole
surrounding country. Over three hundred Delegates,
of all ranks and occupations, were sent as the almoners
of the gathered bounty. Before they had concluded
their work, stores to the value of $80,000 had been
distributed. Too much cannot be said of the kindness
of the people of Gettysburg to the Delegates, whose
accommodations at first were very limited. Nor was it
confined to them ; until the hospitals were withdrawn
from the neighborhood, the residents wrere untiring in
their efforts to alleviate the wants of the wrounded and
dying.
Mr. Enoch K. Miller, a private of Co. F, 108th N. Y.
Vols., who afterwards became a Chaplain in the army,1
relates, in a letter addressed to Rev. R. J. Parvin,2
how his life was saved at this battle. We make extracts
from the letter, and this single relation must stand for
the many others left untold :
"It was dark when they laid me under a tree, surrounded by hun
dreds of my comrades who were wounded and dying, and as my
Chaplain, Kev. Thomas Grassie, bent over me and asked where my
trust was placed, the Psalmist's words came involim-
A Saved Life,
tarily to my lips : ' Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with
me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.' A minie ball had
pierced my breast, passing through my left lung and coming out a
little under my shoulder blade. The Surgeon of our regiment.made
an examination of my wound, but as I supposed that at that time
the ball was in me, he only looked at my breast. He gave me a
sleeping powder, and throwing his rubber blanket over me, left me
as he supposed, to die. During the next three or four days, without
a pillow or sufficient covering, my clothes saturated with my own
Of 25th U. S. C. T. 2 See p. 44.
BELIEF WORK. * 161
blood, with no proper food, attended by a faithful comrade, Sergeant
John O'Connell, I lay scarcely daring to hope for life.
"About noon one day I saw in the distance the silver badge of the
Christian Commission, and sending my comrade, I soon had its Del
egate by my side. In that Delegate I recognized Brother Stillson.1
He was an old friend, and we had been co-laborers in the Sunday-
school work before the war commenced. He knew me in an instant,
and without waiting to waste words, supplied me with a feather pil
low, — the first I had had in a year, — a quilt, a draught of wine, some
nice soft crackers and a cup of warm tea. After offering up an
earnest prayer by my side, he hastened away to secure some clean
clothes. He then removed my filthy garments, and in doing that it
wjis found that the ball had passed through me.
"After all this had been done, I felt as though I was at home ; for,
my dear sir, the Delegate of the Commission acts the part of a ten
der, loving mother, a willing father, an affectionate sister, a sympa
thizing brother and a beloved pastor.
" I lay on the field until July 15th, and received everything that
could enhance my comfort in such a situation. The greatest share
came from the Christian Commission. For a few days I was cared
for by a Surgeon connected with your society. Without these com
forts and necessaries I must have died, but as your agents were on
the ground to care personally for just such cases as mine, and as a
great Providence ordered it, I survived."
The soldier's words of gratitude to the Commission, and to Rev.
Mr. Parvin, who had written the orders for the stores which relieved
him, need not be added.
Mr. Demond2 relates two stories of relief work per
formed by Mr. John C. Chamberlain,3 illustrative of the
spirit animating the Delegates, and of the good which
even a very slight service could effect :
He heard just at nightfall of a hospital, some miles away, tnat
1 J. B. Stillson, Esq., of Rochester, N. Y.
* In his address at the last Anniversary of the Commission.
3 Student of Bangor (Me.) Theological Seminary, and brother of the gallant
Gen. Chamberlain.
11
162 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
had not been visited. Though wearied with the labors of the day,
he went to it at once on foot. He found the Surgeon in charge sick, the
assistant overwhelmed with the care of some two
P ,. , hundred wounded, and no stores or comforts. He
told the Doctor that there was a station of the Sani
tary Commission within a mile, and asked why he had not got stores.
The Doctor said he did not know how to get them. Mr. Chamber
lain wrote an order on the Sanitary Commission, the Doctor signed
it, and the Delegate went to the station and found that the Sanitary
Commission had gone away. What was to be done ? It was late ;
he was very weary ; it was nearly five miles to Gettysburg, where
the station of the Christian Commission was, the road was hard, and
the streams all high and swollen. But the men were suffering, and
there was no one but him to help. He took the long and lonely
walk, and very early the next morning the wagon of the Christian
Commission was at that hospital, laden with stores and comforts for
the heroic sufferers.
The same Delegate came one day upon an out-of-doors hospital,
where the men were lying in the July sun, with no shelter. After
looking a moment, he took a stone and stick, and arranged the blanket
of a soldier so as to shield his face. Others caught
Sun-shades.
the idea, and soon every one in the hospital was shel
tered from the burning and torturing blaze of the sun.
Rev. Geo. Bringhurst1 tells a little incident of one of
these slight services :
One very dark night I met a soldier whose arms had both been
shot away. He was getting to his tent, and I asked what I could do
for him.
" Oh, nothing, Chaplain," said he, cheerfully ; " un-
,. ,, ™ ^ less you would tie my shoes for me. They have been
bothering me a good deal."
I thought, as I stooped down, of the latchet which the Forerunner
was not worthy to loose, and the little deed became a joy.
See p. 24.
KELIEF WORK. 163
Eev. E. F. Williams1 tells a story of faith and its
result :
Our store-keeper, an Englishman, earnest, hard-working, patriotic,
and a Christian, was asked one day, when our supply of provisions
was getting very low, to cut the slices of bread which he gave the
boys a little thinner.
" Oh, no," said he, " I can't, — the poor fellows are Faith
so hungry."
" But our bread will soon be gone."
" Well, I have faith that the Lord will send us more before we
are quite out."
He was allowed to take his own course, though advised to be as
sparing as possible. The day wore away, and still the crowd of
hungry soldiers pressed around our doors. The last loaf was taken
from the shelf. A hundred Delegates were yet to have their supper.
But there were no crackers, no meat, no bread for them, or for the
still unfed soldiers, who, weary with wounds and a long, limping
march from the field hospital, lingered at our rooms for a morsel of
food, a cup of coffee and a word of direction about the trains for
Baltimore and Philadelphia.
Just at the last moment, when our faith was almost exhausted, an
immense load of provisions stopped before our quarters, and the
drivers asked for the agents of the Commission :
" We have brought bread, lint, bandages, jellies and wines ;
we don't know just who are most needy, but we have confidence
in you. Will you distribute these things for us ?"
The stores had come a hundred and three miles. Two ministers,
German Reformed and Lutheran, were with them. Our thanks can
better be imagined than told. Never again did we chide the store
keeper's faith, who knew that the Lord would send just what we
wanted. Nor did our stock of provisions ever again give out while
we remained at Gettysburg.
An incident of noble Christian fortitude and heroism
1 See p. 142.
164 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
is related of Chaplain Eastman, son of Kev. Dr. East
man, Secretary of the American Tract Society:1
His horse plunging during the battle, struck him on the knee-pan.
His leg swelled and stiffened until the pain became almost unen
durable. When he could no longer stand, he gave his horse to a
servant and laid himself down on the ground. He
Chaplain ^ac^ ^° ta^e a woun(led soldier's place alone that
night. As he lay suffering and thinking, he heard a
voice; "O my God!" He thought, Can anybody be swearing in such
a place as this? He listened again, and a prayer began ; it was from a
wounded soldier. How can I get at him? was his first impulse. He
tried to draw up his stiffened limb, but he could not rise. He put
his arm round a sapling, drew up his well foot, and tried to extend
the other without bending, that he might walk ; but he fell back in
the effort, jarred through as if he had been stabbed. He then
thought, I can roll. And over and over he rolled in pain and blood,
and by dead bodies, until he fell against the dying man, and there
he preached Christ and prayed. At length one of the line officers
came up and said —
" Where's the Chaplain ? One of the staff" officers is dying.''
" Here he is, here he is," cried out the sufferer.
" Can you come and see a dying officer ?"
" I cannot move. I had to roll myself to this dying man to talk
to him."
" If I detail two men to carry you, can you go ?"
"Yes."
They took him gently up and carried him. And that live-long
night the two men bore him over the field, and laid him down beside
bleeding, dying men, while he preached Christ and prayed. Lying
thus on his back, the wounded Chaplain could not even see his audi
ence, but must look always heavenward into the eyes of the peaceful
stars, — emblems of God's love, which even that day of blood had not
soiled nor made dim.
Mr. J. B. Stillson gives a detailed account of the
i Told by Rev. Jos. T. Duryea, D.D., Pastor of Collegiate Reformed (Dutch)
Church, New York.
A GETTYSBURG HERO. 165
adventures and escapes of John Burns, of Gettysburg,
who acted as a volunteer soldier through part of the
battle :
He was within two months of his seventieth year when he offered
himself, dressed in the Continental coat, vest and corduroys which he
had worn in the war of 1812, to Gen. Wister, who commanded what
was known as the "Iron Brigade." Approaching that
Old John
officer, he said—
" General, I fought for my country in 1812, and I
want to fight for it again to-day."
The officer looked at him keenly from head to foot, and seeing he
was in earnest, extended his hand :
" God bless the old soldier; he shall have a chance."
Joining the 7th Wisconsin, he performed a brave man's duty until
the close of the first day's battle, when, after being four times hit,
he fell into the enemy's hands. His escape with life had been truly
marvellous. The first ball struck his side, and was turned away from
his body by the intervention of a pair of old-fashioned spectacles in
his vest pocket. The second struck a truss worn for an abdominal
injury, and glanced off, cutting away the flesh from his thigh about
two inches below the top of the hip-bone. The third ball passed
through his leg, between the large and small bones, without injuring
either them or the arteries. The fourth went through the fleshy part
of the left arm below the elbow, also without breaking bones or rup
turing arteries.
He lay on the field during the night, and was removed next morn
ing, through a neighbor's kindness, to his own house in the town. A
Rebel officer, accompanied by a soldier, visited him there, and ques
tioned him closely about the part he had taken in the fight, but
Burns made no replies. The window of the room looked out towards
a house at some distance, occupied by Rebel sharpshooters ; the old
man's bed was within range, and shortly after the officer and soldier
left, a ball from the house entered his window, and grazing his breast
buried itself in the partition wall. Only a moment before, the
wounded man, weary of lying on his side, had turned upon his bed.
In the former position the minie ball would have passed directly
through him.
166 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The most precious reward to the Delegate was the
privilege of turning a wandering soul to Jesus. It was
God's will that this result should be often reached in the
Gettysburg hospitals. Rev. Mr. Parvin narrates one
such incident among others :
I found on the field a Michigan soldier named David Laird, and
visited him regularly while I was at Gettysburg. One day, after
writing home at his request, he told me of his early training, of his
wandering; from it, of his long-ins: to return. We
David Laird.
prayed, read and talked together, until at last the
Spirit took possession of his heart. At first he was very much
troubled because his wound — a serious one received while the regi
ment was falling back under orders — was in the back. I reassured
him, and explained all the circumstances to his parents in my letter.
I received answers from each of them, thanking me for my little
ministries. But the mother's letter to her boy was perfect tender
ness and love :
" DAVID, MY DARLING BOY : — What can I say to you, my son !
my son? Oh, that I could see you! that I could minister to you! I
think father will probably be with you soon. My dear one, you
have done what you could to suppress this cruel rebellion. May God
comfort you ! You are still serving the country so dear to your
heart. You have been for thirty months an active volunteer ; now
you are a suffering one. Still there is an army in which you may
enlist, — the army of the Lord. All — all are welcome there. You
will find kind friends who will keep us advised ; and please request
them to give us all the particulars of your situation. God comfort
and sustain you, dear one, is your mother's prayer !"
His father wrote about the wound :
"As to David's wound in his back, it need give him no uneasiness.
None who know him will suppose it to be there on account of cow
ardice."
The weeks passed on ; the pleasant September days came, but
David was worse. His father came in time to see him die. When
THE CHRISTIAN PEACE. 167
it was all over, I tried to comfort him for his loss, but he put the
words kindly aside :
" I don't need any comfort from man, for God has given me so much,
in seeing the happy death of my boy, that I am perfectly content."
Prof. M. L. Stoever,1 of Pennsylvania College, Get
tysburg, remained in the town throughout the terrible
days. At much personal risk, he, with other citizens,
strove to do what he could for the many wounded suffer
ers. His reminiscences of the battle are exceedingly
rich and valuable. We present a few, each of which
illustrates some aspect of the Christian soldier's peace in
the hour of deepest trial :
One of the most touching scenes I remember was in attending
upon a man who became a Christian as he lay wounded in the col
lege edifice. I read to him the precious promises of God's Word ;
his ioy seemed unspeakable; his countenance beamed
J J The Postscript.
with delight as the hour of his departure drew near.
While sending to his family his dying messages, he spoke with strong
confidence of his acceptance of the Saviour's love. After I had
closed the letter, he said —
" Please add a postscript. Tell mother to urge my brothers to
serve the Lord."
His earnestness with regard to this, in the midst of his sufferings,
was deeply impressive.
Captain Griffeth, of Gen. Howard's staff, was mortally wounded
in the battle. Amid army associations and perils, a warm personal
attachment had grown up between the General and his Adjutant;
and when the command came to pursue the retreat
ing foe, the General hastened to take his last fare- the
well. The door was closed ; words of sympathy were
necessarily brief, — than Christ's own, none were better ; Gen. How
ard read the fourteenth chapter of St. John —
1 Afterwards a member of the General Commission, and a frequent and effi
cient Delegate.
168 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also
in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not
so, I would have told you ; I go to prepare a place for you. And if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you
unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Then bowing upon the floor, the General commended his wounded
friend to the compassionate God and Father of all those who trust in
Him, and rising from his knees clasped him in one long, fond, weep
ing embrace. Thus the heroes parted. One to pursue the Rebellion
to its death ; the other, within a few days, to enter into the rest of
God.
In the school-house Prof. Stoever found together two interesting
<£nd intelligent young men, who had just had amputation performed.
They were Confederates, and both from Lutheran colleges, — one from
Roanoke College, Va., the other from Newberry Col
lege, S. C. Their teachers had been students in the
college at Gettysburg, and were well known to the
Professor. One of them was already a Christian; the other had
found Christ, he trusted, on that battle-field.
"Tell my father," said the first, "if you can get a letter to him,
that I am leaning on the strong arm of Jesus ; He comforts me ; all
my hope is in Him."
Said the other, "Write to my mother that I have found the
Saviour; He is precious to my soul. And say to her, — 'If I meet
you, mother, no more on earth, I hope to meet you in heaven.'"
Prof. Stoever narrates a striking instance of the way
in which, through Christ Jesus, all Christians are made
one :
The Sabbath after the battle my attention was directed to the
destitution of a hospital in the Roman Catholic church of Gettys
burg. On entering the building, filled with wounded and dying, I
was met by a Roman Catholic lady, well known to
rl T^ °J me as a £ooc^ woman, but a very rigid religionist.
She said at once —
"Do come and speak to this man. The Surgeon says he will die,
and he is unconverted."
THE CHRISTIAN PEACE. 169
I followed her to the chancel within which he was lying. She
introduced me as a Protestant, connected with the college, and then
left him to my attention. I presented to him the only way opened
for his return to God, and kneeling by his side, prayed with him, —
the first prayer doubtless ever offered by a Protestant in that church,
and that at the request of one of its members. The man died shortly
afterwards most peacefully, trusting in Christ and with the hope of
eternal life. He was the son of a pious mother; although he had
never made a profession of religion, the early instructions had pre
pared his mind to lay hold of the cross and to embrace the Saviour.
Near the altar of the same church, Mr. Stuart, the
chairman of the Commission, ministered to anothei
soldier, who was led to find Christ Jesus precious. He
writes :
As I was passing, a man near the altar looked up at me imploringly
and asked, "Ain't you going to stop and talk to me?" I went to
him and ascertained that his name was Wm. O. Doubleday. His
wife was a Christian. She had taught each one of
his children to pray as soon as they could lisp the scene by a
. „ , / _ . » ,. . Roman Catholic
words. He had never made a profession of religion ^ar
himself, but was not what is called a "wicked man."
" When I enlisted," said he, " which I did because I considered it
a disgrace to be drafted, just as I was leaving for the war, my wife
said, 'I hope you will come back all right, and a good Christian.'
It touched my heart. We went into the room with the family, and
there she prayed for me, and then asked me to pray. I tried to
offer a few broken petitions. My little boy, only thirteen years old,
then offered a most earnest prayer for me and for our distressed
country. I don't know where he learned to pray like that, unless it
was in the Sabbath-school."
When he learned how I was connected with the Commission, and
saw the badge, tears came to his eyes. When I spoke to him of
Jesus, he pressed my hands, and the tears came fast as rain. I
prayed with him, and then he asked me to bend down and kiss him.
He died soon after from the effects of an amputation.
I received a letter from his wife, who came to him before his death.
170 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
She was very earnest in her expressions of thankfulness, and told
me with loving sorrow and joy how her husband's peaceful death
1 ad answered her prayers.
Mr. Stuart also visited in a private house of the town,
Lieut. William Henry Walcott1 of Providence, R. I.,
who told him how he had been supported amidst pains:
The Lieutenant had heard me through his window, addressing a
large congregation in the "Diamond" or public square of the town,
and thinking I was a clergyman, sent for me. His story was as
follows :
Chrises Drink (( „ .f died a h before h , }
and Mine. J
since leaving home my little child has died also. I
took thirty-nine men into the battle in my company; twenty-nine of
them are either killed or wounded. I fell on Thursday near Round
Top, on a spot much exposed and alternately lost and won by our
troops. My own men could not carry me off the field, so I signalled
to the Colonel by waving my handkerchief, and was sent for. In
carrying me to a place of safety my wounds and pain were aggra
vated. I had been lying across two men, one dead and the other
dying, but was unable to move. The dying man was one of the best
soldiers in my company. I had often taken the men to church, and
now amid the din and danger I prayed with him. Very soon he
was gone.
"I was carried to the regimental hospital, but they could do
nothing for me; then to the division hospital, where the wound was
examined and my foot amputated. On Friday the Rebels shelled
the hospital. I was%taken away a long distance into the woods; the
bearers thoughtlessly placed me near the foot of a little hill, so that
when the rain came on, streams of water poured along the ground
under the shelter tent which had been pitched over me. On the
battle-field I thought 1 could not endure my sufferings, but then I
called to mind what Jesus had endured ; and how that, while I had
water to drink, He had vinegar and gall offered Him."
With this constantly recurring reflection, the soldier kept up his
drooping spirits until relief came.
1 17th Keg't., U. S. Inf., afterwards Bvt. Major.
THE CHRISTIAN VICTOR Y. 171
Rev. Mr. Parvin chronicles the testimony of Captain
Billings of the 20th Maine Regiment. The story's close
tells of one of the hardest tasks of the Delegate:
A Captain was brought into the old barn, where lay sixty-five of
the worst cases in the Fifth Corps. The brave fellow had some of
his own men lying on the floor not far from him. He loved them
with a father's love. As one after another they died
before his eyes, it worked so upon his mind that he . Captain Bdl-
became delirious, until it took four or five men to
hold him. With great difficulty we got him away from his men into
a room by himself, where he rallied and became a little better.
Once as I was passing into his tent, the Surgeon came out ; he told
me that the Captain must die. I entered and took him by the hand.
His first words were —
"Chaplain, what did the Surgeon say?"
" Why, Captain, you are in a critical case."
"I know that, Chaplain, but does he think I can live?"
" He thinks it hardly possible that you will."
"Have you heard from my wife, Chaplain, since your message
yesterday?"
"No; the telegraph lines are in the hands of the Government, but
I hope she will be here."
"Does the Surgeon say I cannot live long, Chaplain?"
"Yes, — but then you are a Christian, Captain."
" Yes, Chaplain, I have no fears. I left my place in the Sabbath-
school for my place in the army. My hope is in the Lord Jesus. I
have tried to serve Him in the army, and He will not forsake me
now; — but I would like to see my wife."
" Well, Captain, if you have anything to say to her, will you send
the message by me ?"
He asked me to give her his haversack, sword and some other little
things, with a message. Dismissing then all earthly things from his
mind, he said to me —
" Don't stay any longer with me, Chaplain ; go and help the boys,
and run in here as you can to read a few words from the Bible."
Once afterwards he asked me to have his body embalmed and sent
172 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
home. I promised to do so. He did not even refer to it again, but
passed away in triumph.
It was in the morning at eleven o'clock that he died. At five in
the afternoon his body was sent to the embalmers. Late that night,
as I was busy writing letters from memoranda taken through the
day, there was a knock at the door. In stepped a man inquiring for
Captain Billings. What a question for us to meet ! I thought of
the home link.
"Who are you?" I asked.
" I am his brother ; I have his wife with me ! I have kept her up
all the way with the hope that we would find the Captain in good
condition. Where is he, sir?"
"You have not brought the Captain's wife out here to-night?"
The Corps hospital was four miles from Gettysburg.
" No, I left her in town until the morning."
" That was well. The body of your brother was sent to the em
balmers this afternoon."
" Oh," said he, " I cannot tell her. I cannot trust myself to try
to tell her, or even to see her again to-night ;" — the poor man broke
down in his grief, — " I have brought her on all the way to Gettys
burg for this, and now you must — you must tell her all."
And so our duty was to see the bereaved wife, and deliver to her
the messages and tokens of the dying love of her husband, and to
speak to her words of comfort in the name of the Lord.
Rev. W. T. Eva1 tells the story of two soldiers who
seemed to have entered into the meaning of the Father's
promises of eternal care :
Away in the corner of a shed crowded with wounded, I found a
dying man. His limbs were already cold and the death-damp was
upon his brow. Fellow-sufferers were thick enough about him, yet
he was dying alone. He was still conscious when I
11 Happy Day!" J. 6
came to him, — not only conscious, but happy in the
love of God. I can truly say that, nowhere have I witnessed a
more triumphant peace than his. We prayed by his side, and then
sang—
1 Pastor of (N. S.) Presbyterian Church, Kensington, Philadelphia.
THE CHRISTIAN VICTORY. 173
" Just as I am, without one plea,"
with the chorus —
" Happy day ! happy day !
When Jesus washed my sins away."
As we prayed and sang, the Holy Spirit seemed to come down not
only upon the dying man, but on all in that dolorous place ; and
here and there, from among the wounded braves as they lay upon
the floor, was uttered aloud the earnest cry, " God have mercy on my
soul !"
In a barn, lying upon a slab floor, with nothing under him but a
little wet hay, and with scarce a rag to cover him, I found a middle-
aged man shot through the body, and so paralyzed by the shock of
an exploding shell that he was entirely unable to
move, — the most abject picture of utter wretchedness w, J3
I ever beheld. He was quite sensible however, and
having done what I could to make him comfortable, I spoke of his
heroic devotion to the flag, of the love of God and of the Saviour's
death. A flood of tears welled up in his eyes and rolled down over
the bronzed face. He was too full to speak ; but it was evident that
even in that forlorn man I had found not only a true patriot, but
also a lover of Jesus and a blessed witness to the triumph of the
grace of God.
A few short reminiscences by Mr. Parvin tell their
own story of sacrifice and Christian victory:
After the battle in the heavy showers, many of the wounded on
the bank of a brook were in danger of drowning from the rapid rise
of the water. There were no stretchers, and some of the badly
wounded could not be carried in the arms of the
men without great pain. A New Siretcher'
" Lay them on my back," said a Delegate, going into the water on
his hands and knees, and thus, bent with his face to the ground, he
conveyed them tenderly out of the reach of danger.
The store-house was at some distance, and I had but one bottle of
blackberry cordial left, so I called out —
" Boys, I've got one bottle of nice cordial here; who wants it?"
174 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
A brave fellow near me replied, "You'll find
eep it foi others not far Off wno need it more than we do,
Them.
Chaplain ; keep it for them."
I can never forget how the heroes greeted me that morning, as I
passed along a line of shelter tents, which were flooded with the last
night's rain :
" We don't « £rever mind, Chaplain ; we don't care for our
"! m,, ° soaking, if the Potomac's only full, so that Lee can't
cross."
- This was the last message of a Maine soldier, — "Charley" his
comrades called him :
" Tell mother I received my wound on my twenti-
A Given Life. ^ birthday> j give my life for my COUntry ; if I
had another, I would give it too."
A soldier, only seventeen years old, who had rim away from his
employer in Camclen, N. J., to join a Philadelphia regiment, was
found on the field with seven bullet holes in his body, and having
but a little while to live. I knelt down on the
Our Father: groun(j ky fam an(j asked for his mother's name and
residence :
" I have no mother. Chaplain."
" Have you a father?"
" No."
"Any brothers or sisters?"
" No relatives in the world."
Poor fellow ! he seemed alone indeed. I took his hand in mine :
" Martin, you've been at Sunday-school?"
"Yes, sir."
" You have forgotten one relative, then."
He looked at me inquiringly, when I added, pointing upwards—
" ' Our Father, who art in heaven ;' there is a Father and a home
for you up there."
Doubtfully at first, then with slowly increasing assurance, the
precious truth was received. In a broken, childlike way he learned
to pray to this only relative in earth or heaven. Soon the face grew
bright and glad, and the answer of the once restless, homeless eyes,
was one of trusting peace.
A great favorite among his comrades was M , a soldier from
THE HUMISTON CHILDREN.
175
Massachusetts. After his death his mother wrote me, begging for
"only one lock of his hair." A comrade of the dead
soldier went down into the last resting-place, and sev- ^ .
ering a damp lock, it was sent on its mournful errand
Perhaps no incident of the war became so widely
known and excited such deep sympathy as the story of
the Humiston children. The main facts of the narra
tive are these :
"THE HUMISTON CHILDREN."
(An exact copy of the original picture.)
Dr. J. Francis Bourns, of Philadelphia, was crossing the moun
tains on his way to Gettysburg, as a volunteer Surgeon and Delegate
of the Commission. An accident to his vehicle forced him, with
three fellow-travellers on the same errand, to halt at
Graefenberg Springs. Mr. Schriver, the proprietor,
exhibited to them a beautiful ferrotype of three
lovely children, which had been found clasped in the hands of a
soldier dead on the battle-field. The picture was so held that it must
A Father's
Last Look.
176 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
have met his dying gaze. No other memoranda, relics, or even
equipments were found on the body, so that identification was impos
sible. Dr. Bourns obtained the ferrotype, with the intention, when
his Delegate work wras over, of using it to discover the little father
less ones. He persevered until all the obstacles in the wray of obtain
ing a salable picture were overcome by some Philadelphia artists;
and then furnished to the press all he knew of the story, simultane
ously with the publication of the photograph, since so well known.
Week after week passed ; still the mystery of the dead soldier was
unsolved ; inquiries poured in, but there was no identification. Dr.
Bourns began to despair. A copy of the American Presbyterian, con
taining a description of the picture, found its way to a little town on
the Alleghany river, in Western New York. The affecting tale was
rehearsed through the village for several days, exciting the warmest
sympathy. A lady carried the paper to a friend who had not heard
from her husband since the battle. The narrative recalled, with
dread accuracy, a picture which the wife had sent her husband just
before Gettysburg. The fact was communicated to Dr. Bourns, who
sent a copy of the picture in reply. It was the first news that she
had «that her children were fatherless, and she a widow. The name
of the unknown soldier A\as thus found to be Amos Humiston, Ser
geant, 154th K Y. S. Vols., of Portville, K Y. The sale of copies
of the picture was afterwards made the means of great good.1
No result of the ministrations after this battle was
more marked than that manifested in the altered feeling
among the Rebel prisoners. The Delegates allude to
this constantly in their reports. We can present but
1 Dr. Bourns informs us (March 1868), that "The founding of the 'National
Orphan Homestead' at Gettysburg, is the sequel to the story of the Humiston
children. About seventy soldiers' orphans have been received into the institution,
and there are many more fatherless little ones who are awaiting its enlargement
of accommodations." The Ilumiston children are living at the " Homestead" with
their mother, who is an under-matron. The morning after the children came to
the institution, it was found that they had gone out quietly and decked their
father's grave with beautiful flowers.
AMONG THE CONFEDERATE PRISONERS. 177
a few of the numerous instances at command. Mr. De-
mond says i1
A Delegate passing around among the wounded, giving sympathy
and aid, came to an officer from South Carolina. Said he —
" Colonel, can I do anything for you ?"
"No," was the reply, with stubborn defiance. "Devils" and
' He passed on. By and bye he came round again, " Angels."
made a similar inquiry, and was again refused. Yet
he came again the third time. The air had become offensive from
heat and wounds ; he was putting cologne on the handkerchiefs of
one and another as he passed :
"Colonel, let me put some of this on your handkerchief?"
The wounded and suffering man burst into tears, and said, "I have
no handkerchief."
" Well, you shall have one," and wetting his own with cologne, he
gave it to him. The Colonel was now ready to talk :
" I can't understand you Yankees ; you fight us like devils, and
then you treat us like angels. I am sorry I entered this war."
Mr. John Patterson2 tells the following rather amusing
little colloquy between some soldiers, Union and Con
federate, and himself:
Quite a number of us had been busy aiding the Surgeons, who
had attended to about two hundred cases of amputation during the
day. When the men were washed and dressed, at supper they began
bragging about our good butter.
" Let us see, boys," said I, " which of you can ^ "^no °f
make the best wish for the old lady who made the
butter."
" An' shure," replied an Irishman, " may iv'ry hair of her hid be a
wax candle to loight her into glory," — a kind of beatified Gorgon, one
would say. Then came another Irishman's wish :
" May she be in hivin two wakes before the divil knows she's did."
The third and last was from a son of the Emerald Isle likewise ; it
was addressed to myself:
1 Williams College Alumni Address, p. 27. 2 See p. 32.
12
178 CHFvISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" An' troth, sir, I hope God '11 take a loikin' to yursilf."
The letter which follows was written in answer to a
note in a comfort-bag, sent from a town in Massachu
setts by a little girl :
GETTYSBURG, August 7th, 1863.
MY DEAR LITTLE FRIEND : — I received your present, the com
fort-bag, and it is thrice welcome, although it was intended for Union
defenders. It was given to me by a Christian woman, who lost her
holy anger against Rebels — for such am I — in her
The Rebel's bounteous sympathy with the unfortunate. My little
friend can imagine my thankfulness for the favor,
when I inform her that I have no friends this side of heaven — all
gone, father, mother, sister and brother, and I am all alone.
The dear comfort-bag I shall always keep as a memento of true
sympathy from a generous heart in the loyal State of Massachusetts.
I hope you will not be disappointed by this, coming as it does from a
Rebel ; for I was forced into the ranks at the point of the bayonet,
for I would not go willingly to fight against the dear old flag, whose
ample folds have always shielded the orphan and made glad the
oppressed.
I have read your note very many times over, and have wished it
could rightfully be mine. " Do they think of me at home ?"
Silence — all is silence ! Not so with the Union soldier ; a thousand
tokens tell him yes.
I was wounded in the second day's fight, and am now packing up
my all to be exchanged or sent back a cripple for life. I am seven
teen years old, and now am turned out with one arm to carve my
way through the world ; but my trust is in my heavenly Father,
who will forgive and bless. Hoping that God may in mercy reunite
us all again as brothers and sisters, I am your unworthy friend,
E A ,
Co. — , Miss. Volunteers.
P. S. — May God guard and bless you !
Mr. J. B. Stillson writes :
The morning was always hailed with peculiar satisfaction by the
AMONG THE CONFEDERATE PRISONERS. 179
sufferers. The badly wounded would often ask during the weary
night hours, "How long before the morning will be here?" as if
thinking that with its beams would come deliverance.
Very early one morning, an old Confederate, suffering " One Takena^d
from two flesh wounds, beckoned to me as though
he would ask, "Watchman, what of the night?" I had often
already ministered to his wants, and been impressed with his venera
ble look, betokening as it did, a peaceful and trusting heart. With
voice subdued and gentle as a child's, he spoke of his only son
Thomas, who had been in the fight and was either killed or wounded,
he feared. Learning the boy's company and regiment, I made
inquiry, and soon found him very close by, and mortally wounded.
The son in turn was very anxious about his father. When told
how near he was, he said quickly, " Oh, I wish I could see him once
more." Procuring assistance, I bore him to his father's side.
As they were brought face to face, tears flowed freely ere a word
was spoken. The old man's greeting was simply, " Thomas, my
son," — he could say no more. The boy's first question was, "My
father, are you badly wounded?" When told that his father's
wounds were not serious, a thankful smile lit up his face, until the
father recovered from the first effects of his emotion, and inquired —
" Thomas, are your wounds bad ?"
" Yes, I fear they are mortal," and so the sad story of the coming
parting was told.
The son was pointed to the cross ; every temporal want was sup
plied, but before midnight he died.
The old man, bereft of wife and children, mourned as did Jacob
of old for his Joseph, and prayed that he too might depart. I com
forted him with precious Gospel assurances, and told him how "our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." A few days afterwards the
cloud, which had seemed so impenetrable, was scattered before the
brightness of the rising " Sun of Righteousness," and the old man re
joiced in confiding faith that " He doeth all things well."
Laboring on the field, in connection with Mrs.
Harris and the Commission, was Rev. Geo. Duffield,
180 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Jr.,1 who spent a large part of his time in looking espe
cially after the Confederate wounded in our hands :
" Oh, come, mister, and see them in the cow-stable," said a poor
woman whom the neighbors called "the faithful creature;" "they
are some of them worse off than these."
Sure enough, it was even so. There they were,
The Penalty UQ^ any worse wounded or more utterly helpless and
of Rebellion. i -i • -,
destitute of decent clothing, — lor in these respects
all were upon a common level. But there was at least this differ
ence in favor of those in the wagon-shed ; theirs was comparatively
clean dirt. In the cow-stable the filthy water of the dung-heap had
dammed up and backed in upon them, saturating straw, blankets,
and everything else within its reach. There was still another and
more painful difference. On account of the water most of the scanty
hay had floated away, and left the poor sufferers lying upon the bare
rails, sometimes without so much as the thickness of a single blanket
between their emaciated bodies and the sharp, knotty wood. And
these men were the elite of the Southern army, — lawyers, planters,
men of wealth, intelligence and refinement, — some of them, as I was
afterwards informed, had been Ruling Elders in the Presbyterian
Church, and members of its General Assemblies.
At first the distribution of the bread was in solemn silence, remind
ing me strangely enough of distributing on a communion-day the
emblems of Christ's body and blood, as well as of the command,
" If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink."
But misery soon found a tongue. The first man who spoke to me was
from Georgia, apparently about twenty-five years of age, and whose
language and whole bearing impressed me with the belief that he had
known what home and generous hospitality were. In the course of a
twenty years' ministry — ten of it in the city of Philadelphia, in times
of cholera and famine, in the most obscure alleys, in the court within
the court, in the Penitentiary, in the incurable wards of the Blockley
Almshouse Hospital, in Bedlam — I have often looked on sad and
1 Pastor then of (N. S.) Presbyterian Church, Adrian, Mich.; now, of that in
Galesburg, 111. Mr. Duffield's observations were published in letters to his
brother, in the Deti'oit Advertiser and Tribune.
AMONG THE CONFEDERATE WOUNDED. 181
despairing faces ; but never, in any man who yet retained reason, on
such a face of blank hopelessness as this.
" O sir," said he, with an accent of agony that thrilled me through
and through, " much as I thank you for this bread, which is the first
mouthful of anything I could eat since I was wounded, I would
rather do without it and starve outright, than remain any longer in
my present position. Just look at me ; I am shot through the lungs
and spine, and cannot move myself a hair's breadth, and here I am
bent across this rail as if on a rack, — not a handful of hay, or even
the thickness of a blanket under me. I shall die if I do not gain
relief — immediate relief, sir, — from this insupportable torture."
To help the wretched sufferer was no very easy matter ; on one
side, almost touching him, was a man who had his right leg off; on
the other, one who had lost his left ; and any one who, in passing
through a hospital, has ever touched the blanket of such a man and
heard his piteous exclamations, will be careful ever after how he does
so again. Finding at length a resting-place for my feet, one on each
side of him, and reaching over to the trough for support, I managed,
with one of his arms round my neck, partially to raise him up, and
was beginning to push a little hay under him, when a feeble, pettish
voice exclaimed —
" Don't you steal my hay ;" answered by the man on the other side
in a similar tone —
"And don't you steal any of mine."
A bale of such hay could not have been bought with all the gold
in California. With great difficulty I gathered up the little portion
properly belonging to him, and added some of the reeking straw,
adjusting his blanket so as to envelop his whole body. With an air
of inexpressible satisfaction he laid himself back in his new position,
and a gleam of hope once more lit up his face, as if the sun should
dawn at midnight. Seizing my hand with passionate gratitude, he
was about to cover it with kisses.
" No, sir," said I, pushing back his head with gentle violence, " if
you have any thanks to give for so small a favor, give it to God and
not to me."
In an instant he took me at my word. His short, but earnest
ejaculatory prayer for himself I could not help taking up for all his
suffering comrades. The Master prayed for His enemies, " Father,
182 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
forgive them." Why should not I, a poor sinner myself, offer a
similar petition for mine ?
These men, although in such sad plight, were out
spoken in expressing their attachment to the South.
Indeed the ministry of kindness, while it affected the
political tendencies of the privates, touched the officers
much less. Rev. Mr. Duffield adds that after hearing
them talk, he could hardly keep from telling them this
very recent experience of his :
The day before, near Dillstown, on my way from Carlisle, while
stopping at noon to bait our horses, away off in a far corner of the
porch, sitting very quiet, and apparently very tired and hungry, I
discovered two colored men, one of whom, especially,
by the name of Harrison Ash, was a splendidly pro
portioned man, about six feet two inches in height,
and who must have been a very valuable chattel to his master, a
Mississippi Colonel, when human flesh was at a premium like gold.
His story was as follows :
" I came here wid de Southern army, an' I've been wid it ever
since de war begun. Friday we had a big fight, de biggest fight yit,
an' we git an awful big lickin'. Friday night we had a 'treat. Me
and Druro here was 'sleep under a tree ; rain poured down powerful,
an' dey lef us. So in de mornin', when we woke up, dey was done
gone."
'• Why don't you follow them ?"
" Followed dem long 'miff ; besides, dey trabbel too fast, an' we
can't cotch up."
" That is, you didn't want to follow them ?"
" No, sah."
" Wasn't your master kind to you ?"
" Yes, mos' times ; though de hardest lickin' he ever guv me was
for what he did hisself."
" You would rather stay in Pennsylvania, then ?"
" Yes, sah ; dey tell us dere in Mississippi, dat at the Norf dere's
AMONG THE CONFEDERATE PRISONERS. 183
nuffin' but snow and ice all de year roun', but dis don't look much
like it, I reckon, an' I'd as lief lib here as dar, I'm tinkin'."
" You've been thinking of a good many things to-day, I suspect,
Harrison. Let me see that big hand of yours, and feel the grit of
it. Who owned that hand yesterday?"
" Massa did."
" He made it work for him. Who owns it to-day ?"
" Reckon Harrison does hisself."
" Stand up, Harrison ; do you know it, — you are a freeman, both
by the laws of God and man. What work you do, you will be paid
for ; what pay you get, you can put in your own pocket instead of
into your master's."
Like one awaking from a dream, or like the man in the "Christus
Consolator," long shackled and lying in a dungeon, just beginning to
move his unfettered limbs and to look upon the light of day, so was
it with poor Harrison.
Supposing, from an incidental remark, that he was not altogether
destitute of God's grace, I asked —
" What do you know about religion, Harrison?"
" I know dat Jesus come to save sinners."
" What did He do to save them ?"
" He died for them."
" Did He die for you ?"
" Yes, He died for me as for any sinner."
" Did you ever feel that you were a sinner ?"
" Oh, yes ; one time very much, when I was 'bout sixteen years
old."
" How long did you feel this so much ?"
" Till I 'sperienced de new change."
" What change ?"
" Why, de change in de heart, you know, when we begin to love
de Lord Jesus, who died for us."
There was religion in its real essence. The work of Christ for us
on the cross ; the work of the Holy Spirit in us ; a change of state
and a change of nature both ; the prisoner not only pardoned, but
the jail fever arrested and put in process of cure. Surely, if these
things are hid from the worldly-wise and prudent, who through their
own pride and folly will not stoop to even pick them up when they
184 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
lie at their feet, yet, blessed be the name of the Lord ! they are still
revealed unto babes.
Further on, in a barn, more Confederates were found :
Some of the poor wretches were not only in great bodily distress,
crying continually, " O Lord, bless my wounds!" but also in still
greater mental distress. One fatally wounded man said to Mrs.
Harris, who was attracted to him by his heavy
"Knuckling to
the Lord.- ' groaning-
"O ma'am, if I was only sure that my sins could
be pardoned, so that if I died I might go to heaven, I would be more
reconciled."
Pointing him to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, she recom
mended him to seek it in prayer; and strange enough was the petition
of this poor Publican :
"O Lord, save my body! O Lord, save my soul! and if You do,
0 Lord, I'll knuckle to You to all eternity."
One extract more, — a picture and an outlook :
" The fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the birds of the
heaven were still." Whether it was owing to the noise, the smoke,
the universal presence of the soldiers, or the noisome and pestilential
atmosphere, I do not know, but certain it is, that the
A Symbol of . , , . , , , . ,
peace orioles, robins, and other birds, so plentiful about the
cemetery before the battle, had entirely disappeared
from it. Singularly enough, the very first, and indeed the only bird
1 saw on the battle-field, and that at the extreme verge of it, was a
solitary turtle-dove, sitting in perfect silence, with its head turned
towards the path of strife, one might believe in mute contemplation
of the scene of carnage.
" Surely that bird is strangely out of place, and has no business
here," said one.
" Not so," was the reply ; " may we not accept it as a happy omen,
and see in it the joyful harbinger of the return of peace, — a peace on
the sure foundations of truth and righteousness?"
We cannot close the record of Gettysburg better than
A LOYAL CONFEDERATE. 185
by the following story of an East Tennessee loyalist.
At the request of the lady who furnishes the narrative,
and who was not connected with the Commission, names
are withheld :
A lady from Philadelphia, moving through one of the field hos
pitals a few days after the battle, had her attention drawn to a young
Confederate asleep and dreaming. He was talking aloud. Going
to his cot-side, she gently fanned away some flies
, . , , ; , 1 r The Loyal East
which were buzzing about a bandage concealing the Tennesseean
lower part of his face. One hand was pressed tightly
against his breast. A kindly but rough Irish nurse coming by, the
lady inquired about the wounded man:
" Indade, mum, he bates me intoirely. His clapper's half shot
out, mum ; but he's furivir gossipin' wid himsilf, and the Vargin only
knows what he's sayin' ; an' it's all 'bout a bit book wid a rag roun'
it, an' not wan he'll let touch it, mum. He's the strange craythur,
mum, that's shure."
No one knew his name, and the lady discovered that his wounds
were pretty certain to prove fatal. Unwilling to disturb him in his
troubled sleep, she passed on.
The next morning a Surgeon stood by the soldier's bed. The poor,
unknown boy was dying. Two weak, sad, wandering eyes were open
ing and closing restlessly. It seemed very mournful that one so
young, nameless and alone should die thus among strangers. The
Irish nurse was much affected :
"An' shure, now, av we only had the bit book, it wud have the
poor craythur's name intil it ;" but no coaxing or efforts could get
the book away from him. The Surgeon said he would wake from his
long stupor before death, — indeed, he was already beginning to do
so. The lady sat down, fanned him and paid him what gentle atten
tions she could. By and bye he began muttering to himself, but his
utterance was so indistinct that nothing could be gathered from it.
Suddenly turning his head a little, he spied an old Union flag which
hung temporarily at one end of the ward. He gazed at it a moment
earnestly, the lady watching him meanwhile with intense interest ;
a great change came over his face ; the dull, unconscious look passed
18G CHUISTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
away. Pdiiting to the flag, he turned painfully, and asked with
much clearer utterance —
" What do they let it stay there for ?"
The question was not a pleasant one for the lady to answer, — for
several reasons ; but she replied —
" Because Gen. Lee was beaten the other day, and has retreated.
Don't you remember ?"
The answer seemed to confuse him. He looked back and forth
from the lady's face to the flag, murmuring —
" Beaten ? — Gen. Lee ? — retreated ?"
All at once the meaning appeared to grow plain ; a look of joy
covered his face ; he turned to the old stripes and stars, — tears mean
while coming out of the poor, sunken eyes, and said fervently —
" Thank God ! thank God !"
The lady thought this strange for a Confederate soldier ; supposing
he had misunderstood her, she explained her meaning again ; but the
poor fellow's eyes closed ; the old, hopeless blank settled upon his
face ; he seemed more puzzling and strange than ever.
He began to dream now; his face grew bright, and the old, mut
tering noise was resumed, only much more distinctly. He seemed to
be back again at his home. He talked first of some one whom he
called "Mamma Tilly," — his mother she was found to be afterwards;
then, about " Nettie," his wife. The soldier's face became positively
beautiful soon, for he thought Nettie had come and was with him !
He told her how glad and happy he was to see her, and asked about
Harry, their little boy. The invisible Nettie seemed to be answering
his questions, for he would look up now and then and laugh, — sadly
it sounded, too, from his wounded mouth. In the dream still, he
opened his shirt, brought out the precious book with the " bit rag"
about it, and then, looking up again into the eyes " so near, and yet
so far," laughed a low, happy laugh, saying —
" Nettie, darling, there it is yet, — good Minister 's Testament,
with the old flag round it still."
The lady bent forward eagerly and saw a little well-worn and well-
marked Testament, and wrapped around it very carefully a torn bit
of the Union flag.
The dream of Nettie seemed to be lost for a while, and another
replaced it. The soldier's mutterings were still indistinct, but they
A LOYAL CONFEDERATE. 187
were made out to be a kind of history of the flag-shred ; — how the
Rebels had come into the village, pulled down the Union flag, and
torn it into hundreds of fragments, then trampled these in the dust ;
how he had gone out in the night at peril of his life, had picked up
a piece of the dishonored banner, had taken it home and cherished
it ; how he was driven from his home and forced into the Confederate
army ; but how he had clung silently, through all the months of drill
and march and battle, to the old symbol which he loved. It was a
thrilling story, as the lady gathered the facts, one by one, from the
lips unconscious of the tale they were telling. She understood now
the noble soldier's unexplained conduct and words.
The musing reminiscence of the flag was done, and Nettie came
back again, — only for a few moments, however, little more than for
a kiss and a farewell, — a kiss given by no human lips, a farewell ut
tered to no visible, human presence. Yet it could not have been
unconscious pantomime ; mere shadows could not have cheated that
dying man ; it must have been real, not the less so, if St. Paul's ex
perience was true, because invisible. And then came another,
brighter vision, — a vision which none may smile at, thank God, or
call untrue, — seen by too many glad eyes during eighteen hundred
years, for men to be deceived by it now, — a vision of the Crucified.
Only two words were uttered, but who can measure them ? — " Jesus
—dear."
And so the soldier went away to be for ever with the Lord.
The little Testament told the whole story in a few simple dates.
The date of his confirmation was given, with the name of the loved
clergyman who had given him the Testament, and had written in
front the words of the Collect for the second Sunday in Lent :
"Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to
help ourselves ; keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly
in our souls ; that we may be defended from all adversities which
may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may
assault and hurt the soul : through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
The sentences had been written two years before the war ; it would
have been hard, however, to have chosen more appropriate ones for
all the unforeseen conflict and toil between.
The date of the soldier's marriage was recorded, — a month or two
only before the war began. On one of the fly-leaves these words of
188 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Isaiah were written : " Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to
loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let
the oppressed go free ; and that ye break every yoke ?" Close after
these words was the date of the firing on Fort Sumter. This, with
other plentiful marks, showed that the brave Tennesseean had
entered into the full meaning of the struggle. The birth of little
Harry was chronicled ; and dates attached to passages all through
the book showed how the noble loyalist had followed amidst enemies
the varying fortunes of the war. Towards the close of 1862, the
Rebels had entered the village in East Tennessee which had been
his home ; here was begun the romance of the flag. He had fled
with Nettie and Harry into Northern Alabama ; there he was forced
into the Rebel army. The date of separation from his family was
appended to these words of St. Luke —
" Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no
more that they can do."
Several letters from his wife, who found her way back to the
wrecked and ruined home in Tennessee, were tucked away carefully
at the close of the book. After reading them, one might doubt
which of the two had the firmest faith in Christ and in the final tri
umph of right in the war.
The relics of the dead were gathered and kept, and when East
Tennessee was opened, they were sent safely to Nettie. Little Harry
was dead, but a sweet little girl had come in his place. Nettie wrote
a touching letter of thanks for what had been done for her husband:
" It had been such a long time since I got a letter from him that
I had given him up entirely, even before your good, kind letter came.
I am glad that I know now just how he went away. I want to live
long enough to tell little Alice all about it, when she can understand
better than she does now."
She did not live long enough for this, however. A few months
only intervened, and Nettie went to be with her husband. Their
bodies rest now, side by side with little Harry's, after their weariness
and separation, amidst the sunny golden-rod on the banks of the
Clinch. Little Alice has been brought to the home of the lady who
was at her father's bed-side in the Gettysburg hospital. She has
a middle name now, which her friends love to call her,— it ™
" Loyal."
A LOYAL CONFEDERATE. 189
The lady who tells this story was herself neither loyal nor a Chris
tian when she was at Gettysburg. The East Tennesseean's death
taught her to be both an earnest lover of her country, and Christ's
child also. So she feels that she can never repay little Alice for the
lessons she has been taught.
CHAPTER VII.
THE EASTERN ARMIES,
FROM GETTYSBURG UNTIL GRANT'S ADVANCE ON RICHMOND.
July 1863— May 1864.
THE movements of the armies in Virginia for several
months after Gettysburg need no chronicling here.
Commission stations were established at Germantown,
Warrenton, among the First Corps hospitals on the
Rappahannock, at Bealeton, and in the Third Army
Corps. The sick were promptly taken to Washington ;
so that the main work for some time was among the well.
In September occurred the strange retreat of the entire
army to Centreville Heights. Tedious days of slow
advance followed. A station was put up at Gainesville
in October, moved thence to Manassas Junction, and in
November transferred to Warrenton Junction.
Mr. A. D. Matthews, of Brooklyn, a Delegate in
October at Winchester Seminary Hospital, Frederick,
Md., relates an affecting story of a mother's courage and
of a soldier's faith :
After service on Sunday morning, I found Henry M— - in the
hospital, dreadfully wounded in the breast. He was one of three
brothers, — all Sunday-school scholars at the time of their enlistment.
Two or three weeks before, Henry's mother had been
called from her home in Northern New York to
and her Sons.
Washington, to see Willie, one of the brothers,
190
FREDERICK. 191
who was at the point of death. He lingered but a few days after
her arrival, then sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, Efforts to embalm
the body failed, and the broken-hearted mother had just followed
it to the grave, so far from home, when she was summoned in haste
to Henry's cot in Frederick. The Surgeon cautioned her not to
mention the fact of Willie's death, as the soldier's wound in the
breast was liable to open during any fit of sobbing or crying, and
death might be the result. Of course, one of Henry's first questions
was about his brother. The mother replied —
" Don't be troubled about him, my son ; keep perfectly quiet ;
Willie is in good hands, and well cared for."
With heroic fortitude for several days she kept the mournful news
pent up in her breast, until some one, not knowing the restriction,
alluded to Willie's death. Henry looked into his mother's face :
" Mother, is Willie dead ? " Concealment was no longer possible ;
and telling the sad story, she realized the Surgeon's fears. The
wound re-opened, and for several days life hung by a slender thread.
The Sunday morning I visited him he had begun to mend. There
was a smile on his face as he told me of his once feeble hope, of his
present gladsome prospect :
" Since I have lain here the old lessons have come fresh and new
to mind ; I am now sure that Jesus is my all."
The mother's heart was spared the loss of her second son, though,
before Henry had entirely recovered, she was made anxious again by
news from the third, who was wounded in battle, but soon able to
return to his regiment.
Rev. Luther Keene,1 a Delegate to the forces about
Washington in October and November, furnishes the
following sketches of hospital work :
A young German, afterwards baptized by Rev. Mr. Coit, of S.
Brookfield, Mass., came to talk to me about himself:
" There are two voices within me ; one voice tells me to play cards
and swear : the other to go to the meeting." He
The Two Voices.
described with vividness and minuteness his last
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, N. Brookfield, Mass.
192 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
conflict ; it was as much a real one to him as if voices were actually
audible, — indeed was it not more real ? I asked him which voice he
was going to obey. With decision in his animated face he replied,
" The good voice." I showed him St. Paul's words in the seventh
chapter of Komans, and how he had been unconsciously quoting them.
After his baptism, he gave one evening a precious sign of his love
for Christ and souls. Going to a comrade at the meeting's close, he
led him forward to where the men were kneeling to be prayed for. It
was a beautiful sight to see him make room among
Guiding into ^Q company for the unresisting soldier, and then
the Kingdom. , . , ~
help him down upon his knees. Coming to where
I stood, he told me that the man was almost deaf. By putting my
mouth close to his ear I prayed with him. The last I saw of 'them,
they were leaving the meeting together, — the deaf soldier leaning on
the German's arm, who seemed to be tenderly and solicitously help
ing him into the kingdom of God.
Those letters written for soldiers, — how precious they were some
times ! I met one poor little English boy in the hospital. His face
was piteous with homelessness and waiting. " I would give all I have-
in the world," he said, " if I could only hear from
Letters Home. , „ -^ , . , , 111
home. I1 or some reason his letters had been long
unanswered. I wrote to England for him, and there wras at least one
happy heart in the army a few weeks afterwards, when the answer
came.
I had visited a dying soldier named Hill, and written home for him.
One morning I found a young stranger kneeling at the cot-side. He
was Hill's brother. Shall I ever forget the grasp of that man's hand
and the light in his eyes, as he told me about those letters home, nar
rating so simply the story of a soldier's endurance and victory over
sin ? Or, shall I ever forget another scene, — over which there was
joy elsewhere, if not there, wThen the brother, maimed in the service
of the Government, followed the dead soldier to the grave, and wept
with me there ? We were the only mourners, and yet many of the
poor boys had fewer still.
The army in November moved against Lee. The
Rappahannock was brilliantly crossed on the 7th ; and
RAPPAHAXXOCK STATION. 193
after bridges were rebuilt and communications opened,
the Rapidan was passed on the 26th. The armies faced
each other along Mine Run for several days. On De
cember 1st and 2d our forces were withdrawn, and the
campaign of 1863 was ended.
A few days before the advance to Mine Run, Brandy
Station became the grand centre of supply and commu
nication. Thither, with such instructions as the Field
Agent could give, went Rev. E. F. Williams with six
Delegates. The first Sunday's service was an earnest
of the great winter harvest to be gathered there. Several
weeks before, an interesting work of grace had begun
among the unorganized recruits at Warrenton Junction.
Chaplain Norman Fox, of the 77th N. Y. Regiment,
sent to the New York Examiner a story of the evening
after the battle of Rappahannock Station :
I found a young man of the 10th Mass. Regiment, with his leg
crushed and mangled by a piece of shell. The shock had been so
severe that amputation was useless, and he was sinking rapidly. I
inquired concerning his religious history. It was the
old story, — a bright hope, active church membership,
army life and irregularities, and the abandonment of his profession.
"And now," said he, "if there can be forgiveness for such a wan
derer, pray for me."
I confess I felt more backwardness than was right. There stood a
circle of rough soldiers surveying the solemn scene with mere morbid
curiosity. There stood another group, more educated and refined, —
a knot of Surgeons, some of whom, I knew, had no belief in God or
eternity, and considered my interview with the dying man as at best
but amiable uselessness. But there lay the sinking sufferer, and I
wore the uniform of a minister of Christ. Bending over the table
where he lay, I asked the Good Shepherd to pardon the returning
wanderer. Murmured responses throughout the prayer disclosed his
own earnestness in the petition; the smothered hope revived again;
13
194 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
and faint at first, but growing brighter and brighter, there finally
beamed on him the full radiance of that faith which supports in the
stern hour.
Meanwhile, there stood by the table a noble-looking soldier, a little
older than the dying man, moistening the lips of the latter, and
affectionately smoothing his hair, but so perfectly calm and collected
that I supposed he was only a hospital attendant. A casual remark
started my suspicion, and I asked him —
" Is this a friend of yours?"
" It is my younger brother."
Stooping over him, the brother said, " S , what shall I tell
mother for you?"
" Tell her I died for my country," was the prompt, cheery reply.
" Give me a kiss for her," said the other ; and the bronzed face
bowed down to the pale lips as tenderly as if they had been an
infant's. More than one turned to hide his tears ; the brothers
seemed least moved of all.
The dying boy sank rapidly, but all clouds vanished, and faith
grew bright and strong. I repeated, " I know that my Redeemer
liveth," " The Lord is my Shepherd," " In My Father's house are
many mansions," the beautiful hymn —
" Rock of Ages, cleft for me,"
and those lines, especially dear when the couch of dissolution was
a rough board table in a dark, cold tent, with only a knapsack to
rest the head upon —
" Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are."
He tried to repeat, "Jesus, lover of my soul;" I finished it for
him. This seemed to strengthen him even more than the others.
But his voice wras already beginning to fail. Said he, —
" There's — a — silver — pencil — in — pocket — "
It was with the deepest sorrow we saw that he could not speak
friendship's last message. There was but one Friend of whom he
could speak now. "We watched him silently, while he lay for some
minutes motionless ; I thought all was over ; but rousing suddenly,
he said —
ARMY PREACHING SERVICES. 195
"'Jesus, lover of my soul ;' — oh, repeat that again !"
My voice choked up so that I could hardly speak. I know not if
he heard me, for before I reached the last verse, " the storm of life"
was over, "the haven" was reached, and " the billows" had died
away in the eternal peace.
Rev. Amos H. Coolidge,1 a Delegate about Mine Run
time, gives an interesting narrative of a Sunday's work :
I started out after breakfast, my horse making what time he
could in the deep, sticky mud. Spending a short time in the Con
traband camp, helping the eager scholars in their efforts to read, I
hastened to my first preaching service among several
detached companies of artillery. Then followed a One Sunday's
. . . Preaching.
long ride, and a second appointment with a regiment.
It was drawn up in line ; leave was given any to retire from the
ranks and the sermon if they wished ; only two left. On my return,
at a little picket-station, the men begged for a service ; so again
the word was preached. At another picket-station on the way,
another service was held. Without dismounting this time, hymns
and prayer and. the proclamation of the blessed Gospel succeeded
each other, for the fourth time. The men were hungry and grateful
for the truth. Further on was a wood-station, where were several
hundred men ; night was coming on, but meeting a friend, arrange
ments were made for my fifth preaching service.
"All hail the power of Jesus' name"
was given out as the " church-call." Instantly the men came crowd
ing from every direction. Fuel was added to an already immense
fire; a great army of flames sprang up skyward, sending a rich
tinge over the darkening woods and ground. Forth over the multi
tude the old Good News went on its heavenly errand once more. It
was indeed a solemn assembly ; and many days afterwards I heard
of some who there gave themselves up to Jesus.
As I rode away into the night, and looked back upon the ever-
lessening blaze, I thought of the "City" where "there shall be no
Pastor of Congregational Church, Leicester, Mass.
196 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
night;" where "they need no candle, neither light of the sun." I
was more glad than tired as I came to the Commission quarters, and
prayed that the five services might be blessed of God, though the
congregations had not sat in cushioned pews and I had preached from
strange pulpits, — three stumps, an old Virginia harrow, and a tired
horse's back.
The Commission's work during January, 1864, was
chiefly of an organizing, preparatory character. The
troops were in what proved to be " winter quarters," but
the men did not know it, nor had the Commission tents
and Delegates for its fifteen army stations till the month
o *>
had nearly passed. Yet everywhere the soldiers wel
comed the agents, and came to the depot at Brandy Sta
tion, begging for brigade and division chapels in which
to hold preaching services. During the Winter, not less
than sixty canvas coverings were issued. Under these
the Chaplains held their Sabbath services and nightly
meetings. Without them, there could have been but
little opportunity for religious gatherings in the army
during this Winter.
The great work of revival began at once ; meetings
at the stations and in the chapels were soon crowded ;
the men were again furnished with Testaments and
Hymn books ; Bible-classes were formed, sometimes
taught by Delegates, sometimes by Chaplains, sometimes
by the soldiers themselves. For very many wanderers,
whose number can only be known when the books are
opened, the Winter camps became the "gate of heaven."
Rev. J. B. Davis1 and Mr. Johnston Calhoun,2 in February,
1 Pastor of (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, Bridesburg, Philadelphia.
2 Of Ilookstown, Beaver Co., Penna.
BRANDY STATION. * 197
organized a Bible-class in the 1st Brigade, Horse Artillery, encamped
not far from Brandy Station. It met at the Commission "Artillery
Reserve Station, No. 2," and numbered forty-six
private soldiers. The work among these men and in Artillery Reserve
0 Bible-Class.
the chapel meetings was especially blessed of God.
Rev. Mr. Davis' first sermon here was preached to about seventy-
five listeners standing in the mud. The soldiers brought boughs of
evergreen from the river-bank to serve as a carpet, and lumber for
the seats, — after which the chapel was comfortable. Night after
night the meetings were crowded, until many were converted.
The artillery, having no Chaplains assigned them, stood in special
need of spiritual ministration and effort. A special effort was there
fore made throughout the Winter to reach the men in this arm of the
service. The Bible-class scholars sent to the Central Office for books
to aid them in a critical study of God's Word. Their requisition
was met, and the meetings of the earnest Bible-students became a
source of great delight to themselves, and of much encouragement
to the Delegates. Several of them were college graduates. A num
ber decided to prepare for the ministry when their army service was
over.
Rev. E. F. Williams, writing from Brandy Station
in February, says :
A sutler told me to-day that a member of his regiment, who could
not read, but had recently been converted at one of the soldiers'
chapels, was so anxious to hear the Saviour's words, that day after
day he had hired his comrades to read to him ; and
. . . Paying for
only yesterday had given a swearing acquaintance Bible- Reading
ten cents — all the money he had — to read to him the
fifth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. He would ask-for the reading
of passages which he had heard in the meetings, and was continually
on the alert to discover the names and numbers of chapters which
had impressed any of his comrades, or of which he in some way had
incidentally heard.
* Rev. G. S. Stockwell, a Baptist clergyman from Springfield, Mass., was asso
ciated with Messrs. Davis and Calhonn in this work.
198 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
A German was converted here, who seemed utterly surprised at
the goodness of God to him. He was overheard one day praying,
" O Lord Jesus, I didn't know You were so good."
The Goodness . , . ,,
, T And yet, happy as he was, he was anxious lor more
of Jesus. J i L J
of Christ's presence, and kept praying that God would
add as much to his present joy as He had given at his conversion.
In tlic Second Division of the First Corps, on Sperry-
ville Pike, a station manned by two Delegates was
established. The usual scenes at other stations were wit
nessed here. Key. Mr. Williams writes of the circum
stances attending the conversion of a soldier named
o
Charles Rockwell, at this place :
Born in the State of New York of pious parents, he spent his
early boyhood in Connecticut in every kind of wickedness. At one
time his parents thought him converted, and forced him to join the
church contrary to his will. But his vows were
The Trans- liever kept. A most injudicious and sinful prayer
for his "damnation," by an officer of the church, on
an occasion when he had been disturbing a meeting, had thoroughly
hardened him. Ever afterwards he supposed himself condemned to
hell, and met every effort for his reformation with the unwavering
statement of his doom.
During a long, perilous whaling voyage he had a very narrow es
cape from immediate death, but the warning was without any effect
upon him whatever. Some homely remarks of another officer of the
church with which he had been connected, set him thinking seriously;
soon after he married a gentle, loving Christian woman, and settled
in Pennsylvania. His wife would go away alone day after day to
read the Bible and pray ; her husband followed her once to listen ;
she was praying for him. He was deeply affected, and with difficulty
avoided discovering himself.
When she came into the other room again, he asked why she had
gone away by herself. She hesitated, in some confusion about an
swering, when her husband said —
"Well, never mind; I know; I followed you up-stairs to-day. If
SPERRYVILLE PIKE STATION. 199
you want to pray, you may do it down here before me, and not go
up there into the cold."
Ever afterwards the wife maintained family prayers, but the hus
band continued intemperate and profane.
When the war broke out he enlisted as a cavalryman. He was
soon made Orderly Sergeant for his skill and capacity, but was re
duced to the ranks again for his crimes. It was his ambition to
drink more whisky and play a better game of cards than any other
man in the regiment, — the 17th Penna.
In January a Delegate was sent from Culpepper to preach to the
regiment. The sermon — on small sins — was a feeble one, Charley
thought, and only fit to ridicule. Later in the day he heard another
sermon in a neighboring regiment, which had the effect of driving
home to his conscience the words of the morning's discourse. He
went to his tent with little peace. Some clays before two pious sol
diers, hungry for a prayer meeting, had begun one in their own tents.1
]t had grown until some twenty men attended it. To escape the
thought of the sermon, Rockwell wandered round after excitement.
Hearing singing, he stumbled upon the little Christian company,
and before the meeting closed rose for prayers. It was not God's
time yet, however. Regretting what he had done, he became drunk,
and remained so several days. Coming to himself, he recalled a
scene at home during his last furlough. He had been urging his
wife to go to a ball. Putting her arms around him, with tears
pouring down, she said —
" Charley, I'm trying to live as a Christian. I wish you were one.
But I can't be a Christian and a ball-dancer too."
In great agony of mind he sought the prayer meeting again. The
struggle was a fearful one, but at last God's peace came. Describing
the close of the strife, he afterwards said —
" I had been praying all night until about two o'clock, when I
began to feel strange. I kindled a fire, not sure whether I was alive
1 The regiment had no Chaplain, and this little soldiers' meeting grew so large
that the Colonel gave them a tent which held about thirty. As many more used
to crowd about the entrance, until the men petitioned for a Christian Commission
" fly." This was given them, as well as occasional help from Delegates working
nt the nearest station.
200 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
or dead. Then I lay down, slept soundly and woke early. First of
all I prayed, and then went out to attend to my horse, — usually a
vicious animal. This morning he was kind and gentle. I put my
arms about his neck and said, " Well, old horse, have you got reli
gion too?"
At roll-call in the evening, Charley stepped forward from the
ranks, and asked leave to say a few words. Judge of his comrades'
surprise when they heard his simple, brave speech :
" Comrades, you know how wicked I have been, — what a life I
have led in this regiment. With God's help, this day Charley Rock
well turns over a new leaf, and begins to live as a Christian. He
wants your forgiveness for the wrongs he has done, and asks you to
join him in trying to serve Christ."
Ever afterwards he was an earnest Christian, cheerfully giving up
his wicked companions, and restoring, as far as it was in his power,
his gambling gains. He used to tell me sadly of his past life.
" I fully expected," he once said, " to go to hell ; I meant to go
there. I used to think I would get Satan to make me his prime
minister, — and then, what fun I would have in raking up the coals,
and heaping them on the heads of old religious hypocrites ! "
His faith in the power of God's grace was boundless. Becoming
anxious to study for the ministry, he was furnished with books which
he diligently conned. But the book of delight to him was the Bible;
every spare moment was spent in its perusal. He continued stead
fast as long as I knew him, — until the Wilderness campaign began.
Rev. Mr. Williams writes from Culpepper Station, the
headquarters for work in the First Corps, of which he
had general charge :
A Pennsylvania soldier came two miles regularly every night to
the meeting at Culpepper. Storms, mud, swollen streams could not
keep him away. When his turn came to go on picket, he paid a
companion to stand two hours for him, rather than
Longing for loge hig favorjte meeting. He could not read, so he
the Meetings. . .
must have spiritual food ; he could only hud this at
the evening services and in Christian conversation.
WARRENTON JUNCTION. 201
Rev. Win. M. Taylor1 writes in March :
Towards the close of my labors at Vermont Station, near Culpep-
per, I administered the Lord's Supper, assisted by Rev. Mr. Smith.2
One thing, most worthy of note in connection with the service, was
this — though the administration was to members of
Communion.
eight different denominations, not one communicant
belonged to the (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, of which I was a mem
ber. The Commission has been a mighty power in breaking down
sectarian prejudices and barriers.
Rev. Benj. Waddle,3 a Delegate during February
among the men of the Fifth Corps at Nelson Station,
Warrenton Junction, writes :
The corps of drummer-boys at the station numbered ten. One
became deeply convicted of sin. Ashamed to let the fact be known,
he sought retirement and secresy in the woods for prayer. He found
Jesus. An elder brother imitated his example. One
after another followed, until the whole ten " rejoiced A FrayincJ
in hope of the glory of God," and began sounding out
to all around them a new martial call, — " To arms for Jesus !"
The influence of this Warrenton Junction Station
may be estimated from Rev. Mr. Williams' report of
the soldiers' own statements :
" Before the meetings opened," said one, " all my comrades were
profane and gamblers ; but now not an oath can be heard, nor a card
seen in our camp."
In one of the meetings a soldier rose and said —
"The sectarian jealousies of denominations at home Influence of
. the Meetings.
have been a stumbling-block in my way ; but here in
the army, in your Commission meetings, the corners have been rubbed
1 Pastor of (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, Mount Jackson, Penna.
2 Rev. Geo. Mure Smith, Pastor of Congregational Church, Rocky Hill, Conn.
3 Of Kenton, Ohio.
202 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
off. There is no excuse left for me. I mean, with God's help, at
once to begin living a Christian life."
Rev. J. B. Pearson1 relates an incident which came to
his knowledge at this station during March :
A mother and sister, on parting with a son and brother who was
soon to lead his company into battle, said to him, " We shall pray
for you every night at seven o'clock." The Captain was not a Chris
tian ; yet in our meeting he rose and told us —
" We ahatt Pi-ay „ Not a nj ht b but at the hour of g
for you at Seven:
remember my praying mother and sister. Once
during a severe skirmish, lasting into the evening, for some reason I
looked at my watch ; it was nearly seven. Though I had no claims
on God's favor and had never sought His care, yet it seemed to me
that I was girdled by the prayers of my mother and sister, and that
in answer to them He would bring me safely through the fight."
He told his story with deep feeling, and, I trust, soon found Christ.
At Warrenton a station was established in February.
Rev. Mr. Williams writes of its beginning :
A Delegate preached on the Sabbath, and was invited by a Captain
to share his tent at night. Before retiring the Delegate learned that
the Captain was a backslider, but obtained his promise that he would
be henceforth faithful in secret prayer and correct in
An Entire Com- outward YlfG. I can never forget the depth of feeling
panyfor Jesus. .
with which the Captain, in one of the meetings at
Warrenton, gave thanks for the good which that Delegate had done
him. Through the Divine blessing on his amended life and renewed
efforts for Christ, every member of his company had then become a
child of God.
Perhaps the most marked work of the Spirit during
this Winter and Spring was that begun in March at
Bristow Station in the llth Penna. Reserve Regiment.
Rev. Mr. Williams gives the following account of it :
1 Pastor of Congregational Church. Plymouth Hollow, Conn.
BRISTOW STATION. 203
Its origin, under God, was in the prayers and efforts of a private
of the regiment. Day after day he went alone into the woods to
pray. His comrades scoffed, but he persevered. At last one friend
found him. This man had been converted by the
. , . How a Great
memory of a conversation with a pious mother on a _ 7>
J L Work .Began.
Sunday long previous. His mother's sudden death
had brought into relief the almost forgotten words. The two pious
men together felt strong ; in faith they waited for a blessing. Others
joined them, and when the Commission chapel was set up, " It
seemed," said the Chaplain of the regiment, " as if God's Spirit
descended at once." Prior to the opening of the tent there were
seven hoping in Christ ; within four weeks there were sixty-one.
A German, deeply interested in religion, went home on a furlough.
His chief regret when returning was the thought that he could enjoy
no more meetings for prayer. Some of his companions, converted
during his absence, surprised him as he came into
camp with the inquiry — A German's
" Are you going to the meetings ?" Joy.
"What meetings?"
" Why, at the Christian Commission, — two every day. Will you
come?"
The German's heart was too full for speech. Describing the effect
of their words upon him, he afterwards said —
"I shoost cried for glad. I could shoost see Jesus in ter poys'
faces."
Another soldier was greatly interested in reading from an old paper
which his Chaplain gave him, a story of some poor children in Ger
many, who, while eating the bread of charity, denied themselves their
evening meal, which they sold and gave the proceeds
to the missionary cause. He was so much moved by
. dren Preaching
the account that he came at once to the Chaplain, ^ America
and told him of a vow made during the battle of
Games' Mills, — that if the Lord would spare his life, he would give
a certain amount of money to some benevolent object. He, paid the
vow with a hundred per cent, interest, and lived afterwards a devoted
Christian life.
Many who hoped that they were converted here wrote at once to
their friends of the change experienced ; as the result of these letters,
204 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
several revivals began in different parts of Pennsylvania. One
soldier wrote to his betrothed, telling her of his con-
Reflex Work. . . . . _ J ~. . J
version, and praying her to give herself to Christ;
but his letter met one from her, telling of her conversion, and beg
ging him to live for Christ. The man was so overjoyed that he came
and called up a Delegate from his bed to hear the story.
A similar incident came to our knowledge in the case of a hus
band and wife, whose letters, passing each other in the mails, each
contained an account of the writer's conversion, with a prayer that
the other might find peace in Jesus.
At Bristow, the result of the work in six weeks was
the formation of a " Christian Union," numbering more
than one hundred and twenty members. Mr. Williams'
narrative explains its origin :
A Missionary concert, held the first Sunday in April, gave the
soldiers zeal and more enlarged views of working for the salvation
of others. They rejoiced in giving up for a time one of our limited
number of helpers, to look after destitute regiments.
"Monthly-Con- „.
„ . £,' Ihe subsequent reports from these were listened to
with intense interest. Through constant attendance
on the means of grace and zealous work, the young brethren were
built up in a wonderful manner, and thus drawn together into a
precious Christian communion. All this prepared for the formation,
on April 18th, of a " Christian Union" for the regiment. The har
mony with which believers from eleven different denominations, with
out a dissenting voice, could form such a brotherhood, was a delight
ful testimony to the oneness and strength of Christ's religion.1
1 There were two original hymns, among several others, composed by soldiers
in honor of the formation of the "Union," which are worth preserving:
A PRAYER FOR BLESSING.
We come to Thee, our God and King, — Before Thy mercy-seat we bow
By Jesus' blood, redeemed, released; And plead our ransom, — Thy Dear Son.
Accept the sacrifice we bring, In humble confidence that Thou
For sake of our Eternal Priest. Wilt finish what Thou hast begun
SPEKRYVILLE PIKE. 205
Mr. J. H. Morley,1 during his term of service, labored
at Sperry ville Pike Station ; from his report we select
the following incident :
One of the most interesting cases of conversion I met with was
that of a German named Bolick, of the 17th Penna. Cavalry. Seven
years before he thought that he was a Christian, but although the
son of pious parents, he took no definite stand. So
* , . , The Strife of
he got into the dark, and soon gave up his hope, be- , „ .^.
coming, as- he himself said, " a drunkard, a gambler
and as bad as a man could get." He came to a chapel meeting one
evening, but made up his mind that it was no place for him :
"I concluded that I must get out of that, or else come back to
Christ."
For several evenings he stayed in his tent gambling. One day a
petition of the soldiers for a Chaplain was handed him for his signa-
And Thou, our Saviour, God Most High, And oh, when Thou dost gather thine
Our "Union" bless, and grant, we pray, Into their sinless, blest abode,
To be in times of trial nigh, May we meet there by grace divine
To guide us in Thy perfect way. In one unbroken " Brotherhood."
CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM.
Now for holiest warfare marshalled, March we onward, bravely faithful,
Let the song of gladness swell By no sordid ease beguiled,
To the praise of Him who leads us, — Like the few of ancient Sardis
Him who doeth all things well ; Ours be garments undefined :
" Christian Union ; Then in holier,
Christ, our Captain," Sweeter " Union,"
Be our strength and battle-cry. We shall walk with Him above.
In the cause of Him who loved us, Now let lips and hearts united
Comes there suffering or shame, In the glow of zealous youth,
Though we dwell where Satan's seat is, Bless the name of God our Saviour,
We will not deny His name ; Praise His goodness, love and truth :
In our sacred And His favor,
" Christian Union," May it ever
We will conquer, led by Him. Bless our " Christian Brotherhood."
1 Of Andover Theological Seminary, Mass.
206 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
ture. He was gambling at the time, but signed his name, and then
began to think upon the incongruity of a gambler's petition for a
Chaplain. He was troubled, and determined to go to meeting, but
for some time was kept back by his companions. At last he came,
and for two successive evenings asked us to pray for him, in terms
which convinced all that he was in earnest. On the third evening
he told us in broken English that he had found the Saviour, and
must forsake his old habits. His comrades hearing of it abused him,
but he stood firm, and asked our prayers for them. While I was
with the regiment he stood well, and was always ready to take up
his cross and follow Christ.
It was of course the Delegate's duty to minister to and
labor with men of every rank. Mr. H. Morey1 writes
of an interview near Warrenton, with a Captain and
Surgeon returning from their leaves of absence :
The Surgeon's appearance indicated refinement and education; but
I noticed that the Captain and he frequently swore as they talked. I
reproved them both, somewhat to their astonishment. The Surgeon
said he meant nothing by it ; it was a habit, — he
Sicearing, in
(j wag doi .^ j agked
its Theory and
him if he was satisfied with such an apology ; if he
was, I was not :
" Oh, I'm going to stop and be good one of these days."
" That's all very well ; but you have confessed that the habit is so
deep that you don't know when you are indulging in it. It will be
harder to break when you ' stop' and ' get good.' "
He told me of his father, who was a clergyman, and of his Chris
tian mother. I told him of the love of another Father whom he was
offending. He was touched and thanked me; while I prayed in
wardly that the words said might indeed profit him.
The Captain said he had been a "professor of religion" before
entering the army, but had found that swearing was necessary to
govern his men, so his " profession had been relieved from duty." I
told him that I had often seen people swearing at horses and mules,
1 City Missionary, Brooklyn, N. Y.
CAMP CONVALESCENT. 207
but I had never noticed either party improved by the operation, and
was certain the users of the language had not been.
We parted, and months afterwards I met him near the Weldon
railroad. He introduced himself by asking if I remembered the
talk near Warrenton. I told him, I did.
"I am the Captain you spoke to," was his reply; "your words were
not forgotten, and I have come to think as you did then, about swear
ing at men and mules too."
Before entering upon the story of the " Wilderness/'
we shall glance backward upon the Commission's work
in the vicinity of Washington. At Camp Convalescent
there seems to have been a continuous revival. Agents
o
might be called to other fields ; new Delegates might
come in place of older ones ; still the precious work went
on. Rev. Mr. Williams, who visited the camp in Jan
uary of this Winter, gives the story of one of the
nightly gatherings :
The bell was ringing for meeting, as we were getting a hasty sup
per. Entering the chapel, we found it filled by an audience of at
least eight hundred persons. Within an hour forty- three had spoken,
ten or twelve hymns were sung, and several prayers
offered. It was a memorable meeting. The soldiers' Camp Conm-
lescent Testimo-
expressions were peculiar and striking. n-eg
" Brethren," said one, " I know I have passed from
death unto life, for I love the brethren. I feel to pray, — ' Create ever
within me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.' "
" One year ago," said another, " I could drink as much whisky
and swear as much as any one in my company ; now I trust I am a
Christian."
In a like, straight-out soldier's way they spoke on till the hour had
passed. At the close of the exercises very many came forward,
shaking hands with us, as if they had always known us, and telling
us more of their religious experience. Among these was a man
whom we had known a year before, in the hospital of the First Corps
near Acquia Creek. Then he was an infidel, awfully profane, un-
208 CHEISTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
willing to attend any meeting, or to converse upon religious subjects.
Now lie was a believer, ready to testify for Christ, and anxious by
earnest labor to atone for past neglect and sin.
R,ev. F. N. Peloubet,1 gives a graphic account of work
at the Deserters' Barracks, at Camp Convalescent, during
February and March. It shows the varied work of the
Delegate, and the difficulties and temptations of the
soldier :
I went as usual to the Deserters' Barracks on the morning of
March 2cl. I took out a little tract — Will You Enlist f — to read ; some
objected :
" We've heard it before ; we can read that any
y ; let'S hC£l1' tbe Testiiment "
" Why, you can read that any day," said I.
" Yes, but we want it explained ; we've read it, but don't under
stand it. The other things are made up ; we want something we
know is true."
So I read two chapters in St. John's First Epistle, — standing the
while on a board between two bunks. Before long a young man
named Isaac Free objected —
" 'Seems to me a man must be perfect, else he can't go to heaven."
" That can't be," said I ; " for then none would go there, since none
are perfect."
" Well, you said so Sabbath last, anyhow."
TJie Doctrine 0th vergeg of the lgt cliaptei%
of Perfection.
and then the Gth verse of chapter 3d, — comparing
them.
" Well, they contradict, don't they ? " Isaac asked.
As familiarly as I could I showed that they did not; and also
how Peter and David, though sinners, went to heaven.
" But it says there, ' The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' How's
that?"
1 See p. 50.
DESERTERS' BARRACKS, CAMP CONVALESCENT. 209
I told him about Christ's salvation, and how pardoning a criminal
did not make a judge a liar. Isaac came back to the strife within
his own heart:
" I've tried to be good, and I can't. I've suffered a good deal, and
sin don't give any peace. That's all the hell I believe in."
" Isn't that enough to make you want freedom from it?"
I told him my own experience ; how once, the more I had tried to
be good, the worse it had seemed.
" That's it," said he ; " who can live like a Christian here?"
"But you can; only you must find the Way, — Christ, whose blood
cleanses from all sin. Do you really want to be a Christian? Do
you ever pray ? "
" No."
" And you expect to become a Christian without asking?"
Here our conversation rested ; but he came to me before I left the
barracks, and told me his story. Born in New York, his parents,
who were both Christians, had died when he was quite young. He
went to live with an uncle, who put no restraint upon
i- ,. Ti T ,« •! -, nt-f\ The Confession.
his actions. Enlisting in the regular army in 1859,
In? met much hard company. During the New York riots his regi
ment was sent there, and stationed at the Battery. A comrade per
suaded him to run the guard at night; they passed the hours in sin.
While drunk for the first time in his life, his false friend induced
him to go to Philadelphia. He did not dare to return, but found
work, and was soon arrested.
" I haven't known an hour's peace since I deserted," said the poor
fellow.
" Is the punishment hard here?"
"Oh, it isn't that; it's the disgrace, the disgrace! after fighting
well, to come to this ! "
He had sworn already never to touch drink again. I strove hard
to persuade him to pray:
" It won't do for me, — a deserter a Christian ! They'd always
throw it in my face."
"But Christ knows all better than 'they;' He will forgive and
befriend you."
Eight days later I saw him again. He had been praying all night,
but there was no answer. I told him to keep praying, and the light
14
210 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
would come. He pressed my hand and asked me to add my petitions
to his own.
Rev. Edward Hawes1 preached at the Barracks one Sunday morn
ing in March. After service we distributed one hundred Black Val
ley Railroad Guides, — a vivid picture tract, illustrating the evils of
intemperance. It took amazingly. A deserter, who
The Two Eoads. , , ,
had been an engineer once, said they were asking him
to run on the J5. V. R. It., at good pay ; but he thought he
wouldn't get his wages, and would have to go on the train ; so he was
holding on to the other road. Pointing upwards, I asked if the road
he had chosen ended there; he answered, "Yes."
A short time since a soldier at the barracks in a drunken fit got a
comrade to write to his betrothed that he was dead ! Letters of
grief and inquiry came at once. He replied himself
that he had only been dead-drunk ! and in a few
days learned to his horror, that the girl was dead, from the shock
which the first letter gave !
While laboring at Camp Convalescent, Mr. Peloubet
met a Pennsylvania cavalryman from Carbon County,
named Sergeant Marcy, who told him his story :
He had once joined the church, but was only half persuaded at
the time, and afterwards opposed religion in numerous ways. His
wife, an earnest Christian, vainly strove to restore him. Shocked
deeply by much of the wickedness in the army, he
The Little Child and a comra(je mutually agreed to mark down the
in the Kingdom. .
number ot times they swore during each clay. Ihe
result appalled him, and he determined to stop. His wife's letters
made him uneasy ; so one Monday evening he went to the prayer
meeting. The sermon made no particular impression, but some re
marks following it affected him deeply. He determined to attend
the meeting every night that week, and, though once or twice regret
ting his resolve, carried it through. His mental agony and darkness
were increased by certain morbid reflections about committing the
7 Pastor then of Congregational Church, Waterville, Me. ; now of Central
Church, Philadelphia.
CAMP STONEMAN. 211
sin against the Holy Ghost. A pious bunk-mate was much dis
tressed on his account. At last the Lord's words about no man
entering the Kingdom of Heaven unless he was a little child, brought
him to see that he was helpless as a child — that he could only put his
hand into that of Christ, and say trustfully, " Lead Thou me on." l
At once his whole life was illuminated. One day, while repairing
and cleaning the stables, some of his comrades were swearing and
finding fault at the dirty work. He did not like the task, but sud
denly it occurred to him that Jesus was born in a manger, and his
work at once grew bright and glad.
Possibly the Lord's words about children only enter
ing the Kingdom of God were never more clearly illus
trated than sometimes in the hour of the soldier's death :
In Camp Stoneman Hospital during March, a soldier lay dying.
He was from Michigan, and but eighteen years old. Mr. C -- , a
Delegate, learning that he would not recover, hastened to his side.
"I am very sick ; pray for me," said the soldier.
" Have you a Christian mother ?" Chim
" Oh, yes ; my father and mother are both Chris
tians, and so are my sisters. My brother is a minister. I wish I was
a Christian, but I'm afraid I'm not."
I prayed with him, after which he himself offered a most fervent
petition. As I read St. John's 14th chapter, he anticipated me,
showing his knowledge of the Bible. I stayed with him a long time ;
together we sang —
" There is a fountain filled with blood,"
and
" Eock of Ages, cleft for me."
Just before he died he called the ward-master to him, and lifting
1 " Lead, kindly light, amid th.' encircling gloom
Lead Thou me on ;
The night is dark, and I am far from home ;
Lead Thou me on." — John Henry Newman.
212 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
his weak arms put them round the man's neck, and kissed him.
Looking up, he said, " I love everybody." He prayed again, and
afterwards felt much exhausted. The nurse told him to try and
sleep a little. They lifted him gently upon his left side ; his thoughts
went back to her whose memory lingers longest upon earth ; like as
a child might have done, he folded his arms across his breast, and in
a very low voice repeated distinctly —
" Now I lay me down to sleep ;
I pray the Lord ray soul to keep ;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."
The light went out of the dying eyes ; the pale lips moved never
again ; — the answer to the simple petition had come quickly indeed.
" Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the Kingdom of God."
Some extracts from the experience of Rev. Edward
Hawes, at Camp Convalescent, may close the present
chapter :
Many hearts were made glad one evening, by seeing Sergeant Mor
rison kneeling for prayers. He was well known throughout the camp
as a wild, reckless man ; his Christian wife omitted no opportunity of
writing to him about coming to Jesus. In answer to
Hiding behind , . .
" her entreaties he had determined to attend regularly
the evening meetings at the chapel. To many of us
his unexpected act was surprising. He said to me afterwards —
" I had more feeling than many supposed, for I knew that I was a
sinner who needed a Saviour. While you were preaching that night,
until near the close of the sermon, I was continually thinking, 'Well,
I stand that pretty well ;' but at last you said you wanted to hide
yourself behind Christ, and let Him speak through you ; — and He
did speak, and I couldn't stand under it."
At another time, referring to his conviction, he told me —
" I was trying to do something myself; but it is good to become a
little child, and cry for one's own helplessness."
CAMP CONVALESCENT. 213
He was so strong, stalwart and large that the words seemed to
have an added meaning in his case. He came often to converse
with me; I always enjoyed the interviews. He told me at our
good-bye —
" I shall never, never forget the time when you ' hid' yourself be
hind Jesus."
Some of the expressions of the men in the meetings were wonder
ful for their concentration of feeling and power. A soldier rises to
speak only these solemn words —
" I left a gray-haired mother at home praying for
. , J T , ^T , Enlisting for
me; she said to me as I came away, You have en- ~, .
listed in the service of your country, now I beg you
to enlist for Christ.' All her letters asked this question, ' Have you
enlisted for Christ yet?' I thank God, Jesus has found the way to
my poor heart."
At a meeting in the Cavalry Camp a new convert rises to say —
" I rejoice that I have found the Saviour, but my wife is not a
Christian — " and then broke down.
A comrade is up instantly, with the words — The Remedy.
" Boys, let's get right down here, and pray for his
wife," and kneel they did, while an earnest prayer ascended.
A Maine soldier in the hospital says to us —
" If I had been impenitent since being a soldier, I don't think I
would have been alive ; I would have been so impa
tient and restless. I have tried to give up all to
God, and, even when sickest, to trust Him."
At one of the meetings a soldier prays in his mother-tongue, — Ger
man, — and then tells his experience :
" Brethren, I shall try to say a few words; the English goes rather
hard with me, — but I want you to understand that I
, T T . , , ~ , L , "Hard on Sin-
love J esus. I was once very wicked ; God took away ners „
a child ; I promised to reform, but didn't ; then He
took away another ; then my stubborn heart was broken, and I found
Jesus."
He told us of a sermon preached by a minister, who was " hard on
sinners," and whose house, for some time after, he was afraid to pass,
lest he should come out to talk with him. After his change he tried
214 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
successfully to awaken his wife and children ; before leaving for the
war he sat down with them at the table of the Lord.
At the prayer meeting at Cavalry Camp the night before some of
the men were to join Kilpatrick, they put their arms around each
other's necks, and sang with deep feeling —
The Country
Above.
"Shall we know each other there?"
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WESTERN ARMIES.
THE CAMPAIGNS IN TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA.
1863— December 1863.
GEN. ROSECKANS' long delay at Murfreesboro' after
Stone River had been dictated by the necessities of his
position and communications. In June, 1863, he found
Bragg's army entrenched in front of him at Shelbyville
and Tullahoma, and towards the close of the month
began a movement for his dislodgment. In spite of a
continuous rain-storm, which materially delayed the
advancing columns, within nine days Middle Tennessee
was cleared of the Confederate army, and Shelbyville
and Tullahoma occupied without any serious engage
ment. Rosecrans pushed forward his light troops to
Stevenson, Ala., on his right, and began repairing the
railroad to that place and to Bridgeport. It was not
until the middle of August that our army again moved
forward in force.
The General Field Agent returned from his visit to
the forces operating against Vicksburg in July, and
writes from Murfreesboro7, the grand army centre before
Rosecrans' movement upon Tullahoma :
A soldier from the Anderson Troop (15th Penna. Cav.) was
215
216 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
brought late one afternoon to the General Hospital outside of this
place. It was his first experience of this kind ; more desolate by far
to him than any picture of ours can make it, taken,
"Coming to , ,.
the Waters " weak and desponding as he was, from among com
rades who enlisted with him in Philadelphia, into
the company of strangers. As the nurse, who has lifted him from
the ambulance and has laid him on his cot, is helping him undress,
the cavalryman asks, with a hesitating voice —
" Nurse, do you ever read in the wards ?"
The nurse replied in the affirmative.
" Well, nurse, I wish you would read a bit for me this evening."
" What shall I read ?"
The soldier asks him to take a Bible from his knapsack : " Find
that chapter about ' Coming to the waters.' "
The nurse was a Christian, and turned readily to the 55th chapter
of Isaiah, reading through the first verse : " Ho, every one that
thirsteth, — come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, — come
ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk — without money and
without price."
" That's it," says the sick man ; " that's it — ' come to the waters.' "
As the nurse was continuing to read through the chapter, the
cavalryman stopped him, and said —
" Bead that verse again, nurse : — ' Ho, every one that thirsteth.' "
He read it again, and then again at the man's earnest request.
" Now, that '11 do, nurse ; do you ever pray ?"
" Yes, I can pray."
" Will you offer a little prayer for me ?"
The nurse knelt by his cot and offered the request which the soldier
dictated. The next morning he asked again for the reading of Scrip
ture ; the nurse asked, what he should read :
" I want to hear again about that ' Coming to the waters.' "
He read it to him twice that morning, and twice in the evening,
and prayed with him. The next morning he read it again.
"I must pray for myself, nurse," the cavalryman said; and he
asked to be placed in the attitude of prayer on his cot ; he would
not be denied the privilege. They placed him on his knees with his
hand on the head of his iron cot. He began praying for himself in
the words of the petition of Our Lord ; — and so the Messenger found
MURFEEESBORO' NASHVILLE. 217
him, and taking him up home, " showed" him " a pure river of water
of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of
the Lamb."
A week or two before I had met in Louisville a relative of this
cavalryman, who was vainly trying to get through the lines to
minister to him. I took the soldier's address, and very soon after
visited the Murfreesboro' Hospital. The nurse related the affecting
story, which was at once communicated to the soldier's mother in
Philadelphia. She would never have learned in any other way, most
probably, how her boy died. Certainly in the last great day there
will be many surprises to mothers and fathers and friends, from the
unveiling of histories told to no human ears ; which He only noted,
who " shall bring into judgment every secret thing."
The same month Kev. Mr. Smith wrote to the Bible
Society Record about the distribution of the Scriptures
at various points throughout the army. He mentioned
this incident, which occurred at a meeting in Convales
cent Camp, Nashville :
A middle-aged man rose in the crowd and held up a little book :
" Soldiers, I have a book here which I suspect none of you have
money enough to buy. I never read it ; I don't know how to read ;
but I couldn't let this book go. They tell me it is
God's Word; that this is where we find what Jesus "Tt Eeads °f
TfKSq/Q "
says: and I love to feel it in my hands and press it
to my bosom, and put it under my head at night. It reads of Jesus !
What could I do without Jesus, and how should I know about Him,
if it was not for this book, which somebody can read ? Sometimes I
find a good friend and take him by the arm and say, * Come, go with
me a little way ; ' and when we get by ourselves, I pull out my little
book and say, 'I have here a nice book: I want you to read a little
with me.' He says, ' Where shall I read ?' I say, ' The 7th of Mat
thew.' Then, when he has read that, I say, 'Just a little more, — the
1st chapter of James.' I have almost learned these two chapters,
and then I am going to take another. I advise you all to get a
Testament from the Christian Commission."
218 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
He spoke modestly, but with deep feeling ; and when he held up
his hook and pressed it to his heart, the tears dropping down his
cheeks told how deep was his love for the Book that " reads of Jesus."
In the hospital at Tullahoma Mr. Smith found a
Confederate prisoner, whose story illustrates the influ
ence of God's Word over angry passions and a wander
ing heart:
He was lying side by side with our own soldiers, and I should not
have known, from his treatment and appearance, but that he be
longed to them. When he learned that I was engaged in the Chris
tian Commission, he pressed my hand very earnestly,
Forgiveness. . , ^
saying he was glad to see me. lurning to the nurse,
he asked —
"Nurse, has my bundle come yet?"
" It will be here shortly," was the reply ; " don't you worry about
it ; it is all safe."
" I suppose it is, but I wish it was here." Turning to me, he added,
" When they brought me here I felt scattered like, and left behind
me my bundle of things, and my Hymn-book and Testament are
tied up in it. I have been looking and waiting for 'em, and 'pears
like I was lost when they don't come. One of your Commission
gentlemen brought 'em to me when I was under guard ; and I have
read 'em over a heap of times, and 'pears like I wasn't the same sort of
man now. I wouldn't have believed last month that I should lie in
my bed and pray for D . He is a very bad man, and it's be
cause he has told false on me that your soldiers had me arrested.
But I have been praying for him ; and just now when you came to
the door I was asking God to forgive old man D , and bless
him like He does me. Y' see I've been reading that whar it says,
Love your enemies and pray for them that is spiteful 'gin you. My
wife's been a praying Presbyterian ever since I knew her. I want
to see her now more than ever. I ' lowed she'd set a heap on that
Testament, and I'll take it home with me."
I took the address of his wife, and by means of our lines of cou
riers, sent a letter with the glad news of her husband's conversion,
direct to her own door.
TULLAHOMA. . 219
Hev. Benj. Parsons,1 who was put in charge of the
Held work at the front in the temporary absence of the
General Agent, went forward with the forces following
up Bragg's retreat, from Tullahoma to Cowan and
Stevenson. He relates a soldier's testimony in a meet
ing at Tullahoma in August :
"I am glad, my comrades, to be here. When I enlisted I had
many companions whom I well knew, but they are gone. Several
of us entered into a covenant to hold together in the Christian life
while in the army, and especially to hold on to
Christ. Nearly all of them are gone. Some lie at "Holding on
Shiloh ; some fell at Perry ville, — and some are sleep
ing their last sleep at Stone River. I feel quite alone, — and that I
too shall soon go to join my companions, who are now where war
and bloodshed are for ever unknown ; where there shall be no broken
bonds, no partings, no more death. Comrades, pray for me, that I
may hold on and hold out faithful to Christ even to the last."
Sometimes there were sad testimonies to hear :
I was holding the chilling hands of a soldier of the 75th Indiana
Regiment, in the Tullahoma hospital. I bade him instantly cast
himself into Jesus' arms, telling him that He was near to receive
him. " Trust yourself," said I, " my dear boy, to
Jesus." "He is noi
Here "
He opened his eyes wearily, and looked at me :
" He is not here ! He is not here ! "
" Yes, yes, He is here ; believe in Him, and thou shalt be saved."
Once more he articulated, " Not here ! not here ! " and with the
hopeless words upon his lips he died.
A little incident of Eev. Mr. Parsons' experience at
Winchester is a picture of touching loneliness and a
simple remedy for it :
1 Pastor of First Congregational Church, Windsor, Conn.
220 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
A drummer-boy came into our office and told us lie had received no
letter for two years. He was an orphan and had lived in Brooklyn.
" Wouldn't you like to get a letter?" we asked.
" Oh, yes, indeed I would."
" Well, well, my son," said Rev. Mr. Gushing,1 " I
think I have one for you."
Opening a comfort-bag, he took out a letter written by a Sabbath-
school pupil in the North, and gave it to the lad. As he received
this token that even he had been remembered by somebody, he wept
freely.
August 2d, Mr. Parsons writes from Cowan Station :
This afternoon several officers called on Col. Scribner,2 with whom
I was stopping. In the midst of a varied and interesting conversa
tion, Col. Scribner rallied Brig.-Gen. Beattie3 of Ohio, respecting a
Bible given him by his wife, saying —
i e- ovmg fl - ag frQS^ anj ciean as wnen yOU received
J
General.
it from her hands."
" Colonel," replied the General, " I can say what I fear you
cannot, — I have not let pass a single day since I entered the service
without reading it."
" Upon your honor?"
" Upon my honor, sir."
"What, — in those fighting days at Stone River?"
" Yes, sir ; in those fights I did not fail to read my daily chapter ;
and if you'll examine my Bible, you will find every chapter marked
in daily order."
The answer was so calm and serious, that no one present could
doubt the words of the speaker.
Just here the reminiscences of this army are rich
with Bible incidents, on account of the constant work of
1 Kev. S. A. dishing, Shrewsbury, Mass. ; member of N. E. Conference, Meth.
Episcopal Church.
2 Commanding First Brigade, Gen. Rousseau's Division.
3 Recently elected to Congress from the 8th District of Ohio.
LOUISVILLE. 221
Scripture distribution. Rev. Mr. Smith, writing to the
Bible Society Record, relates the following :
In Louisville, last Sabbath, I found in the barracks a German
Orderly, who replied to my question, "Would you like a Testament /"
with a very doubtful query —
" You have no Bible, I suppose ?" The Whole Bi-
" No, I have only the Testament."
" I have that," said he ; "I want a German Bible.
I would give my next month's pay, when I get him, for a Bible in
my pocket."
I told him to call at the Bible Depository in the morning, and I
would give him one. Early the next day, while I was at breakfast,
there was a call for me ; it proved to be from the Orderly, who had
come for his Bible. I gave him his choice out of the stock, and a
happier man I have not seen for months. He had brought along
with him a brother Orderly, once a preacher, who, while on duty at a
hospital in Louisville, had loaned his Bible — the only one there — till
it was so worn that with his poor eyesight he could no longer read it.
The convalescents, he told me, used to take turns with his Bible, and
sometimes /we or six applicants would put down their names for the next
reading. I gave this man also a Bible of his own selection.
On August 16th, the advance from Stevenson upon
Chattanooga began. Movements were so prompt and
well arranged that when Bragg saw the last corps of
Hosecrans' army crossing the Tennessee, he abandoned
his stronghold on September 8th, and retired southward
into Georgia. Rosecrans, following too hastily, soon
found out that the Confederate army was being increased
by reinforcements from all directions : Buckner had been
called from East Tennessee ; Walker's Division from
Johnson's army in Mississippi, and Longstreet's veterans
from the Army of Northern Virginia. The Union
forces were rapidly concentrated along Chickamauga
Creek, and here on September 19th the battle was
222 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
begun. On the evening of the 20th, the enemy con
clusively having the advantage, Rosecrans withdrew
within the Chattanooga entrenchments. Bragg followed,
but finding the works too strong, attempted to starve our
army out. In October Rosecrans was relieved by Gen.
Thomas ; and shortly after the Armies of the Cumber
land, Tennessee and Ohio were made into the Military
Division of the Mississippi, — all under the command of
General U. S. Grant. Two corps from the Potomac
had in the meantime reinforced the Army of the Cum
berland.
Early in October, Rev. B. W. Chidlaw, writing from
Stevenson, tells a story of the value of some little hos
pital comforts :
One Hoosier boy, not over twenty years old, lay sick with a touch
of the fever and ague, an affliction from which I had myself some
times suffered at home :
" What did mother do for you when you had these
The Soldiers' ,, „„
™ spells at home r
Tea-party.
" Oh, she used to make me a good cup of tea, and
such nice toast."
" Why, that's just what my mother used to give me. And didn't
it help you ?"
" Yes, almost always."
" Why, don't you get tea and toast here ?"
" Oh, the tea isn't what mother used to give me, and the toast isn't
the same at all."
" Well," thought I, " you shall have some that's good, if it's to
be had."
So, going to the Commission's quarters, I soon found myself dipping
into a chest of real, genuine black tea, and a cask of sweetest loaf
sugar by its side, and a box of condensed milk. Then, repairing to
the government bakery, I secured a nice loaf of bread, and took it
to the establishment in the rear, where the cook was. I began telling
STEVENSON I NASHVILLE. 223
him what I wanted, and asking for the privilege of his fire and uten
sils to do my work, when he interrupted me with —
" In dis kitchen I cooks and you talks."
So he took the knife, sliced the bread and toasted it, while we
talked of Jesus and His religion. The tea and toast were at last
made ; the condensed milk was used instead of butter, and there was
a delicious-looking article to carry to the hospital.
" My friend," said I to the Indiana boy, " wake up, I have some
thing nice for you."
" Why, preacher, ain't there milk in that tea ?"
"Certainly."
" Why," he asked in astonishment, " does the Christian Commission
keep cows down here?"
" Better than that, my boy ; they have gone all the way to the old
cow at home, and it's all right. Now sit up and eat and drink."
And he did to his heart's content — indeed, I am afraid he ate
too much. A soldier close by said —
" Chaplain, can you give me a little tea and toast, too ?" "And
me, too?" said another, and another, until it was like a chorus all
through the room.
" Certainly, certainly, we'll have a general tea-party."
And we did. The old cook was notified ; he did the toast up brown,
and the hot, smoking tea was delicious. We had a glorious tea-
party there !
Rev. Mr. Smith relates a Nashville story ef this
time:
Standing on Fort Negley once, I noticed a squad of soldiers follow
ing an ambulance to the grave of a comrade. Two of the artillery
men belonging to the fort were remarking upon the burial.
" There's another poor fellow got his discharge,"
"Not Dis-
said one* charged"
" Not that," replied his comrade.
" Well, if not discharged, I'd like to know what he is ?"
" Only transferred."
" Transferred— where ?"
" To the other department."
224
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"What for?"
" For duty."
"What duty?"
" Don't know ; that depends on what he's fit for."
Mr. Tlios. Atkinson1 tolls an incident of his service
in the Nashville hospitals, after some of the wounded
had come in from Chickamauga :
I found a young- man dying in the upper end of the long first ward
of Hospital Xo. 19. Putting my month near his ear, I whispered to
him until the spirit passed away in peace; then gathering about sixty
of the convalescents about the cot, I preached to
Halt and Arm-
/(>x them Jesus. Down in the middle and lower end of
the long ward were many who could not stir from their
beds ; I told them, as I went along among them of the soldier who
had gone up from their midst into the City of God. It was time for
our daily prayer meeting, hut before I went away I thought there
might be some of the maimed company whom it would comfort to
know that God's people were praying for them somewhere: so I said —
"Boys, I'm going to the prayer meeting now, and I would like to
know if any of yon are anxious to be saved. If you are, please hold
up your right hands."
Hands went up all round ; here and there a stump was raised ; one
man had neither hand remaining, so he raised two poor stumps in
token of his desire for Christ ; another had no stumps even to raise, —
he could only turn his head and say with difficult earnestness,
" Me— me."
Rev. Edward Hawes2 recalls these scenes of his ser
vice as Delegate at Chattanooga after Chickamanga :
Pushing aside the canvas, I enter a hospital tent. In one corner
lies a wounded man :
" Can I do anything for you, my friend ? "
1 See p. 102.
2 See p. 210. From his address at the Philadelphia Anniversary of the Com
mission, Jan. 31st, 1865.
CHATTANOOGA. 225
" Yes, sir, if you please. I have lost my Testa
ment, and would like to get one." I give him one. A Lost Testa'
ment.
On the next cot is a man who lies quiet, seemingly
without pain. All save his face is covered :
"You are not much injured, I suppose, my dear fellow?"
He looks up with a faint smile, — "Not much,
sir," — but he has been hit in nine places by a burst- "Not Much,
ing shell ! Sir"
I pass along and the steward says —
"Chaplain, won't you come here? We think this man is dying.
Can't you say something to him?"
I bend over him ; the cold sweat is already upon his brow ; his
eyes are fixed, fastening themselves in death, but they grow brilliant,
and he mutters something :
"See! a star! there's a star ! oh, how bright ! It's The Star °f
„ Bethlehem.
the star — , and his voice dies away in death. Per
haps he is thinking of the Star of Bethlehem. We hope so, and that
it will light him through the dark valley.
I go to another man in the next tent, and with the Surgeon's
permission give him a single swallow of wine ; he
looks such a beam of gratitude from those brightened *s our
Name ? "
eyes!
" O sir, that's good. What is your name ? I shall ahvays remem
ber you."
" How are you getting along, my brother ?" I say to the next.
" Oh, very well, thank you."
" Have you a family?"
" Yes, a wife and two little children in Ohio."
"Have you written to them since the battle?"— No Char9ef°r
It is a foolish question, for I see in a moment that
his right arm is shattered ; " Sha'n't I write for you ?"
He hesitated ; why don't he say gladly, " Oh, yes, sir, if you
please?" I repeat, perhaps he does not understand. He looks at
me with a queer air:
" How much do you charge, sir f "
Oh, how that cuts the Delegate's sensitive heart: — "My dear
brother soldier, that is what I am here for, — to write for you, or to
do anything for you. I will thank you for the privilege."
15
226 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Oh, thank you ! thank you ! I will be so glad."
We get paper and pen ready : " What shall I write ?"
He begins with expressions of Christian trust, and then briefly de
scribes his condition. We read what is written, but the man is not
there, — his eyes are shut, the big tears are rolling down from beneath
the closed lids, and he makes no effort to wipe them away, — ah ! the
shattered arm, perhaps ; but no, that is not the reason ; he is in
Ohio, with his dear wife and children ; we will not disturb his
dreams. After a pause he opens his eyes, and we tell him the letter
is finished, — "Will it do?" With a look of overflowing gratitude he
answers —
" Oh, yes, sir ; yes, sir ; thank you ! "
In the corner lies a man burdened with a sense of his guilt. After
talking some time, I ask him —
" My dear friend, can't you trust Jesus now ?"
" Oh ! if I only could ! It would be the happiest
" Can You d f life Won»t you pray for me ?»
m i '"i J " J \. J
Trust Jesus? T , , , , . . , _,, , , -,
I kneel at his side; — there may be card-playing
in the opposite corner, — no matter, God's Spirit is with us, and prayer
ascends, and God hears us, for I leave the soldier with a trembling
hope in Jesus.
Passing out, I come to a little shelter-tent, under which a man is
lying. I bend over him and ask —
" You have the Christian's hope, I trust ?"
"Oh, yes, sir."
"^Cannot Read, j gee no Testament by him _« Have you no Testa
ment?"
"No, sir."
" Well, you must have one," and I begin opening my haversack ;
but he tells me he cannot read :
" You cannot read ? then I shall read for you."
We begin at the precious words, " For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God,
an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." We read
through the chapter, and then leave him peering up through the rent
in the canvas covering into the deep blue beyond, longing after the
country above, where his spirit must soon be with the multitude of
the redeemed.
CHATTANOOGA. 227
Rev. Wm. M. Taylor1 tells the story of Johnny Mitch,
of the 4th Kentucky Regiment :
I met him at General Hospital No. 3, in Chattanooga, and became
very much interested in him. Left fatherless and motherless at his
home in Ohio, before he was eight years old, he had but little direc
tion into the right way. The war broke out when
he was fifteen. Too young to enlist, a Captain of ^e Child-
cavalry offered to take him with him to care for his
horses. The two started, but when Johnny reached Cincinnati, he
saw so many very young-looking boys enlisting, that he concluded
to do the same. He passed safely through the fights at Rolling
Fork, Hoover's Gap and Tullahoma, but at Chickamauga he was
thrice wounded, — in the side of his head, the right hand, and —
more seriously — in the mouth, — the ball lodging at the back part
of his neck. He lay for five days on the field near an old log-house,
receiving scarcely any food from the enemy. " Five days," said the
little fellow afterwards to me, " they fed me on nothing." After a
while he was brought under flag of truce within our lines. The
Surgeon told him he must die ; and for four weeks this decision was
unchanged.
'• But," said he, " I kept up good spirits. I did sometimes think
I would die, but it was no use to be disheartened about it."
Who shall say that this child's faith did not save him ? Speaking
of these long days of suspense, he told me —
" In the mornings when I woke, I would read a chapter in my Tes
tament, and pray the Lord to help me up ; and it always seemed
to me that I began to get better right away, and I always felt mighty
thankful."
He was such a youth, — only seventeen, and two years a soldier, the
lisp bequeathed him by the wound in his mouth made his yet un
changed voice so girlish and sweet, his eventful little history was so
interesting and affecting, that I became very much attached to him.
I asked him once what he was going to do ?
" I want to go home till I get well," said he, " then come back,
and go in again. I'm more anxious to try the Rebels now than I
ever was."
* See p. 201.
228 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The days after Chickamauga were the gloomiest in the
history of the Army of the Cumberland, and nowhere
was this felt more than in the vicinity of Chattanooga.
Rev. Mr. Smith writes :
During the gloomy time of the siege of Chattanooga, I was riding
down Waldon's Ridge, on my way to Bridgeport. The day was cold
and wet, — everything was disheartening. It seemed probable that
we were about to abandon Chattanooga, and that
The Lost . , .
-a- ,. this would be my last trip over the mountains. Ue-
Hymn-hne. J
pressed with these thoughts and chilled with the
rain, I jogged along alone, until I overtook a cavalryman riding sol
itarily, and seemingly as low in spirits as myself. As I came abreast
of him, so as to look into his face, I saw his eyes full of tears. In
our conversation I let fall a word of Christian experience, when he
turned to me in an earnest way, and said —
" Then you are a Christian. Perhaps you can help me out of my
difficulty?"
I expressed my readiness to do anything I could :
"I was just trying to repeat the first verse of a blessed old hymn
which I have been singing for years, but somehow that fourth line I
can't get hold of this morning :
" ' Sweet was the time when first I felt
The Saviour's pardoning blood
Applied to cleanse my soul from guilt/ —
now, there's where I'm stopped ; what's the next line ?"
I finished it up for him, —
"'And bring me home to God.' "
"That's it; thank you," said he; " that's it. I wonder I could have
forgotten it."
" You looked troubled," said I, " when I first saw you ; your tears
couldn't have been over the loss of that fourth line ?"
" Oh, no," he replied ; " it was the other three lines that brought
the tears. I was thinking of the time of my conversion, and of the
many, many times when I have ' felt the pardoning blood' since that
day."
CHATTANOOGA. 229
The General Field Hospital was two miles out of
Chattanooga, on the opposite side of the Tennessee.
Here the wounded were loaded into mule wagons for
transportation seventy miles to Bridgeport. The story
of those long trains of agony and death can never be
written, yet even these wagons afforded a place of song
and prayer :
The road lay over precipices so steep and rocky, that the wagons
were often let down by ropes from one rock to another, amid the
groans and shrieks of tortured men. So excruciatingly painful was
the descent of Waldon's Ridge, that some of the suf-
erers begged the privilege of crawling down the , e a^on
Prayer Meeting.
rocks and dragging their wounded limbs alter them.
There has been in the war no more touching scene than was pre
sented one morning among these wagons, just loaded with wounded,
and about to start on their perilous journey to Bridgeport. Lying on
the wagon bottoms, without straw to break the rough jolting, and
many without the canvas covering to protect from the rain and sun,
each man was experimenting to find a comfortable position, and re
sorting to all expedients to provide himself for the way with a can
teen of water, and a few hard crackers in his haversack. All were
thoughtful and anxious ; Chickamauga was a defeat, and the gloom
of an army strikes first and deepest upon its hospitals. The Dele
gates were busy attending, as far as possible, to the personal wants
of the men in the different wagons. When the train was ready and
waiting the order to move, Mr. Burnell, standing on a driver's seat,
proposed a prayer meeting.
" Yes, yes, give us a prayer meeting," came from a hundred voices.
The hymn, " When I can read my title clear ;" a few words of the
Saviour's love and cheer ; a prayer for the sufferers, — some of whom
would die on their way, and for their country and the friends far
away, — perhaps even now praying for them; the benediction of peace,
and the fervent, responding "Amen," were all the services of this
wagon prayer meeting ; — to not a few of the worshipers their last
earthly scene of song and prayer.1
1 Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 466, 467.
230 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The Baptist Church in Chattanooga, which had been
assigned for a Commission chapel, and afterwards taken
for hospital purposes, was restored early in November.
Field Agent Smith gives an account1 of a remarkable
series of nightly meetings which began at once :
The first half hour of the evening was given to prayer and relation
of religious experience ; then came the sermon by a Delegate or
Chaplain, followed by a special service for those who desired to be
come Christians. The experiences were not the repetitious accounts
often given on such occasions. Nearly all the worshipers had been
on the Chickamauga field. They had been saved from capture and
death, while many comrades had fallen. They crowded to the chapel
with thanksgivings and confessions, and with importunities for their
unconverted comrades to come to the Saviour. A half hour before
the time for service the chapel was often so crowded as to make it
difficult to go through the aisle to the pulpit. Twenty, forty, and one
night more than one hundred, asked for prayers.
One evening, when room could not be found to invite forward
those who desired prayers, and an expression of feel-
, w. , ing by the uplifted hand was called for, all were
deeply affected by seeing a hand thrust in through
the window ; an anxious soul standing without desired to see Jesus.
At another meeting, when opportunity was given for any to express
their feelings, an Illinois soldier arose in the audience, and with a
decided manner and tone, said —
" My fellow-soldiers, I am not excited ; I am con
vinced, — that's all. I feel that I ought to be a Chris
tian,— that I ought to say so, — to tell you so, and to ask you to come
with me ; and now, if there is a call for sinners seeking Christ to
come forward, I for one shall go, — not on account of excitement, for
I tell you my heart never beat steadier in my life, — not to make a
show, for I have nothing but sin to show ; I do not go because I want
to, — I would rather keep my seat, — but going will be telling the
truth ; I ought to be a Christian, — I want to be a Christian, — and
1 Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 408, 469.
MISSION KIDGE. 231
going forward for prayers is just telling the truth about it. Say,
comrades, won't you go with me ?"
And without waiting for their answer, or for a formal invitation
from the preacher, he strode down the aisle and knelt at the altar,
with more than a score of his comrades following and kneeling
around him. It scarcely need be added that salvation came that
night to that sincere seeker.
Gen. Grant's first movements were for the opening up
of a better line of communication. This was soon ac
complished. In the mean time Sherman was marching
from Mississippi to re-enforce him. On Nov. 23d, the
assault on Bragg's entrenchments began. On the next
day Hooker carried Lookout Mountain, and on the 25th,
the whole of the rest of the enemy's strong position in
Chattanooga Valley and on Mission Ridge was in our
possession. Bragg was pursued beyond Ringgold, and
made no further offensive movements during the Winter.
Mr. Smith gives the following narrative of the battle
of Mission Ridge : ,
Gen. Sherman now began to strike heavy blows for the railroad
communication through the tunnel. Twice we saw his long blue line
move over a corn-field up to the skirts of the woods, and fall rapidly
back. The third time they marched up and held their ground. We
knew that many men must have gone down under that terrible fire
at short range, and that the corn-field must be full of sufferers. A
party of Delegates started on foot, to carry such relief as they could,
with coffee-kettles, stimulants and bandages. As we were passing
along the line of Gen. Wood's Division, Colonel Stanley called out
to us, and pointing up the ridge, said —
" There will be work enough for you right here in a few minutes."
While he was speaking a line of blue coats went over our first line
of works, and a little further on a line of gray coats left theirs ; both
lines swept up the hill. The Rebels massed their standards and ral-
232 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
lied their forces at the point of the ridge directly
The Struggle • c ~ ,. , .
for the Rid e ln °Ur c"m"mg columns, or rather climbing
mass, for every man was stretching away for himself,
fired with the single purpose of gaining the top. Under this mus
ketry in front and the enfilading fire of forty cannon trained on
them from either side of the ridge, they went on and up, till the field
was ours, the siege of Chattanooga was raised, and the Rebels had
abandoned their last stronghold along the line of the Tennessee
River.
While Gen. Thomas' men were scaling the ridge the Delegates'
work commenced. The wounded began to fall back, supporting a
disabled arm or limping on a musket, or borne on a blanket by their
comrades. Taking possession of an abandoned farm-
8 house at the foot of the ridge, we opened a hospital
for those who were not able to make their way to
town. A half dozen cotton bales, ripped open and spread upon the
floors, made good beds and pillows for the wounded. Some of the
captured Rebels had corn meal in their haversacks. This made a
large kettle of mush, and, with the coffee and soup we had brought
along, furnished an excellent supper, which was taken with special
relish by the wounded Rebels. One of them, a Tennessee Major,
whose side (struck with a shell) we had bound up,
^i -e yo^ followed with an eager eye, as he lay before the fire,
our operations of making beds, preparing supper,
tying up wounds, and cutting out minie balls. At last, his curiosity
and astonishment getting the mastery, he said —
" Pardon me, gentlemen, but I would like to know your rank ?"
When told that we were Delegates of the Christian Commission,
he said —
"I am not acquainted with your organization, but I like your
name ;" and drawing a heavy gold watch from his pocket, he placed
it in the hands of a Delegate for safe-keeping.1
The enthusiasm of the men over their victory was unbounded.
1 The Major died suddenly a few days after, and so unexpectedly that he left
no directions respecting his property. After long inquiry the agent found his
mother's name and residence, in Middle Tennessee, and at the close of the war
had the pleasure of putting her son's watch in her hand.
MISSION RIDGE.
233
The soldier forgot he was wounded while telling of the fight, and
while a ball was being cut out of an arm or leg with a Delegate's
pocket-knife, would occupy the time telling how he
came to be hit, or " pegged," as they called it. Dur-
ing the charge up the ridge, four soldiers were seen
bearing back a comrade on a blanket. His story is thus told by one
of the Delegates who met him :
ALMOST UP."
The men halted when they saw us, and laid down their burden,
asking if we would see whether the Color-sergeant was badly wounded.
I knelt down by him and said —
234 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"Sergeant, where did they hit you?"
" Most up the ridge, sir."
" I mean, Sergeant, where did the ball strike you ?"
" Within twenty yards of the top, — almost up."
" No, no, Sergeant ; think of yourself for a moment ; tell me where
you are wounded;" and throwing back the blanket, I found his
upper arm and shoulder mashed and mangled with a shell. Turning
his eye to look for the first time upon his wound, the Sergeant said —
" That is what did it. I was hugging the standard to my blouse,
and making for the top. I was almost up when that ugly shell
knocked me over. If they had let me alone a little longer,— two
minutes longer, — I should have planted the colors on the top. Al
most up ; almost up !"
We could not get the dying soldier's attention to himself. The fight
and the flag held all his thoughts ; and while his ear was growing
heavy in death, with a flushed face and look of ineffable regret, he
was repeating, "Almost up ; almost up !" The brigade to which he
belonged had carried the ridge, and his own regiment, rallying under
the colors which had dropped from his shattered arm, was shouting
the victory for which the poor Sergeant had given his young life, but
of which he was dying without the sight.
An Ohio soldier, of Turchin's Brigade, came into the yard of the
farm-house, his blood smearing his face and clothes, and hanging in
clotted masses on his long beard. A buck shot had passed through
his nose, and was lodged under the skin on the other
A Wounded ., .
Latin Scholar. Slde> close "J llls eye- He wanted it cut out, and
was with difficulty persuaded that it was dangerous
for an unskilled hand to operate with a pocket-knife so near his eye.
While we were bringing water he sat down on the ground, and
pulled from his bosom a copy of Andrews' Latin Grammar. It was
covered thick with his blood. He turned to the fifth declension and
began with res, rei. He said that he was at an academy in Ohio,
preparing for college, when the call came for recruits, and he had
left his Latin at this point. As his regiment was passing a house
that afternoon, which some "bummer" had plundered, he found this
book, and had carried it under his blouse in the fight, thinking that
if he was wounded or taken prisoner he would be able to go on with
his Latin.
MISSION RIDGE. 235
When at midnight we had given a supper to the men, and had
searched the fields around with the stretcher-bearers, and seen nearly
all the wounded at this flying hospital started in ambulances for
town, we loaded ourselves with crackers, kettles of
soup and canteens of stimulants, and went to the top T^e HosPiiai
r \ at the top of the
of the ridge. Here we came upon one 01 the dread- judqe '
ful scenes of war. A one-story log-house was filled
with Union and Kebel wounded. The floors of the two rooms and
of the wide, open hall and the piazza across the front of the house
were covered with men, lying so thick as to make walking among
them perilous to limb, if not to life. The night was frosty ; there had
been no fire or supper. There was no Surgeon or nurse, and the men
were lying in clothes stiff with blood from undressed wounds. The
ambulances had ceased running for the night. The stretcher-bearers
had gone to sleep on their stretchers. In the yard, for fifty feet
around, the Rebel dead were lying. They had died in the house be
fore the ridge was carried, and had been brought out by our men to
make room for the living. Underneath these floors, in a cellar lately
dug, were the children and women of the house. They had remained
safe from the shot and shell that had poured around them, and were
sitting in the door of their cellar, smoking pipes and eating snuff,
without the slightest possible concern or interest in the dreadful
scenes about them. During all the afternoon and night, with their
house and yard full of suffering men, many of them Rebels dying
in their cause, the mother, her sister and two grown
up daughters had not so much as offered to tie a ou
bandage, or kindle a fire upon the hearth, or bring a
a cup of water, or speak a gentle word. I asked if they would not
assist in preparing supper for the men. The mother, taking her pipe
from her mouth, said —
" You'uns brought 'em all here, and you'uns mought take care on
'em ;" and putting back her pipe, she swung one foot over the other,
and smoked away in the most listless manner:
" But, madam, these are, many of them, Confederate soldiers, dying
away from home. Can't you do something for them ?"
It was the same answer, this time without removing the pipe —
" You'uns brought 'em all here, and you'uns mought take care
on 'em."
236 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I asked for meal, — she had none; for a kettle to make coffee, — she
had none ; for an axe to cut fire-wood, — she had none. As I passed
out a colored boy, about a dozen years old, whispered to me —
" Missus done hid the axe."
I went back and asked again for it, — she had none, and the " nig
ger lied." I said —
" The men must have a fire, and if there is no axe I must take
your shingles ;" and suiting the action to the word, I laid hold of the
roof of the piazza, and had already filled my arms, when she brought
out her axe from between the beds.
We spent the night dressing wounds, feeding with coffee and soup,
administering stimulants, and taking memoranda for home letters.
For a mile along the top of the ridge we found soldiers grouped
around their fires, discussing till morning light the
The NiqTit on n .-, . .,
th R'd scenes 01 the previous day, and telling of their miss
ing comrades, when and how they fell. Within
nearly all these groups we found wounded men, and sometimes, out
side the group, the corpse of a soldier who had been removed from
the fire after death had ensued. By our stimulants and hot soup we
helped these soldiers keep their comrades alive till morning. The
wounded Confederates were as hearty in their gratitude for our relief,
as they were unanimous in their opinion that the Yankees made
their soup too salt. We were able to fill out many home letters, by
the memoranda gathered during the night from the lips of the dying
and from the letters and diaries found on the dead. Ordinarily, un
less the body had been robbed, in the inside breast-pocket of the
blouse there would be a letter from friends, a photograph, a Christian
Commission Testament or Hymn-book, with the name and regiment
and home address ; — or a diary without a name, — for singularly
enough, those records of daily marches and battles and camps almost
invariably gave no clue to the name of the writer. Keeping it merely
for his own eye, the soldier had found no occasion to mention his
name or regiment. When the morning broke we had passed twice
along the ridge where the fiercest fight occurred, and had given a
midnight supper and a breakfast to the wounded in the log-house.
The stretcher-bearers then resumed their work of bringing in the
wounded, and the ambulances loaded up for town.
At daylight Gen. Turchin's Brigade, directly before us, halfway
MISSION RIDGE. 237
down the ri*3ge, had gathered up their dead and laid them in the long
trench, with a dirge from the band and the farewell musketry of
their comrades. They were under marching orders,
with Granger's and Howard's Corps and Sherman's
army, to raise the siege with which Longstreet was closely pressing
Burnside at Knoxville. Before the sun was fairly up their camp
ground was silent. Passing through it on our way back to town, we
found no signs of its previous occupation, save smouldering fires and
the trench of graves, set with pieces of cracker-boxes, bearing the
names of the dead, cut in with the pocket-knives of their comrades.
This, we thought, is a day in a soldier's life, more crowded with
events than a whole common life at home ; — to fight in the evening
and carry the enemy's strongest position ; divide the night between
sleep, the stories of the day, and the gathering in of their dead; in
the morning bury their comrades, and sling knapsacks for a march
more perilous than the fight had been.
At noon we were startled by heavy cannonading from Fort Wood
and other forts around Chattanooga. What could it mean ? It was
not possible that the enemy had rallied and were upon us again ?
To those who had seen the complete rout down
the slope of Mission Ridge such a thought was ab
surd ; but what could this heavy, rapid firing mean ? It was Novem
ber 26th, the day set apart nearly two months before by President
Lincoln for National Thanksgiving, and never were thanks given by
cannonading more appropriately than by the national salute of that
noon.1
Chaplain Thomas,2 in visiting Sheridan's Division
Hospital No. 2, after the battles before Chattanooga,
found a rare example of faithful Bible reading :
A soldier wounded in the leg was sitting on his cot tailor-fashion,
reading an octavo book open before him. Approaching, I saw it
was in German. Wondering how so large a book could be carried
by a man in the ranks, I asked —
1 Annals U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 471-476.
* See p. 82.
238 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
A German Sir " How do you manage with that on the march?"
ble Reader. « You see that ? " said he in broken English, point
ing to a rude case by his cot ; " I got the leather of the Quartermaster,
and cutting off strips for threads, made a rough thing as you see.
When we strike tents I put my Bible in that case, and throw it into
one of the wagons ; sometimes it goes in with picks and spades, — no
matter, it don't hurt ; when we get to camp again I go and get my
Bible and have the best kind of reading. The print is large enough
to read by fire-light when we don't draw candles."
" How many times have you read the Bible through ? "
" Twelve times, I think ; twice since entering the service."
" How long have you been in the army?"
" Twenty-eight months."
He was not a Christian when he enlisted, and I asked what led
him to seek the Saviour :
" The hardships, — the hardships, sir."
Curious to know what he had learned from his reading, I
asked —
" What must a man do to be saved?"
" He must believe Christ, he must love Christ ; he must obey
Christ ; he is dead, — he must be united to Christ and made alive."
Then followed an earnest denunciation of camp-vices, and simple,
noble views of Christian character. He had been brought up a
Roman Catholic, and had not wholly escaped from some of the
errors of that system.
I asked a Lieutenant, whose cot was near the German's, what he
thought of the man :
" He is the strangest person I have ever met. He rises with the
dawn, kneels beside that post, and all we hear is the low murmur, but
we know the man is talking with his God. Again at night, and occa
sionally in the daytime, at the conclusion of hours of Bible reading,
he does the same thing. Sometimes he hobbles along from cot to
cot, and urges the men to quit their sins and come to Christ, and he
does it in such a way as not to offend. Every one knows he is a
Christian."
For weeks, while I visited that hospital, the German unweariedly
perused his Bible, and labored, as was his wont, among his sick and
dying comrades.
NASHVILLE. 239
Mr. Thos. Atkinson, shortly after the battle of Look
out Mountain, was left in temporary charge as Chaplain
of Hospitals Nos. 14 and 15, Nashville. One morning
in visiting Ward No. 6 of the latter, the following inci
dents occurred :
The first fifteen minutes I spent with an infidel, very badly
wounded, just in from Lookout Mountain. He was a refined and
educated man, received me with entire politeness, and was glad to
have a little conversation. But the moment I ap
proached the "Great Question," he said, pleasantly— A Lesson on
. ; _ . . _ _ Plain English.
'"' You understand the English language, sir r
I nodded assent with a half premonition of what was coming :
" Then I respectfully but emphatically request you not to open your
lips to me about religion. I have ' paddled my own canoe/ as thev
say, thus far ; and I don't want any help in that direction."
I was at a loss what to do ; he quickly discovered my plans to
come at the subject indirectly as we talked, and firmly forbade my
" preaching" to him.
Within hearing was a very sick man, who had been listening
eagerly ; he beckoned to me, so I went over to him :
" Will you tell me about Jesus ? That man won't hear you, but
I will."
I was deeply touched with his earnest, entreating The Waters al
„ . . . , . j . A 11 Some and Above.
manner after my late repulse, and promised to tell
him about Jesus. His name was Jesse Doherty ; he had a wife and
two children at home, and had been in the army three years.
" When did you hear from home, Jesse ?"
" Six weeks ago, sir ; it's a long time since ; — won't you tell me
about Jesus ? "
I began answering the longing of his heart. I told him of Christ
lifted up to draw all men unto him, of how he had to look — only
look — upon Him who was crucified. Jesse put his hands together
and prayed that he too, like so many before him, might look and
live. So, I believe, the Spirit found him, and accomplished His own
precious work.
As I went away at the end of a long interview, he asked me Ui
240 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
come often again ; the infidel's face, as I passed his cot, showed no
sign that he was moved by the conversation, which he must have
heard.
Next Monday morning Jesse met me with a very happy smile.
" I have such good news," said he ; " I'll be going home this week,
sir, — on Wednesday morning. My papers are all made out, — oh !
how glad I am ! "
Poor fellow, I knew he never would leave his cot until carried to
the last resting-place :
" Jesse, you can't go home on Wednesday."
" Why not, sir ? " said he, hastily.
"You are too feeble; the boys might carry you to the cars, but
you could not stand the long ride."
" But what shall I do here, sir ? Look at that water, — how can I
drink it?" — it was a mixture of mud and water, resembling what
coffee-drinkers call " grounds" — " how can I drink it when I think
of the old well at home in Pleasant Valley? Oh, how I long for a
draught from that old well ! And this bed's so hard, and the one at
home so soft ! And there are the children, too, and wife, — and you
don't knowr what nice things she'd cook for me ! I could eat them,
but not what I get here. If I was only home, I think I could get
well."
" Well, Jesse, I'll tell you what I think about it. The first pure
draught you will get will be from the ' river of water of life, clear
as crystal/ above ; when you have that you will long no more for
draughts from the home well. And, Jesse, the first time you will see
your wife, will be at the right hand with the heavenly family of
God."
"Do you think so, sir?" and his eye brightened up; " well, then,
welcome be the will of God. How glad I am that Jesus is precious
to me now ! "
On Wednesday I saw him again :
" You were right, sir ; I am much worse ; I couldn't bear to be
carried to the cars even."
As I entered the ward on Sunday morning, five or six soldiers
surrounded his cot. His feet were gathered up, and the men were
doing what little they could for him:
"It's no use, sir; you can't speak with him."
MURFREESBORO'. 241
Going within the sad circle, I put my mouth to his ear :
"Jesse, do you know me?"
He could not move his head, but there was an answer, very faint,
but audible, — not words, only a sound. I put my hand under the
cover and pressed his; the pressure was returned :
" It's little matter whether you know me or not ; but do you know
the Lord Jesus, Jesse?"
Gathering up his remaining energies, the soldier tried to speak.
He could not articulate, but we heard the same sound he had uttered
before, — only louder and more earnestly spoken. He never moaned
or spoke again.
The hospital work became quieter in character until
the army moved once more. Rev. Henry D. Lathrop,1
visiting Hospital No. 4, Murfreesboro', in December,
writes :
I found a poor Norwegian, weak and wasting rapidly away. I
tried to talk with him ; he wanted me to send a little devotional book,
his constant companion, to a sister in Minnesota; — but after repeated
trials I found intelligible conversation impossible.
He had a Testament, given him previously by a Del-
egate, with Danish and English in parallel columns.
I took my pencil and marked in the Danish column, " Come unto
Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Never shall I forget the eagerness with which he seized the book, and
ran his finger along the lines, as he read half audibly in his own lan
guage the gracious invitation. A smile lighted up his features, while
tears were running down his cheeks. Again I took the book and
marked, " I am the Eesurrection and the Life ; he that believeth in
Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." The same scene as
before was repeated. Thus I — no, not I, but the Lord — spoke to
him.
I found at last a countryman of his in another hospital, and had
the two brought together. Through this man all the wishes of the
first could be understood and attended to.
1 Rector of St. John's Prot. Epis. Church, Lancaster, Ohio.
16
242 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The story of the year in the Cumberland Army may
be closed with an incident related by the General Field
Agent :
While searching, in answer to a home letter, for a grave in the
Soldiers' Cemetery in Nashville, I noticed a man in citizen's dress
kneeling by a grave, and evidently writing upon the painted head
board. When I came to the spot he was standing in
front of the board, his arms folded, his face bathed
in tears. He was an Illinois farmer, and this was the grave of an
Illinois soldier.
" Is that your boy, sir ?" I asked.
" No, he lived in our town, and I've come to find his grave."
" Perhaps, you represent his father, who couldn't come?"
"Yes, my neighbor was glad to have me come, but I came for
myself. You see, I have seven children, all of them small, and my
wife is sickly. I was drafted. There was nobody to carry on the
farm, and I couldn't hire a substitute. My thirteen dollars a month
wouldn't feed the family. It seemed as though I must go and they
must suffer. When we were in our greatest trouble about it, just the
morning I was to report at camp, my neighbor's son came over to the
house, and offered to go to war for me. He said he had nobody de
pending on him and could go better than I. He went, and was
wounded at Chickamauga, brought to a Nashville hospital, and this
is his grave."
The stranger sobbed aloud. I read the words which he had traced
with his pencil in large, awkward letters under the private's name, —
" DIED FOR ME." He had come all the way from his prairie home,
at a great cost to himself, to put this grateful mark upon the grave
of his substitute.
CHAPTEE IX.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
GENERAL GRANT'S ADVANCE UPON RICHMOND.
May and June, 1864.
GEN. GRANT having completed his preparations, on
May 4th the Army of the Potomac crossed the Eapidan
and pushed forward into the " Wilderness/' — a tract of
broken table-land stretching southward from the Eapi
dan nearly to Spottsylvania Court House, seamed with
ravines and densely covered with a labyrinth of dwarf
timber and bushes. Fighting began early on the morn
ing of the 5th, and was continued throughout that and
the next day with no decisive result, though the
slaughter was terrible. On Friday evening, May 6th,
our line was substantially the same as at the beginning
of the struggle. Early on the 7th, Lee was found to
have entrenched his whole front ; Grant, not choosing to
attack him thus fortified, resumed his march out of the
Wilderness, from which his advance emerged on Sun
day, and the whole force on the following day. The
army was now concentrated at Spottsylvania C. H. On
the morning of the 12th, Hancock captured a strong
point of the enemy's entrenched line, with many cannon
and prisoners. Lee was unable to retake it, nor yet
could our line advance, as the murderous day sorely
243
244 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
proved. After several days' maneuvering in quest of
weak points, not to be found, on the night of the 20th
the flanking advance on Richmond was resumed. Gen.
Meade reports his losses up to this time at 39,791 men.
Rev. E. F. Williams writes of the last Sabbath in
April at Culpepper :
To-day the Delegates preached twenty-three times to the regiments
in and about the town. Everywhere the men listened as if they were
anticipating the baptism of blood which awaited them, and were
anxious to prepare for the march to death which so
The Last Sun- L -,
many were to make.
day at Culpepper. J
A few days more and the Commission tents were
struck ; cooking utensils, station furniture, books, and all heavy arti
cles were sent back to Washington ; heavy army-wagons were brought
into use ; the Delegates, divided into companies, were placed under
command of experienced agents, to each of whom a corps was
assigned ; and all, with mingled calmness and dread, awaited the for
ward movement.
Rev. Chas. P. Lyford1 tells the story of one of the
last services before the Wilderness :
The day before the advance I had an engagement to preach to a
brigade of the Fifth Corps. Just before the hour for service it received
marching orders. As the men passed our tent, the Colonel of a Penn
sylvania regiment called out to me —
"In Season and "Young man, you won't keep your appointment
out of Season.''
to-night.
They were a noble body of men, marching so gayly and gladly to
the grave. My heart went out after them in silent resolve to preach
to them if it were possible, that night.
I mounted a horse and quietly followed them. After night, as
they approached Culpepper, they halted and prepared to bivouac.
Supper over, I rode up to the Colonel, who had hailed me in passing
1 Member of Black Elver Conference, Meth. Epis. Church.
THE ADVANCE. 245
our quarters, and reported myself ready to fill my appointment.
With his whole heart he entered into the minutiae of preparation.
" I believe you fellows would come with us to the cannon's mouth
to preach the Gospel," said he.
The drums beat " church-call ;" a dozen good singers were selected
for a choir — and yet the Colonel was not a Christian. The service
was in front of his headquarters. I never attended one like it before ;
it was pitch dark ; I could not see the men's faces, nor could they see
mine, — but they were there, hundreds of them, — and the Kind Heart
on high alone knew where they would be to-morrow night. How they
crowded about me when the meeting was over to send last words
home. Some of them spoke of Warrenton Junction, and of the meet
ings at which they had found the Lord. "Tell my friends," said a
Captain to me, " if anything happens, that I am ready to live or
die, — and that whether I live or die, I am the Lord's."
On the 5th the brigade was in the thickest of the battle, and my
brave Colonel fell at the head of his column.
When the wounded began to come in, the saddest
cases were those of men who, for various reasons, could
not be relieved. Rev. Mr. Lyford writes :
A poor German saw the badge and called me to his side. He had
stuck some bayonets into the ground and stretched a blanket upon
their points to try and ward off the rays of the sun. His side was
sadly torn by a shell, but his great need was water
. ' T . i • v Unquenchable
for a raging thirst. 1 put my canteen to his lips. . 1
-L In rst .
Never have I seen such agony and disappointment
on a human countenance as on his when he found that he could not
swallow. He tried again and again, then sank back upon the ground
and articulated —
" Pray for me, pray for me ; it'll be all over soon."
I did pray for him that he might have that water of which he who
drinks never thirsts again.
During the night of the second day our extreme right was assailed
fiercely and driven back upon the field hospital. Such a scene as
there was then ! Ambulances and wagons went tearing along, filled
246 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
with wounded who had been hastily gathered in ;
Saving a Life. ~ , , .
Orderlies swept past on horseback, and close in front
the men were fighting and yelling as they fought. Suddenly I heard
a voice out of the darkness at my feet :
" Don't ride over me, — please don't ; I'm wounded and can't stir."
Poor fellow, he had been carried to an ambulance, but it was full
and drove away without him. The bearers set him down by the road
side to wait for the next that came along, but nobody had time to
pick him up, and it was now too dark to see him. His head was
within a few inches of the wheel-track. I stood by and protected
him from an almost certain death, until he was properly removed
and cared for.
It was President Lincoln who told the members of
the Commission calling on him in Washington after the
Anniversary meeting in January, 1865 : — " We have
been only doing our duty, my friends, whatever we have
been able to do together. You owe me no thanks for
what I have done for the country, whatever that may
be, — and I owe none to you. We cannot repay the
soldiers." And yet, poor fellows, they were always
grateful for the smallest kindnesses, and " magnified the
office" of the Commission. Rev. F. P. Monfort1 pre
serves the testimony of a German, wounded in the
Wilderness :
" Ah, das ish te Christian Commission. He's te pesht man in te
army. Him safes my life. He comes rount when we lays in teWil-
terness, all two tays and two nights, unt no preat unt no vater, unt
no Doctor, unt shust pick up all uv um, unt give um preat unt vater,
unt nurse um. Oh, him so many, too, — plenty of um — unt him
Doctor heself, unt bring him to White House, unt bring um up here
to te hospital. Oh, he so goot ! He's te pesht man in tearmy. Him
work shust like a nigger."
1 Member of Whitewater (O. S.) Presbytery, Indiana.
AFTER SPOTTSYLVAXIA C. H. 247
After the first fighting at Spottsylvania C. H., Rev.
Mr. Williams writes :
Going through the wards of the hospital at Laurel Hill, my atten
tion was called to some members of the 14th N. Y. Regiment, who
wore weeping over a body carefully wrapped in an army blanket and
laid on the ground in a corner of the tent.
" Didn't we used to see you at Culpepper ?" said "A Short Cut
to Glory."
one of them.
" Yes, probably."
" Well, the man who has just died used to attend the meetings
there. He was a Christian ; his death was glorious, — so peaceful.
Any one would be willing to die if they could die like him."
The blanket was carefully turned down ; we recognized the sol
dier's features, and remembered our last conversation with him in his
tent near Culpepper. He had been very happy at the prospect of
soon returning home, as the term of service of his regiment was
nearly out ; he had told us how glad he would be at again meeting
wife and child, and going once more to church and Sabbath-school.
" But then, you may fall ; there is death ahead," we had said.
" I know it ; if I fall, the battle-field will only be a short cut to
glory."
Thither he had indeed gone. His comrades admired his life, saw
that his body was buried with more than the usual care., and told
over to themselves their willingness to depart, if they could die as
he had died.
In another division of the hospital my attention was directed to a
group of soldiers crowding around a fly, under which were several
wounded officers. The interest of all seemed to centre upon the
slight form of one of the sufferers. The star upon
his shoulders discovered his rank. The day was " Towards the
intensely hot and sultry, and the sides of the fly were
raised a few feet from the ground. The General's head was towards
the centre, and his feet towards the outer edge of the tent; a few
pine boughs were his only couch ; one of his legs had been amputated.
Members of his staff* stood weeping about him, or stooped fondly
down to catch his last whispered words. From his moving lips it was
surmised that he wished to be turned over.
248 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Which way ? " asked a Lieutenant.
" Towards the enemy," was the indistinct response, and he was
carefully and lovingly turned towards the foe, whose booming guns
were even then telling of fearful carnage along the lines. A moment
later a Delegate bent over and whispering gently, said —
" How does Christ seem to you now, General ?"
" Near by," was the quickly but faintly spoken answer, and with
these words upon his lips, the spirit of Gen. Rice passed into the
better land.
All the Winter the General had been greatly interested in religion.
He had aided the Chaplain of one of his regiments in every possible
way, — going into the prayer meetings regularly, and taking part
in them with his men. So that death did not take him by surprise.
Quietly he sent his messages of affection to his mother, and then
calmly and without a fear, like a Christian hero, met the King of
Terrors.
As the army moved towards the left in its attempt to
flank Lee, Fredericksburg became no longer a suitable
point of communication with Washington. The wounded
therefore were all sent to the old base, and Port Royal
became the new one. The Commission Delegates and
Agents for the most part returned with the wounded,
though quite a number continued with the advance.
Before we go forward with the latter, we must retrace
our steps to the city which shall ever be remembered as
one of sorrow and of death.
" Carleton," the correspondent of the Boston Journal,
narrates the story of two scenes dissimilar outwardly, —
yet part of the same Gospel, which every Delegate,
whether by ministrations to the body or soul, was alike
illustrating :
Go into the hospitals ; armless, legless men, wounds of every de
scription. Men on the hard floor, on the bare seats of church pews,
lying in one position all day, unable to stir till the nurse, going the
FREDERICKSBURG. 249
rounds, comes to their aid. They must wait till their
„ , . , .„ Getting Straw
food comes. Some must be fed with a spoon, as it ^ the Wowndedt
they were little children.
" Oh, that we could get some straw for the brave fellows !" said
Kev. Mr. Kimball,1 of the Christian Commission. He had wandered
about town, searching for the article. " There is none to be had. We
shall have to send to Washington for it."
" Straw ? I remember two stacks, four miles out on the Spottsyl-
vunia road. I saw them last night, as I galloped from the front."
Armed with a requisition from the Provost Marshal to seize two
stacks of straw, with two wagons, driven by intelligent contrabands,
and four Christian Commission Delegates, away we went across the
battle-field of December, fording Hazel Run, gained the heights and
reached the straw stacks, owned by Rev. Mr. Owen :
" By what authority do you take my property ?"
" The Provost Marshal's, sir."
Rev. Mr. Kimball was on the stack, pitching it down. I was pitch
ing it in, and the young men were stowing it away:
"Are you going to pay me for it ?"
" You must see the Provost Marshal, sir. If you are a loyal man,
and will take the oath of allegiance, doubtless you will get your
pay."
" It is pretty hard. My children are just ready to starve. I have
nothing for them to eat, and you come to take my property, without
paying for it."
" Yes, sir, war is hard. You must remember, sir, that there are
thousands of wounded men, — your wounded as well as ours. If your
children are on the point of starving, those men are on the point of
dying. We must have the straw for them. What we don't take to
night, we will get in the morning. Meanwhile, sir, if anybody
attempts to take it, please say to them that it is for the hospital, and
they can't have it."
Thus, with wagons stuffed, we leave Rev. Mr. Owen, and return
to make glad the hearts of several thousand men. Oh, how they
thank us !
" Did you get it for me ? God bless you, sir."
Kev. James P. Kimball, Pastor of Congregational Church, Falmouth, Mass.
250 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
It is evening. Thousands of soldiers, just arrived from Washing
ton, have passed through the town to take their places at the front.
The hills all around us are white with innumerable tents and thou
sands of wagons. A band is playing lively airs to
Evening Scenes. ,
cheer the wounded in the hospitals. I have been
looking in to see the sufferers. Two or three have gone. They will
need no more attention. A Surgeon is at work upon a ghastly wound,
taking up the arteries. An attendant is pouring cold water upon a
swollen limb. In the Episcopal church, a nurse is bolstering up a
wounded officer in the area behind the altar. Men are lying in the
pews, on the seats, on the floor, on boards on top of the pews. Two
candles in the spacious building throw their feeble rays into the dark
recesses, faintly disclosing the recumbent forms. There is heavy,
stifled breathing, as of constant effort to suppress involuntary cries
extorted by acutest pain. Hard it is to see them suffer, and not be
able to relieve them.
Passing into the street, you see a group of women, talking about
our wounded, — Rebel wounded, who are receiving their especial
attention. The Provost Marshal's patrol is going its rounds to pre
serve order.
Starting down the street, you reach the rooms of the Christian
Commission. Some of the men are writing, some eating their rations,
some dispensing supplies. Passing through the rooms, you gain the
grounds in the rear — a beautiful garden once, not
The Delegates'
Prayer Meeting unattractive now. I he air is redolent with honey
suckle and locust blossoms. The pennifolia is un
folding its delicate milk-white petals ; roses are opening their tinted
leaves.
Fifty men are gathered round a summer-house, — warm-hearted
men, who have been all day in the hospital. Their hearts have been
wrung by the scenes of suffering, in the exercise of Christian charity
imitating the example of the Redeemer of men. They have given
bread for the body and food for the soul. They have given cups of
cold water in the name of Jesus, and prayed with those departing to
the silent land. The moonlight shimmers through the leaves of the
locust.
The little congregation breaks into singing —
FREDERICKSBURG. 251
" Come, Thou fount of every blessing."
After the hymn, a Chaplain says —
" Brethren, I had service this afternoon in the First Division Hos
pital of the Second Corps. The Surgeon in charge, before prayer,
asked all who desired to be prayed for, to raise their hands, and
nearly every man who had a hand, raised it. Let us remember them
in our prayers to-night."
A man in the summer-house, — so far off, that I cannot distinguish
him in the shadow, — says —
" There is manifestly a spirit of prayer among the soldiers in the
Second Division of the Sixth Corps Hospital. Every man there
raised his hand for prayers !"
Similar remarks are made by others, and then there are earnest
prayers offered that God will bless them, relieve their sufferings, give
them patience, restore them to health; that He will remember the
widow and fatherless far away — that Jesus may be their Friend.
Ah ! this night scene ! There was an allusion, by one who prayed,
to the garden scene of Gethsemane, to the blood of the Son of God,
and, in connection therewith, to the blood shed for our country.
The report of Delegate S. J. Parker, a Surgeon from
Ithaca, N. Y., may represent the extent and value of
the work effected by the Commission volunteers who
were of his profession :
I arrived at Belle Plain about 5 P. M. on the 13th, and found
in tents, ambulances and wagons, about four hundred wounded men.
I spent about five hours in aiding in the care of wounds, and returned
at about 11 or 12 o'clock, leaving another Delegate,
Surgeon's Work.
Dr. Reed, of Philadelphia, in charge. At 3 o'clock
A. M., I again took charge of them, and continued
on duty till 10 A. M., when the day-Surgeons came. I left, and writh
a party of other Delegates went on foot to Fredericksburg.
On my arrival there I proceeded, after an hour's rest, to the hos
pitals, which had just received newly-wounded men, and dressed
wounds until midnight, by which time all were made comfortable and
T returned to rest at the Commission rooms. Next morning I re-
252 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION" INCIDENTS.
ported early to Medical Director Dalton, and, with Dr. Seed, was
temporarily put in charge of Hospital D, Second Division, Sixth
Corps. The two warehouses were but partially cleared, when an
ambulance train with 303 wounded arrived. It took us from 9 A.
M. till 3 P. M. to unload the train, and get the men comfortably
arranged. At 3 P. M. we began dressing wounds. After a few hours
my right hand became poisoned from foetid discharges, and at 11 P.
M. was disabled, and my arm excessively painful. I called in an old
army nurse — a good, faithful man, and kept on dressing till about
two o'clock the next morning, when I left Dr. Eeed on duty.
The number of wounded I aided directly was 703, besides casual
calls for aid upon one or two hundred more. I made with my hands
at least three thousand dressings of wounds. I had charge of the North
tobacco and wheat warehouse. We had a daily prayer meeting in
the hospital.
The story of Geo. W. Miller, as gathered from him
self and his two Commission friends,1 is remarkable for
its exhibition of earnest hope and faith :
Enlisting early in the war, Miller's regiment had been detailed for
detached service, and had not joined the Army of the Potomac until
late in the Summer of 1863. When he enlisted he was not a Chris
tian, though from early childhood he had entertained
Man Immortal & gt ^^ iQ be(jome & minister of the Gospel.
till his Work is
j)one- ihe abundant period for reflection afforded by the
duty his regiment was engaged in, set him thinking
upon his past life and upon the possible dangers of the future. His
youthful yearning to be a minister came back also. Unaided by
any special religious influences, save the encouragement and faithful
Christian life of a comrade, he decided to become a Christian. Dur
ing the Winter at Brandy Station, Miller attended the Commission
chapel and renewed his vows. He became much attached to Kev.
Mr. Whitney, one of the Delegates, and during several months aided
him in his labors among the soldiers.
1 Eev. Nelson Whitney, Minister of the Metli. Episc. Church, Sebec, Maine,
and Wm. Ballantyne, Esq., President of the Washington Branch Christian Com-
FKEDERICKSBUEG. 253
He was severely wounded on the second day's fighting of the Wil
derness battles. For twenty-four hours he remained on the field.
The Surgeon who examined his wound refused to operate, because
death was inevitable. Then followed a sixty hours' ambulance ride
to Fredericksburg. Here again a Surgeon examined him, and again
his wound was pronounced fatal.
Three or four days of intense suffering were passed in the hospital
at Fredericksburg, until at last Rev. Mr. Whitney found him out.
Miller had never for a moment allowed himself to think that his
recovery was hopeless. His firm faith found vent in memorable
words :
"Mr. Whitney, the Surgeon says I must die; but I do not feel that
my work is done yet. When I gave myself to God, last Winter, I
promised Him that I would labor for His cause in the Gospel min
istry. I feel that He has a work for me to do ; and I believe that
man is immortal till his work is done. Can't you do something
for me ?"
Mr. Whitney did his best, procuring straw and a blanket, — the
half of one belonging to Mr. Cole, the Potomac Army Field Agent,
— and laying the soldier upon a bed which seemed to him then the
softest he had ever known. A few days passed, and a third surgical
consultation was held. The decision was in these words —
" You will recover, but it is the most miraculous escape we have
ever seen."
He was transferred to Armory Square Hospital, Washington, on
May 26th ; here again the wound was pronounced mortal. Mr. Bal-
lantyne, who visited him at this time, bears testimony to his cheerful,
unwavering confidence. There was no fear, no concern about his
life ; that was not in danger. His desire was to do His Master's will.
On the 6th of June the ball was extracted. But it was not until
very many months had passed that the soldier could leave the hos
pital. In accordance with his early determination, he is preparing
to preach the Gospel of Peace.
Mr. E. M. Heydrick, of Brooklyn, with a party of
about forty Delegates, left Belle Plain for Fredericksburg,
on May 15th. He relates an incident of the road :
254 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Our wagons got behind, and we took occasion to eat a lunch.
While standing alone, making away with the small portion that had
been handed me, a tall, noble-looking soldier approached and said —
" Friend, can you spare a little of that, — I am so
hungry ? I have not tasted food for two davs."
Hungry.
"Certainly," I replied; and as I handed him what
I had, I noticed for the first time that his arms were both disabled :
" I have no hands to feed myself with. Will you please put it to
my mouth ?"
As I did so, his tears of gratitude fell on my hand. " God bless
you, my friend !" said he, and the way in which he uttered the words
was worth a dozen dinners.
The instances of the strength of the willingness of
the soldier and his friends to submit to sacrifice are
numberless. Rev. Mr. Williams records these two :
An old man who had come to visit his two sons in the army, found
them both wounded. When asked, as he sat between
his maimed boys, if he regretted the sacrifice, he
Give up all.
raised his hands and exclaimed most earnestly —
" No ; if I had twenty sons, I would give them all to save this
Union !"
In a Delegate's diary I found this entry: A private of the llth
Maine was mortally wounded a few days since. As his companions
started to carry him to the rear, he looked up to his regimental com
mander, and said, in generous thoughtfulness of
Noble to the ,
T others —
Last.
"Don't trouble the boys to carry me back, Colonel ;
it will only tire them. I can live but a few minutes, and can just as
well die here."
Rev. Dr. J. Wheaton Smith1 finds the same exhibition
of sacrifice :
One poor fellow, taking me for a Surgeon, said, —
1 Pastor of Spruce St. Baptist Church, Philadelphia. The incidents were
related at the Washington Anniversary of the Commission, January, 18G5.
FKEDEPaCKSBUPvGr. 255
" Sir, will you dress my wound ?"
I am not a doctor, but I did my best. I took off the bandage,
sponged away the hard incrustation that had gath
ered upon the wound, and found that his sight was Going Through
• it Again.
entirely gone ; he had been shot through the eyes
and the bridge of the nose.
" Poor fellow !" I said to him, " this is hard."
"Yes, it is hard ; but I would go through it again for my country,"
Right beside him there lay a man upon a stretcher, strong and
noble-looking, but he was shot through the head. His eyes were
closed ; he knew no one ; could answer to no voice, and yet he still
breathed. I never shall forget how that massive
chest heaved up and down. We watched him for
hours, thinking every hour would be his last. All night he lay
there motionless save that heaving bosom. In the morning he was
no better, but he began to move his feet. Evidently he thought he
was marching, and he marched till he died — tramp, tramp, tramp —
dead, but marching on !
From the reminiscences of Rev. Herrick Johnson 1 we
extract the incidents which follow :
I remember Aaron Lamb, a soldier from Maine, who had lost his
left leg. The little delicacies and attentions had opened his heart.
He had told me of his widowed mother and loving sisters, and I had
written his message home, and back came their noble
The Rest of God.
answer, saying —
" We cannot, as a family, both brothers and sisters, express our
gratitude enough to Him who ruleth all things, if from the glorious
Army of the Potomac He give us back our darling with only the
loss of one leg."
And from that couch of suffering was sent up a message to heaven
also. And that, I believe, found answer — more blessed even than
the message home. For hours and days he had been lying on the
hard floor with nothing but a blanket under him, restless and sleep-
1 Pastor of (N. S.) Presbyterian Church, Pittsburg, Pa. The incidents are
from his address at the Closing Exercises of the Commission at the Capitol.
256 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
less from the shock his nervous system had received. There in the
dusk of evening, with his hand close clasped in mine, the patient
hero breathed his low prayer —
" O Father, God, be pitiful — be merciful — give me rest — rest of
body and of soul — oh, give me rest."
And the hard floor seemed to grow woolly soft, as if Jesus had
pillowed it, and rest, " of rest God's rest the best," came to that tired
heart. " He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings
shalt thou trust."
I saw another with both legs off close to the thigh. When I spoke
to him of the sacrifice he had made for his country, he answered —
" My country demands it and my Saviour demands it. I believe
that the kingdom of Christ will be advanced by this
Compensation. ,,
war.
Another said, " I am ready to go home to my parents, home to
Christ, or back to the war."
This is the spirit of the army, — of Christian, patient endurance.
Down from the throne of the Highest, through the lifted clouds
whose bosom had been charged with thunderbolts of wrath, come
these gleams of light, in waves of life and immortality, telling to the
people that God is not forgetting to be gracious.
I recall another, a young Sergeant, one of whose limbs had been
sadly shattered. He was a brave, patient boy, but remarkably reti
cent, resolutely maintaining a cold reserve. For days he was proof
against all kindness, but at last I found the way
Going up among down int() hig Cart's secrct place of tenderness and
the Stars. , . , .,
tears, and the great drops wet his cheeks as he told
me how he had run away from home and almost broken his mother's
heart. He said his own pain was nothing to the trouble he had
given her.
" Shall I write to your mother," I asked, " and tell her how and
where you are ? "
"Oh, yes," said he; "but break the news gently, break it gently;
and oh, tell her how sorry I am for having laid such a burden on
her loving heart."
And then we talked of another home he had wandered from and
another heart he had grieved, and I asked him if he had not a peni
tent message to send home to God. Ere long I believe there was joy
FREDERICKSBUEG. 257
in the presence of the angels over the return of one more prodigal.
The Surgeons at last decided that his leg must be amputated, and
very soon it became manifest that even this would not save him, and
\ve told him he must die. He was ready ; arms, haversack, canteen,
blanket, — all had been lost on the battle-field, but he had clung to
the flag he bore, and he lay there with the stars and stripes wrapped
about him. Just as he was dying his lips moved. We stooped to
listen. He was making his last charge :
"Come on, boys! our country and our flag for ever!"
We asked him, "Is the Saviour with you?"
He whispered, " Do you think He would pass by and not take me?
I go, I go." And wrapped in stars he went up among the stars.
There lies a young soldier wounded unto death :
"What can I do for you, my brave fellow?"
"Speak to me of Jesus;" and the words that suggest themselves
are —
« Jesus, lover of my soul, to me
Let me to Thy bosom fly."
"Oh, won't you sing them, sir?" And another wounded soldier
lying near, takes up the words and sings.
And then the dying drummer-boy repeats the prayer, and even
while the words are on his lips the prayer is answered, and his soul
is away on its flight to the bosom of Jesus.
Rev. Horace C. Hovey1 writes of the power of the
" Precious Name : "
A brave cavalry officer was dying of his wounds. He was deliri
ous when I approached him. He thought himself on the field at the
head of his gallant men, and fancied that a heavy gun was just in
front of them, ready to be fired. His distress was
great. At length he thought the gun had been dis- The Father's
charged, and his men, badly cut up, were retreating.
Here I interposed, saying —
"There is no gun there; you are safe among friends here in
Fredericksburg."
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Florence, Mass.
17
258 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Let me alone," he sternly replied ; " I must recover my command
and renew the attack."
" No," said I, " let us not talk of battle-scenes. You are soon to
die. Let us talk of Jesus."
The mention of that name seemed to exert the powerful influence I
had often heard ascribed to it. His agitation ceased at once; his deli
rium passed away; a smile lit up his pallid features. After a moment's
silence he said, in a low, sweet voice —
" Jesus ! Jesus ! It is He who said, ' Come unto Me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' I want rest ;
I am weary ; can you sing, ' There is rest for the weary ? ' "
I complied with his wishes, and with failing, faltering tongue, he
tried to join in the song, —
" In the Christian's home of glory
There remains a land of rest."
We sang the hymn entirely through, and when we closed there
was not a dry eye in all that ward. He died soon after this, saying
for his last words —
" I have no Father here but my Heavenly Father."
Eev. Geo. Bringhurst tells the story of another
hymn :
Passing through the woolen factory at Fredericksburg, — my im
mense parish of wounded, dying men, I heard a low, mournful voice
singing —
Hidden with " While I draw this fleeting breath ;
Christ in God. When mine eyelids close in death ;
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne, —
Kock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee."
There were some pauses in the verse, as if strength were failing the
singer. A look, as I passed on my errand, told me that the soldier
was dying. Next morning, the last "fleeting breath" had been
FREDERICKSBUEG. 259
rawn, the eyelids were "closed in death," and the life that had gone
I
was hid with Christ in God.1
In the same woolen-factory hospital, Mr. Stuart2 found
a Massachusetts soldier, who seemed to be the happiest
man in Fredericksburg :
I found 550 patients, suffering from every variety of wounds and
injuries. As I passed one cot, my eye was caught by a happy and
contented face. I stopped and spoke to the soldier :
" You seem happy, my friend. I trust it is be-
P . , . ™ . , . ~ „ Peace past all
cause your faith in Christ is nrm. TT , _.
Understanding.
" Yes," he answered, " I took Him with me to the
army."
"I trust you are not much hurt?" I continued, deceived by his
pleasant face. He rolled down the coverlet and showed me that
both legs were gone:
" You have made a noble contribution to your country."
" I have given all but my life, and am ready to give that if she
needs it."
His name was D. N , of Boston, — 22d Mass. Regt. I learned
afterwards that, while being removed from the town, he died in the
same peace in the strength of which he had suffered.
Mr. Isaac Baker, of Philadelphia, upon reaching
Fredericksburg as a Delegate, was told that his son, who
1 Mr. S. E. Bridgman, of Northampton, Mass., relates an incident very similar
to the above: "Afar off, under the machinery of a mill, I heard the 'voice of
singing.' It reminded me of Paul and Silas singing their praises in the guarded
dungeon. I walk over and lean upon the ponderous wheel. Near me, rises a
voice, sweet and clear, and the holy strains are —
'"While I draw this fleeting breath.'
But soon the earth receded from the eyes of the soldier-boy, and the lips that
gave forth so sweet a strain were still ; while the spirit of the man walked in the
light of the angels over the crystal pavement of the New Jerusalem."
2 Who at this time accompanied Kt. Kev. Bishop Mcllvaine, of Ohio, on a
memorable visit to the army.
260 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
had been engaged in the battles, was wounded. The
sight of the misery he had come to relieve was too ter
rible to allow him to leave his post and search for his
boy. In the trust that he would find kind care,
wherever he was, he faithfully fulfilled his allotted
work. From his report we make these extracts :
On the first morning I held a little service of singing and prayer
in my division, with the common consent of the men, and told them
the simple and touching story of a little girl who had lost her father,
but did not understand the dread nature of death
p hu anc^ ^e §rave< -E-er m°ther explained through tears,
that God had sent for father, and that by and bye
He would send for them, and there was no telling how soon. The
artless child on this exclaimed —
" Well, then, mother, if God is going to send for us soon, and we
don't know just when, hadn't we better begin to pack up and get
ready to go ?"
This incident seemed to take hold of the men, it could so well
be applied to their present needs.
"Ah, Chaplain," said one to me afterwards, " I'm glad you told us
that story about packing up ; it made the thing so plain to me. I
haven't much learning, and I haven't tried to understand these things
much, but now I see through it all. I want you to help me pack up.
Will you pray with me, Chaplain ?"
I knelt by his side. While speaking with God, the earnest heart
cried out, " Oh do, Lord, help me, help me." It was a solemn sea
son. The Holy Spirit was there. " This poor man cried and the
Lord heard him." I was about to go to another who had beckoned
to me, when the dear boy said —
" Oh, I thank you, Chaplain ; I am happy now ; I have found
Jesus !"
He was radiant with ioy, so that I wondered. I
Peace Within. J J
said to him —
" But what of your body ?" Pie had been shot through the right
shoulder and left leg, and had an arm taken off. " Do you suffer
much now?"
FKEDERICKSBURG. 261
" Oh," said he, " my wounds are nothing now. I can bear them
all — I have peace within."
At his request I sat down with a full heart and wrote to his wife,
informing her of his condition of body, but with particular emphasis,
as he urged, of the blessed change that had come over his soul. In
deed it was wonderful to see the forgetfulness of bodily suffering in
the new-found joy which filled this wounded soldier's heart.
We sang " Rest for the weary," and one man, whose whole thigh
had been shattered by a shell, lay there perfectly calm, patient, even
happy. He smiled as I came to him, and said —
" Oh, how that hymn cheered me ! I forgot my Rest for the
pains whilst I listened to it ; and I know it cheered Weary.
many of the boys."
One group of sufferers claimed my deepest sympathy. Four
Indians from Wisconsin lay together, bleeding for the country that
had once been the wide domain of their fathers. I lay down
close to one and spoke of Jesus and His salvation,
His eye brightened. He had heard that blessed The
name before, and in his broken way said — Shore.
" I love Him, I love Him !"
I commended his spirit to God, and then sang him to sleep — for
he died while we were singing that sweet chorus —
" For, oh, we stand on Jordan's strand,
Our friends are passing over,
And just before, the shining shore
We may almost discover.
The other three Indians were unable to speak. May God help
them. I gave them some refreshment and left them.
Mr. E. M. Heydrick relates an incident showing how
valuable at times were Bible words to soothe and calm
men agonized with pain :
A young soldier, John Wagner, of the 60th Ohio Regt., was
brought in ; he had been shot through the stomach. So great was
his agony that he filled the building with cries. He could not lie in
262 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
one position, but kept two or three turning him from
TIat"™ Tay si(te to side. Famishing with hunger, he would eat
all that was given him, but it would come out
through the bullet-holes. He kept begging that we would send to
the front for his brother, but this was impossible. We asked him—
" Have you never heard of that ' Friend that sticketh closer than
a brother ?' He alone can help you ; you have but to ask Him in
prayer, and He will help you."
"I do not know how to pray," was his answer.
I took a little card containing Scripture texts, and read the motto,
"Ask, and it shall be given you," and the prayer, "Heal me, O Lord,
and I shall be healed ; save me, and I shall be saved." Out of his
agony, he exclaimed —
" Please read the prayer again." I did so.
" I can pray that ;" and he kept repeating it aloud, over and over
again. That night the bullet-holes in his stomach closed, and for
the first time he became quiet enough to sleep.
One incident related by Mr. S. E. Bridgman will
serve to show the reflex influence which was exerted
upon the soldiers' friends at home :
One night, after evening prayers, a man came to our tent and with
tears asked the Delegates to pray for him :
" I have navigated every channel to perdition, but now I want to
lead a different life."
.1 Gladdened He wag pointeci to jesus. He looked and lived.
" Oh," said he the next day, " how easy it is to be a
Christian ! I did not suppose it was so easy. I thought it was a
long and very troublesome way ; I just asked with all my heart, and
I hadn't to wait for the answer;— I just prayed to God and light
came in at once. How glorious everything is ! Even this Virginia
mud now seems to have become beautiful."
A week after, with a bright and joyous smile, he came to our quar
ters with an open letter just received from his wife, describing the
scene at home on the reception of the news of his conversion. She
had begun the letter aloud, but when she found how her prayers had
been answered, she could read no more. Her mother took the letter
FREDERICKSBUKG. 263
and tried to read, with the same result. There were present with the
family four boarders, former boon-companions in sin of the infidel
husband. One of these volunteered to read the letter, and that very
night at a prayer meeting they all rose for prayers. All were con
verted, and sent word to their friend in the army that they would
meet him in heaven.
Mr. E. M. Heydrick, on the way from Belle Plain to
Fredericksburg, met with an instance of a life saved by
a Bible :
Mr. Beach1 and myself came to a stream where we met a group of
soldiers crossing on a log. While waiting, I noticed one of them,2
of noble form and countenance, looking rather sad. I approached,
saying —
" I trust you love Jesus —do you not ? " Word a
" Do you not think," he replied, " I ought to love
Him ? See what His word did for me."
Opening his coat and blouse, he drew from a shirt-pocket over his
heart a small Bible. In battle, two days before, a minie ball from
the enemy had entered it on the front side, and coming out at the
edge, had passed around his side, laying open the flesh to the bone.
The blood was still on his shirt.
"Were you a Christian," I asked, "before entering the service?"
"Yes, sir ; only a short time previous I became a Christian ; the
day before I left home my sister came to me and said, 'Harlem, will
you take this and carry it near your heart for my sake?'"
Gen. Grant's flanking advance from Spottsylvania
C. H. was towards the North Anna. He found Lee
admirably posted to dispute the passage of the river, and
although the crossing was successfully begun, yet the
enemy's lines were so strong that Grant decided not to
attack them. The river was recrossed ; another short
1 Mr. Lewis Beach, of Brooklyn.
2 Harlem T. Garnett, 20th Mich. Inf.
264 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
march to the east, and again the long columns turned
southward. On May 28th the Pamunkey was passed
and the new base at White House established. Again
the Confederate army, moving along the chord of the
circle, was able to face Grant at Cold Harbor with strong
fortifications. Here on June 1st, began another engage
ment. The grand assault was made on the 3d; in it
our army was signally repulsed. Several days of delay
were spent before the hostile, frowning works. Finally,
on June 14th and 15th, the Army of the Potomac
was transferred to the south side of the James, to operate
henceforth against the southern approaches to the Con
federate capital.
The following account of an ordinary experience,
detailed by Rev. Horace C. Hovey, shows how the hard
ships of the journeys of this campaign weighed upon
men unused to the service — exhibiting by contrast the
soldier's sufferings and endurance :
The hardships endured while Grant was effecting his famous flank
movements from Spottsylvania to City Point will never be forgotten
nor adequately described. Our little company of seven, selected to
go with the Fifth Army Corps, was made up of men
A Toilsome not jnure(j to hardships. For three days and three
March. J
nights we did not unharness our horses, or take what,
even in army life, would be called a regular meal. Most of us mean
while had been marching on foot, and were thoroughly jaded by our
double duty of keeping up with the army and doing good as we ad
vanced. The third night found us on the edge of an immense forest.
Of necessity we proceeded slowly amid the sturdy trunks of giant
pines. Through their branches the night wind sighed and moaned,
while the warm Spring rain fell in torrents. The darkness was
Egyptian ; the road grew worse and worse. By accident we had
become separated from our wagon-train. Only two Delegates with
strength enough to work remained with the wagon, and the driver
BEYOND SPOTTSYLVANIA C. H. 265
was worn out and surly. To complete our dismay, we were passing
through a swamp about midnight when our wagon sank to the
axles in mud, with one fore-wheel planted square against a tree.
Our only source of appeal was to mule-drivers who now and then
passed by. But they, like ourselves, had lost their train, and with
curses, all undeserved, told us to get out as best we could. With rails
we pried the wheel from the tree, but our exhausted animals refused
to pull. Neither caresses nor blows would avail; these stores
gathered by Christian love, we could not abandon to the guerillas ; so
in the pitchy darkness, we two unloaded the wagon of every box,
barrel and bundle ; with spades we dug away the clay that had
packed itself about the wheels, and then pushing the empty vehicle
by main force against the heels of the horses, compelled them to go
forward. The wagon once more on solid ground, we reloaded our
stores, and soon emerged from the forest. Now we realized that we
were alone in an enemy's country ; not a sound was to be heard in
that dead of night, save the rumble of our wagon-wheels. Ignorant
of the lay of the land, we drove into a field, built a fire of rails,
spread our blankets in the open air and lay down to a rest, never
before so quiet and so sweet.
From the narrative of E. A. Band the following two
reminiscences are taken :
On June 9th, while assisting to move the wounded to the boats at
White House Landing, I met my friend Capt. Wm. Fitz Williams,
of the 2d K Y. Mounted Rifles. In the battle at Cold Harbor he
had received a wound, from which he had partially
recovered. Anxious to be at his post, he was return-
. ~ Trust; and a
mg to his regiment against the advice of his feur-
geon. I invited him to the evening meeting in our
chapel. He told us there the story of his conversion. With a depth
of feeling which brought tears to every eye, he described the last
interview with his mother. As he parted from her, she threw her
arms about his neck, and bursting into tears, exclaimed —
" O my son, I could give you up cheerfully, if you were only a
child of God."
This outburst of a devoted Christian mother's love melted his
266 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
heart, and he there promised her that his future life should be given
to God. He had striven, he said, to keep this pledge ; had been
greatly helped by the Commission, and had found the Lord's service
most pleasant and easy :
" I expect to-morrow morning to return to the field, and think it
doubtful whether I shall ever see my loved ones again. But I am
resolved to stand firm in God, and to meet them in heaven."
The meeting closed. I bade him farewell, to see his face again no
more. In a fight near Petersburg on June 18th, while bending over
to staunch the flowing blood of a companion, he received his mortal
wound, and died with a shout of praise.
A young lady came in search of her brother, wounded at Cold
Harbor. She had looked for him in vain through all the Washing
ton hospitals. With the greatest difficulty, procuring a pass from
the War Department to White House Landing, she
A Sister finds here iearned that he was dead and buried. One
her Brother in .
£^n-S£ wish only remained, — to find the grave, recover the
body, and bear it with her to her distant home. But
even in this she was doomed to disappointment. The grave could
not be identified. Suddenly, amid her grief and despair, the Holy
Spirit revealed to her the fact that, through all this pathway of trial
she had been led that she might find the Lord. Her brother had
been a Christian ; she herself was not ; she had failed to find him ;
she could only find him in Christ Jesus, in the Resurrection, in Eter
nal Life. Giving herself away to the Lord, she determined to wait
patiently until He called her home.
Mr. John Patterson writes of an experience about
this time on board a government steamer, bound for
White House from Washington :
Gen. Baker with his corps of detectives was on board. They had
with them several fine horses, well supplied with what I wanted badly
for the Commission horses on board, — fodder. But this was unpur
chaseable ; so I resorted to a little ruse, which I
^ Shorter Gate- h0pe the circumstances will justify. I became atten-
chism" vs. Swear-
tive to the horses of the detective officers, watering
them occasionally during the warm day. My
WHITE HOUSE LANDING. 267
hungry animals were soon munching government fodder, and I was
myself on very excellent terms with the quick-witted members of
the force.
After dinner, while standing on the deck, my attention, I regret to
say, was called to a young preacher aboard, who was en route to Cold
Harbor, to recover the dead body of his brother. The fare of the
boat was not according to his taste, and he rated boat and govern
ment in no very polite terms. This excited the ire of the detectives,
and especially of an officer with whom I had just formed a
pleasant acquaintance, who swore, were it not for the respect he had
for the man's profession, he would put him under arrest at once. He
gave vent to his wrath in language shockingly profane ; wrongly, I
confess, I feared to rebuke him, as well on account of his kindness to
me, as of his laudable zeal for the good name of the government.
Without venturing upon him directly, I tried a chance shot.
Leaning upon a box of goods, my chin resting on my hands, as he
concluded a volley of terribly wild expletives at the offending divine,
and without looking at him, as if in meditation, I said —
" However the breakers of this commandment may escape punish
ment from man, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape
His righteous judgment." l
A slap on the back from my profane friend brought to a sudden
end my pious soliloquy.
" My man," said he, " I know that book as well as you do, from
beginning to end. I have the most profound respect for truly relig
ious men, but as profound a contempt for canting hypocrites. I was
baptized by Dr. McLeod, of New York, in my father's arms. Father
and pastor, I believe, are now in heaven."
" What would you give," said I, " for a picture of your father
with you in his arms, your mother standing by, and the old Doctor
dripping the water upon your face, and saying, ' Grant, Heavenly
Father, that this child's name may be written in the Lamb's Book
of Life?'"
The blow struck home; the wary look of the detective faded from
his face ; the thick mail in which a life of cunning and danger had
The answer to Question 56 of Westminster Assembly's " Shorter Catechism."
268 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
encased him was penetrated by that simple thought of childhood and
home, and welling tears moistened the bronzed cheeks.
The scene made a deep impression on those present. We had no
more swearing that afternoon; as our boat glided softly over the
winding waters of the York and Pamunkey after its cargo of
wounded braves.
CHAPTER X.
THE WESTERN ARMIES.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF 1864 TO THE FALL OF ATLANTA.
Jan. 1864— Sept. 1864.
THE first four months of the year were spent in com
parative quiet by both armies. In March Gen. Grant
was called to Washington, and Gen. Sherman succeeded
him in the command of the Military Division of the
Mississippi, embracing the four great departments of the
Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Arkansas.
In anticipation of simultaneous campaigns on the
Eapidan and the Tennessee, the armies were prepared for
the grand Spring movements.
In January, Mr. Wm. Lawrence1 and Rev. J. F. Loyd,2
took charge of the work at Chattanooga, around which
place the bulk of the army was in winter quarters.
Kightly meetings were re-opened in the Baptist Church,
which had for some time been a hospital :
The evening meeting was very reluctantly omitted one night, on
request from headquarters of the Post Commander, to allow the
use of the chapel for public readings by Murdoch. The next night
1 Of Union Theological Seminary ; now a Congregational Minister, and Sec
retary of the Brooklyn Children's Aid Society.
'-' A Methodist Clergyman of Xenia, Ohio.
269
270 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
a battery-man stood up in the congregation and gave
"Not the Pray- h}g expericnce ag foll()WS .
er Meeting, but .
Jesus „ " This is the third night I have been at these meet
ings. The first time I went away saying, ' Religion
is a good thing; I must have it; I'll come again.' The next night I
went away, saying to myself, ' You are wicked enough without being
a miserable coward ; why didn't you get up and say you wanted to
be a Christian?' That was night before last. I didn't sleep much.
In the morning I was in a hurry for night to come. I wanted to
become a Christian, and thought this meeting wras the only place to
do it. All day long I counted the hours when I should come. To
make sure of it, I got my pass from the Adjutant before dinner, and
came early last night to the chapel. A guard halted me at the door.
He said his instructions were to admit only officers and such men
as had tickets. I told him I had no ticket, but I must go into the
meeting ; I needed it more than any officer. He pushed me back
with his bayonet, and I gave up, and called the Christians hard
names for shutting me out because I was a private. Then my sins
came crushing down on me again, and I went back and begged the
guard to pass me in ; but he cursed me, and ordered me away. I
started for camp. When I was passing the railroad track I said to
myself, ' It is Jesus you want, not the meeting;' and I knelt down
in a cut of the road and told Jesus just what I was going to say to
my comrades if I had got into the meeting. I had hardly begun to
tell Him before I felt relieved. When I got up from my knees I
couldn't help singing. I went to camp singing, and kept singing
after I turned in, till the Colonel's Orderly hushed me up. These
are good meetings, but if I could find such a meeting as that one on
the railroad track, I wouldn't mind if the guard ordered me off
every night." l
From the reminiscences of Rev. Jno. L. Landis,2 a
Delegate at Chattanooga in the early part of the year,
the two following incidents are taken :
1 Annals, U. /S. Christian Commission, pp. 477, 478.
2 Licentiate of (N. S.) Presbytery of Harrisburg, Penna.
CHATTANOOGA. 271
I was very much interested in two Confederate soldiers who lay
side by side in the same ward of one of the hospitals, — private J. P.
Thompson, whose leg had been amputated, and Lieut. Baker, who
hud a lung wound. Thompson sent for me one day ;
I found the artery sloughed off and his stump bleed
ing. It was soon evident that he must die, and he became very much
excited. I endeavored to calm him, and at last succeeded. He ex
pressed a most earnest wish to be with Christ, preferring it to any
earthly consolations or prospects of life and health. He told me
about his little sister in heaven ; and prayed that he might be per
mitted to meet her there. As I was about leaving him, his comrade,
Lieut. Baker, who had been intently observing the scene, spoke to
me. He talked as a little child in Christ's Kingdom might about his
wish to go and be with Jesus. I sang with him—
" I'm a pilgrim, and I'm a stranger ; "
and after that —
" Let us walk in the light of God."
He was delighted, so I sang again —
"There is rest for the weary."
Said he, " That is the rest ; I want all others to enjoy it with me.
I don't want to enjoy it by myself; would you?"
The next time I came into the ward the two beds had been drawn
close together. The two, who had fought together in life and been
wounded together, were to enter the dark valley thus also. In sweet
intercommunion and converse they passed the short time until one
took his departure, only a few hours in advance of his companion.
Willie Snyder, of Cincinnati, was one of the most interesting and
lovely characters I ever met. Enlisting at the age of fifteen, he had
seen two years' service. At Mission Ridge he was so severely
wounded as to require the amputation of one leg. He used to love
to have me sit down on his cot and talk to him of
Jesus. The last time I saw him, he got very close The Longed-for
Country.
to me, and putting one arm around me, took my left
hand in his. Laying his warm face upon it and kissing it, he looked
up into mine and said, sweetly —
272 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" I wish I was in heaven."
"Why, Willie?"
" Because I feel it in my heart."
He had not long to wait for the fulfillment of his desire.
Ill January a great many regiments re-enlisted for
three years or the war, and went home on veteran fur
lough. This crowded the quarters in Nashville for
weeks with soldiers coming and departing. While in
the city, the men were kept under guard, but the Com
mission had free access to them at all times. Rev. E. P.
Smith writes :
These homeward-bound men were found more thoughtful than had
been anticipated. In many instances the thought of home so near at
hand had recalled the fair promises of two years before, and broken
vows came to stare them in the face. One young
Mother's First soldier? for whom a furiough had been procured at
Question An-
swerecl his request, declined to use it, asking that it might
be postponed a month. At the end of two weeks he
came to say that he was ready for his furlough, and, when pressed to
give a reason for his strange delay, replied —
" I promised my mother that I would be a Christian in the army.
I have neglected it up to this time, and I could not go home until I
could answer my mother's first question." *
This furlough of veterans has involved us in a new expenditure.
They return from their homes with fewer Testaments than from the
battle-field. The accounts run all pretty much alike :
"Mother" — or sister, or my little boy, as the case
The Brother's m\$\i be—" wanted it, because, you see, I had car
ried it so long, and it had been in the fight ; so I left
it home, for I knew I could get another."
At first I thought they had presumed too far upon our free-giving ;
but I am satisfied now that they have done right. That copy of God's
Truth will be treasured and read in the soldier's absence. The very
Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, p. 482.
NASHVILLE. 273
form of the well-thumbed, worn book will stir up and make mellow
the depths of the home hearts. Henceforth the "Word is doubly
sacred.
I met on the boat from Chattanooga, a short time since, an Irish
woman, who had come from Pennsylvania to see her brother in hos
pital. He had been carried to the grave the day before she reached
Chattanooga. She had gathered up his few effects, and was taking
them home. Unrolling his knapsack upon the deck, she took from
it a book, — the only one it contained, and read. The tears streamed
down her cheeks as she slowly spelled out the words, and with her
fingers traced the lines on the first page. I looked over her shoulder.
Il was an old school-book on Physical Geography, and she was read
ing the introduction.
" Is that an interesting book ?" I asked.
" Indade, sir, it's me brother's book — an' he used to rade it. He's
did now; — d'ye see his name there — the darlint? He wuz a great
scholard, me brother, an' I know he used to rade it. Niver a word
did I git from him in hospittle, an' niver a word can they spake to
me u v him — only jist he died on sich a bed an' wuz buried intoirely
when I came. He wuz a great scholard, me brother wuz, an' I wuz
sthrivin' to git a bit uv comfort fur me poor sowl out of his book."
Would that it had been the book of the God of all comfort !
The following incident of work in Nashville in March
is from the same pen :
A young man lingered one day after our daily prayer meeting.
Mr. Atkinson took him aside ; I stood near, but did not interrupt.
The young man began —
"I'm afraid I offended you this morning."
, , -I ,» • -i -M- *"" * -i • What can I Do f
" Why, no ; that can t be, said Mr. Atkinson ;
" I never saw you before that I know."
"Never saw me ? You were looking straight at me all the time you
were talking in the barracks this morning ; and every time you cut
me to pieces ; I couldn't stand it, so I got up and went out."
" Was that you ? I thought it was some careless, ungodly fellow."
" Ungodly enough, but not careless. I couldn't have lived there
18
274 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
any longer. You made me think of what I had done. Oh ! I am
an awful sinner. Can I be saved ?"
" You can be saved. The blood of Jesus cleanseth from all
" I think I could, if I hadn't done that."
"Done what?"
" I have killed my mother."
" Killed your mother ! when? how?"*
" Last night I had a letter from her. She said she was almost
gone, and the writing was all trembling like, — she is very low with
consumption. She talked to me, as she always did, about being a
Christian, and left me her dying prayer that I would leave my
wicked life and come with her to heaven. When I got that letter I
made fun of it with my comrades, and sat down and wrote her she
needn't worry about my soul ; that I would take care of that, and that
I meant to live just as I had, and get all there was in this world now,
and look after the next when I got there. O sir, you don't know
how that wrill make my poor old mother feel ! It will kill her out
right, I know it will," and the strong young cavalryman bent his
face to the railing and made the pew shake in his agony :
" What can I do ! what can I do ! Is there mercy for me
" Yes, for you. Jesus saves to the uttermost."
" What can I do ?"
" Kneel down here with me and give yourself to God. Tell Him
you are a sinner, and cry for mercy. Then write to your mother
and ask her forgiveness."
" It is too late for that ; mother will be dead before another letter
can reach her ; — when she reads that wicked letter of mine, she will
lay it down and die. Oh ! what can I do?"
" Kneel down and cry for mercy. God will hear you and forgive ;
then when your mother, in earth or heaven, hears that God for
Christ's sake has forgiven you, she will remember your cruelty no
more."
Prayer was offered in the vestry that day, but relief was not then
obtained ; for several days the soldier seemed not far from suicide.
He wrote the next mail to his dying mother; confessed his guilt to
his scoffing comrades, and prayed. Prayer was made for him in our
meetings, but his remorse was fearful and all-absorbing. It seemed
NASHVILLE. 275
as though God's condemnation of him that curseth father or mother
had already descended upon him.
At last he seemed to find the Saviour and His forgiveness, and
went home with his regiment ; but whether to his mother's bedside
or her new grave, I never learned.
A sketch by Mr. J. E. Wright,1 of Nashville hospital
service in April illustrates the Delegate's relief work :
A brother Delegate asked me to go for him to Hospital No. 3, and
see a man very low with erysipelas. I was to carry him an orange.
I saw at once that the disease had a firm grasp of the soldier. His
face was terribly swollen ; one eye was closed en
tirely, the other partially ; every feature was dis- ,.
torted, as well as discolored by an application of
bromine or iodine ; and his limbs were terribly emaciated. I sat
down by the cot and talked with him, read some precious Scripture
promises, and at his request wrote to his father. In the afternoon I
saw the poor fellow again. He was worse ; mortification had set in ;
it was difficult for him to hear or speak, and all his faculties were
yielding to the disease. He asked me if I had written a letter for
him in the morning and what I had written, saying with touching
emphasis, as he marked with his right hand a finger's length upon
his left—
" I can't remember so long."
I told him I had written, and asked if I should send a letter to
his wife. He hesitated, and then answered, feebly —
" Not now, I can't hear — I can't think, — to-morrow perhaps."
As I bade him good-bye, the poor fellow seemed to gather up his
little remaining strength. Looking after me, he said clearly and
earnestly, " God bless you !"
The emphasis with which the simple words were spoken shall re
main with me as long as I live. Poor boy ! his " to-morrow " never
came ; and the letter which was to have been written to his wife, told
in a stranger's words the sad story of a husband's death.
Of Andover Theological Seminary, Mass.
276 CHKISTIAX COMMISSION IXCIDEXTS.
Mr. Arthur Lawrence1 tells a suggestive story, related
to him by a soldier in Bragg's Hospital, Chattanooga,
not long before the Spring movements :
A soldier told me what had led him to seek and find the Saviour.
Some time before, a Christian on the next cot to his had been dvino-
j &
Just before he passed away, he called the nurse to bring him a cup
of water:
An Angel Un- ,-. .
(lwares l Bring two, nurse ; I want one for my friend here ;
he has come a long distance, and must be tired."
" I don't see anybody here," said the nurse, somewhat puzzled.
"Don't you see him?" said the soldier, pointing into what, for
every one else in the room, was only tenanted by the vacant air.
They assured him that there was no one there, but the soldier could
not be convinced :
" There is some one standing by the bed-side," he said.
And so doubtless there was for him.
" I didn't see what he saw," said the soldier who told me the story;
but the long, last look of the dying man, turned towards the attend
ant "Friend," awed him deeply; "For," said he, "it must have been
an angel."
" Thither we hasten through these regions dim,
But lo ! the wide wings of the Seraphim
Shine in the sunset! On that joyous shore
Our lightened hearts shall know
The life of long-ago :
The sorrow-burdened past shall fade
For evermore."
Gen. Sherman's mustering of his hosts for advance
into Georgia gave the work a new impulse in April.
At Binggold and Cleveland very remarkable revivals
began among the veteran troops. The General Field
Agent writes of that at Binggold : 2
The crowded church every night, the full morning meetings for
1 Of Boston. 2 Annals} U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 490-491.
KIXGGOLD. 277
inquirers of the way of life, the prayer meetings established in the
soldiers' huts and even out on the picket-post, testify to such
grace and power of God as is rarely exhibited. A
?r i IT j? xi n • Here and Now.
Kentucky soldier, one or the most ungodly men in
his regiment, had spent the night in prayer and found no relief. In
the morning he met his Chaplain on his horse, and asked him to pray
for him. The Chaplain promised, but said the man —
" I mean now."
" What, here in the road ?"
" Yes, here, Chaplain, now."
They knelt and prayed, and others who were passing came and
knelt, till there were more than two or three agreeing in the petition
that the sinful one should be forgiven ; and the answer came. The
soldier went down to his tent-house, and carried the word of life to
his comrades. They could not resist the claims of religion, when
pressed upon them so earnestly and persistently by their fellow-
soldier. He told of his trials with his profane tent-mates, and of
the agreement he had made, that, if they persisted in calling in their
comrades for cards, he should have the tent every other night for a
prayer meeting. The result was, the prayer meeting supplanted the
cards altogether, and all in the tent and many men in the company
came with the new disciple to his Master.
Mr. William Reynolds continues the account :
Words are inadequate to describe the glorious work of grace. We
found about ten thousand troops encamped here and but three Chap
lains. In our labors with these Chaplains, we experienced in full
the sweetness of the truth, " Behold, howT good and
,..,,, The Depth of
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together m *h R ' al
unity." We made arrangements for holding two
daily meetings, at one and seven o'clock, p. M. At the night meeting
the church was crowded to overflowing, — not a foot of standing-
room unoccupied. The doors and windows were filled, and the
crowds extended out into the street, straining their ears to catch the
words of Jesus. Sometimes hundreds of persons would go away
unable to get within hearing distance. Day after day the interest
278 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
deepened, and large numbers came forward nightly for prayer.
Scores of men long hardened in sin cried out, " What shall we do?"
A number of the converts had never been baptized, and as they
expressed a desire to remember this command of Christ, we invited
all candidates for baptism to meet at the church on Sabbath after
noon, April 10th. Forty-four presented themselves.
The Baptism T . .
, ., „ In the number several denominations were repre-
and the Commu-
niollt sented, and were of course allowed to select the mode
of baptism they preferred. Twenty-four chose im
mersion, eighteen sprinkling, and two pouring. We marched in
solemn procession to the tune and hymn —
"There is a fountain filled with blood,"
down to the Chickarnauga Creek. The soldiers stood on the banks,
joining hands and continuing the hymn, while their comrades went
down into the water, — some for immersion, some for sprinkling, and
others for pouring, but all for baptism in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, a-nd of the Holy Ghost. After administering the
ordinance wre returned to the church, singing —
" Jesus, I my cross have taken,"
and then sat down, about four hundred in number, at the table of
our common Lord. Commissary bread, currant wine, tin plates and
tin cups, — these were the circumstances of the Lord's supper in the
army ; but they did not keep the Master from the feast of love, nor
hinder the baptism of the Spirit upon these men, whom God was
making ready for four months of march and battle. It was a blessed
communion, — to many of the soldiers the first they had enjoyed for
two years, and to many men the last, until that day when they shall
" drink it new in the Father's Kingdom." The following Sabbath
forty*eight were baptized, — twenty-seven by immersion, and twenty-
one by sprinkling; and on the Sabbath succeeding this, the ordinance
was administered to fifty-seven more, and four hundred new converts
sat down at the communion table.
As I was leaving Ilinggold, some of the soldiers came to me and
said they had had a little discussion about my church connection. I
CLEVELAND. 279
asked the leader of the company what church he thought I be
longed to.
" Well," said he, " I think you are a Methodist."
" Why, so ?" I asked.
" Because you ask people to come to the ' anxious bench.' "
I asked another what he thought:
"I think you are a Baptist, because you are so intimate with Chap
lain Nash. I've noticed you around with him a good deal."
The third I asked, answered —
" I think you are a Presbyterian, because you stand up when you
pray."
I happened to be a Presbyterian ; but it was a curious and striking
instance of how men put off their signs of division in the presence
of the great work of the Lord.
Rev. Mr. Smith writes of a like pouring forth of the
Holy Spirit at Cleveland, Tenn. :
The Fourth Army Corps lay here, waiting for marching orders.
A marvellous revival began just before these orders came. At one
Sabbath service Chaplain Raymond, alluding to the terrible scenes
just before the army, and the need of a better Chris
tian life, said-
" I want to be a better Christian ; all in this congregation, who will
join me in this solemn re-dedication, rise."
The first man on his feet was Maj. Gen. Howard, commander of
the Corps ; his staff stood up around him, and were soon followed by
all in the house who loved the Saviour.
From that hour, the solemnity of our meetings deepened, and the
work grew until hundreds were converted. At the service that night
an invitation was given to all who were ready to become Christians
there and then, to raise the hand. The hand of a
fine-faced Wisconsin soldier near the pulpit went up T ,fve>
so promptly, — before the invitation was fairly given
— and so vigorously, as to attract attention. This was his last meet
ing at Cleveland. He was called off on duty, and could not again
attend before the grand move began.
In the Autumn, four months after the Cleveland meetings, when
280 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
'• Atlanta was ours, and fairly won," a ward-master came hastily into
our quarters at Nashville, asking for a minister to come at once to
Hospital No. 12. I followed him Lack. He showed me a cot, on
which one of his men lay dying. It was the Cleveland, Wisconsin
boy. lie wanted some Christian friend to come and take his last
words of holy trust, for his parents in Milwaukee :
" It'll be such a comfort to them, you know, sir."
It was hard to look at that face and head, and feel that the boy
must die; eighteen years of age, an only child, as fine an eye and
form as you would find in a brigade of men. I turned involuntarily
to the nurse, to ask if there was no hope :
" None at all, sir ; the Doctors have all given him up."
Then, I turn again to the dying man and lose all my regrets. His
large hazel eye swims in tears, as he smiles and replies to my
question —
" Yes, I am ready ; my papers are made out, and I shall be dis
charged to-night."
Then he told me of his conversion ; how he went out of that Cleve
land meeting dedicated to God, and how God had kept and blest
him, all through the marches and fights to Atlanta, till at last, in the
siege of that city, he was wounded and his leg amputated. Since
then he had been thinking what he could do as a one-legged Chris
tian, till, within a few days, he had learned that he could never get
well, and had come to be perfectly willing to die in that hospital
ward. Reference to his home in Wisconsin, to his father's plans for
him, and to how his mother had been counting the days till his term
should expire, made the tears come afresh ; but he dashed them away
and said —
" It's all right, — all right ; ever since that meeting, it's all right."
When I was about to pray, he said —
" Don't forget to thank God for Cleveland."
He did not die that night; but when two days after I found his cot
empty, I inquired of the nurse how he died :
" Oh, very happy, sir ; he prayed and sang, and said the Bible all
to himself. His last words we didn't understand ; 'maybe he was
getting flighty in his mind."
" What were they ?"
" Cleveland — Jesus ; Cleveland — Jesus."
CLEVELAND. 281
Mr. Reynolds tells of a conversation with a Brigade
Burgeon during the same revival :
" Surgeons, anyhow, ought to be Christians," said he to me ; "I
never felt the necessity of being one so much as at the battle of
Chickamauga. A number of men were brought into a tent where
we were amputating limbs and probing wounds. Ex-
amining the hurts of one poor fellow, I was obliged prayer.
to tell him he could live but a few minutes. He
turned and looked at me :
" ' Surgeon, are you a Christian ?'
" I had to confess I was not.
" ' Is there no Christian here ?' — no one responded.
" ' I want some Christian to pray with me before I die.'
" ' Are you a Christian ?' I inquired.
" ' Oh, yes, sir, I am a Christian ; but I would so like to have some
one pray with me, before I go away to be with Jesus. O Surgeon,
won't you pray ?'
" The pleading of the dying man was more than I could resist. I
knelt down beside him and offered up a heartfelt prayer to God. I
don't know much about such things," added the Surgeon, musingly,
"but that prayer has had a most marked influence on my life ever
since. The soldier died within a few minutes after its close."
Just on the eve of the advance, this incident, told by
the General Field Agent, occurred at Binggold :
In the midst of one of our soldiers' prayer meetings, the Adjutant
of a Kentucky regiment came in and told the leader that he was
ordered to pick eleven men and a Sergeant from the regiment, to go
on special and perilous duty in Nickajack Gap.
" They must be the best men in the regiment," said
J in the Prayer
the Adjutant, looking over the congregation. Meeting.
His eye finally rested upon the front seat. There
were the men he was looking for. All of them Christians, and close
to the " front" in the prayer meeting, — they were the soldiers for
special and perilous service.
282 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Gen. Sherman, on May 6th, left his Winter encamp
ments about Chattanooga, at the head of an army of
100,000 men. Dalton, the first position of Johnston,
the Confederate commander, was turned by a flank
movement, and the enemy forced to fall back rapidly to
Resaca, After some severe fighting this place was also
evacuated on May 16th. Johnston's retreat, with a tem
porary halt at Cassville, was kept up until he reached the
shelter of the Allatoona Mountain. Continual skirm
ishing consumed the time until June 1st, when Sherman
made another flank movement to the left, compelling
the enemy once more to leave their strong position, only
to take up a new and formidable line along Kenesaw,
Pine and Lost Mountains. After incessant fighting the
two latter were abandoned ; but a direct and fierce
assault upon Kenesaw on June 27th, failed. But the
inevitable flank movement compelled its evacuation on
July 2d. About a week later, Johnston, his army safely
within the strong entrenchments of Atlanta, was super
seded by Gen. J. B. Hood. This officer's first move
ments were fierce attacks, on July 20th and 22d, upon
the left of our too confidently advancing forces. These
attacks, though repulsed, showed that Atlanta was not
to be easily won. A week later, Hood struck out upon
our right, and was again signally repelled. Unable to
keep quiet, he sent nearly all his cavalry under Wheeler
into Sherman's rear, which only gave the latter oppor
tunity to push forward Kilpatrick to destroy temporarily
the enemy's communications, and then, on August 25th
and the succeeding days, to raise the siege and throw his
entire army, except the Twentieth Corps, into the rear
of Atlanta. Hood, completely outgeneraled, abandoned
RESACA. 283
his stronghold about the 1st of September. Here our
army rested after their nobly-earned victory.
Rev. Dr. J. P. Thompson,1 writing to the Boston Con-
grt Rationalist, tells the story of work before Resaca :
About three A. M. of Sabbath the 15th, we came upon the camp-
fires of our forces, gloomily lighting the forests. An hour's nap upon
the ground, and I was awakened by the sound of cannon. Before
the tent a soldier, just brought in, lay stretched in
death. Around were tents filled with wounded and
dying men. Already the hospital tents of the several army corps
were arranged at intervals over a circuit of six miles. Mounting our
wagons we drove from corps to corps, depositing at each hospital
timely stores, ministering with our hands to the comfort of the
wounded, and speaking words of Christian consolation. What scenes
of horror and anguish did that day reveal ! Men lying in scores, upon
their hurried beds of straw, with bleeding or ghastly wounds, await
ing the Surgeon's care ; others brought in at intervals upon stretchers
from the field ; here a group of six corpses ready for burial, there a
heap of limbs and members marking the operating tent, where the
knife of the Surgeon was always busy.
Strange sights and scenes and labors for the Sabbath ; yet somehow
the Master seemed nearer than ever before; the Conqueror of death;
the sympathizing Saviour ; the all-present, the all-sufficing Friend.
And to do some little kindness in His name, to give the cup of cold
water, the timely nutriment, the fragrant orange; to adjust a band
age, to soothe a weary head, to write a message for the loved ones at
the soldier's home, to speak some brief word of hope and cheer — was
not this doing His work ?
" How kind you Northern people are !" said a tall, stalwart Ten-
nesseean, as I stooped to comfort him; "I used to have a prejudice
against you ; but since I have been in the army, and have seen what
you do for the soldiers, I think you are a wonderful
"Hard Wading
Pe°Ple- through Mother's
He had been shot through the cheek, and the Prayers"
1 Pastor of Broadway Tabernacle Congregational Church, New York City.
284 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
blood oozed from his mouth and nostrils at every effort to
speak.
" You Tennesseeans," said I, "deserve all we can do for you."
" As for that, I made up my mind that people who wanted pro
tection must first protect themselves."
I spoke to him of Christ.
" Ah," said he, " I have been a wicked man, a very wicked man ;
but it has been hard for me to wade through my mother's prayers."
And when I showed him the freeness of salvation, he pressed my
hand, and thanked me again and again.
A young Kentuckian beckoned me to his side, and welcoming me
with a sweet smile, said —
" I professed Christ before I entered the army, and I have tried to
live near Him ; I feel Him near me now."
A Good Cause « \ -, n n 0,,
Are you much wounded ?
to be Wounded ^ . J
inm 'Seriously, in the thigh. I hope not mortally,
but it is a good cause to be wounded in."
A young man whose arm had been amputated at the shoulder,
asked Mr. Holmes1 to write to his friends " to keep up their spirits ;"
he, brave fellow, had no want or care for himself.
Sdf-forcjetful-
nesSt L went among a company of wounded men, all
lying on the floor, in pain, and told them the news
of Grant's first successes in Virginia. " Good," said they, with one
voice ; " that pays for all we've suffered."
Brother Holmes and I ventured down to the very front, where the
strife was raging. We sat down near the line of battle, with a group
of men who were presently to go in for their turn at the fight, and
had some earnest, manly, faithful talk about the one tiling needful:
" l*()ys> y°u believe in Sherman, down here, don't you ?"
" That's so ; that's what's the matter."
" You believe in Grant, too, don't you ?"
"Yes, indeed; anything for Grant."
Faith in
Christ. " ™ e^> that is faith ; and we want you to feel just
so towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and put your
whole soul into His hands, and go into this battle loving and trust
ing Him."
1 Eev. Jno. M. Holmes, Pastor of Congregational Church, Jersey City, N. J.
RESACA. 285
" Well, now's a time for the soldier to feel pretty solemn," said
one ; and so we talked on to men who in the next hour might look
death in the face.
Returning, we saw a newly-opened grave. It was for a Michigan
boy of eighteen ; he had been shot down at the side of his father,
who was a private in the same company. The father sat beside the
grave, carving his boy's name upon a rude head-
-. Tj , . P , , T , , , . , , Buried in his
board. It was his first-born. I took him by the -n, 7 ,
J Blanket.
hand, and gave him all my heart, then offered a
prayer, which Brother Holmes followed with appropriate words.
There was no coffin, but a few pieces of board were laid in the bot
tom of the grave, between the body and the bare ground.
" Wrap him in this blanket," said the father ; " it is one his sister
sent him. Ah, me, how will they bear it at home! What will his
poor mother do ! She must have a lock of his hair."
I stooped to cut the lock with my penknife, when a soldier came
forward with a pair of scissors from his little " housewife." My
heart blessed the Sabbath-school child who had made that timely
gift. And so, having rendered the last offices of faith and affection,
we laid the brave boy in his grave, while the cannon were still roar
ing the doom of others, young and brave, whom we had just left on
the field.
An incident of the fighting before Resaca, told by
Mr. Arthur Lawrence, seems to us worthy to take a
place high in history :
Two of us picked up a man in our arms to carry him off the field.
A shell had struck him in the mouth, tearing an awful wound, which
was bleeding profusely. I offered the poor fellow a drink from my
tin-cup, — a bright, new one, which I had brought
An American
from Chattanooga. One would not have guessed, in
looking at him, that he could have at the time any
thoughts beyond his pain and what would help it. The first sensa
tion after such a wound is well known to be one of intense thirst ;
yet the soldier refused the proffered draught. I asked him why :
" My mouth's all bloody, sir; and it might make the tin-cup bad
for the others."
286 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
He was " only a private," rough and dusty with the battle ; but
the answer was one which the Chevalier Bayard, the knight sans
peur et sans reproche, or Sir Philip Sydney at Zutphen, had not
equalled, when they gave utterance to the words which have made
their names immortal.
The army halted one Sabbath day in Kingston, after
Resaca had been gained. The General Field Agent
gives the following narrative of it :l
When we found that the army was to be at rest over the Sabbath,
appointments were made in the different brigades for two or three
services to each preaching Delegate. I had an appointment in the
Baptist church in the morning, and at General How-
An Involun- arc['s headquarters, in the woods, in the afternoon.
tan/ Interview mi i 111 i
with Gen Sher- church had not been cleaned since its occupa-
man. tion as a Rebel hospital. The sexton, who agreed to
put the house in order on Saturday afternoon, failed
me, and only an hour before the time for service I discovered that
another man, engaged and paid for doing the same work on Sabbath
morning, had served me in the same way. It was too late now to look
for help. I took off my ministerial coat, and for one hour, with the
mercury at ninety degrees, worked with might and main. When I
had swept out the straw, cleared the rubbish from the pulpit, thrown
the bunks out the window, pitched the old seats down from the
loft, arranged them in order on the floor, and dusted the whole house
over twice, it was time for service. I sprang up into the belfry (the
rope had been cut away), and, with some pretty vigorous strokes by
the bell tongue, told the people around that the hour for worship had
arrived. Dropping down again through the scuttle upon the vesti
bule floor, a treacherous nail carried away an important part of one
leg of my pantaloons. It was my only suit at the front, and while
I was pondering how I should present myself before the congrega
tion, a Corporal and two bayonets from General Sherman's headquar
ters, not twenty yards away, came to help me in the decision :
" Did you ring the bell ?"
" I did."
1 Annals U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 498-501.
\
KINGSTON. 287
" I am ordered to arrest you."
" For what ?"
" To bring you to General Sherman's headquarters."
" But, Corporal, I can't see the General in this plight. I am an
Agent of the Christian Commission, and am to preach here this
morning, and was ringing the bell for service. If you will tell the
General how it is, it will be all right."
" That's not the order, sir."
" Well, Corporal, send a guard with me to my quarters, till I can
wash up and pin together this rent."
" That's not the order, sir ;— fall in."
Without hat or coat, and with gaping wardrobe, preceded by the
Corporal and followed by the bayonets, I called at headquarters.
General Corse, Chief of staff, standing by the side of General Sher
man, received me. Without waiting for charges or questions, I said —
" General, I belong to the Christian Commission. We are to have
service in the church across the way, and I was ringing the bell."
" Is this Sunday ? Some mischievous soldiers alarmed the people
by ringing the bell, and an order was issued against it ; but we were
not aware this was Sunday. There is no harm done. At what hour
is the service?" — and, bowing me out, he discharged my guard.
As I entered, General Sherman was drumming with thumb and
finger on the window-sill ; when the Corporal announced his prisoner,
he fixed his cold gray eye on me for a moment, motioned to his Chief
to attend to the case, and, without moving a muscle of his face, re
sumed his drumming and his Sabbath problem, — how to flank John
ston out of the Allatoona Mountains.
This extra duty as sexton, and obedience to the Corporal's " order,"
made it necessary to procure a pulpit substitute for the morning.
The Delegate who preached reported an interested congregation, and
among them representatives from headquarters.
In the afternoon I rode over to the Fourth Corps, four miles away.
General Howard had notified the regiments around of the service.
Two of his Division commanders were present, with Brigadier-Gen
eral Harker, whose promotion was so recent that the
star had not yet supplanted the eagle on his shoulder.
J 5 Headquarters in
This was the last Sabbath service which this manly, the
modest, gallant officer attended. Five weeks later,
288 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
in the charge at Kenesaw Mountain, he was shot dead. That Sab
bath in the woods I shall never forget ; the earnest attention of all
to the theme, — " The safety of those who do their duty, trusting in
God," — the hearty responses of the Christian men, and the full chorus
in the closing hymn,
" When I can read my title clear."
The most effective sermon of the day, however, was by the Gen
eral commanding the Corps, given upon the piazza of his headquar
ters, surrounded by his staff, his Division commanders and other gen
eral officers. Nothing could be more natural than
A Ma j. General , p , ,. ,. .
, '. „, . A the turn of the conversation upon religious topics.
Preaching Christ.
The General spoke of the Saviour, his love for Him
and his peace in His service, as freely and simply as he could have
spoken in his own family circle. He related instances of Christian
trust, devotion and triumph. Speaking of the high calling of Chap
lains, and the importance that they should always be with their
regiments at the front, he told us of his visit to Newton's Division
Hospital the night after the battle of Resaca, where he found a fair-
faced boy who could not live till morning. He knelt down on his
blanket and asked if there was anything he wanted done for him :
"Yes; I want somebody to tell me how to find the Saviour."
" I never felt my ignorance so much before," said the General.
" Here was a mind ready now to hear and act on the truth. What
if I should give him wrong directions? How I wished I had a min
ister's training."
And then he told us what directions he gave, and of the prayer,
and of the boy's smile and peace, — appealing now to me and then to
his generals, if it was not right and beautiful ; and so, under the
pressure unconsciously applied by their superior officer, with lips all
unused to such confession, his Division commanders acknowledged
the power and grace of God.
Rev. Mr. Smith adds a story of hospital work in
Kingston :
The wounded and sick were crowding the town full. The men
came in in the most deplorable condition. Shelter-tents were hastily
KINGSTON. 289
erected for their accommodation. Late one afternoon I was summoned
to see an officer who was supposed to be mortally
wounded. It was Capt. Burke, of the 37th Indiana '
Regt. It did not take long to discover that he was
a devout Christian. He asked me to telegraph to his wife of his
condition, praying me however to break the news to her gently, —
not to say that his wound was mortal. He spoke to me freely of his
past life, and of the slight hope there was that he would survive his
wound. I asked —
" Captain, how does it seem to you to be thus stricken down, with
all your prospects and hopes cut short here in Georgia? Isn't it hard
for you to give up life and leave your family at your age ?"
"It has come suddenly upon' me," was his answer; "but I feel
prepared for it. I have lived close to my Saviour in the army, and
tried to keep my accounts square every night."
He did not die so soon as we at first expected, but lived to get as far
towards home as Nashville, whither his wife came to nurse him. The
few months during which he lingered confirmed my first impressions
at Kingston. He had indeed lived close to Christ and kept his
accounts square. As he grew weak his mind sometimes wavered;
he would call for his comrades, and seemed determined to go to
them ; but his wife could always calm him by saying —
" My dear, Jesus is here ; that is all you want."
His sweet, assured reply was always —
" You are right, wife; that is all I want, — all I want."
When the army moved from Kingston, and a general
hospital had been established further on, the men who
were too badly wounded to be taken to the rear remained
at Kingston, — many of them to die there. Rev. Mr.
Smith, returning to Chattanooga a little later, gives an
account of a day's work among them :l
Coming back from the front, I learned that the Delegates had left
Kingston, and that there was no Chaplain in either of the two hospitals.
1 Annals, U, S. Christian Commission, pp. 501-503.
19
290 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
It was two weeks after the hard fight on the right by the Fourth
and Twentieth Corps, and I knew it must be the
Words 1 ^me ^or manv °f the wounded to die ; and they must
not die alone. I determined to forego business at
Chattanooga and stop over. There were many low cases. Four or
five, I was sure, would not live twenty-four hours. One was too
far gone to converse. Nothing could be done but to write to his
little daughter, the only surviving member of his family, as one of
his comrades said. Another could speak only by nods and the
pressure of the hand. By this means of communication I learned
that he was peacefully waiting to die. As I prayed at his cot his
"amen" was given by the pressure on my hand, and when the peti
tion rose for wife and children the responses came thick and fervent.
He slept in the night, and never woke. Another was seeking the
Saviour, and ventured to trust before he died.
Another, an Indiana soldier, sent for me in the night. He was
dying, — a fair-faced boy of eighteen years. His leg had been cut
off by a shell, #nd amputation had prostrated him beyond recovery.
The Three Pho H° ^^ ^ Sabbath"scno()1 bov- He wanted me to
tographs. take his last words home to his mother and sister :
" Poor mother, how she will take on ! Tell her
not to cry for me. I love Jesus. I put all my trust in Him. When
you prayed with me this afternoon I felt my soul going right out to
Him. Tell my sister not to fret after me. I have done the best
I could for my country, and now I want them to meet me in heaven.
Tell my sister to be sure and hold out faithful."
He gave me his memorandum and pocket-book and a number of
keepsakes ;— asked me to pull the two rings from his hand and send
to his sister, and tell her that they were taken off after his hand was
getting cold. After prayer we sang-—
" There is a fountain filled with blood."
He joined in, breaking the tune now and then with—
"Yes, yes; if he could trust Him, I can." " Yes, when I die."
"That will be sweeter." "Power to save; power to save; I used
to sing that hymn at home, but it was never so good as this ; —
power to save."
I gave him my hand for good-bye. He drew me down for a kiss,
DYING IN GEORGIA.
Page 291
KINGSTON. 291
and Mrs. George1 must have one also, and the nurse; and then we
left him. Before I had passed through the ward the nurse called me
back : — " He wants to speak to you."
When I reached the cot he asked to see the daguerreotype pictures
in his memorandum-book. I took out three and held them up one
by one. Mother came first.
" Dear mother," he said, as he took it in his trembling fingers ;
" good-bye ; I wish I could see you, but I am going to die in Georgia."
In tears and sobbing he pressed the ambrotype to his lips; — "Good
bye ; good-bye." He takes the next :
" Sister, dear sister ; don't fret for me ; I'll see you again ; only
be faithful; good-bye, dear sister, good-bye;" and he prints on the
glass his dying kiss.
The next one he gazes upon with unutterable longing. His lips
quiver, and his whole frame shakes. He calls no name. He kisses
it over and over, and holds it under his hand on his breast. I put
my mouth close to his ear and whispered, " This is hard."
" Yes, it is hard ; I would like to go home ; but I am content."
"You are dying now, before you are twenty years old. Are you
not sorry you enlisted?"
He looked at me steadily. His sobbing ceased, and with a firm,
deliberate tone he said —
" Not a bit ; I was glad when I enlisted, and I am glad now. I
am willing to die for my country."
That midnight scene cannot be described. The patients in the
ward, who could walk, gathering round ; others in their beds, rising
up on elbow ; the nurses standing about, — one of them holding, at
the head of the cot, the single candle of the ward ; the prayer, the
hymn, the last message, the good-bye, the family leave-takings, and
the consecration unto death on the altar of country ; — they fill a
blessed page in my memory, but I cannot transfer it to you.
Rev. H. McLeod2 recalls an incident of his work after
Johnston was driven from the Allatoona Mountains :
1 This lady volunteered as nurse to the Indiana soldiers during the war. When
Gen. Sherman reached the coast she met " her boys" again at Wilmington, N. C.,
and there, prostrated with toil and fever, died in one of their hospitals.
2 Pastor of Congregational Church, Brentwood, N. H.
292 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Captain B., of an Ohio regiment, was brought in fatally wounded;
yet he did not so think. He was a rare man, and inspired peculiar
respect in all who came into his presence. Every one who ap
proached his part of the ward stepped lightly and
T spoke low. With his consent I read the twenty-third
Psalm and offered a brief prayer. At parting he
took my hand and pressed it very warmly ; the movement told me
that he was either already a Christian, or at least wished to lean upon
Christ. A Surgeon told me that he was not a Christian, he thought,
though strictly correct in all his outward life.
I saw him several times until I had a reasonable assurance that
the grace of God had brought him to know the Saviour. He still
expected to recover. One evening the Doctor called me hurriedly,
saying the Captain wanted at once to see me. I was soon at his
side ; the Surgeon had told him that he would scarcely live until
morning; he wanted me to write three letters for him. His had
been a severe struggle, — that of giving up life with all its prospects,
but he could already say, " Thy will be done." The first letter was
to an elder brother ; its burden was that, though both had neglected
the Christian teachings of their revered grandfather and precious
mother, still there was forgiveness with Christ ; he hoped that he
himself had obtained that forgiveness, and expected soon to meet his
loved teachers in heaven. Then came a letter of counsel to a
younger brother. I doubt not the "Dear Charlie" will prize it,
coming as it did from a dying brother's heart, as more precious than
gold.
Then, with some hesitation, as if too sacred to speak, he gave me
the name of her whom he loved above all on earth. He was too
weak to dictate now ; the tender duty had been put off too long ; I
must do it for him, as best I could :
"Tell her how much I miss her sweet voice and presence; give
my love to her excellent father and mother, and ask her to say that
it seems presumption in me to try to comfort such mature and earnest
Christians."
I wrote the letter and read it to him ; he was satisfied, adding a
wish that he had known me sooner. I read to him the description
of heaven in the 7th chapter of the Revelation.
"Yes, that is beautiful," said he,— "'Washed and made white in
KINGSTON. 293
the blood of the Lamb.' If it was God's will," he solemnly added,
" I would like to live longer, — but His will be done."
Rev. G. C. Noyes l adds another incident :
Passing from one cot to another, I came to a man whose hair and
beard were gray. I spoke to him, cheerfully :
" Your gray hairs show that you ought to be a soldier of Jesus,
but not a soldier of the Government."
He caught first at the imputation in the last part >t Complete in
Christ Jesus.
of my remark :
" I don't think, sir, any man in my regiment has done the Govern
ment more faithful service than I. I never lost a day by sickness."
"How old are you?"
" Fifty-two ; and my term of three years expires Sept. 12th."
" What is the matter with you now?"
Turning down the counterpane, I saw that his right arm was am
putated close to the shoulder, and his right leg close to the knee. He
had been shot in the leg before Atlanta on August 7th, and as he
was being borne from the field, another ball struck him in the arm.
" Giving an arm and a leg for the country," said he, " is no great
gift for one to whom Jesus has given all things. It is a free offering.
He will accept the sacrifice ; and all the more bless the cause for
which it was offered up."
He had walked with the Saviour for many years; and I have never
seen such exalted patriotism in combination with such victorious
faith in Jesus. Physically a mutilated man, he was yet " complete in
Christ Jesus." He was " mustered out" by the death angel on Sept.
7th, five days before his term of service would have expired ; and, I
doubt not, with all wounds and hurts healed, is now resting at home.
Two incidents from the reminiscences of the General
Field Agent may close this chapter and the record of
the Atlanta campaign :
A soldier came into our rooms in Nashville to get an envelope.
Pastor of (N. S.) Presbyterian Church, Laporte, Ind.
294
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
He said he had a letter to send home for one of his comrades. He
drew from his blouse a small package, carefully
M ^ H* ' " wrapped, and opening it, held up the scrap of a leaf
from a memorandum-book. It had bloody finger
prints on it, and a few words hastily written with a pencil. The writer
THE LAST LETTER.
said he was the soldier's "partner." In the charge on Kenesaw
Mountain he found him staggering back from the line, the blood
streaming from his mouth, and covering his hands and clothes. A
minie ball had cut off his tongue at the root. He tried to speak, but
could not. Finally, by motions, he made his partner understand his
ATLANTA. 295
want, — paper and pencil. A scrap was torn from the diary ; and on
it the boy, held up by his comrade, with fingers dripping in blood,
and trembling in death, wrote —
" Father, meet me in heaven."
He tried to write his name, but it was too late ; life had fled ;
where the name should have been was a faint, irregular, vanishing
line. Thus do the thoughts of our soldiers, waking, dreaming, dying,
turn ever homeward.
After we had occupied Atlanta, a Delegate was sent for by a nurse
to see a man who was about to die in one of the warehouse hospitals.
He found him a young man of Christian education, but struggling
with painful doubts as to the truth of the Bible and
the way of salvation through Christ. He wanted to and Mother too"
believe, but could not. The Delegate had frequent
interviews with him, but seemed to make no progress in the attempt
to lead him to the Saviour. One night the soldier called the nurse
and asked him to set a candle at the foot of the bed, so that the light
might strike upon a "Silent Comforter" hanging upon the wall.
The leaf that had been turned over for that day bore the verse :
"Whoso cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." In the morn
ing early the soldier again sent for the Delegate and asked him to
feel under his pillow for a letter from his mother. It was an affec
tionate entreaty to her son to accept Christ. As the Delegate read,
he came to the words, " Whoso cometh unto Me, I will in no wise
cast out."
" There," said the sick man, " that's what I want. I thought
mother said that. Read it again." It was read :
" Mother says that, does she ? "
" Yes."
"And it's in the Bible too?"
" Yes."
" Then it must be true. Jesus will receive me. I will come to
Him. Here, Lord, I give myself up."
So far as could be determined from the few days of remaining
earthly experience, it was a genuine surrender of the will to its Lord.
CHAPTER XI.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
FROM THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG, UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.
June 1864— April 1865.
THE movements to get into Petersburg before the
main body of Lee's army could arrive to defend it, were
unsuccessful. Two assaults, on June 16th and 18th,
were repulsed with heavy loss ; and the most that could
be done was to extend the flanks of the army, — on the
north, along the James, towards Richmond, and on the
south, towards the Weldon railroad. Towards the close
of July advantage was taken of Lee's withdrawal of five
divisions of his army to the north of the James to meet
demonstrations against Fort Darling, to explode a mine
in front of Burnside's Corps. A Rebel fort was blown
up, but the succeeding assault was a failure. A fort
night later both flanks were again extended. This time
Warren took and held the. Weldon road. In the close
of September and beginning of October, Warren's lines
were again extended at the south, and Fort Harrison,
an important Confederate defence to the north of the
James, was captured by Gen. Butler. This sanguinary
campaign closed with the movement of October 27th, in
which all the forces that could be spared from the
trenches were thrown against the enemy's works cover-
296
BEFOKE EICHMOND FELL. 297
ing Hatcher's Run and the Boydton plank-road. Our
forces had the advantage in the fighting, but prudence
decided against holding the long, thin line, and by No
vember 1st the army was again about in the position
held before the movement.
There was comparative quiet after this, except a per
manent extension of the flank to Hatcher's Bun in Feb
ruary, 1865, until Lee's attempt in March to cut our
army in twain by a well-planned but poorly executed
assault on Fort Steedman. Immediately after this be
gan the final movements of Gen. Grant, which resulted,
on Sunday, April 2d, in the evacuation of Petersburg
and Richmond. One week later the Confederate "Army
of Northern Virginia" surrendered.
The incidents of the period covered by these events
are of such a character that we shall group them with
less regard to the order of their occurrence than we
have done in the other chapters. From the account of
Rev. E. F. Williams, we take the history of the begin
ning of the Commission work in its new circumstances :
A station had been established very early in May at Bermuda
Hundred, by Mr. J. R. Miller, with a large corps of Delegates. This
was for work in Gen. Butler's army. There were two hospitals here,
and a number of batteries without Chaplains. At Point of Rocks,
four miles up the Appomattox, a hospital was established which re
mained throughout the war. From Bermuda Hundred, the wounded
of Sheridan's cavalry were visited, and large quantities of stores
distributed to them. When the Eighteenth Corps went to White
House Landing, Mr. Miller and his corps of Delegates accompanied
them, establishing there the station which did so much to relieve the
wounded.
Delegates and stores reached City Point, June 15th. A station
was at once established which existed for more than a year. Here
298 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Delegates reported as they entered the army, and stores were re
ceived. Supply-wagons for the front were almost always waiting in
front of the warehouse ; — in short, this was the Commission's busi
ness centre, and so continued until the fall of Richmond. It was a
religious centre as well. Chaplains, officers, Surgeons, Stewards,
gun-boat Commandants, — all gathered here to ask and to receive.
We shall begin with incidents connected with physi
cal relief. Mr. Ludlow Thomas, of New York City,
writing in July from the General Hospital at City Point,
says :
I found the boys very anxious to write home. Some had paid as
high as forty cents for a sheet of paper and envelope. Pens, ink and
pencils were scarce, so I cut pencils into halves, and distributed these,
telling the boys to write their letters in pencil, and I
ters for the Men wou^ i11^ the directions for them. The first day I
directed and mailed over eighty letters. For many
of the poor fellows, too badly wounded to hold a pencil, I wrote let
ters, sitting alongside of them on the ground. Many of the epistles
proved to be the last. At first they wanted me to compose the letters
for them ; but I told them it would be much better to dictate, that
such a letter would please their families far more than a stranger's.
They knew that everything said would be sacred with me, and most
touching were some of those messages home. Not a few of the letter
sheets were wet with the tears of the amanuensis.
Where it was possible I always had them sign their own names,
and often held up the poor fellows to do it. Once I gave a pencil to
a man to sign his name, and seeing that he was rather long about it,
I turned to talk to another soldier, so as not to embarrass him.
When I came back I saw that the grateful boy's delay was caused
by his adding, in a trembling hand —
" This letter was written for me by an angel of the Christian Com
mission."
Mr. Walter S. Carter1 gives an account of relief work
Of Milwaukee, Wis.
AFTER FORT HARRISON. 299
on the extreme right, just after the taking of Fort Har
rison :
In company with Rev. Dr. Philip Schaff, ^ev. L. E. Charpiot2 and
several others, I left Point of Rocks Hospital on the afternoon of
September 30th, for the front of the Army of the James. A large
four-horse Commission wagon, loaded down with supplies, accompa
nied us.
Emerging from the woods into an open field near the James, the
rapid discharge of artillery, intermingled with the continuous crash
of musketry, apprised us of a renewal of the contest of the day be
fore. We hurried on, arriving at Aiken's Landing about five, cross
ing the river on the muffled pontoon thrown over by the Eighteenth
Corps on Wednesday evening. Pushing on up the Varina road, we
soon came across the skirmish line held by the enemy when our
forces advanced ; and a little further on, another and stronger line,
not yet completed. Entering a thick pine wood, night and rain
overtook us ; ahead of us was a long train of army wagons ; behind
us the ambulance train ; past us every moment dashed horsemen, —
some towards the front, others towards the rear ; in the woods on
either hand our men were kindling fires to dry their clothes and make
their coffee. Still along we went, until turning to the right we en
tered the ample grounds of the Cox mansion, where
we found the flying hospital already established. ^
The yard was full of tents filled with wounded men,
— officers of all grades, and privates, Union and Rebel, white and
black soldiers. Hundreds had already arrived and more were con
stantly coming. From every quarter moans of agony and cries for
help could be heard, but there were none to answer them. Every
soldier who had gone through the two days' terrible conflict un
harmed, was standing, that dark, rainy Autumn night, without fooji
or drink, with his face to the foe, in the trenches a mile in advance
of us. The Surgeons had prepared their operating-tables, and were
already at their awful work.
1 Of the German Reformed Church ; Secretary of the N. Y. Sabbath Com-
mittee.
2 Pastor of Congregational Church, Stratford, Conn.
300 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Getting permission of Dr. Richardson, Surgeon in charge, we im
mediately pitched our tent for work. An adjoining house was
sought, a fire built, a large kettle of water put over, and coffee made
by the gallon. Condensed milk and sugar were added. With pails
filled, and provided with tin cups and lanterns, our seven Delegates
went forth on their errand into every tent, until there was not a
wounded man who was not abundantly supplied. Boxes were then
filled with fresh, soft crackers, and again the circuit of the tents was
made, and the men helped to all they would have. Next more coffee
was carried round, and after that, in cases where it was thought
necessary, Jamaica ginger or brandy was given to the men. Then
another visit was made with a supply of shirts and drawers for such
as needed them.
" We never expected such treatment as this," said a wounded
Rebel to a Delegate.
" Give me your name, so that when the war is over I can come
to see you, and thank you better than I can now," said another.
Engaged in such a work, the hours went by unnoticed, — seven,
eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and one were gone before we even
tried to sleep. Going into the house, we wrapped our blankets about
us, and were scarcely on the floor, when word came
Broken Rest.
that twenty more ambulances loaded with wounded
had arrived. We rose at once, and again made all the former rounds
of distribution to the sufferers. Making a second attempt to get a
little rest, we were hardly asleep when the Surgeon came to inform
us that the enemy would probably renew the attack at daylight, and
that we were within range of their shells. Immediately we struck
our tent, loaded up our supplies again, and by the time the army
train was ready to move, our wagon was ready for its place in the
line.
The ways in which the men might be helped were
almost numberless. Eev. J. Gordon Carnachan,1 writing
in October, tells of one :
Bill D was a private in the 91st P. V., a young lad about
1 Pastor of (O. S ) Presbyterian Church, Troy, Bradford co., Penna.
FIFTH CORPS HOSPITAL. 301
seventeen, somewhat thoughtless, and, I regret to say, given to card-
playing, for which I had several times remonstrated with him, once
even threatening to report him if I caught him at it
again ; for it was an amusement particularly forbid- A jiundredDol-
den in the wards of the Fifth Corps Hospital. One larsfor Mother.
day he accosted me —
" Say, Chaplain, could you get this changed for me ?" handing me
a hundred dollar Treasury note with coupons attached.
" Oh yes," I answered, taking it ; " but what do you want change
for, Bill ? "
" Well, you know a fellow wants something to spend, and that is
of no use to me as it is."
" Well, I can get it changed for you," I said ; but his card-playing
propensities recurred to me, and willing to have a short talk with
him, I sat down on the bed close by. In a roundabout way I got
him to talk about his mother, about his younger brother and sisters,
about the Sabbath-school he had attended, and about home affairs
generally, till I saw he was in a very softened mood. He said at
last—
" Well, read that, Chaplain, and tell me if you think there is a
better mother in the world than mine." And he handed me a letter
he had but a short time previously received from home. I had Bill
just where I wanted him, and handing him back the letter, said —
" I tell you what, Bill, the very best thing you can do with this
note" (I had held it in my hand all the time), " is to send it un
changed to this good mother of yours."
He paused a moment, then slapping his thigh, as if it were a most
wonderful, novel idea, exclaimed —
"By thunder, Chaplain, it's a good thought; send her the note."
I walked off with Bill's Treasury note in triumph, satisfied that I
had made a hundred dollars for his widowed mother; and with the
conviction that Bill, with all his harum-scarum habits, had a streak
of real goodness in him."
Rev. J. M. Lowrie, D.D.,1 in a narrative of his march
in December with the Fifth Corps and the First Divis-
1 Pastor of First (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, Ind.
302 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
ion of the Second and Gregg's cavalry, along the line
of the Weldon railroad, gives a picture of the Delegates'
willingness to share the soldier's hardest lot for the sake
of ministering to his comfort :
Denied the privilege of taking wagons, Corps Agent Chase asked
for volunteers to go on foot. Mr. E. W. Metcalf,1 Mr. Lewis Morris,2
Rev. S. T. Livermore,3 Rev. I. S. Schilling4 and myself volunteered.
We had to carry our own rations and blankets, and
march with the men. We were up at three o'clock
in the Ranks.
on the morning of December 7th, and after stowing
away our five days' supply of " hard-tack," coffee and bread, were
ready to start at five for the headquarters of the 3d division of the
ambulance train, with which we were to go forward. The march
began along the Jerusalem plank-road, in the midst of a drizzling,
cold rain, — only a foretaste however of what was to come. Fifteen
miles from camp we reached the Nottaway, where we were detained
until dark laying a pontoon bridge. We crossed at last with the first
division, and went on five miles further, almost to Sussex C. H., where
we camped for the night. We had no tents ; so all we could do was to
spread some flat fence-rails in front of our fire, put our blankets on
top and try to sleep. But to us uninitiated, the soft side of fence-rails
was not conducive to rest. At two o'clock in the morning a sudden
dash of rain in our faces caused a hasty resurrection from our couch
of rails, and before three the bugle note of preparation for the march
was sounded. Ere it was light we joined the forward-moving columns.
Passing Sussex C. H., we turned to the right, and struck the Weldon
road at Jarrett's Station. The work of destruction here began with
out any serious opposition from the enemy. By the light of the
burning railroad we spent our second night, encamped on high ground
and exposed to the cold winds. We shivered through the few hours
allotted for sleep.
Before light next morning we were again in motion. The troops
tore up the track, burned the ties and bent the rails along nearly
1 Of Bangor, Me. 2 Qf Brooklyn.
8 Of Lowville, N. Y. * Of Clarksburg, Va.
ALONG THE WELDON KAILROAD. 303
twenty miles, to the bridge at Hicksford. Three miles from that
place at noon, the main army halted, while the cavalry and one
infantry division finished the work of destruction, repelling repeated
attacks of the Confederates. By the burning road we camped again
on the third night. We put pine brush this time under our blankets
to protect ourselves from the wet ground ; but soon after we lay
down it began to rain. After a while this was turned to sleeting and
freezing, so that in the morning we were stiff with ice. We renewed
our fire, but it was scarcely any protection against the pitiless storm.
With daylight came the order for our return march. The expedi
tion had been a complete success, and we could at least thoroughly
sympathize with the joy and alacrity wherewith the men prepared
for the homeward tramp to the comparative comfort of their camps.
All day till ten o'clock at night we waded through the mud and wet,
making a Sabbath day's journey of twenty-five miles. One of our
party gave out on the morning of the last day ; another could
scarcely drag himself into camp, — where our brethren warmly wel
comed us, and were untiring in ministering to our wants.
There were but few men wounded in the expedition, so there was
little opportunity for our anticipated work. Yet we had number
less little proofs that our weary mission had not been in vain. Many
a word of comfort to tired and desponding men it had been our priv
ilege to drop as we went along at their side. Many we were able
to aid materially in other ways. But it was the sight of our sharing
with them the dangers and toils of the way which most affected both
officers and men, strengthening their confidence in the reality of our
ministry, and giving us an authority when we spoke to them again.
We had but done our duty, yet the brave boys thought we had done
much more.
It is impossible to measure the value of the little
words of sympathy which the Delegate could drop as
he labored. Rev. N. M. Bailey,1 writing from New
Market Roads in the Army of the James in January,
1865, says :
Pastor of the Meth. Epis. Church, Henniker, N. H.
304 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
One day a soldier came into our tent and sat down; said he had
come for a little talk. He was in trouble. He went through all the
particulars of his case. I said to him at the end —
" My dear fellow, I am very sorry, but we can do
A Word of ,, . f, ,,
nothing lor you.
" I know that ; — I know you can't," he rejoined ;
" but I thought a word or two from a Christian man would help me
a good deal, even if he told me he couldn't do anything."
Rev. H. J. Patrick,1 ministering to the wounded in
February after the extension of our left wing to Hatch
er's Run, tells the story of a hospital quilt :
I came to one bright countenance, that of Jonas Hefele, Co. G.,
94th N. Y. He looked up at me smilingly, from beneath a very
neat bed quilt. I asked him if he had slept well.
" Oh, yes," he answered very cheerfully.
"He GivethHis ,.- . 1^-1^^ .-\
„ „ „ My eye just then caught sight of a motto on the
quilt. I read it and showed it to him : "'He giveth
His beloved sleep.' Kennebunk, Me., Soldiers' Aid Society." What a
smile went over his happy face, as he read and re-read it.
"You must sleep well with that motto near you," said I.
" Yes," said he, "do you know who wrote it?"
It was in a lady's hand. I told him I did not, but that I knew
who wrote the first words ; and then I spoke to him of who " the be
loved" were, and who it was that gave them sleep. And I could see
that he was listening earnestly to every word I said.
How cheerful the brave boys were, — all of them. One I saw look
ing comically at the bullet-hole through his leg.
" Well," said he, " that's a fancy hole. Now," he continued argu-
mentatively, " that'll get me a furlough, just what
Cheerfulness. .„ ,,„
my wire wants.
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, W. Newton, Mass.
2 Mr. C. E. Bolton, a Delegate in August, 1864, writes: " One day while attend
ing to the wants of wounded Union and Kebel soldiers, huddled together on
board the boat ' Ida/ which stopped at City Point on its way to Fortress Monroe,
I listened to the following conversation between two soldiers, — one Union, th?
HATCHER'S RUN. 305
Another looked up at me, with tears coming out of such glad eyes:
" God has been very good to me ; I've been thinking of His pre
serving care."
Rev. Thos. H. Pearne1 writes of the same battles :
During the night and through the next day we worked, helping
the men from and into ambulances, giving them coffee, farina, cor
dials and words of comfort and cheer. The night was bitterly cold.
Some of the wounded remained in the ambulances
"God Bliss the
for ten hours, scantily covered, — some 01 them with
of Fees"
only a single blanket. Three poor fellows died thus,
whose wounds were not necessarily fatal. There were about eight
hundred in all to be attended to. The men were very demonstrative
in their gratitude.
An Irishman, whom I had several times assisted, and who was
shivering in the bitter cold, inquired of me —
"Are ye a Chaplain?"
"No."
" A Surgeon ?"
" No."
" And what be yees, thin ?"
" A Delegate of the Christian Commission."
" I don't know much about thim ; but I say, God bliss all the likes
of yees."
Rev. J. H. Moore2 illustrates further the ministry of
sympathy, in a letter from City Point, in March :
I have no doubt many sick and wounded die in the hospitals from
other a Rebel. Both had undergone amputation, and the nurses were trying to
place the Union soldier on a stretcher; his leg was in such a condition that they
were afraid to touch it. The brave fellow laid hold of the stump himself and
steadied it, then told them to put him on. The Rebel admiring the courage dis
played, said, 'Well, Yank, you're full of pluck, anyhow.' 'Yes, Johnny,' was
the Union boy's answer, 'and I calculate to keep full of pluck as long as my leg
is four inches longer than yours.' "
1 Member of Portland (Oregon) Quarterly Conference, Meth. Episc. Church.
2 Minister of Farm Eidge (0. S.) Presbyterian Church, 111.
20
306 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
sheer want of sympathy. I called one day, for the first time, on a
soldier who had been sick for several weeks with chronic diarrhoea.
He did not know that he was any better ; had not
MakiiKi him .,, i • £• • i • i i i i
written to his mends, indeed was not able to write
smue.
himself; did not want any one to write for him ; did
not care even that his friends should know he was in the hospital.
He had scarcely any appetite ; did not get anything he cared to eat.
All this I drew from him by point blank questions, for he was too
despondent even to converse. I asked him to think of something he
would like to eat :
" I don't know of anything," was the lugubrious answer. I tempted
him with the Commission "bill of fare," dwelling in a luscious,
cookery-book kind of way, over the several articles. A smile, — very
awkward it was, for the requisite muscles were indignant with disuse,
— came into his face at last :
" I think I could eat some canned peaches, if I had them."
How the poor boy relished them, when they were brought ! After
wards, as often as I entered the tent, he always greeted me with a
smile, and was very ready to converse.
The army was pretty generally paid towards the close
of February. Access to the express offices was almost
impossible for the immense majority of the men. The
Commission undertook to carry to the offices what the
soldiers wished to send home, and return express receipts
to the men.1 In the middle of March, when marching
orders were received, another service, it was found, could
be rendered to the men ; this was expressing home the
1 It is impossible to give full statistics of this work. It was very tiresome
while it lasted, often keeping a " receiver" at each station busy from early morn
ing until eight o'clock in the evening; after this the invoices had all to be made
out, An idea of the magnitude of the transactions may be got from the reports
of several stations;— At City Point Hospital during seven weeks of March and
April, $288,000 were thus received. From Sheridan's Cavalry, in one day, at
Hancock Station, $30,000. In a division of the Fifth Corps, over $55,000. The
amounts were mostly small, ranging usually from $10 to $50, though there were
many sums exceeding these.
QUIXXIPIAC TABERNACLE. 30?
AVinter and extra clothing, &c., which they would not
need in the prospective campaign.1 Rev. Dr. Robert
Patterson recalls an incident connected with this
work :
Riding up to a prominent pine tree pole from which the stars and
stripes swung out, I discovered a large chapel and tent. I should
have supposed myself at an express office, if there had not been evi
dence to the contrary. Scores of soldiers, with all
manner of bundles, gum blankets and other gear, n 7 „. °%e? ,/
God .Blessing.
packed up in candle and cracker boxes, in old shirts,
handkerchiefs and towels — in everything capable of containing
clothing, were crowding round the door of a large square tent with
marquee roof, bearing a flag marked " Quinnipiac Tabernacle."2 It
was seated with rough lumber, church-fashion, and contained several
wagon loads of parcels like those which were being received outside.
Light marching orders had come ; the men must leave behind over
coats, blankets, and all surplus baggage. Where should they leave
them ? The government made no provision for taking them to the
rear ; in a few hours out of all that camp there would not be even a
guard left. They knew that the Christian Commission could do
almost anything, so they came and asked if it would not express
their clothing home to their families. Gen. Warren was anxious that
this disposition of the articles might be made if possible. So from
this one station went over $40,000 worth of clothing. Remarking to
one of the men who was waiting his turn, that I didn't hear as much
swearing as formerly :
" No, Chaplain," said he, " there ain't half the cussin' there was.
But if you were down at our camp when the boys was packing up,
you'd have heard a power of God blessin' the Christian Commission
for this here job."
1 At City Point Hospital, during March and part of April, 3204 packages of
various kinds were thus forwarded. At a station in the Fifth Corps, the value
of the clothing committed to the Commission was nearly $90,000. This property
would have been almost certainly a dead loss to the men, if it had not been thus
collected ere their march began.
2 " Quinnipiac" was the old Indian name of New Haven, Conn. The chapel
was purchased with funds from friends of the Commission in that city.
308 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The value of the work of temporal relief was most
obvious during the hot months of 1864, among the men
iti the trenches. Not only was there great liability to
casualty here, but the extraordinary hardships brought
on sickness. The dreary sameness of the service also
did much to dispirit the troops assigned to it. The
Commission labored hard to supply the men with proper
diet, — especially fresh vegetables, and took care of very
many wounded. The materials for letter writing were
distributed extensively.
«/
The graphic narrative of " Carleton,"1 concerning
this work at the extreme front, presents a fair picture
of what was to be done and how it was done :
•
The day was hot, dry, dusty and sultry. The sun shone from a
brazen sky. The grass and shrubs were scorched and withered and
powdered with the dust, which rose in clouds from every passing
wagon. There was not air enough to stir the aspens,
or shake the long, lithe spires of the pines. The
birds of the forest sought the deepest shade, and lolled and panted
in the heat. It was hard even for men in robust health to breathe.
They picked out the coolest places and gave themselves up to the
languor of the hour. It required an earnest effort to do anything.
And yet through this blazing day men sat crouched in the trenches
from morning till night, or lay in their shallow rifle pits, watching
the enemy, parched, broiled, burned, not daring to raise their heads
or lift their hands. To do so was death.
The hospital tents, though pitched in the woods, were like ovens,
absorbing and holding the heat poured from a cloudless sky. Then,
upon the ground lay the sick and wounded, fevered and sore, with
life at ebb tide, with energies exhausted, perspiration oozing from the
faces, nerves quivering and trembling with fever, pulses faint and
feeble. Their beds were boughs of pine. They lay as they came
1 In a letter to the Congregationalist, July 29th, 18C4.
AT THE FROXT. 3l)9
from the battle-field, wearing their soiled, torn and bloody garments
of army blue. Millions of flies buzzed around.
The Surgeons in charge were kind-hearted and attentive. They
used all means in their power to make the patients comfortable.
This was the place where the sick were to regain health, or from
which they were to be removed to the General Hospital. They were
far from home and friends. There was nothing to cheer them —
nothing to stimulate. Hope was dying out, and despondency setting
in, with memory summoning the dear old times, and revealing by
contrast a dark and gloomy future.
It was the Sabbath day, and there were many among the suffering
hundreds who had reverenced the day at home. It was a day of rest
— of cessation from toil and care. Its return recalled their former
Sabbaths — the still hours, the pealing of church bells, the grand and
solemn music of the organ, or the hum of children's voices in the
Sabbath-school. Is it a wonder that they had longings for home,
or that the future was gloomy ?
The day was wearing away. There was no cloud curtain in the
sky to shut out the sun, but the brazen dome glowed with steady
heat. The Christian Commission tent had been besieged all day by
parched and fevered soldiers, who wanted onions, pickles, lemons,
oranges — anything sour — anything to tempt the taste. There was a
box of oranges which had been brought from City Point the night
before. It was suggested that they be distributed at once to the
sick and wounded. " Certainly, by all means," was the unanimous
voice of the Commission. I volunteered to be the distributor.
Go with me through the tents where the sufferers are. Some are
lying down, with closed eyes, with pale faces and sunken cheeks.
The paleness underlies the bronze which the sun has cast upon them.
They breathe languidly. Some are half reclined, leaning on their
elbows, bolstered by their knapsacks, looking into vacancy — seeing,
perhaps, the old home, and wondering if they will ever again cross
its threshold. Some are reading the papers which the Delegates of
the Commission have distributed. There are some who have but
one leg. There is the stump of a thigh, or an arm, with the lightest
possible dressing to keep down the fever. Yesterday those men stood
in the trenches confronting the enemy, in the full tide of life. Now
310 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
they are wrecks, flouting out into the unknown future, with wife and
children, or parents dependent on them.
As we enter the tent they catch a sight of the golden fruit. There
is a coin motion. Those half asleep rub their eyes. Those half re
clining sit up straight. Those lying with their backs towards us turn
over to see what is going on. Those so feeble that
they cannot turn ask what is the matter. They gaze
at the apples of Paradise. How their eyes gleam ! Not one of them
asks for an orange ! They wait. Through military discipline,
through unparalleled suffering, they have learned to be patient — to
wait — to endure — to remain in suspense — to stand still and be torn
to pieces ! They are heroes !
" Would you like an orange, sir?"
" Thank you."
It is all he can say. He is lying upon his back. A miuie bullet
has passed through his body, and he cannot be moved. He has a
noble brow — a manly countenance. Tears moisten his eyes and roll
down his sunken cheeks, as he takes the orange from my hand:
" It is a gift of the Christian Commission, and I accept your thanks
for those who made the contribution."
'• Bully for the Christian Commission !" shouted a wide-awake, jolly
soldier near by, with an ugly wound in his left arm.
"Thank you," " God bless the Commission," " I say, Bill, arn't
they bully?" are the expressions which I hear behind me.
In one of the wards I came upon a soldier who had lost his leg:
the day before. He was lying upon his side. He was robust, healthy,
strong and brave. The hours dragged heavily. He did not see me
till I stood before him — and not even then. He was stabbing his
knife into a chip with a nervous energy, as if he was in imagination
bayoneting a Rebel — trying to forget the pain — trying to bridge over
the lonely hours and shut the gloom out of the future. I touched his
elbow. He looked up:
" Would you like an orange?"
"By jingo! that is worth a hundred dollars!"
He grasped it as a drowning man clutches a chip, as if to lose a
thousandth part of a second he would miss the prize.
" Where did this come from ?"
"The Christian Commission had a box arrive last night."
' THAT'S WORTH A HUNDRED DOLLARS."
310.
AT THE FRONT. 311
" The Christian Commission ? My wife belongs to that. She
wrote to me about it last week, that they met to make shirts for it."
" Then you have a wife ?"
" Yes, sir, and three children."
His voice faltered. Ah ! the soldier never forgets his home. He
dashed away a tear, took in a long breath, and was strong again.
"Where do you hail from, soldier?"
" From old Massachusetts. I had a snug little home upon the
banks of the Connecticut, but I told my wife that I didn't feel just
right to stay there when I was needed out here, and so I came, and
here I am. I shall write home and tell Mary about the Christian
Commission. I have been wishing all day that I had an orange ; I
knew it was no use to wish. I didn't suppose there was one in camp;
besides, here I am, not able to move a peg. I thank you, sir, for
bringing it. I shall tell my wife all about it."
It was worth a hundred dollars to see him suck the juice — every
drop, as if it was as precious as life itself. But enough. It was one
of the happiest hours of my life — that passed in the distribution of
those oranges — not that I was the almoner, but because of the exhi
bition of spontaneous, unmixed, heartfelt gratitude, not towards me,
but to the friends far away.
Another narrative, from the pen of Delegate C. H.
Richards,1 continues the story of the same work:
We pass by regiments and batteries, by sentinels who look curi
ously at us, by the headquarters of officers of all grades and ranks,
through field and grove, till we come to the covered wagon-road lead
ing to the outer lines. Through this passage-wav,
. . Getting to the
which was channeled out that ammunition and sup- ^
plies might be safely taken to the batteries in front,
we may pass without risk of life or limb. Following the devious
windings, we find ourselves suddenly in a fort or earthwork, made of
gabions and fascines, strengthened and cemented by an abundance
of the " sacred soil," while numerous sand-bags crown the parapet.
If you will look out through this embrasure you will see that we have
1 Of Andover Theological Seminary, Mass. The narrative is from letters pub
lished in the Sunday School Times.
312 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
no further to go. For just beyond are our abattis, and then a thin
picket line, and then the disputed territory into which a man may
not advance a rod without paying dearly for it. But somebody is
plucking you by the sleeve. Looking round, you find that several
soldiers have gathered about you :
" Can you spare me one of those papers ?"
" Of course I can, my good fellow ; I brought them down on pur
pose for you."
. " And I should like one too," says another. "And
Reading. "' L" "Alld I>" echo a11 the rest-
By this time they have discovered to the right and
left of you along the lines that something is going on up in the fort.
They look, and wonder what it can be.
"I guess it's the Christian Commission man/' says one, and
straightway they begin to troop towards us. They cluster about us
like bees about a honey pot. Their faces are eager, and their hands
are stretched out towards you like a unanimous vote of welcome :
" Something good to read? Well, that's just what we want ! I'll
take a paper if you can spare it."
" There's the dear old Messenger ! That looks like home. I'd like
one of those."
."A Flag paper for me." says another.
" Can you give me a Baptist paper ? I used to be a Baptist when
I was at home," says a gray-headed man, looking at the Examiner
through his iron-bound spectacles.
" I'll take one of those Methodists" says another.
" Well, I don't care what kind you give me, provided I can only
get something good to read," responded still another. And so they
clamor pleasantly about you, and stretch out their hands so eagerly
for your papers and little books, that you are almost bewildered in
your endeavors to satisfy them all. The men are hungry, positively
hungry, for reading. We make our way gradually to the edge of
the group, sending out a word of cheer and encouragement here
and there, thinking to pass further down the lines, towards the
Ninth Corps. But before we are fairly out of the circle, a soldier
says —
"You haven't got a Testament to give away, have you ? I lost
mine in the fight at Cold Harbor, and I haven't had one since. I
IJST THE TttENCHES. 313
can't stand it much longer without one, for a soldier ain't more than
half equipped without a Testament."
" Of course you shall have one, my dear sir, and may God help
you to live by its teachings."
"I should like one, too; mine was lost at Spottsylvania," says
another.
" One for me, too," echoes a third, till half of them are crowding
about again, all wanting Testaments. Perhaps my experience is un
usual, but it is noteworthy that I have hardly ever met a private
soldier in the army, whatever his character might be, who, if he had
no Testament, did not want one. It is a striking evidence of the
strength of religious conviction, even in the hearts of those who are
apparently thoughtless and careless about their most important
interests, and is another proof that the deepest instincts of man's
nature crave comfort and strength from above.
Once more we make an attempt to pass down the lines, when we
are again arrested by a voice :
" Chaplain, have you any letter paper and envelopes ? I haven't
been able to write home for a long time, because I haven't had any
thing to write with. If you could only give me a little, they will
bless you for it up there."
" Here it is, and now write a good, sweet letter to
the wife and little ones."
" That's what I'll do," he says, and his eyes grow misty as he takes
it gratefully. Again the crowd gathers around us, and every one
must have a sheet of paper and an envelope. We are linking the
chain that binds the soldier to his home.
Again we start, and this time we are fairly off. We must stoop
low and walk cautiously now, or we shall get a headache from over
the way. There are not so many men to be seen as in the fort yon
der, and those that we see are snugly ensconced in little pits, which
they have scooped out for themselves, and from which it would not
be safe to venture far. A head or a hand exposed above the ram
parts here is a mark for a dozen sharpshooters in the works opposite.
They cannot well flock to us, but we will creep carefully to them.
Here is a good-natured-looking boy beckoning for a paper. Of course
he gets it. "Zip" goes a minie ball over our heads, and buries itself
with a " thug" in a bank near by.
314 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Chaplain," says the soldier, " did you ever play a game of base
ball when you were a boy ?"
" Yes, to be sure ; but what of that ?"
" Well, you know when you catch the ball, then
Playing Base , . * ^ , , „ , „,,
* you re in. But when you catch one 01 these fellows,
you're out" and he smiled at his own grim joke. But
such a joke serves a good purpose as a text to preach from. He
readily tells us of the deaths that occur here day after day, of the
friends and messmates he has lost while he has escaped their fate, of
the peril he daily passes through. He tells you frankly, of the
solemn thoughts of death and eternity that fill his mind in these
scenes, of the need he feels of having some firm, sure hope on which
to rely, of the longing he has felt to be a Christian. And then how
precious is the privilege, and how easy and delightful the task to
direct him to the Saviour, who is reaching out His arms of welcome
to him.
It is hard to select the few incidents which must serve
as representatives of the soldier's courage and sacrifice
during the period covered by the chapter. Rev. Geo.
Duffield, Jr.,1 a Delegate during June and July, 1864,
tells the following :
W. F. Clark, a private in Kautz's Cavalry Brigade, was taken
prisoner, with two others, on July 2d. While the Rebels were
scouring the woods for other prisoners, the guards who had Clark and
his companions in charge, without a word of previ-
" Not much in the , . .
Rebels' Debt " ous exP^anatlonJ ordered them to march in trout or
them. They blew out the brains of the first one;
then of the second ; and then poured a volley into Clark, leaving
him as good as dead, with one bullet and nine buckshot in him. He
remained where he fell until about four o'clock the next morning,
when, coming to himself, his first thought was of a stream of water
he had passed on the other side of the field. Crawling as best he
could to the stream, he rolled into it to conceal himself, covering every
1 See p. 180. The two incidents were originally published in the Detroit
Advertiser and Tribune.
TWO HEROES. 315
part of him but his nostrils when he heard any one approaching.
That night a poor old worn-out horse came down to the stream to get
a drink. By this time having rallied a little strength*he got up and
caught the horse, made a bridle for him out of a pair of suspenders,
and in that condition rode eight miles before daylight into our lines.
There they put him into an ambulance and brought him to the Post
Hospital at Bermuda Hundred, where Dr. Spees, of Dayton, Ohio,
and I, saw him and heard his story from his own lips. When I last
saw him, seven of the shot had been extracted; the three others he
did not think would give him much trouble. He had no idea, he
said, of dying after being shot in such a mean way. He wasn't much
in the Rebels' debt, anyhow, and once he was able to get on his horse
again, he would soon wipe out old scores.
On the steamboat from Detroit to Cleveland, I noticed an officer
whose straps indicated him to be a Colonel.1 Evidently he was suf
fering from a severe wound, but of its nature I had little conception
until I met him a second time, on the steamer going
-, ,1-0 -!,!• . i • ^ /> The Shortened
down the rotomac, and at his request, by virtue 01 T
Leave of Absence.
my Christian Commission badge, dressed it for him.
It was received in one of the battles of the Wilderness. The ball
striking hifh sideways, had entered and passed through the neck and
shoulder, carrying away some very decided splinters from the verte
bral column. At first the shock was so great that he was completely
paralyzed — and when he received his leave, it was with very little
hope of ever again being able to return to the field. But the ner
vous shock proved only temporary ; his vigorous constitution speedily
began to rally, and his heart to fret at the thought of his men not
having any officer higher than Second Lieutenant (if I remember
rightly) to look after them, and care for their wants. He thought he
could more easily bear the pain and distress of the wound on the
field than the worry at home about his men, and so off he started to
the front, where the weather was the hottest, with a leave of absence
of thirty days in his pocket, and a wound that was good on presenta
tion to a Surgeon for thirty days more.
Rev. E. F. Williams tells an incident of the attack
upon the Weldon road in October :
1 Col. Pulford, commanding the 5th Michigan Kegiinent.
316 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
All the officers of a company engaged in the fighting hud been
either killed or wounded. The Sergeant, upon whom devolved the
command, was'irightened, and the line began to waver. A Corporal
instantly snatched the colors, stepped to the front
Promoted to . T, . ..
£. and led the men to victory. A Brigadier near by
noticed the occurrence and sent for the Corporal
after the fight, to learn his name, — much to the brave man's dis
composure, for he was afraid he had somehow subjected himself to
military discipline. The officer took him to the Major-Gen era! com
manding the Corps, and related the circumstances, the poor Corporal
meanwhile wishing himself well out of the scrape. After a little
private conference, the two Generals came forward and pinned a
Captain's straps upon the Corporal's shoulders, sending him back to
command the company. Before night there was another charge
upon the enemy's position : the newly-made Captain, while gallantly
leading his men, was shot through the heart.
Rev. J. II. Knowles1 was just leaving the army before
Petersburg in June, 1864, at the close of his term of
service, when this incident occurred :
A soldier had been brought in on a stretcher and placed under the
shade of a green tree. He was shot through the mouth ; his tongue
was cut and he could not speak ; the Surgeon said he must die. On
a card he wrote his desire to see a Delegate of the
" Ratty Round /-,,.. ~
the Flag Roys " ^nristian Commission ; they summoned me. As I ap
proached him, he again made signs for pencil and
paper and wrote —
" I am a Christian, prepared to die ;" then after looking about him
upon the soldiers near, he added another line:
" Rally round the flag, boys, rally round the flag."
I took the paper, and with such composure as I could command,
read it aloud to his comrades. As I read, the dying man, speaking
only with his animated face, raised his bloody hand over his head
and waved it, as Marmion shook his sword, with all the enthusiasm
of the charge ; and then quietly, while every eye brimmed with
1 Member of Genesee Conference, Meth. Epis. Church
CITY POINT. 317
quickly-gathered tears, went away out of the midst of the company
into the City of Peace.
Rev. F. P. Monfort writes from City Point Hospital
in June :
Daniel McKenua, an Indian chief of the Atawa tribe, from Bear
Creek, Mich., a sharpshooter of the 1st Mich. Kegiment, lay in one
of our wards mortally wounded. While life was ebbing away, I
questioned him through an interpreter, but could
get no reply till I inquired if he had ever seen a The j)ying
missionary. At this he opened his eyes, and Indian Chief.
smilingly nodded assent, saying in his broken way —
" Mishnare — mishnare — umph — good."
He seldom spoke or noticed anything, but now he seemed to be
pleased, and roused up :
"Ask him," said I, "if he likes the missionaries?"
The interpreter did so, and communicated the reply :
" He says, ' Yes, he likes them first-rate; they are very good men ;
they teach schools and preach. I am the chief, and I am the man
that sees to the house, and makes the appointments for them.' "
" Does he know Jesus Christ is a Saviour ?"
" He says ' Yes ; Jesus Christ is his Saviour.'"
" Does he love Christ?"
" He says ' Yes, he loves Him with all his heart.' "
" Does he ever pray ?"
" Yes, he has been praying to God through Jesus Christ ever since
he was wounded."
"Ask him if he is prepared to die?"
" He says 'Yes, if God calls him to heaven he will go with Him
over there.' "
" Carleton"1 tells the story of the last hours of Ed
ward M. Schneider,2 of the 57th Mass. :
He was slightly wounded on the North Anna, and was sent to
1 In a letter to the Boston Journal, in June.
* Son of Kev. Dr. Benjamin Schneider, Missionary of the American Board at
Aintab, Central Turkey.
318 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Port Royal for transportation to Washington, but, of his own accord,
returned to his regiment, joining it at Cold Harbor. While prepar
ing for the charge upon the enemy's works on the
"Stand by the ^-^ beyond the j)uun House, he said to the Chap-
Flag and the
QrQ8S „ lam, " 1 intend to be the first one to enter their
works."
The charge was made. How grandly they moved through the woods!
How quickly they swept up to the Rebel line of defensive works, like
an ocean billow upon a breakwater, rolling over it, engulfing all be
yond ! The brave young soldier tried to make good his words.
With eager feet he led the advance, breaking out from the line and
keeping a rod or two in front.
He was almost there — not quite — almost near enough to feel the
hot flash of the Rebel musketry in his face — near enough to be cov
ered with the sulphurous cloud from the cannon — when he fell, shot
through the body.
He was carried to the hospital, with six hundred and fifty of his
division comrades. He lay all night with his wounds undressed,
waiting his turn. There was not a murmur from his lips. The
Chaplain looked at his wround :
" What do you think of it?"
Seeing that it was mortal, he could not articulate a reply ; neither
could he restrain his tears. He remembered the last injunction of
the young soldier's older sister — " I commit him to your care." The
young hero interpreted the meaning of the tear — that his wound was
mortal.
" Do not weep," he said ; " it is God's will. I wish you to write to
my father and tell him that I have tried to do my duty to my country
and to God."
He disposed of his effects, giving 810 to the Christian Commission,
$20 to the American Board, and trifles to his friends. Then, in the
simplicity of his heart, he said —
" I have a good many friends, schoolmates and companions. They
will want to know where I am — how I am getting on. You can let
them know I am gone, and that I die content. And, Chaplain, the
boys in the regiment — I want you to tell them to stand by the dear old
flag ! And there is my brother in the navy — write to him and tell
him to stand by the flag and ding to the cross of Christ!"
CITY POINT. 319
The Surgeon came and examined the wound.
" It is my duty to tell you that you will soon go home," he said.
" Yes, Doctor, I am going home. I am not afraid to die. I don't
know how the valley will be when I get to it, but it is all bright
now." Then gathering up his waning strength, he repeated the verse
often sung by the soldiers, who, amid all the whirl and excitement
of the camp and battle-field, never forget those whom they have left
behind them — mother, sister, father, brother. Calmly, clearly, dis
tinctly, he repeated the lines, — the chorus of the song —
" Soon with angels I'll be marching,
With bright laurels on my brow ;
I have for my country fallen :
Who will care for sister now ?"
The night wore away. Death came on apace. He suffered intense
pain, but not a murmur escaped his lips. Sabbath morning came,
and with the coming of the light he passed away.
From a public address by Eev. Kobt. J. Parvin we
take an incident illustrating the Christian loyalty and
sacrifice which could fill a mother's heart when she
heard of the death of her only son :
In June, while the stores were being opened at our base of sup
plies, City Point, a small square box was found to contain such a
variety of very nice delicacies that I inferred they were not intended
for general distribution. My suspicion was confirmed
A Mothers
when we reached the bottom and found that the box
had been opened at the wrong end. Pinned on the
top of a large cake was a note —
" If any one opens this box, except the person it is intended for,
will they please regard the wish and anxiety of a mother, who greatly
desires to comfort and help her dear child, and close it again, and
send it to him if possible ? She has done a great deal for others
during the war ; she wants also to relieve her own son. His address
is Maj. C. E. P -- , 118th N. Y. Regt., 2d Brig., 1st Div., Eighteenth
Corps."
Grieved at our mistake, I undertook to remedy it as well as I
320 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
could. Carefully returning the articles to the box, I wrote to Major
P , telling him where to send for it. In the course of an hour,
the messenger returned with the Chaplain of the 118th, who, on
entering the tent, said —
" Major P— - was shot dead at the head of his regiment a few
days ago."
The date of his death was that of his mother's letter. The con
tents of the box were handed to the Chaplain. I wrote to Mrs.
P , stating the sad intelligence, telling about the box, and asking
permission to retain the letter written to her son. Here are some of
the words of it :
" I. have always, as you know, my dear son, felt that you were in
the right place, and been thankful that you felt it your duty to serve
your country ; but, I confess, my patriotism is sometimes scarcely
equal to this long — long trial. Your danger is now quite as great
from another source as from the war. O Charley dear, seek God's
counsel, and if He makes you feel it duty to remain, then He will
take care of you, or prepare you for His will."
Within a few days came the mother's answer to my letter, grant
ing my wish to keep the communication found in the box, and
breathing throughout a spirit of noblest Christian herois
ism :
"A , July 8th, 1864.
" REV. EGBERT J. PARVIN : DEAR SIR :— Your kind letter is re
ceived, and opens anew the floodgates of a sorrow so deep that only
He who permitted it to fall can give me strength and composure to
reply. * * I had come, almost insensibly to myself, to feel a
sort of security that God would not take my precious child from me,
but would permit him to return and be my staff and comfort in the
later days of my weary pilgrimage. But Infinite Wisdom saw that
this was not best, either for him or his mother. God had prepared
some better thing for him than the comforts and luxuries and affec
tions of our earthly home. ' Even so, Father, for thus it seemeth
good in Thy sight.' * * * * *
" I had sent a box previously, which, owing to purely providential
circumstances, was lost in the multitude. Then I thought, God will
use that to comfort some other poor sufferer, and has intended it as a
test of my trust in Him. So I prepared and sent a second, to prove
CITY POINT. 321
to my own heart that I would trust, though God did see fit to disap
point me. That second box was sent the day after my darling child
passed away into eternity. * * And, now, what can I say to
this ? Is God untrue, and is my faith vain, and shall I cease to trust
Him ? Oh, blessed be His name. He does not permit my mind to
indulge such thoughts ! No, though the clouds that gather around
Him be as dark as midnight, — though not one ray of light can be
seen, I will cling to Him still, I will trust Him yet. He is His own
interpreter, and in His own time and way will make it all plain.
While He gives me the confidence that my child is safe in glory,
where he shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more, where the sun
shall not light on him nor any heat, — I am satisfied. I will be patient;
and I will now give all that earnest desire I had for the temporal
and spiritual good of my own dear child, to all the poor sufferers,
many of whom have no mother to bleed and labor for them. I will
see a son or a brother in every noble defender of my home and of my
country's honor. ***** MARY P ."
And most thoroughly was the resolve carried out.
Rev. W. G. Taylor,1 writing in July, tells a story of
Christ's nearness to His children :
I went into a tent at the General Hospital, and there lay a beau
tiful drummer-boy, sixteen years old, burning up with fever. I asked
him where his home was :
" In Massachusetts, sir." "Jesus u
" Are you not lonely here, far from father and Here."
mother and friends, and so sick?"
"Oh, no," was his answer; "how could I be lonely, when Jesus
is here ?"
The smile that lit his deep blue eye, and played for a moment over
his fevered lips, as he uttered the words, will never cease to be the
sweetest and freshest picture in my memory. My companion asked
him —
" How long is it since you loved Jesus ?"
" So long that I cannot remember when I did not love Him."
1 Pastor of Mount Carmel (O. S.) Presbyterian Church, Penna.
21
CHAPTER XII.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
FROM THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.
(Continued.)
«
June 1864— April 1865.
IT was the soldier's deep trust in God which best pre
pared him for sacrifice. Rev. Abel Wood1 writes of
an interview between Henry C. Smith, 8th Mich. Regi
ment, and his Chaplain :
The soldier had had his left arm amputated, but his life could not
be saved. Towards evening of July 30th he sent for his Chaplain
and asked him to pray once more with him. The Chaplain inquired
as to his trust in Jesus. The man answered clearly
Dying that the and eamestl
Land might be
Riqhteous " Have you no home messages ? the Chaplain
asked.
" No, that's all done."
" You have been a brave soldier and done your duty ; now if you
can trust the Great Captain of your salvation, all is well."
" All is well, Chaplain," the soldier answered. Prayer was offered,
after which the two bade each other farewell.
A little after midnight, as the Sabbath began, the man commenced
praying in a clear, strong voice ; first fervently committing his own
soul to Christ, then offering a petition for the President and the
country, and finally asking that his own death might contribute some
thing to the establishment of a righteous peace. With this prayer,
scarce escaped from his lips, he expired.
1 Professor in Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H.
822
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 323
In August Mr. C. H. Richards relates an incident
which shows the power for good of a consistent, manly
life before God :
An interesting boy from one of the Middle States joined the army
in Virginia. He soon fell in with the most wicked man of the regi
ment, who seemed to make it his chief delight to lead the youth into
lower and lower depths of vice. Fascinated by his
Living it into
companion, the young soldier went to such extremes ™,
of wickedness as would have shocked him beyond
measure before leaving home. At last his attention was drawn to a
pious German in the regiment. He had never spoken with him
about religion, but he saw him constantly reading his Bible with
apparent pleasure ; he heard his voice often in prayer ; there was a
cheerfulness in his face, the index of an abiding joy in his heart ; his
faithfulness in every duty was manifest, and his courage was calm
and deep in the face of danger. Somehow he could not keep from
watching the old man, and believing that there was a reality about
this religion, which made the Christian the happiest man in the regi
ment. Each day the new fascination grew. At length, after a cam
paign of more than ordinary peril, he went to the old German and
asked him how it was that he was always so happy. He was told
that trust in Christ was the secret, and assured that if he would but
give himself away to Him, the same joy would fill his soul. At once
deserting his profligate companion, he determined to follow the ad
vice of his new friend. God gave him His promised faith and joy,
and he too began to live his religion in his life ; so there were two
lights in that one regiment, shining before men ; others were attracted
as the youth had been ; and so the influence went out and on, until
God only can tell the blessed result. It was not the " tongues of men
or of angels" that preached Christ here, but the devoted and sur
rendered lives of humble followers of Him who came to do, not His
own will, but the will of the Father that sent Him.
On the night of August 17th there had been some
fighting with the Rebel cavalry on the left. Some of
our men were surrounded and had to cut their way back
324 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
with severe loss. Among tlie wounded was Sergeant
W. H. Boston, of St. Altmis, Vt. Rev. Chas. L. Nich
ols,1 who ministered to him, writes :
I went through the little flying hospital, and found one man deeply
anxious about a comrade whom he had seen fall from his horse. I
went as soon as I could to the scene of action to search for the miss
ing soldier, whose name was Boston. I found that
Removed Above. , , , , , ,.
he had crawled a short distance irom where he fell.
He was shot through the lungs, and death was approaching. " Water,"
was his first word. I gave him a taste of punch, but he wanted
water ; finding a cup lost by a soldier in the fray, I gave him a drink.
When I had washed his face and wounds he desired me to turn him.
I did so. He smiled and asked me to sit down :
" Sha'n't I go first and get some help to remove you ?"
He smiled again, and answered —
" Before you could come back I should be removed up there,"
pointing upwards with his finger. He dictated a most loving letter
to his wife, and another to his mother. We talked a few minutes,
when he asked me to raise him up. I did so. Without a groan or
struggle he almost immediately passed away.
Contrasting sadly with this triumphant death-record,
is an incident related by Rev. Chas. Cutler:2
While I was working at Cavalry Hospital, City Point, in Septem
ber, a young man was brought in, who was shot in the neck and com
pletely paralyzed. I spoke to him of preparation for death.
" I might as well own up," said he ; " I'm not pre-
Honor that
Dishonors pared ; 1 ve lived a bad life and been a great trouble
to my mother. I've got no religion, and I don't want
any. I won't burn out my candle now, and throw the snuff in God
Almighty's face. I'll die as I've lived. It's honester."
I argued with him, plead the promises, entreated him,— but all to
no purpose :
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Princeton, Me.
2 Pastor of Congregational Church, Francestown, N. H.
CITY POINT HOSPITALS. 325
" I deserve no mercy ; I sha'n't ask for any. I've never prayed ;
I'm not going to do so now,"
Shortly he began to recover the use of his limbs, and it seemed
likely that he would get better. But he always turned away when I
approached, and was unwilling to converse. I was obliged to leave
the army without seeing any impression made upon him.
Rev. Frank F. Jewell1 writes in October:
In one ward of the General Hospital at City Point there were
three conversions. One of these was that of a member of the lllth
N. Y., who, before his entrance into the army, had been a great wan
derer. Disabled in the Wilderness, he was permitted
to go home on a furlough of a few weeks. When "Who'll be my
about to return, his little boy of seven years caught Pa?"
him by the knee, and said —
" Pa, when will you come back?''
The father replied, " I don't know, my son, whether I shall ever
come back."
" Well," said the child, " who will be my pa if you don't come
back?"
The question rooted itself in that father's mind ; amid the excite
ment of battle-scenes he had not forgotten the parting words of his
little boy. And when I came to sit down by his side, and urge him
to attend to his salvation, the work seemed to be already begun. He
at once made up his mind to seek Christ. The next time I met him,
he was writing a letter to his wife, in which he said to her —
" I know now how to answer little Henry's question. Tell him the
Saviour will be his pa, if I don't come back."
Here is a sad little picture of disappointment, from
the pen of Rev. D. Hoyt Blake :2
" George" was a fine- appearing soldier from Jersey City. Before
I left, I was called to accompany him to the last resting place ; and
then into my hands were put his letters and two well-worn pictures
' Pastor Meth. Epis. Church, Adams, N. Y. 2 Of Brooklyn, N. Y.
326 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
of his wife and mother. Looking over his wife's last
Georges Far- ^ to ^ ^ address to which to forward the
lough.
relics, I came upon these words —
" Willie and I, Mary and the baby, will be standing at the corner
Of _ _ street, looking for you, when the cars come in. Do come
soon, George ; it does seem as if I could not wait."
Poor, loving, anxious one! What if my letter with the death
news should find her waiting with Willie and Mary and baby at the
corner !
Mr. John Patterson recalls an incident of his expe
rience during several visits to the hospital at Point of
Rocks :
" Point of Kocks" is a very appropriate name for a place on the
Appomattox, a little above Bermuda Hundred. For miles around
there are no " rocks" worthy of the name ; but here two or three
enormous boulders stick in the face of a precipice,
which rises two or three hundred feet above the
James Anderson.
river. Near by, on the table above the rocks, is a
famous oak, said to be the very tree under which Pocahontas saved
the life of Captain Smith. Far to the south-west are the spires of
Petersburg ; to the south-east is City Point ; to the north, Richmond.
Three hundred yards from the tree is the Military Hospital, and not
far off, the cheerless cemetery. Below, across the sluggish stream,
stretches the pontoon bridge, crowded at both ends with soldiers pass
ing from right to left of the grand army. There was enough within
sight to meditate upon ; more than enough to make one sad, and blot
the view on every hand with gathering tears.
It was here I met my soldier-friend, James Anderson, a youth of
twenty years. His eyes still retained more than a memory of their
once cheerful glance ; but the fallen cheeks and the hectic flush
marked a sure decline. There was so much that was manly and
beautiful about him that his condition excited my deepest sympathy.
I found him, one October evening, resting on the grass by the old
oak, enjoying the cool, grateful air after the heat of the day. The
sun was sinking into the west, bequeathing a glory as it departed to
every exposed leaf of the sleepy trees, to the sails and masts and
POINT OF ROCKS. 327
cordage of the transports that lay upon the James, and cast their
shadowy arms far away into the distance, where there was no day.
The steamboat bells and the softened noise of the whistles came to us
over the long water-reach between, to mingle with the nearer music
of the regimental bands. It would have been pleasant to have given
oneself up to the scene, but the spell was ever broken by the far-off
booming of the Union guns, untiringly pouring their shot into the
Confederate defences of Petersburg, and one shuddered as the dim
outline of the cemetery and hospital could be still discerned. I
turned to the soldier, and asked him if he was sick or wounded :
" I am both sick and wounded, sir."
" Hard enough," said I, taking my seat beside him.
"A ball passed through my body near my left lung. My Doctor
thinks I will recover."
" That's encouraging ; it's a great mercy you escaped so."
" Yes," said he, musingly. " The mercy of the Lord is new every
morning, and fresh every evening."
His manner was very retiring, and he seemed a little unwilling to
talk. But he was a Scotchman, and I must know something more
of him :
" You know something, then, of this Mercy of God ?"
" Oh, yes ; 'As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him.' "
Every word he uttered thrilled me with pleasure, his manner was
so chaste and elegant ; and he seemed so to know whereof he was
speaking.
" You are Scotch ?"
" Yes," said he, and told me his name. When he heard mine, he
added —
" O sir, I suppose you are pretty nearly a Scotchman yourself?"
" Yes," said I, " but not altogether."
We belonged to the same visible Church, and the ancestors of each
name had witnessed for the truth on the same fields in the mother
land.
" I would rather be born," he smilingly said, " of such parents,
than be the child of kings and princes."
I promised, as I was leaving, to bring him some reading matter ;
but his Bible and Catechism were enough, he said.
328 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Through the night and during the next day, I thought much of
my new friend, waiting impatiently for the evening, when I should
see him again. He told me then something of his history. He was
born near Bothwell Bridge, in Scotland. Near by was a little valley
between two hills, and the tear came down his cheek as he told of
it. It was beautiful to see how he turned at once his earthly grief
into blessed consolation :
" But there is a land where ' the Lamb shall feed them and shall
lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes.' "
Tenderly and lovingly he went into all the particulars about his
old home, even to the honeysuckle and sweet-brier around the walls
and the hum of the morning bees. And then again, as his sweet
half talk, half reverie journeyed on, he went up from the earthly to
the heavenly, and told how in the " auld house" he had learned of
what was " sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." And then
he told of the mountain near, and of the brook that clambered down
its sides and ran near the home door, of the trees in their winter
diamonds and summer green, and of the pasture-valley where he
watched his father's flock.
What a precious story too was his account of the training he had
received ! Six farmers' families, near together, used to gather their
sheep on Saturday evening to the most convenient pasture, so as to
have little trouble on the morrow. It seemed to him the sheep knew
when Sabbath came ; they were so much quieter. Three miles off
was the new Free Church ; and thither all went on the Lord's Day ;
only one being left behind to care for the flock, — a duty which the
knowing dog took most charge of, for he knew how to gather the
sheep together on that day without even a bark. The quaint, beau
tiful words of the old Scotch version of the Psalms told how he
thought of the " House of Prayer :"
" I joyed when, to the House of God
Go up, they said to me ;
Jerusalem, within thy gates
Our feet shall standing be."
Thus was the Sabbath indeed a day of blessed rest, free from all
vain talk and worldly enjoyment, " a delight — the holy of the Lord
POINT OF EOCKS. 329
honorable," not a weariness, but a deep foretaste of the Eternal Sab
bath of joy. At the close of the service all gathered together; re
marks were made upon the sermon ; the elder " bairns" catechised ;
and then some extract read from Boston, Willison or Baxter, before
all returned to their homes. His intention to study theology had
been frustrated by his father's death, after his graduation at a Scotch
university. Removing to this country, he had found the war-fever
so high that he enlisted.
His story made a deep impression upon me, — so deep that I deter
mined to visit him upon my return to the army, which was not until
the following March.
I found him amid the old surroundings, trustful and quiet and
beautiful in his talk as ever, and very glad to see me ; all the re
straint which at first marked his manner had disappeared; but it was
sadly evident, as I looked at him, that he was nearing his end. I
made him lean on my shoulder as we walked together along the
river's bank. Said he —
" I imagine my case is like that of one of my own countrymen, —
poor Michael Bruce. But he did some good to the world ; his poems
will never be forgotten. He intended to study for the ministry, but
was early called to the Church above."
He went on to repeat some stanzas from " Lochleven," one of
Michael Bruce's poems :
"Thus sung the youth, amid unfertile wilds
And nameless deserts' unpoetic ground :
Far from his friends he strayed, recording thus
The dear remembrance of his native fields, —
To cheer the tedious night, while slow disease
Prey'd on his pining vitals, and the blasts
Of dark December shook his humble cot."
" I feel like him in many ways ; far from the friends I love, I need
remembrance to cheer away the gloom."
Once again, and for the last time, I met him. His old cheerful
ness remained, but the nearness of the end made the interview more
solemn. Again he recurred to his favorite poet, and quoted from
that pathetic "Elegy," which seemed to have been written for Anderson
himself:
330 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"Now Spring returns; but not to me returns
The vernal joy my better years have known:
Dim in my breast life's dying taper burns,
And all the joys of life with health are flown.
"Starting and shivering in the inconstant wind,
Meagre and pale, the ghost of what I was,
Beneath some blasted tree I lie reclined,
And count the silent moments as they pass; —
" The winged moments, whose unstaying speed
No art can stop or in their course arrest,
Whose flight shall shortly count me with the dead,
And lay me down in peace with them that rest.
"Oft morning dreams presage approaching fate,
And morning dreams, as poets tell, are true; —
Led by pale ghosts I enter Death's dark gate,
And bid the realms of light and life adieu.
" I hear the helpless wail, the shriek of woe,
I see the muddy wave, the dreary shore,
The sluggish streams that slowly creep below,
Which mortals visit and return no more.
"Farewell, ye blooming fields, ye cheerful plains;
Enough for me the churchyard's lonely mound
Where Melancholy, with still Silence reigns,
And th' rank grass waves o'er cheerless ground.
" There let me wander at the close of eve,
When sleep sits dewy on the laborer's eyes;
The world and all its busy follies leave,
And talk with wisdom where my Daphnis lies.
"There let me sleep, forgotten in the clay,
When death shall shut these weary, aching eyes, —
Rest in the hope of an Eternal Day,
Till the long night is gone and the last morn arise."
Surely here was the very scene before us : the Spring returning, —
but not for him ; the old oak under which he stood ; the winged mo
ments soon to lay him with the dead ; the pale ghosts on every bed
of that hospital of sorrow near ; the muddy, dreary, sluggish Appo-
mattox, and the waiting crowd visiting it now, perhaps to return no
CITY POINT. 331
more; the remembered story of his home; the graves near by; and the
Hope that turned the whole to gladness, — and would yet make the
long night flee away.
But a few days more of life were left him. About the 25th of
March the weary, aching eyes were shut, and he rested in hope.
Mr. J. H. Morley relates an incident of the result of
courage in facing the consequences of doing duty :
A young man, trying to lead a Christian life, was persecuted by
his tent-mates. When he knelt down to pray at night they hurled
boots and sticks of wood at him. In great trouble he went to ask
advice of his Chaplain, who for some reason coun
selled him to say his prayers secretly, and thus , j, ,
escape persecution. The young man tried to do so
for a short time, but at last returned to the old way. His Chaplain
met him soon afterwards and inquired how he was getting along.
" Nicely," was the answer.
" Did you follow my advice?" continued the Chaplain.
" I did for a little while," said the soldier, " but have changed back
to the old way now."
"And what is the result?"
" All my companions," (ten or a dozen in number) " kneel down
every night with me. Isn't it better, Chaplain, to keep the colors
flying?"
Mr. H. L. Porter1 shows how -a blessed work of God's
grace may come from an act of kindly relief:
One evening in August I was returning to my quarters at City
Point Hospital, when I saw a soldier ahead leaning against a tree.
I went and spoke to him ; found him very weak. It took us to
gether a long time to reach the hospital. I visited
him afterwards occasionally. He attended our meet- dier could 1)0°
ings and became a disciple of Christ. The evening
before leaving for the front he asked our prayers. There was not a
Christian man known to him in his regiment, and some officers did
Of Haverhill, Mass.
332 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
not like to hear anything about religion. He returned to work, how
ever. A prayer meeting was started in the woods ; he told his story ;
several were converted. In November he wrote me a letter, con
taining an account of progress :
" We have now twenty-five members, and, by God's assistance, we
shall have a still larger increase. Now we have a tent to ourselves,
which we were permitted to use by our Colonel. Last night, being
Sabbath evening, it was full. It is a hospital tent and pretty large :
but I don't think it will be large enough for us in a short time. We
have prayer meetings on Wednesday evening and Sabbath morning
and evening ; on Friday evening there is a class-meeting, and on Sab
bath afternoon a Bible-class. So we are not altogether idle. We
have organized a society, adopted a constitution, and taken a name ;
'Young Men's Christian Association of the 9th N. J. Regiment.'
God has been with us everywhere we have been." He goes on to
recall the prayer meetings at the hospital, and to thank the Com
mission, and then concludes : " The more I pray the better I love the
cause of Christ. I am just beginning to realize His religion, for I
am a young beginner, but trust that I may be always faithful in well
doing.
" JOHN GERRIGAN."
Eev. E. F. Williams, telling the history of New
Market Station in the Army of the James, in Decem
ber, relates the following incident :
When the rebellion broke out, J— - was a citizen of Virginia, be
longing to a company of volunteer militia. He voted against
secession, but when this was forced upon his State and his regiment
was to be called soon into the field, he left Virginia
and, with his family, secretly moved to Maryland.
Name among the
People of God. Here during Lee's invasion he was recognized by
an old neighbor, and arrested as a deserter. He
was hurried to Carlisle, Pa., as a prisoner, thence to Gettysburg,
where under guard he witnessed the terrific battle. In the confusion
of retreat he escaped to the Union camp. Here, mistaken for a
Kebel prisoner, he was sent to Fort Delaware, whence, after vexatious
delays, he was at last released. Getting his family together again,
NEW MARKET STATION. 333
he removed to Pennsylvania. In July, 1864, he enlisted in the
Union army, with the stipulation that he should only be called to
do duty where he would not be exposed to capture by the Con
federates, — an arrangement which was overlooked by his officers.
He was present at the dedication of our chapel on the New Market
Road. God met him and convinced him of sin, giving him faith
and repentance unto life. When those who desired to enroll them
selves on the Lord's side came forward to give in their names, he said,
as he handed in his, that he had enlisted under a fictitious name,
fearing to fall into Rebel hands; but he added most earnestly —
" I want my right name taken among the people of God."
During the Winter he was full of hope. It was a treat to hear
his testimony to God's grace, spoken with his strong German accent:
" I used to laugh at dese tings, unt find fault mit de breacher ;
some vas too long unt some too short, some vas too
"Old Things
pig unt some too little, — but now dey shoost suits me. become jyew »
I lofe dem all ; I lofe dis house ; I lofe de wort of
G-ott, unt I mean to serfe Him all my life. My bredren, be firm, be
faitful ; stant up for Jesus, unt notings vill harm you. I vas afraid
at first, myself, but I to my duty. I read my Bible, unt though my
wicked frients shake head and laugh, I know ven dey see me in earn
est, dey vill soon quit dis foolishness."
He was afterwards transferred to the North-west, to serve against
the Indians.
Rev. Edward P. Smith, called from Nashville to the
Central office, visited the Potomac Army in December.
He writes from City Point :
After a preaching service in the crowded chapel tent, those desir
ing instruction upon the subject of religion were asked to remain.
Among some thirty who accepted this invitation, I noticed a young
lad, apparently fifteen years of age, who remained by
himself in a corner of the tent. I went to him at ^P^ted for
Duty and under
once and asked why he had stayed : Orders.
" Because you told me to."
" Then you want to be a Christian ?"
" Yes, sir, I do that."
334 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" What is your name ?"
" Tom Brown, sir."
" You are a New York soldier ?"
" Yes."
" Did you ever go to Sabbath-school ?"
" Yes, always."
" Have you a mother ?"
" She was a Christian ; she has gone to heaven a long time ago."
" Well, why are you not a Christian, Tom?"
" That's what's the matter ; that's just what I stopped for, — to find
out how to become one."
" Well, don't you know how ? What did Paul say to the jailer,
when he wanted to know what to do to be saved ?"
" I have heard that a great many times, but somehow I don't do it,
and I don't know how to do it."
I explained to him then as well as I could the nature of faith,—
what it is to give oneself to Christ and leave all with Him, and
accept of Him as the Saviour. But Tom seemed to get no relief. I
then tried a new form of illustration :
" Who is your commanding officer, Tom ?"
" Lieutenant ."
" Suppose the Lieutenant should send to-night for you to report to
him ; what would you do ?"
" I'd report, sir."
" Right off?"
" Certainly, sir ; I obey orders."
" When you came to his quarters, what would you say?"
" I'd give him the salute, and say, 'Lieutenant, what's the orders?' "
"And when you got the orders — ?"
" Then I would do 'em, sir."
" Well, now, Tom, the Lord Jesus has sent me to you to-night, and
orders you to report to Him at once."
" I'll do it ; I'll do it, sir," and the little fellow looked round for
his hat as if he were going.
" Wait," said I, " Tom, till I have told you all. The Lord Jesus
is here, listening to you and me; knows your words and your
thoughts and all you mean to do. Now if you get His orders, will
you do them ?"
CITY POINT. 335
" Yes, sir, right away.'t
I asked him of his companions. He told me of an irreligious
bunk-mate :
" Tom, if you are going to be a Christian, don't you think Jesus
will want you to talk and pray with that bunk-mate to-night ?"
" Yes, if a fellow's going to serve Jesus, he must take hold of it."
" Well, exactly what Jesus wants you to do, — that's the order. And
don't you think, too, that He wants you to write your sister in the
morning, and tell her how you feel and what you are going to do ?"
" Certainly."
" Well, that's the order, Tom ; and so you'll find it all along in
life; just what Jesus wants you to do, — that's the order. Now, are
you ready for duty ?"
" Yes, all ready."
' To take all the orders He'll give you as long as you live ?"
"Yes."
" Well, Tom, let us kneel down here and ' report' to Jesus."
We knelt; I prayed for him and he prayed for himself, keeping up
the figure with which he had been led to the Saviour :
" Here I am, Jesus ; I report for duty. All You order me to-night
and to-morrow and as long as I live I am going to do — "and with
this prayer he went away. As he was passing out at the chapel door,
Brother Blake, not knowing what had transpired, stopped him and
asked if he was not going to be a Christian.
" Yes," said Tom, " I'm under orders."
The next morning he came to our quarters, his face lit up with the
joy of newly-found peace and hope. During the few days in which
he remained at the hospital, his testimony for Christ was beautifully
clear.
A story related by Mr. H. V. Noyes,1 in a letter from
Point of Rocks, dated January 23d, shows the soldier's
yearning for love :
As I passed, one forenoon, along my accustomed rounds, a dying
boy, far as he could reach, stretched out his wasted hand, asking me
Of Western Theological Seminary (O. S. Presbyterian), Allegheny, Pa.
336 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
to come that way. I went to his side. He put his cold arm round
my neck, and drew my face down to his.
"Let me Call
you Father" OLI ma^e me think of father," said he. "Let
me call you father ; you won't laugh at me, will you,
if I call you father ?"
" No, my dear boy, call me father, if it will be any comfort to
you."
" Last night," he continued, with broken utterance, " last night, —
when — you — prayed, — I — wanted — you — to — come — nearer ; I was
— so — sick. I couldn't — hear."
I asked him of his dying hopes :
" I can't— read— much— now ; but,— thank— God— " It was too
much, he could say no more; and the sentence remains for ever unfin
ished. I suppose he was thinking of reading in his Testament.
Again, he spoke: " You'll— let— me— kiss— you— now,— won't—
you ?" And then he pressed his lips to my cheek and gave his fare
well sign. I put my mouth to his ear, and offered a fervent petition,
that God, for Christ's sake, would receive him to Himself. The cold
sweat was already gathering, and the darkness of death was about
him :
" You'll— stay— with— me— all— night,— won't you?"
I told him I would come back, after I had gone on a little further
up the row of cots. Gently,— oh, how gently, I removed his arm
from my neck, and bade him good-bye.
A few minutes later, I heard them saying, " Thompson is dead."
I hastened back ; the cot was already empty. It only remained for
me to find him again, and cut two locks of hair, — one for the mother
in Vermont, the other to be kept in sacred remembrance of the sol
dier who, in his dying breath, desired to call me "Father."
Rev. N. M. Bailey1 writes from New Market Roads
in January :
One noble old soldier from Michigan, named Peter Whitmore,
said to me —
" I had a pleasant home ; a dear family of children and grandchil-
1 Minister of Meth. Episc. Church, Henniker, N. H.
CITY POINT. 337
dreii ; a good farm ar d all that, — but I wanted to
do something to help put down this rebellion, and rjoura e
destroy slavery. I believe the Lord is on our side,
and will soon give us the victory. I didn't suppose I could go through
so much as I have, — but the Lord has helped me. I have prayed
to Him every day, and I trust He will take me back home again,
safe ; but if not, it is His will, — and it's all right."
To faith such as this, God's sending was ever the
best. Rev. A. L. Pratt1 writes :
I found a Maine soldier, about twenty-four years of age, in one of
the hospitals at City Point. His good right arm would not again bear
a weapon against his country's enemies. It was amputated just below
the shoulder-joint. He was an earnest Christian, and
grateful for our slightest favor. One day he looked jj™ • /
up into my face with a cheerful smile, and said —
" It seems to me I can't be grateful enough for losing my arm. It
made me thoughtful, and opened the way for your Delegates to visit
me, and ended in my finding Christ. ' It is better,' I think, ' to enter
into Life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet
to be cast into everlasting fire.' "
The following narrative is from the pen of Rev. J. K.
McLean.2 It is such a vivid picture of a fair and open
conflict with the Adversary, and illustrates so many
points of the Delegate's work, that it is given entire :
With Brother George W. Bigelow, a member of my own church,
I was deputed to establish a Commission station at the Cavalry De
pot of the Army of the Potomac, then — from January to March,
1865 — located two miles below City Point, on the
. , n, ,, T > ,. Cavalry Depot.
same side of the James. It was a camp of dis
mounted cavalry, numbering at different times from 350 to 2000
men, and composed of those who had lost their horses in action and
were waiting here to be remounted ; of wounded men and convales-
1 Minister of Meth. Episc. Church, Bradford, Vt.
2 Pastor of the Hollis Congregational Church, Framingham, Mass.
22
338 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
cents on their way back from hospital ; a corral of horses ; an armory,
smith shops, saddle shops, depot of clothing, equipments, &c.
Previous to our coming, little Commission work had been done for
the camp. An occasional Sunday service and an irregular distribu
tion of papers was all. On Monday, January 16th, Brother Bigelow
and myself, both entirely new to the service, filled our haversacks
with Commission ammunition, and started on foot through the inter
vening two miles of mud and camp offal, for our scene of operations.
Our first duty was reconnoitring. We discovered the case to stand
about as follows : Here were some 500 men, and more daily arriving,
with nothing to do, under lax discipline and few restrictions, stop
ping here for a few days on their way to the front to
A. Reconnois- . . .-, 0 /> ,1
. ^ take part in the feprmo; movements or the army,
sance in Force. to > Jt
which for the cavalry would be especially hazardous.
Many of them were sure to be shortly either maimed or killed.
What was to be done must be done quickly.
The material of the camp was peculiar. The old men, those who
had been dismounted or wounded, had nearly all been engaged in
the constant raiding of the last campaigns ; stopping nowhere beyond
a few hours, with few or no Chaplains, they had attended no Divine
service for months ; some of them had not for two years. " Camp
Stoneman," during the Winter of 1863, on the Rappahannock, was
the last place in which many of them had heard anything of "relig
ion." There were large squads of raw recruits also constantly com
ing in ; many of whom were at this time about the worst class of men
probably ever sent into any army, — professional " bounty -jumpers,"
thieves — given their choice between entering the army or the peni
tentiary, and other refuse matter from the large cities.
The very atmosphere of that fine January morning was reeking
with profanity and fetid with vulgarity and obscenity. Some of the
men, when they came to know who we were, restrained themselves a
little in our presence ; but as yet we were unknown, and the foul
thoughts came out in foulest words. It was a discouraging prospect
to human view, — two men drawn up before this stronghold of Satan,
with, so far as we knew, not a single Christian in it; sin rampant;
blasphemy stalking unrebuked ; our only arms the little tracts and
books we held, — light artillery indeed against such walls of sin — yet
we were there to carry that camp for Jesus. We seemed to ourselves
CAVALRY DEPOT ; CITY POINT. 339
like two men who should march with pickaxe and barrow against a
huge mountain to remove and cast it into the sea. But remembering
that faith can remove mountains, we began our work, and, with
God's blessing, at least made some impression.
We visited every tent ; told who we were, what we had come for ;
gave out needles, thread, paper, envelopes, newspapers and books ;
invited every man to come to our chapel meetings, when we should
get the chapel up. We were in every instance
kindly received —even cordially. We found some r Profanity, at
Home and in the
Christians ; and almost all of the better sort said — A
" Oh, yes, of course we'll come to meeting — always
used to go at home !"
" But, boys, did you swear so at home ?"
" No, we didn't ; that's a fact."
" Do you expect to keep it up after your return ?"
"No."
" Won't it be rather hard to break off all at once ?"
" That's so ; just the reason we swear so now ; got used to it with
the horses, and now don't think."
The horses, according to a cavalryman, are responsible for a great
deal of swearing. Many acknowledged the foolishness of the habit,
and more than one was pledged that first day to give it up. Such
efforts, with a public talk on the subject on Sunday, went far to
cleanse the air of the vice. Doubtless it still existed, but was far
less obtrusive ; oaths were probably discharged in private, but they
rattled less furiously about our ears.
Our main business was to get a chapel built, and in it to hold re
ligious services. In this we encountered most vexatious delays. We
had promise from the officer commanding the post, of men, and
lumber from adjoining Secesh estates, for a stockade
chapel roofed with boards, the Commission at this in ape
time having no canvas cover to give us. Every day
for a week, this promise was renewed. A few logs were cut, but that
was all. One freezing morning, after waiting eight days, we took off
our coats, borrowed some pickaxes, and set at work to dig a trench
for our stockade. This brought out both the Captain of the Dis
mounted Camp, and the officer commanding the post. The picks
were at once taken out of our hands ; a strong detail of men put on ;
340 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
and we rejoiced at the near prospect of having a sanctuary. From
stormy weather however, from failure in getting boards, — the hope
of which we finally abandoned and roofed our building with canvas
taken from a chapel elsewhere — and from other causes, it was not
until February 12th that our tabernacle could be dedicated.
Meantime, we had been holding meetings at the Convalescent
Camp, a half mile distant, in a tent or hut whence rations were dealt
out. Into this we gathered one night four or five men who could
sing, and struck up some of the stirring soldiers'
The Work Be- , TTT^I • i 1^1 ^
hymns. Within a half hour over forty had come in.
gins. J J
We held a brief service, then asked any who were
Christians, and not afraid to own it, to rise. Four stood up instantly.
This was our nucleus. The next night, five asked for prayers, and,
from that time until the meetings were transferred to the large
chapel, hardly a night passed without some new cases presenting
themselves. Thus by the time our chapel was finished we had
gathered a goodly number ready to take hold and help on the
meetings.
It really seemed as if the powers of evil had combined against our
chapel. We had to build by the help of bounty-jumpers, who would
work only as one of us stood by and watched. The building was
fairly plastered and shingled with oaths ; for never
did a wickeder set of men build a House for the
Lord. Then, during the dedication, a gale of wind blew, which first
so flapped our canvas roof about the long stove-pipe that it was
pulled apart and almost shed its lengths down upon us; that secured,
the roof itself, all along one side, loosened with a crack, and would
have gone, had not one of the men, just in time, caught the flying
canvas, and, though repeatedly lifted from his feet, held on until help
came and it was secured. That same evening a large squad of re
cruits came. It was very cold ; there were no quarters for them, —
not even shelter-tents ; we cheerfully opened our chapel to them for
the night. The next morning a heavy rain came on, and continued
throughout a week. No quarters could be built; more men were daily
arriving ; so that soon two hundred were quartered in our chapel.
And such a place as it became ! The mud was almost as deep within
as without ; water continually poured through the roof; refuse pork,
coffee grounds, tobacco quids and all manner of filth were trodden
CAVALRY DEPOT; CITY POINT. 341
into the miry floor; the air reeked with tobacco smoke and was fetid
with foul breath ; some of the men grew sick, many of them became
troublesome and quarrelsome ; it was only by frequent interference
on our part and threats of turning all out into the storm, that we
could keep them in control. The Prince of Darkness had apparently
gained a final triumph. It was with the utmost difficulty that we
could hold our meetings in the rank and noisome place. But we did
hold one every evening in spite of the surroundings, and with most
blessed results.
Every evening, I think without exception, some rose for prayers
or spoke of a newly-found hope in Jesus. Our meetings were
crowded ; sometimes as many as fifty or sixty would rise, and as
many as twenty speak. It was no carnal battle-ground. The Holy
Spirit and Satan there contended mightily. During the day card-
playing, profanity and ribald songs were the order. At evening
these gave place to prayer, preaching and praise. One night, after
one of our best meetings, the chapel had become quiet. The lights
were out and, save an occasional snore, all was silent, — when we were
startled by the cry of " Murder — murder." The guard rushed to the
spot ; we came with our lantern ; and such a scene as we saw would
be hard to describe. It afterwards appeared that some evil-minded
persons, whether of those belonging within or without the building
we never discovered, had set about picking pockets. The alarm
given, at once in the darkness there ensued a promiscuous knock
down fight, which was ended only by the arrival of the guard and
lanterns. After that we kept a lantern burning in the chapel, and
a guard detailed for the door. Through such scenes the perennial
strife between good and evil went on.
It was a full week ere the chapel was cleared. Then it took a
detail of men a whole day to clean it. By scraping the seats, newly
sanding the floor and trimming the rough walls with cedar boughs, it
was made a very pleasant and really attractive
place. With this our troubles ended ; and during Brought to
the rest of our stay we had clear sailing. A Bible- storm
class and inquiry meeting were held every afternoon,
and a fully-attended service every evening. There were daily con
versions. Among the converts was a man who had enlisted in a
Pennsylvania village which contained seven churches, but for fifteen
342 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
years lie had never been in one of them, and had never intended to
go again. Coming in with the recruits who were quartered in our
chapel, the first night or two he went out into the storm and waited
until the meetings closed. He took cold and resolved to stay in, the
next night. He did so, became interested, and finally determined to
live a Christian life.
Another soldier, named McF , an iron-roller, from Pittsburg, a
fine-looking, stalwart man of thirty-five, came to the tent-door one
morning to ask if we could not put a stop to the gambling going on
in the chapel. He thought it out of place and sure
7/i Church in , T , . . , . .
S ite of Himself . provoke a quarrel. I went in with him, and,
after stopping the card-playing, had a talk with him.
He told me this story : He had been accustomed to make good wages
in the iron-mills. With the other men he would quit work Saturday
noon, dress up, and in the evening go to the theatre or " spree it."
He would come home at midnight or later and go to bed drunk.
His patient wife, a Christian, — a member of the Episcopal Church, —
would sit up for him, help him to bed, take his muddy boots, dry,
clean and polish them, and in the morning beg him to go with her
to church. He would refuse and she would cry. This had hap
pened, for a year or two, forty Sabbaths out of the fifty-two. He
felt his degradation and the wrong he was doing his family, but had
not the moral strength to break away from his associations and do
better, until at last in a kind of desperation he enlisted, as much as
anything else to be free from his wife's importunities towards a better
life. He arrived at City Point the day our chapel was dedicated,
and was one of the squad quartered in it. What was his dismay at
finding himself in the midst of preparation for a religious service !
He had left home to get rid of these ; here he was suddenly among
them again. He rolled himself in his blanket, and lying down in
an obscure corner, tried to sleep, but could not. He heard little that
was said, but could not shake off the feelings which his church-
quarters had awakened. He slept little that night, thinking of his
patient, uncomplaining wife, his children and his own past conduct.
At last, for the first time in years, he was driven to pray. A few
nights later he rose for prayers. I felt very hopeful about him.
But old propensities proved very strong. One day he was greatly
provoked, got into a fight, and came near being put under arrest.
CAVALRY DEPOT ; CITY POINT. 343
After this he avoided us and left the meetings entirely, until I met
him one morning in the swampy woods back of our camp, and
accosted him. He tried at first to get away, but finally sat down.
I told him I was sorry about the fight and could hardly blame him,
his provocation had been so great. I still had confidence in him, and
expected he would do well. It seemed to do him a world of good.
That night he was again at meeting, and every following night while
we remained. I know not whether he became a Christian. " The
Commission," he used to say, " has done more for me than all Pitts-
burg could."
It was surprising to see how soon the men came to put confidence
in us. They would come and tell us about their wives, children and
sweethearts, and show us their pictures. One poor fellow received a
letter containing news of his aged mother's death. He came with it,
though a perfect stranger to us, and saying no word, with falling
tears handed it to us to read. He wanted sympathy, and instinct
ively felt that representatives of Christ could best afford it. Boys
brought us their wallets to keep. One offered us five dollars for
having kept his over night. Men put into our hands money to ex
press home, and watches to carry when we returned North. With
no knowledge of our personal character, with only the endorsement
which the Commission gave, the men reposed unlimited confidence
in us.
It was, I think, the second day our flag had been displayed, that
Brother Bigelow, returning from a tour through the camp, found a
man waiting at the door to see us. He was a member of the mounted
Fquad at headquarters ; came from Jersev City : was
c . • . ' ' The Spirits
the son 01 pious parents ; had at home a pious wife, o -,y \
but had himself resisted all religious impressions.
He had been a member of a convivial club in Jersey City, where he
had been hurrying to ruin. He enlisted, came to City Point, and
there, apart from any external religious influences whatever, be
came thoughtful, penitent, and finally a child of Christ. During the
two months since his conversion, he had seen but one person with
whom he could converse on the subject of religion. Passing our sta
tion the day before, he saw the sign " Christian Commission," and,
though knowing nothing of us, the name " Christian" attracted him.
In his own words, " I thought that there I should find some one with
344 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
whom I could talk." As soon as he was off duty he came over to our
tent, and finding no one in, patiently waited our return. Thus
Brother Bigelow found him. With moistened eye and quivering lip
he related his story. We saw him often during our stay, and were
convinced that he was indeed a changed man.
Our last service at the camp was deeply affecting. The chapel
was crowded. Rev. S. L. Bowler1 preached that evening, and after
some remarks we bade the men good-bye. Even in the short time
we had been with them we had come to love them, for we had found
noble, manly hearts among them. As we left the pulpit after the
benediction, they stood in double line all the way down to the door.
As from one after another we received a hearty grasp of the hand
and heard their " God bless you, Chaplain !" we thanked the Lord
that He had placed before us such an open door.
I have narrated these things thus fully, for the reason that the
experience at this station was measurably unique. It was a definite
effort, made in circumstances favorable to show the working power
How Great the °f tlie Commission. We found a camp wholly given
Victory was. UP to g°dlessness, the good which was in it buried
out of sight — almost smothered in superabounding
evil. By a moderate effort, through God's blessing, and that in a
short time, this state of things was almost wholly reversed, so that
the good was uppermost and the evil forced to skulk. Large num
bers of men, just on the eve of the sanguinary battles which termi
nated the war, were brought under Christian influences, whereto
many of them yielded, and rode on to death prepared to meet it.
After we left, the meetings were continued under the efficient charge
of Mr. D. C. H. Whitney, of Fitchburg, Mass. The station was one
of the last broken up ; our stockade chapel had to be abandoned, as
the weather grew warm, for a larger ; and night after night many
souls, almost a "multitude," heard and "received with meekness
the engrafted word" to their salvation.
The work in connection with the numerous chapels
erected over the entire army was one of exceeding in
terest. In many of them revivals were begun. In all
1 Of Orono, Me. Long the Agent of the Commission at the Washington Office.
THE ARMY CHAPELS. 345
there were deeply fervent and prayerful meetings. Rev.
E. F. Williams writes of Henry Station Chapel in the
Third Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps:1
One evening a man belonging to a battery, three-fourths of a mile
from our chapel, strayed over to the meeting. He became greatly
interested in the service. When about half-way home he kneeled
by a stump and prayed. The next night, with a
companion, he sought the meeting again. The stump p
saw two praying souls that night, and upon their
return to camp they began to work for Christ, and in a few weeks
forty men out of that battery alone found peace in believing.
Eev. Wm. A. Mandell2 relates two soldiers' experi
ences, told in the chapel at City Point Hospital :
Amos L. Ham, of Co. B, 18th N. H., told us how he was arrested
by a message from his little daughter. He labored under deep emo
tion as he spoke. His wife had written him a letter. Before sealing
it she turned to her little daughter and asked —
" What shall I write father for you ?" c/
* Home Safe.
"Tell him," said little Nellie, "to look to God and
trust Him, and then he will come home safe."
The message went to the father's heart, humbling him at the foot
of the cross, as a " little child."
Corporal Matthias had become a Christian. Before the Hatcher's
Run battle he said to a comrade —
" You are detailed to go front, while I am to remain with the bag
gage. Let us change places. I'll go front ; you re-
„ Going into
mam m camp.
"What for?" asked his bunk-mate.
" Because I'm prepared to die, I think ; but you are not."
The exchange was made. The Christian soldier was hit three
times by spent balls, and very little hurt. The Corporal's friend rose
in our meeting, and related the circumstance.
1 Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, p. 449.
2 Pastor of Congregational Church, Lunenburg, Mass.
346 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"I want to tell you, brother soldiers," he added, "that this brought
me to Jesus, and He has made me a very different man. Some of
you claim to be as happy in your pleasures as Christians are. If so,
why do you strew the way with cards when you are going into bat
tle ? Why are you afraid to die on the field with these in your pock
ets ? Why do you reprove each other for profane words while you
are getting into line of battle ?"
The narrative and the argument made a deep impression upon all
present.
Rev. H. J. Patrick continues the reminiscences of the
same chapel :
A messenger, just in from the front, came into the meeting, and
told how he had resolved, the last time he was there, to stand up the
next night. Before that night came, he was ordered to the front :
" I was very much troubled. I thought my ' day
How to Be- , . ,
pi.- f- of grace was passed. I was put out on picket, and
got more and more depressed. At last I determined
I would be a Christian. I didn't know howT to do it. I thought I
must do something or other. The only thing I could think of was
to work with my companions, and get them to do as I did. I went
to one and asked him if he loved Jesus. He said he didn't. I talked
and prayed with him, — spent most of a night praying. He became
a Christian. And now I have come back to tell you how precious
the service of Christ is."
In the just-completed chapel at the Cumming's House
Station, during the first meeting, two soldiers spoke,
whose stories Rev. Mr. Patrick relates :
About two hundred came in at our first meeting. We had no
benches for them ; as they sat d la Turk, Rev. Asa Bullard, of the
Massachusetts Sabbath-school Society, gave them a talk, and found
out that nineteen-twentieths of those present had
been connected with Sabbath-schools. A soldier of
the 1st Maryland Regt. told how, six months before, he had scarcely
known what the Bible wras. Once he had deserted. His punishment
when captured, and a letter from his wife, urging him to better
BIBLE AND TESTAMENT. 34?
things, had made him think. So one day, as he was returning from
carrying rations out to the pickets, he came upon a soldier's grave.
Humbled and penitent, he there determined to consecrate himself to
Jesus. He told us, with faltering, earnest words, how he was trying
to keep near to Christ.
At the same meeting, Lieutenant Loomis, of the 146th N. Y. Regt.,
told us that on the 19th of August, the day of the Weldon railroad
fight, as his men were advancing to the charge, he saw a Bible on
the ground at the side of a dead Confederate soldier.
Picking: it up, stained with blood, he found afterwards
federates Bible.
the dead soldier's name printed on the cover.1
" Now," said the Lieutenant, " I am using that Bible myself, and
—what I never did before — I am praying. I shall keep the Bible
for the owner's friends, if they can be found."
An incident, somewhat like the last, is related by
Rev. Lyman Bartlett :2
In visiting a small battery directly in front of Fort Morton, I be
came acquainted with the Captain of a heavy battery of the 8th N.
Y. Artillery. Until within a few weeks he had been a thoughtless,
wild young man. His wife was a Christian ; and
she, with a pious brother, had often written, urging ^ '
him to come to Christ. One day he found on the
ground near his quarters a soiled Testament, which he picked up
and began to read. He became interested as he had never been be
fore, and in a few days read it through. Going through it over and
over again, he found new meaning at each perusal, though there was
much he could not understand. He began to pray for light. Soon
the Spirit opened his eyes and led him to the cross, where he found
pardon and direction and peace. All this time he had not conversed
with a single Christian friend. Afterwards his wife sent him a small
pocket Bible. The reading of it was a new revelation to him each
succeeding day. His gratitude to God for having opened his eyes to
behold such wondrous things out of His Law, was beautiful and
child-like.
1 B. F. Porter, Co. B, llth Miss.
2 Pastor of Congregational Church, Morristown, Vt.
348 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Rev. Perkins K. Clark1 writes in February from
Point of Rocks :
Before I left home, a little girl came to me, wishing to send some
thing to the soldiers. Her mother said she had been saving all her
pennies a long time, and had been very unwilling to part with them.
But wrhen she heard I was going to the army, she
Little Clara's . ^ , , .
„.„ wanted her mother to come with her to bring some
of them to me :
" Well, how many will you take, Clara ?"
" Twenty-five," — this was one-fourth of the whole store. The
twenty-five pennies were brought to me, and a valuable, though
modest little roll I thought it to be. I decided to add to it some of
the other funds entrusted to me, and procure a Bible, to be given in
Clara's name.
As I was visiting my patients at Point of Rocks Hospital, a young
man of the 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles, who had a Testament, asked
me for a Bible. He was searching for the truth, and under deep
conviction of sin. I said to myself, Here is the man for little Clara's
book. So I told him all about the twenty-five cents, and wrote on
the fly-leaf of the book, " Albert Smay, Co. C, 1st N. Y. Mounted
Rifles. Bought with pennies given by little Clara Hastings, of South
Deerfield, Mass. Presented by Rev. P. K. Clark, U. S. C. C., Point
of Rocks. Feb. 14th, 1865. 'Search the Scriptures.' " As I gave
him the book, I spoke to him earnestly about the duty he owed to
God. He was overcome with emotion, and hiding his face under
the blanket sobbed like a child. The next day I carried him some
blackberry syrup. Again I presented Christ to him :
" I haven't found Him," he said, " and it seems to me I've been
trying as hard as I can."
" Well, now, suppose you stop trying, and let Him try. He in
vites you ; believe this and trust Him. His promise is, ' Him that
cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out."
Sabbath morning, I saw him again.
" Yesterday," said he, " I found Him ; I saw that I could do
nothing but just believe."
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, South Deerfield, Mass.
POINT OF EOCKS : CITY POINT. 349
His face and all his bearing indicated the deep peace of God. I
was to leave next morning, and came to bid him good-bye.
" Jesus is my Saviour," he said, with tears rolling down his cheeks;
" I can leave all with Him. I'll write to you when I can sit up. Tell
little Clara how I thank her for the dear book."
When my term of service in another part of the army had ex
pired, I hastened again to the Point of Rocks Hospital. Albert had
taken a new sickness and was dying. He was too weak for much
conversation :
"Is Jesus precious to you, Albert?"
" He is all that is precious to me, now"
He whispered his wish that the Bible should be sent to his mother.
A faint smile came into his face as I spoke of the Better Land. It
rested there. On the morning of February 28th he died, happy in
Jesus.
Rev. W. A. Mandell tells this story of the last hour :
At City Point Hospital, a young drummer-boy, who had been
wounded, was dying. He asked a Delegate to read and pray with
him. A number of passages were read ; the sufferer kept saying,
" Read some more." At last the Delegate came to
. _ . .^'JT^^ ^e Comfort in
the fourth verse of the twenty-third Psalm. theDwk Valley
"Stop," said the boy, " that's it; read it again." It
was done.
" Read it again, please." It was read the third time.
" Will you put my hand on it, please ?"
He could not see ; so his hand was guided to the page and verse :
" Lay it open on my breast, Chaplain."
It was done, and the dying child folded his dear arms over the
sacred words, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil ; for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy
staff they comfort me." Still pressing it to his breast, the boy passed
from the scene of earthly conflict to the Country of Rest.
A conundrum propounded by a soldier to Rev. E. P.
Smith, in February, gathers up into small compass so
much of the real difficulty of army life that it may
well close our chapter :
350 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I was riding on top of a train of cars, running over what the sol
diers called " Gen. Grant's railroad," — the line that stretches from
City Point up to the left of the army. While we were passing
through a forest cleared by soldiers' axes, a private,
"Can't Stand gfttin~ by my side, called attention to the large pine
without the Lit- 3 . '
tie Ones" trees which had been torn up by the roots in the
wind-storm of the night preceding. They had been
left standing for Quartermasters' purposes after the smaller ones had
been cut away for fuel.
" Chaplain," said the soldier, " do you know why those trees that
have tumbled over, are like a great many men in the army ?"
I gave it up, and he answered —
" Because they can't stand without ' the little ones' to help them."
CHAPTEK XIII.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
FROM THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG, UNTIL THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.
(Concluded.)
June 1864— April 1865.
A LITTLE story told by Rev. Geo. N. Harden illus
trates the same general truth with the incident which
closed the preceding chapter :
At one of the City Point hospitals was a soldier who told me he
had been near the gates of death.
" How did you feel in view of meeting God?" I asked.
" Well," said he, " I thought it all over, and felt
"My Mother's
calm and ready. I never made any profession, but „
I'm convinced of the truth of religion. When
young, I used to read Tom Paine and Voltaire, and I liked to argue,
for the sake of argument, with any one who seemed sectarian or fond
of discussion. Yet I did not believe a word of what I read. I
always believed in my mother's religion. No man on the face of God's
globe can lodge an argument between me and my mother's religion."
Rev. Dr. Robert Patterson, writing from Hatcher's
Run, in March, 1865, gives an account of the opening
of a fresh box of Testaments for the men who were to
march within a day or two :
" Boys, I want eight men to help in with this box of Testaments."
" Here you go, Chaplain," said a child of fourteen or fifteen, as he
caught hold with the others.
351
352 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"That's a queer little fellow," says one of the
Pleading for a ., , . „ TT , , ,,
„, men ; he is from Hagerstown, where, when the in
habitants fled, his father bushwhacked Stuart's Cav
alry and got killed, and he enlisted."
He gets a Testament and a hymn book :
" If you give me another, I'll distribute it."
" To whom will you distribute it, my son ?"
" To my Color Sergeant, sir."
He is bringing in his blanket and great-coat for the Commission to
send home for him.
" I wish you would give me one of those Testaments. I had one
covered with leather, mother gave me, and I carried it all through
the campaign, til) I lost my knapsack. I wouldn't have taken fifty
dollars for it,"
" Please, Chaplain, let me have one. I have a Bible my mother
gave me, but the covers are worn off it, and I have to tie it with a
string ; and I think I'll send it home."
Here is a young convert who found Christ last week, and he
must have one. There is a boy who wants to send home his Fifth
Corps badge, a Maltese silver cross, inscribed with Antietam and a
dozen other battles. We cannot refuse him one.
The box of Testaments will scarcely last till night. Here is a
Chaplain with an oat sack for papers and Testaments ; he will shoul
der it two miles. Here comes a brother with whom I have crossed
the prairie, and mingled in the great revival of 1858 ; and he says
the spirit among the men is the same as in that. His Colonel, Mc
Coy, conducts the meeting when he is absent, and the chapel tent is
filled every night.
I attended a Bible-class on Sabbath afternoon, in the Third Bri
gade, Second Division, Fifth Corps. Almost all the boys had Testa
ments ; but one of the leaders, buttoned up to the throat, went
around, and opening his breast poured forth the Word of God from
his overflowing bosom, to those who needed. Then they all began
the study of the Sermon on the Mount. At night in that chapel over
a dozen were under conviction and seeking prayer, after the sermon.
They will not willingly leave the meeting till the drum calls them
away.
CITY POINT. 353
Rev. W. H. Gilbert,1 canvassing the army to find its
need of the Word of God, comes upon these incidents :
In one tent, where there were four men, two of them went to the
meetings, and became hopefully converted. Without opposition from
the other two, they began reading the Bible and praying in their
tent. One of them, a short, stout man, whom they
called " Chubby," was accustomed to read for them. „
At length Chubby was sent to the front. When the
hour of worship next came, his companion, not willing to give up the
exercise, or to conduct it entirely alone, asked his comrades who
should read the Bible for them :
"Will you, William?"
" No," was the reply ; " I can't read the Bible, I never did."
The other tent-mate, who was a very profane and wicked man, re
sponded —
" I will ; I ought to. My mother taught me to read it ; and it
would have been better for me if I had always obeyed her." And
the tears flowed, as he took the book and read a chapter. When he
had done, his pious companion knelt to pray, and he knelt too ; and
when the other had prayed, he followed, and then and there gave
himself to Christ, and began a Christian life.
In one of the meetings at City Point, a soldier said that he had
been trying to serve Christ for about six months. He had been try
ing to induce all his company to come to the meeting
and seek Jesus; and had persuaded eleven to come, ™
He drew his Bible from his pocket, and said he
had read it through three times since he began to serve Christ,
and he would not exchange it for all other books that could be col
lected.
Rev. John B. Perry2 writes in March from the chapel
at Warren Station, of the influence exerted through
these " tabernacles in the wilderness :"
1 Joint Agent of the American Bible Society, and of the Commission.
2 Pastor of Congregational Church, Swanton, Vt.
23
354 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
There were two boys from a regiment not noted for piety, who
began to attend the services at Warren Station chapel. Becoming
interested in the meetings, they persevered and soon gave evidence
that they were born of God. Going back to their
own camp, they started social worship in their tents.
fluence. m r
The little gatherings were nightly continued ; the
number in attendance increased; soon thirty from that regiment
indulged hope in Christ.
In another regiment there had been found, a few months before,
but a single professing Christian. He had been alone for a year.
He was an unassuming, quiet, conscientious boy, about nineteen
years old. His life was so spotless and his efforts so faithful that
interest among his comrades was at last awakened. On the 1st of
April there were eighteen of the regiment who cherished a substan
tial trust in Christ as the Divine Saviour.
The fruit on the battle-field of these awakenings was what might
have been expected, — soldiers " strong in the Lord." On the evening
of March 22d, a soldier who had recently found peace was baptized
and received into the Army Christian Association.
At Home with T _ /»•»«- in^-ii
I11 the severe lighting ot March zoth he was mortally
wounded. When brought off the field, though suf
fering intensely, he was happy in mind. He sent messages to his
friends at home, and to his companions in arms, urging them to seek
Christ. As the breath ebbed away amidst the outward signs of ex
treme bodily anguish, we asked him whither he was going :
" I am going home ; yes, I am going home to be with Jesus."
Rev. W. Howell Buchanan1 writes of the way in
which the soldiers became attached to the chapels :
I attended one meeting in the chapel at Meade Station, whose like
for deep, quiet, religious earnestness I had never seen. It was liter
ally baptized in tears, and it was certainly baptized by the Holy
Ghost. One young man, whose emotions continually
The Gate of , , , , .
jfeaven choked his utterance, told me —
" I helped to build this chapel, and I shall never
forget the place. I didn't know when I was at work here what good
1 Of Elverston 111.
QUINNIPIAC CHAPEL. 355
it would do me, but I have been converted here. I've been home
since, and united with the old church, Dr. Plummer's, in Allegheny
City, but I can never — never forget this chapel. It's been the gate
of heaven to me."
Just before the order came for an advance along the
whole line, the chapel meetings were at the climax of
their interest and power. Two narratives will illustrate
this. The first is from the pen of Rev. Dr. Patterson,
written at " Quinnipiac Chapel," near Hatcher's Run, on
March 20th :
Yesterday afternoon and evening there were two crowded meetings
at General Gwyn's headquarters, in the chapel tent where the men
have kept up meetings every evening for weeks, without any Chaplain.
When I went in, a soldier with a Sergeant's chevrons
was preaching Christ, — "His name shall be called
Wonderful." It was a noble gospel sermon. I thought of Crom
well's preaching and praying " Ironsides," and took courage for our
future.
At night I preached to a crowded house ; the officers and men sit
ting on round poles, with pins stuck in for legs, instead of benches.
What our velvet-cushioned pew-holders would say to meetings lasting
for three hours on such a " roost" I can't say, — but General Gwyn,
with his Colonels and officers, seemed satisfied to obtain room amidst
the crowd. After sermon there was a prayer meeting. The faces
and utterances of the men denoted the deepest feelings. I had not
been accustomed to so much excitement in my meetings at home, and
so expressed myself to an officer present.
" You should have heard them express their feelings," said he,
" when with the skirmish line they took the enemy's works at Dab-
ney's Mills." It did seem as if they were wrestling in mortal conflict
with sin. The Colonel said of some of the men who were praying —
" They are the best men in my regiment. In the fight, there's no
hold back aboufc them. That little drummer-boy yonder was a
terrible fellow once ; but we have no trouble with him now."
The second narrative concerns the meetings in the
n
for the front.
356 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Sixth Corps, conducted by the Corps Agent, Eev. Geo.
A. Hall,1 in the station chapel :
The nightly crowded meetings in the chapel witnessed such scenes
as have never been known outside of army lines. The night before
a fight on the left, the question was put to a most solemn assembly —
" How many of you that are seeking Christ are
ready to surrender to Him now ? "
J
In answer some twelve or fifteen came forward and
knelt by the front seat ; — among them was an interesting youth. An
old man seeing him, darted from his seat and pressing through the
crowded aisle, threw his arms about the young soldier, sobbing —
" My son, my son. He was lost and is found."
Just then an Adjutant from Division headquarters, apologizing for
his intrusion, called out —
" All men belonging to - Division, fall in."
They were to march in the darkness of night, to secure a position
for the attack at daylight. The men at the front seat arose, fell on
each other's necks and wept. Some of them were to go. The father
was not in the division ordered out. His boy was. The parting was
tender and cheerful. He kissed him and said —
" Go now, my boy, since the Lord is going with you."
There were hurried pledges to be faithful, and then they all took
hold of hands around the altar and sang —
" Say, brothers, will you meet us
On Canaan's happy shore ?"
and hurried to their quarters to make ready to fall in. Some did
not return from that fight. Two were brought into City Point Hos
pital badly wounded. They told us of the meeting, of their conse
cration, of their fearlessness in the fight, and their readiness to meet
death, if it was God's will. Others came back and participated in a
few more meetings in the chapel, and joined with us in our closing
Communion service — the last meeting in the chapel, and the last
meeting in the Corps before the final movement on Richmond.
It was a wonderful service, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper
1 Member of Troy Conference, Meth. Epis. Church.
THE COLOEED SOLDIEKS. 357
under marching orders. Officers, soldiers and Delegates — all united
hearts and said parting words. Some of them, with-
The bora s
out doubt, would next drink of the fruit of the vine Supper under
new in the Father's Kingdom. None expected to Marching Or-
commune together again in this world ; but in this ders-
they were happily disappointed.
When the Sixth Corps had finished its noble record of marching
and fighting, and came to rendezvous back of Alexandria, Mr. Hall,
with his station in working order and his chapel-flag flying, called
in his boys once more. The blessed meetings were resumed and on
the last Sabbath before mustering out, one more Communion service
was held in memorial of Christ's love. It was a fit place and time
for testimony to that love, by men who had come into the service as
His disciples, had been kept true and were returning veterans in that
service ; by men who had fallen under army temptations and had
been rescued ; and by many who were going home after a three
years' service to testify for the first time to their families and neigh
bors of the power of the Christian life.
Before closing the story of the armies operating
against Richmond, reference must be made to the special
work undertaken by the Commission in behalf of the
colored troops, who made up the Twenty-fifth Corps in
the Army of the James. A conference of Chaplains
met early in the Winter at Butler Station, and was im
mediately followed by an appeal from the Executive
Committee at Philadelphia for fifty teachers for colored
soldiers. Gen. Butler gave carte blanche for all the needed
lumber. Primers, Spelling-books and Bible-readers
were forwarded in very large numbers. Soon thirty
neat edifices attested the eagerness of the men to learn
to read and write, and schools were in progress in nearly
every regiment of the Corps. Two large Commission
stations — "Birney" and "Wild" — one mile apart, were
established to facilitate the general work. Long before
358 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
this, however, the attention of the Commission had been
called to the necessity of doing something towards the
instruction of this part of the army. Eev. J. W. Har
ding,1 writing from Bermuda Hundred in September,
1864, says :
These colored soldiers have strong arms and warm hearts. They
salute us respectfully, their bearing is soldierly, and the highest
favor we can give them is a Primer or a First or Second Reader, or a
Testament. They are bent on learning to read. It
The Colored . ,-. ., _?
would please you to see me in the capacity ot a pri
mary school teacher to some brawny cavalry six- footer.
He stands by my side, cap in hand, booted and spurred, his bright
sabre clanking at his heels, and eagerly spelling out the words which
shall unseal for him the fountains of knowledge. I could devote my
whole time in giving them spelling and reading lessons. And then
you should see them on their well-groomed horses, marching in a
squad of Rebel prisoners. They say nothing, but they look every
thing, and so do their more than crest-fallen captives. We found
some of these in the guard-house yesterday, who were actually in
mortal dread of their colored guard, lest, remembering Fort Pillow,
they might lay violent hands on them. There is no doubt that a
salutary fear of our colored soldiers is pervading the Rebel camps.
And then you should see these black troopers escorting in their wives
and little ones and sweethearts, each loaded on the head and in both
hands with the spoils of the Egyptians ; and the laughing pickanin
nies, who cannot march, nestling in the left arms of their protectors.
It is impossible within reasonable limits to give any
thing like an adequate idea of the characteristics of the
colored soldier. Yet an incident or two may help to
form a partial picture. Rev. E. F. Williams gives a
story occurring at the City Point General Hospital :
On one of the hottest days in August, Lieut.-Gen. Grant rode up
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Longmeadow, Mass.
CITY POINT.
359
to the Commission headquarters, and asked for a drink of water. A
cup of lemonade, sweetened with black-brown sugar, was handed
him, with the apology that we had no water and the
, . , , . , , Gen. Grant and
lemonade was mst such as we gave the men in the ., ^ . , 7
the Contraband.
hospitals. The General drank it with great apparent
relish, thanked us for it, declared it could not be better, arid shook
hands with the Delegates who crowded around him. Asking for the
accustomed " light," he was just about mounting his horse, when one
of our negro employes, without hat, coat or vest, elbowed his way
through the crowd, and reaching out an enormous hand, said —
QUESTIONING GENERAL GRANT.
" How de do, Gin'ral Grant ?"
The words were spoken with gentlemanly deference, and the man's
whole appearance indicated that he had been attracted not by mere
360 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
curiosity. The General shook the proffered hand warmly. The man
then disclosed the purpose of his approach :
" How am tings goin', Gin'ral ?"
To appreciate the question it must be remembered that it was at a
time of great depression among the colored people, — not long after
the fatal mine explosion in front of Petersburg. The simple answer
of the General at once quieted the man's fears :
" Everything is going right, sir."
Politely bowing his thanks, his eyes meantime beaming gratitude,
he backed out of the circle and returned to his work. On his way
back I met him and asked where he had been :
" Been to see Gin'ral Grant, sah."
" What did he say to you ?"
" Said eberyting was goin' right, sah."
Before a great while the General's Sybilline sentence was known by
all the colored people near City Point ; and it was astonishing to ob
serve the effect which the simple words had in reviving the spirits of
those who, a few hours before, had been so depressed and disheartened.
Eev. Geo. N. Marden gives a colored soldier's idea of
the cause of the war :
Joseph Upcheer, of a colored regiment, was sick at City Point Post
Hospital. He was full of Christian and patriot faith :
" Some say dar's no God in dis war. But I puts my trust in de
Lord, an' balls don't scare me. De han' ob de Lord
Why the War . . ,
Came. IS m de War'
" What do you think is the cause of it, Joseph ?"
" He revolved the question a moment and then said, earnestly —
" So much unfair work am de cause ob de war. My ole uncle,
who died twenty year ago, put his han' on my head once, and says
he, ' Young dog, make has' and grow. Bimeby you'll have a gun
and fight.' Wese ben 'spectin' dis war, sah ; dere's been so much
unfair work."
Mr. Edwin Ferris, of New York City, gives his ex
perience of the eagerness of the men to learn :
CITY POINT. 361
There was no reserve, no cold formality ; the greetings I received
made me feel at home at once. Young and old were alike anxious
for instruction, and applied themselves so assiduously that their pro
gress was very rapid.1 One day, while teaching one
of them his letters, he found it difficult keeping them
apart before his unused eyes. I shall never forget
the way in which he lifted his sleeve and drew it across his face
dripping with perspiration —
" Massa, dis do make me sweat."
One noble old Christian soldier said to me, " I bless de good Lord
for what He's helped me to larn. I'se gwine to keep on right smart.
I'se got to work sharper'n dese young uns, case I hasn't so much time
lef ' to study in."
One more incident of eagerness to learn is related by
Rev. Mr. Marden :
February 14th I discovered, within two stones' throw of our chapel
at City Point, a nest of contrabands' huts on the edge of a little
ravine. The men were laborers in the railroad department. The
huts were of the cheapest construction. Two or three
boxes, the same number of old barrels, a few nails, an jYfmers^
old boot-leg, a few sticks and stones, with the aid of
the all-pervading Virginia mud, constitute the dwellings. An old
boot-leg cut up makes hinges, on which swing, for window and door,
some painfully dovetailed bits of board.
My advent was the signal for a resurrection. As from the cap
sules of certain flowers the little black seeds roll out when the cell
is broken, so from the patch-work huts the dwellers now poured
forth. Each one wanted a book. One boy of eleven years read so
well that I gave him a Testament, which made his face all at once
like the " countless laughter" of JEschylus' sea. Mothers came beg
ging a primer for their children. All were eager, curious, delighted.
1 Mr. Herbert C. Clapp, of Cambridge, Mass., writing from Wild's Station in
February, gives a remarkable instance of application : " One night I taught a
man the alphabet and a few elementary principles. The next evening he came
to me, prepared to recite one half the spelling-book I had given him. He had
studied the whole day, with occasional assistance from a mate."
362 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
One grown negro, on receiving a book, gave vent to a guffaw, the
like to which I had never dreamed the human throat capable of.
The women, unselfish as ever, seemed more anxious to get the
primers for their children than for themselves.
Mr. C. E. Bolton,1 a Delegate to the army in July
and August, 1864, tells a striking story of the attach
ment of the colored soldier to the Bible :
"William and Thomas Freeman were brothers, living in Connecti
cut at the outbreak of the war. They enlisted in the 30th Regiment
U. S. C. T., and were afterwards transferred to the 31st. At the
close of the first day's battle in the Wilderness, thev
The Brothers1
together entered a large house, once the property of
an extensive slaveholder. Several slave women in
the dwelling were nearly famished with hunger. The soldiers kindly
relieved their wants by emptying their haversacks of all their rations.
The only return which the women could make was the presentation
to William Freeman of a large, finely-bound and beautifully clasped
quarto Bible, weighing about nine pounds. Thomas and William
were both Christians, and valued the gift very highly. It took the
place of blankets in William's knapsack. He carried it through
all the marches to the entrenchments of Petersburg. There he went
into the fatal charge of July 30th, after the mine explosion, and was
wounded in the breast. The great Bible went with him into the bat
tle in his knapsack. He would never allow it to be beyond his reach.
His brother Thomas, who was a Color Sergeant, was wounded in the
same engagement. He was among the few who struggled beyond the
chasm made by the mine, and was carried back to find his brother
dead. As the men were bearing him further on towards the rear, he
begged that his brother's knapsack might be placed upon the stretcher
under his head. Thus the precious book reached the hospital of the
4th Division of the Ninth Corps, where I was working in the Com
mission service.
William was buried between the picket lines under a flag of truce.
1 A Student of Amherst College, Mass. He was accompanied to the army by
Profs. Seelve and Hitchcock.
CITY POINT. 363
Poor Thomas' wounds soon were discovered to be mortal also. Weak
and worn out, he was taken after a few days to the General Hospital
at City Point. Sergeant Edward P. Gilbert, of Bath, K Y., was a
wardmaster of our hospital. To him, as Thomas left for City Point,
he sold the cherished volume.
A few days later this book, representing so much faith and hero
ism, became mine by purchase, and was afterwards given to Amherst
College. President Stearns, in receiving it on behalf of the Trus
tees, remarked —
" I consider it one of the most valuable reminiscences of the war,
presented to the College." The book has now a prominent place in
the show-case of the "Appleton Cabinet" at Amherst.
Another leaf from Rev. Mr. Marden's experience
shows us how in the last hour the colored soldier could
exercise the same trust with his white brother :
I met Thomas Jackson Yager in one of the City Point wards. He
looked up at me with a smile when he saw my badge, and gave me
his hand, thin and hard worn with years of unre-
quitedtoil: "Gi™<> , «P
1 when the Lord
" Do you love the Lord, Thomas ?" does."
" I does love Him ; He's all to me. I'se happy
lyin' here, — full ob joy an' praise. I pray de Lord, bless you in
your work."
" Where are you from, Thomas ?"
" I'se from Lagrange, in old Kentuck. I come into de army to
fight for freedom. Lef my wife and de chile behin' me, an' I dunno
how dey treat her. But de Lord's been good to me, and I doesn't
feel like nuffin' but tanks."
A fortnight later I meet him again. His cheeks are sunken, and
his eye dimmer than before. I take his hand again, and he begins
to talk :
" My time won't be long heah. All my trust is in de Lord. I
beliebe the Lord is waitin' for me. I'se weak, but I'se ready to go.
Wish I could git a letter from my wife ; I'se like to know how she's
gittin' 'long. She wa'n't a Christian when I lef, but it looked
364 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
mighty like es if she wanted to be one. I'll never be of much more
'count heah ; but I hate to gib up 'fore de Lord gibs up ; when He says
I kin live no more, den Tse ready to gib up."
A little later, the Christian soldier had gone away to his everlast
ing rest.
The story of a conversation between a colored Ser
geant, and Rev. E. P. Smith, the General Field Agent
of the Western Army, while on a visit to the East, may
give a little insight into the depth of the motives which
animated the negro soldiers :
On the steamer from City Point to Fortress Monroe, I came on a
group of negro soldiers in friendly conversation and banter with sev
eral white artillerymen. They were all on a furlough, and conse
quently good-natured. The colored men were going
A Colored Ser- __ „ .. . _ , .
geant's Opinions. to -Norfolk 5 tne7 had been selected for merit as enti
tled to a furlough. One was a Sergeant in the 36th
U. S. C. Infantry, — a fine, open-faced, well-formed man of twenty-
seven or eight years, wearing his belt and sword.
He heard the conversation on fighting men, high bounties, etc., in
silence, until a batteryman turning to him asked — ,
" What bounty did you get ?"
" No bounty. I wouldn't 'list for bounty. I have twenty-three
more months to put in. I don't say I will go in again when that's
out ; can't say till the time comes ; but, if I do, it won't be for bounty.
I wouldn't fight for money ; my wages is enough."
" How much pay do you get ?"
" Seven dollars a month, till they riz to sixteen. That keeps me
along right smart. Them big-bounty men don't make good soldiers."
" What's the matter with them ?"
"Dey comes in for money; dar's no Country 'bout it, an' cley hasn't
no stomach for fightin' an' diggin' an' knockin' roun', like soldiers
has to."
" What's money got to do with that ? Why can't a man fight just
as well if he leaves a thousand dollars in bank, to have when he
comes back, — 'maybe sick or wounded ?"
ON THE JAMES. 365
" Well, he mout ; but y' see it's the greenbacks wot fetches him
in, an' he keeps studyin' how he .can jump for anoder bounty; an'
dem sort of sojers ain't no count for fightin'."
" Sergeant, didn't you enlist 'cause you had run away from master,
and had no place ?"
" No, sir," — with spirit ; " I had a place an' good wages, — heap
more'n a sojer gits, — drivin' team for Quartermaster ; an' when I
told 'm I was goin' in, an' wanted my back pay, he cussed me, an'
said I shouldn't 'list. I told him I had a right, an' I would, an' all
I asked of him was to pay wot was comin' to me — more'n two hun
dred dollars. He swar an' took on 'bout 'restin' me, an' nex' day
when I had 'listed, he saw me on the street, an' called a guard, an'
put me in irons ten hours. Dat's my bounty, two hundred dollars —
wages — gin up, an' ten hours in irons by a Copperhead Quarter
master."
The soldiers had gathered around, highly interested in the Ser
geant's straightforward, earnest story.
" I'd a split his copper head open with the irons," said one of
them.
"Dat's not me," said the Sergeant; "I don't take vengeance — dat's
God's business, an' He'll work it to suit Hisself."
The men drew back a little, and were silent all round the ring. I
stepped forward, and said to him —
" Sergeant, how long have you been a Christian ?"
He looked at me with a full, quick eye, as if he had found a
brother :
" Ten years, sir."
" How old are you ?"
" Twenty-eight, sir."
" Then you were converted when you were eighteen years old.
Where did you live?"
" Near Richmond."
" Have you a wife ?"
" Yes ; I lef ' my wife an' son when McClellan come close up to
Richmond, an' everybody reckoned he was goin' to walk in."
" How old is your son ?"
" Not quite a year when I got away."
" Do you hear from them ?"
366 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Yes ; I seen a lady from thar in Norfolk, an' she said, mas'er
done an' sol' Nancy an' the boy."
" You will hardly see them again, will you ?"
" When dey git done fightin', I reckon I kin find her."
" But you won't know where to look."
" Den I'll keep lookin', an' I reckon I'll find 'em. Anyhow, I
trust in Providence 'bout it."
" What do you mean by that ?"
" I mean de Lord God A'rnighty ; He knows all 'bout it, an' He
will do what's right."
" Yes, Sergeant, the Lord may do what's right, but the man who
has bought Nancy and your baby and carried them off, may not do
what's right about it. What then ?"
" Why, den, I reckon dat's for Him to settle 'bout. I'se nuffin' to
do wid dat."
" You are pretty near your master ; he might be looking for you
one of these days."
" Yes, he mout ; an' den, y' see, I mout be lookin' for him. Chance
the same on bof sides now. They say my master was 'scripted an'
had to go in."
" Perhaps, you will have a chance yet to pay him back," said the
batteryman.
"I never pays back. De Lord A'mighty takes the vengeance.
Dat's Hissen, an' I don't have nuffin' to do wid it."
" There's his doctrine again. Don't he stick to his text ?" says a
Pittsburg soldier. " He's right, too, all the time," says another.
" Don't know about the right," called a voice across the ring, "but
he's bully on consistence."
" Well Sergeant, have you really made much by running away?"
" Made much ? I made two hundred dollars in Norfolk, but didn't
git it."
" I mean you are not much better off soldiering, lying out in the
wet, digging in the trenches, and going in where the minie balls hum.
That's not much better than to be at home on the old plantation with
wife and baby."
" Sojerin' is hard work, but dere's a heap of difference."
" What's the difference?"
" Freedom, sir, Freedom ! I say ' Liberty' in ' Dutch Gap/ I
ON THE JAMES. 367
wakes up in the night and says ' Liberty.' Yes, there's a heap of
difference. I kin say Liberty all the time."
" You said you enlisted for your Country. What has your Coun
try done for you except to give you a chance to make tobacco and
cotton for your master, and have your wife and baby sold down in
Georgia?"
" God has done a heap for me. He has given me my life. I never
had no sickness, an' now He's done an' made me free, an' I'm
willin' to fight for the rest of 'em."
" Sergeant,' said a white soldier, " do you know that you are just
like Jeff Davis on the war question ?"
" Not much, I reckon."
" Exactly alike ; — you are both fighting for the ' nigger.' "
" Dat may be, but it makes a heap of odds to which whips."
" Do you think Jeff will put the colored men in ?" he asked.
" He is doing it now. It will not be long before a corps of those
black fellows will be down on the ' right,' to drive you Twenty-fifth
Corps men into the river. What will you do then ?"
" If I should see my father in the Rebel army, I should shoot him.
He got no business dar. Dar's some cullud people got no sense.
Rebels has talked foolishness to 'em so much, you can't beat sense
into 'em. I'se no use for dat sort cullud folks. I fight for the ' nig
ger' when he's right."
" Bully for him !" came from a dozen lips of soldiers gathered
round. My thankful heart said, " God be praised for such piety and
patriotism !"
At Fortress Monroe, on parting from the Sergeant who was going
to the Norfolk boat, I offered a prayer for the mother and baby far
away, and that a Country, saved by such devotion, may learn at
last to deal justly by all her children.
Rev. C. D. Herbert,1 writing in September from the
Base Hospital of the Eighteenth Army Corps, preserves
this memorial of a colored soldier's sacrifice :
In the knapsack of a dead colored soldier, I found a letter written
Pastor of Congregational Church, W. Newbury, Mass.
368 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
some days before, with a postscript added on the day of his death.
It seems that when first brought into hospital, before he knew of the
nature of his wounds and while expecting to re-
Volunteered to ,
cover, he wrote —
Die.
" When this cruel war is over I hope to meet with
the dear friends I so much love. Fond memory brings back days
gone by, and I hope to return to a blessed joyfulness in my once
happy home. I feel anxious to serve you, O my dear country, but I
am weak with infirmities. May God heal me, is my prayer in this
army, and make me a soldier of the cross, and clean my heart of all
its sins in the world ; for Christ's sake. Amen.
"JoHNC. WHITEN."
When he learned how badly he was wounded, and that he must
die, he took the letter from beneath his pillow, and added this touch
ing postscript :
" Most sincerely yours — departed ; John C. W. — Volunteered to
die."
My letter, breaking the sad intelligence as gently as I knew how,
enclosed also the patriot's last letter to wife and children, with its
postscript.
Rev. A. Fuller1 records two incidents of the memo
rable Sunday on which our army broke through the
Confederate lines around Petersburg. They are a type
of the triumph of the cause :
The fighting just in front of us, around three or four forts, had
been desperate, and both parties had suffered severely. Among our
own and the Confederate wounded we had all that we could do until
late at night. Near evening the boom of the cannon,
which since the previous midnight had been almost
constantly rending the air, had ceased, and even the scattering shots
of scouts and skirmishers had gradually died away. The troops had
stacked their arms, and were eagerly talking over their coffee of the
events of the day, or planning campaigns for the future. The bands,
gathered about the flags of their respective regiments or brigades,
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Hallowell, Me.
PETERSBURG. 369
were filling the air with music. The warm April sun, breaking
through the clouds which lay heavily along the west, was adding the
glory of its beams to crown the glory of the day.
The effect was marvellous. The quiet, solemn stillness of the hour,
which the melody of the bands seemed only to render rythmical and
deeper, was in such strange contrast with the strife and carnage of
the day, that it would be hard to describe the attendant emotions.
It was a time neither of war nor yet of peace ; it was the hour of pre
cious, hallowed, but costly victory, and many a weary head was
turned feebly but eagerly on its bloody pillow of turf, to look upon
the scene and listen to the softened notes of triumph, — until earthly
sights and sounds were lost in the beauty and melody of the Other
Land.
As I was resting a moment in my work, a band at army headquar
ters near us suddenly struck up one of our most spirited national
airs. There was a Union soldier lying near me, whom I had supposed
past all earthly waking. At the first note of the music he started
arid gazed wildly about him, as if trying to understand where he was.
With a great effort raising himself on his elbow, he looked eagerly
at me, and half fiercely, half pleadingly, asked —
" Is that a Kebel band, sir?"
" No," said I, " that's Union all through. Don't you hear the air?
The Kebels are a long way from here. We have carried their whole
line of works."
He looked somewhat incredulously at me, as if it was almost too
much to believe ; and then, as he saw and heard more distinctly for
himself, and drank in gradually all of the truth, his whole countenance
kindled up with enthusiasm. Looking reverently towards heaven, he
said with a voice of the deepest solemnity and fervor —
" Glory to God ! It's all I ask. You may do what you like with
me now," and without another earthly word, he sank back and died.
Long after dark by the aid of lanterns, we were groping about to
seek for any who might be still left without proper care, when I
almost stumbled over a man lying by himself in
great agony. His leg had been shattered by a piece ~ ^
of shell, which had struck him midway between the
knee and hip joints. I had him carried to a Surgeon's table, where
his leg was amputated.
24
370 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Ill the morning when he had somewhat recovered from the severe
operation he had undergone, I carried him some food and drink. He
was very grateful for the little attention. He had been the slave of
a gentleman near Norfolk, where his wife, mother and children were
still living. Escaping from his master to the Union lines, he was one
of the first to enlist in our army. He was a Christian, and had be
come a soldier from a deep sense of duty to his race. Wounded the
day before the general engagement, he had lain on the field, uncared
for, with wounds undressed, and in great bodily agony.
" Well," said I, " you did not expect this when you enlisted, did
you ? If you were at home and well, would you come back again ?"
He seemed moved at the thought of home, but with deep emphasis
he quickly replied —
" Yes, sah ; yes, I wTould. I specs all dis when I 'listed. I specs to
suffer. I specs now I'll die ; but, bress de Lord, I'se free, an' Susy
an' de chillens free, an' I'se ready to die, ef de Lord will."
I offered a brief prayer and left him, never to see him again, and
yet ever to remember the sable hero, so worthy to be an American
citizen.
The Commission made full preparations for the emer
gencies which might arise during the pursuit of Gen.
Lee. Happily there was not all of the anticipated need.
The Christian Banner, of August, 1865, relates a story
told by Gen. Edwards, of the battle of Sailor's Creek,
fought on April 7th :
In the very thickest of the fight, C. F. Drake, of Co. B, 37th
Massachusetts Regiment, ordered a Rebel Colonel to surrender. He
replied that he would never surrender. Drake then shot him, inflict
ing a mortal wound. The Colonel fell, exclaiming
Fnemies " ^na^ ^1C was killed. Drake said to him, " I am a
Christian, and will pray for you." The Colonel
thanked him, and Drake kneeled by his side and prayed with him,
while the conflict raged almost hand to hand around them. The
Colonel pressed his hand, called him brother, told him that he too
was a Christian, and thanked him. Then Drake resumed his gun
and went on fighting.
CITY POItfT. 371
The main body of the Army, after the surrender,
took up its line of march for Washington. Commission
stations were retained, and work kept up among the
troops remaining in the vicinity of the recent events.
With a narrative illustrating this, by Rev. J. H. Moore,
we close the memorial incidents of the active operations
of the Army of the Potomac
It might be supposed that these great events, so exciting in their
nature, would destroy the religious interest which was so remarkably
manifest in the army previous to the advance. But such was not the
i'act. True, for a few days, nearly all the troops
around City Point were away in the battles, and ™ ^ Alone
our chapel services, for the time being, were almost
deserted by the soldiers ; but when Richmond fell, the regiments
which had been encamped here came back, and soon filled up the
chapel again.
A soldier, whom I had often seen before at our services, came for
ward one evening, and told me that his most intimate companion,
who used always to attend the meetings with him, had fallen in the
fighting before Petersburg.
" He was my dearest friend in the army," the soldier said ; " he
was the instrument in my conversion. I remember how mad I used
to get when he knelt down and prayed in our tent, before going to
bed. I used to turn over and try to go to sleep and forget all about
him. I held out a good while, but had to give in at last. So I be
gan to pray too. We prayed together afterwards, and came here
together. The last thing he did before going to the front was to
kneel down and commit himself to God in our old tent. He fell
dead at my side on the field ; and now I have to come to chapel
alone."
CHAPTER XIV.
THE EASTERN ARMIES.
OPERATING NEAR WASHINGTON AND HARPER'S FERRY.
June 1864— June 1865.
THE advance of Gen. Grant's army gave an immense
increase to the Delegates' work in the Washington hos
pitals. Thither, when Fredericksburg was abandoned,
were brought the wounded of the earlier battles of the
great campaign. Camp Distribution, the point of de
parture for the convalescents of the hospitals, was well
filled, and here was continued the blessed work of grace,
begun so long before, until the return of the victorious
armies and the close of the Commission's operations.
llev. J. W. Hough1 writes from the camp in June,
1864:
One of our candidates for baptism had been, to use his own words,
" a very hard boy." Some months before, he had been confined in
the guard-house for a misdemeanor, and on coming out he was
ashamed to mingle with his comrades, lest they
"WJmt Right
Have If should taunt him with his disgrace. He determined
to find something to read. Entering the barracks,
he picked up a volume put there by the Commission, — Baxter's "Call
to the Unconverted."
" I was mad," said he, " when I found it to be a religious book,
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Williston, Vt.
372
CAMP DISTHIBUTIO^. 373
and threw it from me. But afterwards, when I could find nothing
else, I picked it up again, and lay down to read. It interested and
impressed me at once. The question came to me, ' What right have
I to treat God as I do? He has never injured me.' I was very
much troubled, and so continued a long time, till I began to think
less of myself and more of Jesus ; and then His love came into my
heart."
On the clay of his discharge from the camp, he entered publicly
into covenant with Christ.
Rev. Milton L. Severance1 has preserved a soldier's
straightforward form for expressing his thought :
The apostle says, " By this shall ye know that ye have passed from
death unto life, because ye love the brethren," and I have never seen
a livelier test of this than a colored soldier gave at the close of one
of our evening meetings. There was a simplicity
in his expression and manner which touched all our
hearts :
" I love my Saviour, I love the Church. of Christ, I love the world,
I love everybody, I love them that don't love me."
I felt that the poor son of Africa had reached the climax of Chris-
1 ian experience. Like the martyred Stephen, and his Saviour before
him, he could pray for those who had despitefully used him.
Rev. Dr. C. W. Wallace,2 in December, writes •
One Sabbath morning at the camp, I met a boy at my door, -wait
ing to see a Delegate. Poor little fellow, what a life he had had !
His parents died when he was quite young, in New York city. He
fell to the care of a brother, a most abandoned man.
There was no one really to care for his welfare ; the ,. QU?
only faint bond between him and anything higher
was the dim remembrance he retained of a good mother. For years
he was a street "Arab," sleeping at night in boxes and doorways, —
anywhere to escape Summer heat and Winter cold. His food was
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Boscawen, N. H.
2 Pastor of First Congregational Church, Manchester, N. H.
374 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
picked up in various indefinite ways. In his fifteenth year he entered
the army. I found him to be a sincere inquirer for the truth.
"What shall I do?" he said. "Since I was a boy I've done
nothino- but swear and steal and everything else that's bad, and now
to try to be good, — it's very hard."
The poor fellow in his ignorance would weep, and put his hands
out gropingly for the better way, but it was hard to direct him to
Christ in a manner which he could understand. The few times I saw
him he would come to the place of prayer, and bow himself very
humbly among the others ; but he was soon ordered to the front, and
I met him no more. His strange, pitiful face and earnest cry for the
truth deeply impressed me. They must surely have found an
answer.
The permanent Agent in charge of the Commission's
work of the camp was Rev. Jas. P. Fisher.1 From the
t final report prepared by his wife after his death, we
select the following incidents :
A soldier rose one evening and told his story :
" My friends, I left home an infidel, but I left a praying wife. A
week ago I received a letter from her, in which she expressed anxiety
for the welfare of my soul, and desired to know if I still held to my
old views. I wrote an answer, and in bitter words
The Re-written . . AT i, i
,. defended my old position. As I was about to seal
the letter, it seemed to me I could not send it. I
wrote another, softened down considerably from the first; but when
that was done, I could not send it. I began another, but such was
the power of the Spirit upon my heart, that I fell upon my knees,
and begged for forgiveness before God. I could not finish the letter
until I could say to my dear wife that Christ had forgiven my sins.
I have been permitted to write to her that I am to-night rejoicing in
her Saviour. I feel that I am now prepared for the battle-field, and,
if I am ever permitted to return home, I trust I shall go back pre
pared for that also — a better man than when I came into the army."
Another comes to tell of the preserving care:
1 Of Westfield, X. Y.
CAMP DISTRIBUTION. 375
" Oh, yes ! I tink it not right, when I ray God not tank. He cares
for me ; the bullets go through my clothes, and hurt me no. I must
mend my sleeve and my blouse in the side and in the front. Oh, yes;
I must love my God, and keep fast to the Christian.
And my heart pull me so heavy sometimes, when de
J could not be told.
priest say we shall get up in der meeting and say
someting, and I no can speak goot English."
" You can say you love Jesus."
" Oh, yes, I have say dat, and keep say dat all der time."
From Mrs. Fisher's own experience, — a peculiarly
rich one, — we take a story of the hospital connected with
the camp :
On one of my visits, after staying over my time to speak to nearly
all in the ward, I was hastening out ; but the sad, despairing look
from a cot I was passing so impressed me that I returned. To my
inquiry after the soldier's health, he answered —
, -~T T, . T i T i > The Forgotten
Yes ; 1m sick, but 1 don t care. „ . r» 7, „,
Saviour .Recalled.
"Do you love Jesus ?"
" I don't know as I do." 9
" Have you a wife ?"
" No, she died on the way to ."
"Children?"
" They died, the only two I had."
"Parents?"
" No, they died in ; and as for me, I don't care what becomes
of me."
" Poor soldier," said I, " how sorry I am for you ! No friends on
earth ; no Friend in heaven ! You are indeed to be pitied. But
hear what the Saviour says to you ; * Ye believe in God ; believe also
in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions.' " I repeated
through the sixth verse. Gradually the look of despair gave way,
and he said slowly, in low tones —
" That is beautiful ; that is very beautiful. Where is it?"
I told him the chapter. He reached under his pillow for his Tes
tament, found the place and asked me to mark it. We read it over
376 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
together, he following every word in his Testament with a wonderful
eagerness and interest :
" Xow, my boy, does not that Saviour love and care for you?"
" Yes. I had forgotten Him in my trouble,"
" Don't you want to come to Him and trust Him now ?"
" I'll try."
Iii June, 1865, worn out with incessant toil, Mr.
Fisher left his work at the camp. He reached the home
of his brother-in-law in Newburg, N. Y., and unable to
go further, sank and died.
Some of the scenes of his last days were touch in gly beautiful.
Like so many others of the Commission who have died in the ser
vice, when his mind wandered, all his thoughts were on his work for
the soldiers. He was preaching, praying and ex
horting. In his lucid intervals his mind turned at
an Offered Life.
once to Jesus and heaven, a beautiful alternation
and combining of the Christian's work and faith. The change from
delirium was marked by a desire to get upon his knees and offer
prayer. He loved to be on his knees. His supplications had little
reference to himself, except ffcr purification from sin.
" Last night," said he, in troubled sleep, " wras the great night of
the feast. Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come
unto Me."
In a conscious state, he said to his son — " My son, there is one
passage of Scripture I wish to impress on your mind. I adopted it
many years ago to die upon : ' The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son,
cleanseth from all sin.'"
On the last day of his sickness he called in his sleep, " Frank,
ring the bell; it is time for meeting; I am to preach to-night. Is
everything ready, — ready for the celebration of His dying love ?"
And so he passed on, not to the preaching in a rude chapel at
Camp Distribution, but to the praise where God is the temple.
Everything was ready, and our dear brother celebrates the dying
love.
The Confederate Gen. Early in July, 1864, made a
AFTER FORT STEVENS. 377
raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania from the Shenan-
doah Valley. He succeeded in thoroughly alarming
Washington and Baltimore, and but little more. Mr.
II. M. Whitney1 tells an incident occurring shortly
after :
Before leaving home, a little girl had given me ten cents, the first
money she had ever earned, and wanted me to use it for the soldiers.
I bought a Testament and determined to give it to the manliest and
most deserving soldier I met. For a long while it
lay in my valise, for I felt that I had not yet found
an owner for it. At last, after Early had been beaten back from
Fort Stevens by the Sixth Corps, I found a new and bright face in
one of my hospital tents.
" How are you, my friend?" I began.
" First rate."
"Lightly wounded, then, I suppose?"
He drew back the sheet and showed me that his right arm was
gone, cut off close to the shoulder.
"Is that first rate?" I asked.
" Why, it might have been ever so much worse, you know."
Day after day I found him as cheery and uncomplaining. At
first he was overflowing with fun all the time, but at last the terrible
heat and the strain upon his system so much reduced his strength
that there was only a merry twinkle in his eye when I came in, and
a word of cordial greeting. Little by little I learned his history. The
action in which he had received his first wound was his thirteenth
battle. When he dropped his musket and reached round to take his
useless arm tenderly in his left hand and walk off the field under a
shower of balls, it was his first time off duty since he entered the
service. He was only nineteen years old, but his patriotism was so
ardent and his courage so magnificent, that I felt he had become my
teacher. As soon as he could sit up, he was busy with pencil and
paper, training the muscles of his left hand to replace those of the
right. His face had grown pale and thin, his eye dull, his manner
1 Of Northampton, Mass.
378 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
languid, and his voice broken, but his heart was still strong and man
ful as ever. Low spirits or complaint seemed impossible to him.
I thought I should have to look long and far to find a soldier
worthier of the little Testament. He was eager to get one, having
lost everything in that last charge upon the enemy. So I wrote his
name, company and regiment on the fly-leaf of the little book, and
added how it had come from a little girl in the Connecticut Valley,
who had given her first money to comfort the soldier. As I read it
the tears started into his eyes.
" I wish," said he, " I had that arm, so that I could thank her
myself."
He told me afterwards that he had been thinking much since he
had been lying there, and was going to try and lead a better life. I
tried to show him where the best and highest Life was to be found,
but I know not whether he found it.
Mr. Whitney gives another incident of nearly the
same date :
I discovered in one of the wards of Mount Pleasant Hospital,
Washington, a young Swede, who had taken the first degree in the
University at Lund. He could converse readily in five different
languages, and was familiar with Greek and Latin.
A Savant in ^ . . . „
the Ranks was a Pnva^e m a Maine regiment, a member 01
the Lutheran Church at home, and a sincere Chris
tian. He wanted a Testament. I asked him in what language. He
did not care, but on being pressed chose an English one, as he was
not so familiar with our language.
" How came you," I asked, " with your fine education, comfortable
circumstances and excellent prospects, to come to this country and
enlist?"
" Why I heard there was a war over here, and I came."
The simplicity and candor of this blue-eyed, flaxen-haired son of
the North, and his entire freedom from bloodthirstiness, puzzled me
profoundly:
" Did you find the realities of the war at all what you expected?"
" Yes, but better. I have looked into these things a great deal at
WASHINGTON. 379
home and in Germany, and I think no government and no people
ever took such care of their soldiers."
The patient contentment wherewith he bore his severe wound, his
coarse fare, his absence from home and friends, and all the little
things which would have worn upon most men of his education, was
an unceasing marvel to me.
Iii September " Carleton," visiting a Sunday evening
Delegates' experience meeting in Washington, wrote an
account of it for the Congregationalist :
The Carver Hospital Delegate reported that he found fully one-
tliird of the men in his wards professing Christians. They were glad
to see him, — very glad to get religious reading. A few days before,
he gave an old man a little book, entitled, " The Blood
of Jesus ;" he had seen him again to-day. The old Christ
man greeted him with a smile:
" I have found Jesus, and oh, He is so precious !"
Another from the same hospital, said —
I found among the patients a minister who enlisted as a private.
He has been in the hospital sixteen months, and has maintained his
Christian character through all the trials of camp
and hospital life. I found some convalescents plav- " G(m'i keep
Track of Sun-
ing cards : day,,
" My boys, you don't play cards on Sunday, do
you ?"
" It isn't Sunday, is it ? Why hang it all, Chaplain, we can't keep
track of the days in the army."
I talked to them of home and of their mothers. The tears rolled
down their cheeks. They put up their cards and read the papers I
gave them.
The Emory Hospital Delegate said —
" I never saw men so ready to receive religious instruction, or who
were so easily impressed with the truth. I am satisfied that this is a
rrolden opportunity for the Christian Church. I found
"Tell me just
a young man to-day, who said-
" ' I want you, Chaplain, to tell me just what I have
380
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
to do to be a Christian. I will do just what you say. I want to be
a Christian.'
" It was a sincere desire. I find that the Catholics are just as eager
to have religious instruction as others."
Another from this hospital, said —
"I found Sergeant , of Massachusetts, very low, but he met
me with a smile :
" ' It is all right. I am happy, and I die content.
J±U, Aiig/it. mil n •
I ell my friends so. '
Another Delegate said, " I have been over the river to see some
detached regiments, men who are not in hospital. I asked one noble-
looking soldier if he loved Jesus :
" ' No, I don't.'
Everybody
Feels so." ' ' Are 7011 married ?'
" No ; but I have a sister. She isn't a Christian,
but she wrote to me that she wanted me to become one, and I wrote
to her that I wanted her to be one; and I guess, Chaplain, that
everybody who believes the Bible feels just so. If they ain't good
themselves, they want their friends to be.'
" I found another soldier writing a letter on a little bit of paper. I
gave him a full sheet and an envelope :
"Are you a Christian Commission man ?'
"'Yes.'
" Not Quite so
Hard.'' ' You are a d— d good set of fellows.'
"'Hold on, soldier, not quite so hard.'
: ' I beg your pardon, Chaplain, I didn't mean to swear ; but darn it
all, I have got into the habit out here in the army, and it comes
right out before I think.'
" ' Won't you try to leave it off?'
"'Yes, Chaplain, I will."'
Another Delegate told us —
" As I went among the men they gathered about me with great
eagerness. They were a little disappointed however, when they saw
Setter than Gold. ^ * WaS * DcleSate of the Commission. They
took me to be the paymaster :
"But I have something that is better than gold.'
"Give me some of it,' said one, the son of a Baptist minister, a
tender-hearted Christian."
WASHINGTON. 381
Rev. E. F. "Williams gives some reminiscences of
work in that peculiar field of labor, the Soldiers' Rest
at Washington :
It was but a rough kind of " Rest " in the opinion of recruits fresh
from home; but to the "veteran," its tight roofs, hard floors and
neatly-spread tables w.ere vastly preferable to canvas tents, mud
floors, hard-tack and salt pork. The principal bar-
, , , ,. , 1 ., A Short Sermon.
rack was about three hundred feet long ; near it were
several smaller ones. Our visits, made in March, 1865, were usually
begun by distributing papers, books and stationery, giving notice of
a meeting as we passed along. Sometimes we were obliged to modify
our course however, as in the following instance:
The barracks were nearly vacant throughout the day ; our work
therefore must be done just after breakfast or supper. Coming round
rather late one morning, I found a regiment drawn up in marching
order. Approaching the officer in command, I inquired —
" How long since these men have had the gospel preached to
them ?"
" Some three months," was the reply.
" Can I preach to them now ?"
" Yes, if you can do it in five minutes."
Instantly I stated the case to the men, taking my text from Prov.
ix. 12, — " If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou
scornest, thou alone shalt bear it." My subject was " Individual
Responsibility." It would have done any Christian good to see
how the men drank in the only sermon they had heard for three
months. But the five minutes were quickly gone ; a hasty benedic
tion pronounced, my audience moved down the street to the music of
fife and drum.
On another occasion the whole barracks resounded with the noise
made by a body of men whom an Orderly Sergeant was drilling. With
some hesitation I asked leave to distribute my papers to the men as
they passed. It was readily given. This work ac-
J ' " Drilling for
comphshed, I was turning to go, when the Orderly jesus»
politely asked if I didn't wish to preach.
" Certainly," said I, " that was what I came for, but as your men
are busy drilling, we shall have to let it go, I suppose."
382 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" By no means," he replied ; " a little drilling for Jesus is needful
now and then to make us good soldiers of the cross."
The music ceased, the men stacked arms and sat down in lines on
the floor, and then we had a most precious meeting, in which the
pious officer took a most cordial part. As I left the barrack, the
tramp and ring of the military evolutions were resumed.
Another evening we found nearly all the men gathered round a
wag, who was making a speech for their amusement. The moment
seemed inopportune for a meeting, so we went on to another barrack.
Coming back in an hour, we found the same men
Choosing a
Prayer Meeting. sPectators °* some grotesque negro dances. Father
Noble and I held a brief council of war, the result
of which was that he stepped into the ring by the side of the dancers,
and called out in his stentorian voice —
"I want to know if you are new recruits or veterans."
" Four years in service," was the general answer.
" I thought so," said he. " Now, we Christian Commission Dele
gates don't want to interfere with your wishes, only to consult them.
You have had fun here now for over an hour. Those who, by way
of change, want a prayer meeting, show your hands."
Nearly every right hand went up. Two or three only seemed
offended, and muttered as they stalked off. The rest seated them
selves in an orderly manner, and enjoyed the meeting greatly.
As we were leaving, a fine-looking young man grasped my hand
and said —
" We are ordered front to-morrow, and can't tell what awaits us.
Will you pray that I may be a faithful Christian ?"
After I had reached the door, one who had followed me called me
back, and with broken sobs told that he was a guilty sinner in deep
est need of Christ.
Gen. Philip H. Sheridan vras placed in command in
the Shenandoah in August. At Opequan and Fisher's
Hill, in September, he so thoroughly defeated Early,
the Confederate commander, that he was driven from
the Valley into the mountains. Returning after the
chase, our army rested at Cedar Creek. Here, during
OPEQUAN. 383
Sheridan's absence, on October 19th, the camp was sur
prised by Early, and our forces driven. " Sheridan's
ride" from Winchester, however, ere nightfall redeemed
the day. After this there was scarcely any more fight
ing in the Shenandoah Valley.
Mr. J. R. Miller, formerly Field Agent of the Eigh
teenth Corps in the armies operating against Richmond,
became the General Field Agent in the Shenandoah
about the time of the battle of Opequan. He writes of
the scene after the battle :
Winchester was literally one vast hospital. The churches and
public buildings were filled, while nearly every private house had
its quota. There was great need of external relief; nothing was left
in the country ; Government supplies were all back ;
t TT , T, ^ • , Hoiu Sheridan's
the nearest base, Harper s Ferry, was over thirty Men were Fed
miles away, and the intervening country was overrun
by guerrillas.
As soon as the railroad was restored, Martinsburg became a place
of great importance to our work. Almost every wagon-train from
the front brought in two, three or five hundred men, who had come,
jolted and wounded, in hard army-wagons over rough roads, twenty-
two miles, from Winchester, with no beds, with no straw even under
them, with no rest, and with nothing to eat. We were always ap
prised of their coming an hour or more before they began to arrive,
and soon had all our preparations made. With tea, crackers, jellies,
bread, meats, cheese and fruits, the Delegates hurried about until all
were fed. Then came the bathing, washing and dressing, and it was
usually well-nigh morning before all was done. When the morning
dawned the same routine was renewed, and at noon the brave fellows
were as comfortable as they could be made for their tedious railroad
ride to Harper's Ferry.
Rev. P. B. Thayer l writes in October of his ministra-
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Garland, Me.
384 CHRISTIAN" COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
tions to Confederate wounded, who were brought to
Martinsburg in the same wagons with our own men :
"Hoys, I give
in."
As we have ministered to their wants and addressed words of kind
ness to them, tears have started from eyes unaccustomed to weeping.
They fairly overwhelm us with their thankful expressions. "This
is what I call living Christianity," one would say.
" This is the religion for me," another would add.
" I can't stand this," said a rough, hard-looking
fellow, badly wounded in the foot, but able to hobble along on
crutches, — " I can't stand this, boys ; it overcomes me. I give in,"
and as he came towards us his whole frame shook with emotion, and
the big tears fell from his sunburnt face, — tears which he awkwardly
and vainly tried to hide from his comrades and us.
"You know," he continued, "I am no coward; I can face the
enemy and not wink ; but this kindness kills me ; it breaks me all to
pieces. I tell you, boys, this is no humbug. It's a big thing. It's
the Gospel for body and soul, — just what we all need."
And so he went on in the truest eloquence for some minutes, clos
ing with the ever-recurring soldier's benediction, " God bless you !"
In the Winter a deep and pervading religious work
began in this department. The larger part of the army
lay near Winchester, and most of the chapels were
erected in that vicinity. There were thirty in all ; four
of them being large marquee tents, the others stockades
roofed with canvas. A few incidents from Delegates'
reports will illustrate the general character of the work.
Rev. Sewall Brown1 writes in March, 1865, of service
at Maryland Heights and Gamp Remount :
John Sangden, a Swede, was a noble specimen of a Christian. One
day he came in, wanting something in Swedish to read. I had
nothing at the time, but hunted up Baxter's /Saint's Rest, in Danish,
which he could read. His gratitude was very deep. Not knowing
1 Pastor of Baptist Church, E. Winthrop, Me.
MARYLAND HEIGHTS. 385
how to express himself in English, he could only The Unknown
grasp our hands and shake them again and again, Tongue Inter-
.,, , . preted.
without speaking.
At an evening meeting a short time afterwards, a Delegate noticed
a tear in Sangden's eye and a glow in his face. He was invited to
rise and speak :
" Yag kan ecke saga" — " I cannot speak it," — he said, and then
added in English : " You say, ' My Lord Jesus,' and it feels my
heart."
He then offered prayer in Swedish ; the only words we could un
derstand were, " Fader," " Jesus," and the " Christian Commission ;"
but the prayer was so intensely fervent that there was scarcely a
dry eye in the congregation. He seemed to be praying earth up to
heaven.
Geo. N , a New York soldier, had come out of the lowest soci
ety of that city. His temper was remarkably violent, and had been
so much indulged that, when provoked, he lost all command of him*
self, and became even unconscious of what he was
doing. Liquor always made him " mad." Once, I
remember seeing three men struggling with him
while he was in the midst of one of these tempestuous passions,
brought on by whisky. He foamed at the mouth, and was indeed a
fearful sight. For this offence he was sentenced to thirty days' hard
labor. It was a mournful spectacle to see the poor fellow going
through with his enforced tasks. At the close of the fifth day, his
sentence was commuted. I went to him to try and show him what
kindness I could ; he remembered some encouraging words of mine,
dropped while he was under sentence, and his heart was touched. In
a day or two he came to the chapel and asked for a Bible. He re
ceived it, with a hymn book and other good books, and set himself
diligently to study them. He never missed a meeting afterwards ;
and when I came away was an humble, sincere inquirer after the
truth.
Mr. J. H. Earle,1 the Agent at Stephenson's Station,
writes :
1 Of S. Abington, Mass.
25
386 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
One evening, after our usual meeting at the chapel, a Lieutenant
asked us to go with him to the hospital, to see a soldier of his com
pany supposed to be dying. Passing through the dimly-lighted ward,
with its sleeping patients and yawning nurses, we
„. ^ e( came to the cot of a fine-looking boy, in great dis
tress about his soul's salvation. After a close talk
with him, a Delegate prayed, he joining audibly in the petition. In
humble submission he exclaimed again and again, " Here, Lord, I
give myself to Thee." We felt that such a yielding up would be
blest of God. And so indeed it was.
" Oh, I'm so happy ! I'm happy all over," he exclaimed in a mo
ment.
The Surgeon who was standing by watching the scene, said it was
just the needed medicine for his body also. And so it proved, for
from that hour he began to recover
With two incidents related by Rev. W. H. Kelton,1 a
Delegate at Winchester in May, we close the record of
work in the Shenandoah Valley :
I found a Frenchman in the hospital, sick with rheumatism. He
was intelligent and apparently pretty well educated, but quite derided
the idea of reading the Testament. He eagerly accepted my offer
to bring him a French book however ; so in a day or
Influence of a two j handed him Monod's ''Lucille,"— from our Loan
Loan Library T . . , , . , ,
POOJ. Library. When I visited him next he greeted me
very cordially, and drawing the little book from un
der his pillow, said —
" It is good ; I like it ; I read it through ; I want a Bible for my
self."
He opened the book, and showed me where he had written on the
fly leaf—
" I like this book ; I will read the Bible. Give me one. Jules
Bernard, Bugler, Co. F, 5th N. Y. Cav."
1 Pastor of Baptist Church, W. Waterville, Maine. Since, rendered incapable
of doing ministerial work by disease contracted in the Commission's service.
WINCHESTER * 387
I was sure from his joy at receiving the Bible, that he would pe
ruse it with profit.
A soldier of Co. A, 1st U. S. V. V., of Hancock's Corps, had been
early cast upon the world to earn a livelihood. He became skeptical,
profane and very intemperate. One day, while he was giving ex
pression to his religious and irreligious notions, he
used language like this —
Jjimne .Law.
" There is no law but what men make ; there is no
such thing as inspiration, only in that sense in which any man is in
spired when he can impress and move men. The man Christ was
the greatest who ever lived, simply because to this late day His words
exert such a powerful influence on the world, — but He was human !
His teachings have no Divine authority."
He told me afterwards that, while he was uttering the words, a
comrade, much more wicked outwardly than himself, was looking at
him very strangely. The look troubled him somehow. There was
silence for a moment : suddenly his comrade broke out —
" If I believed all that, Captain Kidd would be nowhere to me."
The remark struck him like a thunderbolt.
" If indeed there be no Divine Law, and no power to execute it,"
I thought, " what is there to restrain my passions ? What man can
make, I, or any man, can break. At last I resolved to read the Bi
ble candidly. I was utterly amazed at its revelations ; each perusal
gave me something new to think of. Somehow it was different from
every other book. Gradually I became fully persuaded of its Divine
authority."
While he was in this state of mind, the regiment came to Win
chester and encamped close to the village cemetery. The seclusion
and shadow of the " city of the dead" were in harmony with the
man's troubled spirit. Thither he frequently yetired to wander and
meditate. One day he sat down by a small grave with a plain marble
headstone, inscribed simply, " Her name was Mary." Above the
words was carved a hand pointing upwards with extended finger.
The whole arrested his attention at once. To use his own expression,
" This was my sermon-book ; to it I came often ; it always had a les
son for me." Finally, he was led to the Commission prayer meetings ;
here the truth came home to him with power. One Sabbath evening,
388 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
rising in the presence of a crowded audience, he said in a clear, de
cided voice —
" Fellow-soldiers, I am not a Christian, but I want to be one."
And God heard and answered the earnest prayer.
In May the victorious armies of Grant and Sherman
began to gather near Washington for the " grand
review." Here was the last opportunity for the Com
mission, and its forces were mustered accordingly.
General Field Agents, Field Agents and Delegates, to
the number of sixty, combined all their strength and
zeal for this last work. Chapel tents and Commission
stations were opened throughout all the camps of the
veterans surrounding Washington. The narrative of
Eev. E. P. Goodwin, covering service in May and June,
will illustrate the character of the extensive operations
at this time :
My first work was in the heart of Provisional Camp, some two
and a half miles from Alexandria, where a Christian Commission
station was opening. Tents were barely up ; the chapel was unpul-
pited and unbenched ; domestic arrangements all in
£, chaos, and boxes unopened. Evidently a hard after
noon's campaign was before our party of Delegates.
Crowds of soldiers thronged us on every side, eager to find out " what
them fellers had got in their new shebang," as they phrased it ; and
covetously eyeing and hanging about every box of our treasures, as
if they caught, by the instinct of their need, the odor of new shirts,
drawers and socks.
Lunch despatched, work began in earnest. Six of us joined hands
in opening boxes and distributing gifts. So great was the pressure
upon us that we were unable to meet it, and, after toiling incessantly
until dark, had to dismiss the scores of longing ap
plicants with the pledge — better than nothing to be
sure, but not especially comforting to shirtless men —
that we would resume the distribution early in the morning. I never
PROVISIONAL CAMP. 389
saw such an intensely eager set of men. There was not an article we
had, from a shirt to a newspaper, which was not in constant demand,
often by a dozen voices at once. And there was good reason for the
eagerness. There were in the camp probably not far from ten
thousand men, most of whom were from Sherman's Army. Not a
man among them, as far as I could learn, had a dime of money, while
all had been without pay for many months. Their condition verified
their stories. I had certainly never thought it possible for our sol
diers to become so ragged and beggar-like. Scores, if not hundreds
of them, came to us and made request for shirts, often with beautiful
and touching modesty, their blouses meanwhile close buttoned about
the neck, hot as the day was, to hide their condition. Shirts and
pants hung in shreds ; some wore drawers only, the pantaloons being
past all presentableness or service ; the shoeless and stockingless were
numberless. Our hearts certainly lacked no stimulus in the blessed
work of relief.
Yet all this time my heart was growing heavy over the prospects
of the work on its spiritual side. I doubt if our camp was often
paralleled for vileness. Its make-up will furnish a significant reason
for this. Ostensibly it was a camp of men disabled
by long marches, and convalescents still unfit for
ences.
active service, sent here chiefly by boat from New-
bern, in advance of their comrades, who were to come by land. But
in addition to these, there were a large number of stragglers and
" shirks," who had contrived to pass themselves off as invalids, and
had so dodged a fatiguing march, with quite a numerous sprinkling
of " bounty-jumpers" and conscripts. As an inevitable sequence, the
morals of the camp were of the worst ; and so incessantly on that
first afternoon were our ears assailed with profanity and vulgarity,
that the bare thought of trying to preach the Gospel to men so cor
rupt almost filled me with dismay.
One circumstance occurred however to check my despondency and
inspire hope. Just as we were ready for our lunch of crackers and
bacon, a pleasant-looking soldier came to me, and with an earnest
look drew me aside to ask if there was to be preach
ing in our chapel that evening. Upon my replying ^e $1*™*
that there was to be, his eyes filled forthwith with .^
tears, and an expression of devout thanks broke from
*
390 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
his lips. His personal experience was a very remarkable one. A
sailor for nine years, he had been a very wicked man. Nothing had
arrested him in his course, until a few evenings previous, passing a
tent, he heard some Christian soldier singing. He was struck by the
melody, so much so that the music kept ringing in his ears con
stantly. He unbosomed himself to his comrade ; they went together
to find the tent, but could not. Their consciences were now, however,
thoroughly awake, and they agreed among themselves that they
ought to be better men. Finally, Wright — this was the soldier's name,
Chas. Wright, of the 32d Mass., — told his comrade that talking
would not make them any better. The other suggested prayer.
They did not know anything about praying, however. And it was
not until after considerable hesitation that they got down on their
knees. They confessed their common sins as well as they could,
asked forgiveness, and found that prayer helped them very much.
So they continued a day or two, working without encouragement from
any about them, until it suddenly occurred to them that they were
selfish about the matter, so they agreed to try and get in some of
their comrades. They were successful, and after that had an evening
prayer meeting at their tent, consisting of about ten men. Wright
was a member of the Fifth Corps, which was hourly expected to ar
rive. He was in great anxiety, because he feared that when his Corps
came, he would have to join it immediately, before our meetings be
gan. He went away with a happy face when he found that we were
to have a meeting that evening.
I had no idea there would be any considerable number of the men
out. To our surprise the tent was crowded full, and probably one
hundred and fifty men lay down on the grass outside, within hearing
distance, when we rolled up the sides of the chapel. Close up to the
desk sat Charles Wright. A squad of soldiers sitting near him had
evidently formed the nucleus of his remarkable prayer meeting. Our
doubts of the day were still hanging about us, and though we had
grand singing, and the fullest attention was paid to everything said,
yet it was only after a hesitating conference among ourselves that we
proposed, not very courageously, a supplementary meeting of Chris
tian soldiers for conference and prayer. To our embarrassment not
a man stirred to leave. Supposing they had not understood, I re
peated the notice that those who wanted to talk over their Christian
PKOVISIONAL CAMP. 391
experience might remain. But nobody moved yet— so we had a
whole tent full. The soldiers were invited to speak. Wright rose
promptly and told the story which he had related to me in the after
noon ; and after that we had no lack of them. The Lord seemed to
be indeed present with us.
With that service began a revival. A fact remarkable to us was
developed in these meetings, and this was that there had been a suc
cession of revivals in the army all the way round from Chattanooga.
Various places were spoken of which had been the
scenes of deep interest— Dalton, Goldsboro', Ealeigh, . Pm^ Meet-
ings on the Great
among others. Some of the men had agreed to hold
meetings every night of the long and perilous march.1
These were often held under peculiar difficulties ; many a time the
soldiers gathered in the dark, where they did not dare to have fires.
I never heard men speak more ably or with deeper earnestness than
did these. In those solemn, quiet meetings of the "great march,"
held under such dangers, they seemed to have entered into the mean
ing of the Psalmist's song : " Whoso dwelleth under the defence of
the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He
shall defend thee under His wings, and thou shalt be safe under His
feathers. His faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler."
And so, when they came into the country of safety, their song was :
" Oh, what great troubles and adversities hast Thou showed me ! and
yet didst Thou turn and refresh me ; yea, and broughtest me from
the deep of the earth again. My praise shall be always of Thee."
Every night from three to fifteen men came forward for prayers.
Our chapel tent was filled at every meeting until the camp broke up.
One night I remember we had a tremendous thunder-storm. My im
pression was that it would be useless to hold a ser-
T j 1* „ , A Wet Meet-
vice. 1 wrapped myselt up to keep out ot the
drenching rain and stepped over to the chapel. It
was two-thirds full. The rain was dripping through the canvas. The
water chased itself across the ground like a mill-race ; and the men
had to keep their feet out of it as best they could. The candles
spluttered and died out as fast as they were lit ; and excepting one or
two which we managed to keep burning at the desk, we were in utter
l For instance, in the 3d Brig., 2d Div., of the Twentieth Corps, such prayer
meetings were held every night, from Tennessee to Washington.
392 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
darkness. Yet we not only had the regular service, but a prayer
meeting afterwards also, and two new recruits for Christ came forward
to ask our special petitions.
The men told many precious incidents of the Christian intercourse
they had had during the long march. Once after a skirmish, a sol
dier told me, they held one of their usual night prayer meetings.
The wounded were being brought in and cared for
ymg C ;e to ^ ^ soldiers were singing a hymn. A poor young
• lad, fatally wounded, was among the number. As
they came up, they said to him —
" You are pretty badly wounded, ai'n't you ?"
" Yes," said he ; " almost gone ; but didn't I hear some singing ?"
" Yes ; we had a little prayer meeting."
" 'Tain't any use carrying me to the hospital ; if you'll just carry
me up to the tent, near the prayer meeting, that'll do. I would like
to die up there."
The soldiers carried him tenderly to the place ; he lay there listen
ing to the singing and the prayers until he died.
Across the river from Provisional Camp was encamped the Four
teenth Corps. After the grand review we established ourselves
among them. We had many cases of interest. I remember one
rather remarkable incident of a soldier named John
in t'1'11 H' Slia"' ^°' F 104th Illmois ReL He nacl savecl
up five hundred dollars from his army pay, which he
proposed using to have himself educated for a missionary after his
discharge. His story awakened a deep interest in our meeting one
evening, as he told it — omitting reference to the money he had saved
— in a peculiarly simple and artless way. He spoke so gently of his
having no earthly home ; and then, with faith and trust shining out
of his eyes, he said he had One Friend who, he knew, would never
forsake him or go away from him. His parents had been Roman
Catholics.
Emanuel A -- , Co. F, 31st Ohio, had the reputation of being
the most accomplished gambler in his regiment. He was a fearfully
intemperate man also, and as profane as intemperate. He rose for
prayers one evening, to our general astonishment.
Curious, Angry, . . .
Convicted Afterwards he told me something of his experience.
He had heard about the meetings, and so came one
WASHINGTON. 393
night out of curiosity to hear the singing. He sat down on the grass
outside of the tent to listen. By-and-bye something was said which
he felt inclined to regard as a personal affront. He got very angry
and rose to stalk away. A comrade followed him out and told him
that was not the way to leave, " like a coward." So he was prevailed
on to go back. Again something sharp in the address came across
him, and again he started off in anger. His comrade, himself not a
Christian, stuck to him, and shamed him back again. This time
something riveted his deepest attention. He began to feel there was
some trouble within. He went away at the close of the meeting feel
ing all crushed down ; carried his load for a day or two, and felt as
if he must return to the meetings to confess his sins. He soon found
out the way of peace, and coming into the meeting, asked prayers
most earnestly in behalf of the " partner" who had urged him back
to the chapel when he was going away cross.
The success of our revival work was due more than anything else
to the religious element among the men, to the Christian spirit of
those who had held to their prayer meetings during the march from
Atlanta.
With two incidents, occurring near the close of the
work in Washington hospitals, we bid adieu to the men
who conquered with Sherman and Grant.
The first is related by Rev. Mr. Goodwin :
In Ward 75 of Carver Hospital, Washington, I found John Gil-
lespie, a Pennsylvania soldier, who had lost a leg in one of the recent
engagements before Richmond. His father was present and sat at
his side, holding his hand. The soldier was in a deep
stupor ; various efforts had been made to rouse him orwar ,
. . Double- Quick,
up ; when the Chaplain and I came in, we continued March!"
them, but he seemed too far gone to heed us. A
little circle of comrades in the mean time had gathered round the
cot. I offered a short prayer, and then we all stood a while watching
for any change which might occur, momently expecting the sufferer
to expire. Suddenly one of his comrades said eagerly that he
thought he was going to speak. There was evidently a kindling up
of the little life which was left in him. After trying to clear his
394 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
throat and mouth a little, at first only faintly articulating, "For
ward," he at last broke out, as though he were again at the head of
his company —
" Double-quick," and then " March" came out short and quick and
clear.
The effort had exhausted his last remaining strength. A dull
weight fell back upon the pillow. He was dead.
The last is related by Rev. Edward P. Smith :
Lieutenant Wood, of a Maine regiment in the Army of the Po
tomac, was on his way to the " grand review." He had gone through
the war without a wound, and even without hospital experience. At
the last camp-halt his division made before reaching
, Y Washington, as he stood in his tent door, he was
mortally wounded by the accidental discharge of a
gun. He was brought into Campbell Hospital. When I found him
he was apparently peaceful in the immediate prospect of death. He
had enlisted as a Christian, but while he had kept an unsullied rep
utation for uprightness and integrity, yet he had not been distinctly
known in the regiment as a Christian ; and this was now his bitter
grief. He wanted to live to see his family again, — but more, far
more, he said, to recover lost opportunities. He sent for his fellow-
officers, told them his mistake and asked their forgiveness ; while he
trusted in the Saviour for his own forgiveness.
" I die as a Christian," he said to me, " and I die contented ; but,
oh, if I could have died as a Christian worker !"
" I am peaceful and assured in view of death," he said again, " but
I am not joyful and glad ; those three lost years keep coming back
upon me ;" then lying a moment quiet with closed eyes, he added,
" Chaplain, do you suppose we shall be able to forget anything in
heaven ? I ivould like to forget those three years."
CHAPTER XY.
THE PRISONERS IN THE SOUTH.
WITH NOTICES OF THOSE WHO RETURNED TO ANNAPOLIS.
Our purpose throughout this volume has been to give
a representative, and not an exhaustive, collection of in
cidents. We do not propose to deviate from that plan in
this chapter ; nor to enter into the history of the Southern
prisons ; but to group a few narratives, — especially of
the religious life of the men who suffered in them. The
best method of presentation is the general one of our
chapters, — the chronological.
Eev. C. C. McCabe,1 Chaplain of 121st Ohio Eegi-
ment, was taken prisoner with the Regimental Surgeon
in June, 1863, after Gen. Milroy's abandonment of Win
chester. The news of Gettysburg was brought to Libby
Prison, where the Chaplain was confined. He tells how
the prisoners received it : —
I had a relative in Richmond, a staunch Rebel. The day they
received the first tidings from Gettysburg he came to see me, his face
wreathed in smiles :
" Have you heard the news ?"
"What news?" How we heard
. oj Gettysburg in
" Forty thousand Yankee prisoners in the Valley
on their way to Richmond !"
1 Member of Ohio Conference, Meth. Epis. Church. Chaplain McCabe was
afterwards a collecting agent for the Commission, principally in the West.
395
396
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I was astounded. In dumb amazement I listened to the Rebel
officers speculating where the new prisoners should be stowed away
and how they were to be fed. I went up stairs and told the news.
Despondency settled down into every heart. That night, as we assem
bled for " family prayers," and sang, as was always our wont, the
long-metre Doxology, it trembled out from quivering lips up to Him
who has said, " Glorify ye Me in the fires." We felt we were so
doing that night, if never before.
NEWS IN LIBBY PRISON.
I slept none that night, listening wearily to the watch calling the
hours and singing out as he did so, " All's well." When the day
broke I waited for the footsteps of " Old Ben," a character well known
to every inmate of Libby. He was an old slave
Union black man, who was the prison news-agent and
One Cipher too
Many.
sold papers at twenty-five cents a-piece. At last his
LIBBY PEISON. 397
\
footfall came. He pushed the door ajar, looked round for a moment
upon the sleepers, and then raising up his arms, shouted —
" Great news in de papers !"
Did you ever see a resurrection ? I never did but once. Oh, how
those men sprang to their feet; and what was the news? The tele
graph operator at Martinsburg, when putting those ciphers to the
four, had clicked his instrument once too often. There was a mistake
of only thirty-six thousand ! More yet ! Lee was driven back ; the
Potomac was swollen ; the pontoons were washed away ! I have stood
by when friends long parted meet again with raining tears and fond
embrace, but never did I witness such joy as swept into these strong
men's faces, where the deepest sorrow sat but a moment before.
Well, what did we do ? Why, we sang ; sang as saved men do ;
sang till Captains Flynn and Sawyer, immured in the lowest dungeon
below and doomed to die within ten days, heard us and wondered ;
sang till the very walls of Libby quivered in the
melody as five hundred of us joined in the chorus o
of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's " Battle Hymn of the
Kepublic" :
"Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the Lord ;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored ;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible, swift sword :
His Truth is marching on.
" I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps ;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps ;
I have read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps :
His day is marching on.
" I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel,
'As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My Grace shall deal :'
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
" He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat :
O ! be swift, my soul, to answer Him ! be jubilant, my feet !
Our God is marching on.
398 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS
" In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me ;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
" CHORUS— Glory, Glory, Hallelujah !"
It was early ; I am not sure but we woke up the President of the
Confederacy himself with that song.
It was the Fourth of July, and we determined to have a celebration.
Our programme was already arranged, — speeches, toasts and songs.
But where should we get a flag ? There were several in the prison ;
but they were below in the office, turned inglori-
ouslv upside-down before the Confederate banner.
in Lobby. J
We might make a flag ; but whence the material ? A
happy thought occurred to us. A man was found who wore a red
shirt ; another had a blue one ; white (?) shirts were plenty. From
a combination of these at last emerged the emblem of liberty with
all the thirty-four stars. One of Grant's men was chosen to hang
the flag from the rafters, — no easy task, but successfully and safely
accomplished. I never saw men gaze so long and earnestly at a flag
before or since. What memories it called up !
Col. Streight, the President of the Day, made an opening speech,
in which he enjoined upon us not to make too much noise, else the
Rebels would interrupt. Just as he closed, a Confederate officer
made his appearance and addressed the Colonel —
" Col. Streight, by order of the Captain commanding, this fuss must
stop."
" ' Fuss/ " said the Colonel, " do you call this a ' fuss ' ? Do I un
derstand you to mean that we can't celebrate the Fourth of July
here?"
"Yes, sir, you can, but — "and just then looking up, he spied the
flag. It evidently astonished him. He looked at it intently and
long. Finally the power of speech returned :
" Somebody take that flag down."
A man back in the rear rose, and said in a trembling voice —
" Let any Union boy here touch that flag that dares !"
None of us moved. The officer's command was repeated. No
one stirred. He must execute his own order, so he began the peril
ous ascent. He was not quite so light-limbed as the man who had
ANDERSONVILLE. 399
put it up, and it looked once or twice as if he would pretty surely
come down with a crash and without his prize, but he finally succeeded.
Such was our humiliation. Little did we think of the compensa
tion. Little did we know of the full import of the Gettysburg vic
tory ; much less of that other flag coming down that very day at
Vicksburg, — \f the Gibraltar of the Rebellion!"
where the witnesses were not a few half-starved and ompen
sation.
half-clad captives, but a vanquished Confederate
army.
So God " commanded light to shine out of darkness!"
In the midst of the long weariness of captivity, there
was no inner help and consolation equal to that afforded
by the Gospel of Christ. Rev. Benj. Parsons, a Dele
gate in August, 1863, to the right of Rosecrans' army,
recalls this incident :
Sergeant Thos. A. Cord, of the 19th U. S. Infantry, was a mem
ber of an association of* Christians in the division to which his regi
ment belonged. Owing to the pressure of military duty and the cold
indifference of superior officers, he and his compan
ions, only four or five in number, were obliged to T ., .
obtain by stealth the privilege of social prayer.
When off duty they betook themselves to a secluded spot in a wood,
and there poured out their hearts together in prayer and praise. At
Chickamauga the Sergeant was taken prisoner. Through some of
his escaped comrades we hear that he has been appointed by his fel
low-prisoners to conduct a prayer meeting at night in a subterranean
apartment within the stockade at Andersonville. Faithful to his
country, to his comrades and to Christ in the quiet camp, he was
found foremost among the faithful in the land of captivity.
The Christian Commission held meetings at Chatta
nooga, in January and February, 1864, which were
attended by Mr. Thos. J. Sheppard,1 a soldier of an
1 Afterwards, in Summer of 1865, a Delegate of the Commission to aid in fin
ishing Western work.
f
400 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Ohio regiment, afterwards a prisoner at Andersonville.
He writes :
A young man rose one evening at the Chattanooga meetings, and
told us he was a sutler ; he desired to make confession of his wrong
doing, and under a sense of his sinfulness asked the prayers of God's
people that he might become a Christian. He said
The Converted ,1,1 , • ^ i i
„ that he was on his way home to be a better man,
and then added —
" If ever I come into the army again, it will be with a gun on my
shoulder."
His confession made the profoundest impression upon the soldiers.
Their marvel was at the radical nature of the change which the
Grace of God had effected.
" There's no use doubting God's power in converting men," said
they, " when He makes a soldier out of a sutler."
And nobly did the renewed man fulfill his vows.
Months afterwards at Andersonville, a soldier who had volunta
rily remained to care for the sick when it was1 supposed he was going
to the lines for exchange, — one who was known throughout all that
prison as an earnest disciple of Christ, said to me —
" Do you remember how a sutler asked the prayers of Christians
in a meeting at Chattanooga, and promised, if he carne out again, to
come as a Christian and a soldier ?"
" Certainly, I do."
" I am that sutler," was his reply.
Amid rags and filth and sickness, faithful and patient, there was
no Christian Commission Delegate who ever more beautifully illus
trated the Gospel of temporal and spiritual relief, than did Sergeant
Frank W. S , of the 124th Ohio.
Rev. J. W. Hough, a Delegate to Camp Distribution,
near Washington, in June, 1864, furnishes the follow
ing narrative :
In the Autumn of 1861, a volunteer cavalry company of home
guards was formed in Williston, Vt., — half in sport, half for the
sake of drill. A member of Williams College, who was passing his
ANDERSONVILLE. 401
vacation in the village, was chosen Chaplain of the
„ XT ^r , The Memorial
company. A gentleman from JNew York, connected ™
with the Bible Society, sent a bundle of Testaments
to distribute among the members. One Sabbath afternoon these
were presented, with an address by the Chaplain upon the " Chris
tian soldier."
One of these Testaments has come back to Williston, and lies be
fore me as I write. On the fly-leaf there is an inscription in the
Chaplain's hand-writing —
" Williston Cavalry Company, September, 1861 ;" and beneath it
is pencilled his name, — " Charles B. Chapiu."
He enlisted in the Summer of 1862, in the 1st Vermont Cav., and
the little Testament was carried to the war. It traversed Virginia
from Harper's Ferry to Petersburg, and rode with its owner, under
Kilpatrick's lead, within the defences of Richmond. On May 5th,
the day of the first fighting in the Wilderness, Chapin became a
prisoner, and it went with him. Its owner had been previously
learning the value of the little book. During the busy campaigns
in which he had proved himself a cool, courageous soldier, there had
sprung up in his heart a new life. He could never trace its history,
or fix its dates.
" I could not go into action without committing myself to God in
silent prayer," he wrote ; " and presently I came to feel that my
prayers were answered."
He had learned the secret of faith in God ; and so the little Testa
ment became a priceless treasure during the long days at Anderson-
ville.
When captured, his watch was taken from him, his money and
even his pocket-knife also ; but a memorandum-book and the Testa
ment he was permitted to retain. Together these volumes tell the
tale of his prison-life ; giving hints and brief suggestions of suffer
ings which could never be told, and of joys which even that life of
horror could not wholly darken. The diary paints the dark side of
the picture ; a sentence here and there bringing out vividly the inde
scribable filth and wretchedness of the prison, the intolerable heat,
the ever-increasing insufficiency of rations, the progress of disease,
the sinking of the heart, as hope almost gave way before despair,
which wrung out the groan —
26
402 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" 0 God ! will there never be an exchange ?"
But the well-worn Testament goes into the inner life, and tells a
heart-history in its marked passages. A large class of these was evi
dently made forcible by the surroundings of prison-life ; as, for ex
ample, Christ's discourse upon the "Living Bread," in St. John's
sixth chapter ; many of St. Paul's allusions to his imprisonment ;
and St. Stephen's martyrdom. Others struck a deeper chord ; as
Christ's prayer for His disciples, after the assurance, " In this world
ye shall have tribulation ;" the close of the eighth chapter of the Ro
mans, beginning, " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or peril, or sword?" St. Peter's injunction, "I think it not strange,
.concerning the fiery trial which is to try you;" and St. Paul's tri
umphant message to Timothy, from out the old Roman Mamertine
dungeon, " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my depart
ure is at hand. I have fought a good fight ; I have finished my
course ; I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness." With what deep interest do we find the
soldier's mark about these words (Phil. i. 12, 21): "But I would
that ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened
unto me, have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel.
i: For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your
prayers."
After reading such entries in his journal as these — " Cannot get
half enough to eat ;" " Very, very hot ;" " Do not hardly draw half
rations ;" " Had no blanket, so lay in the dirt ;" " Water poor ;"
" Washed a pair of drawers, for the first time in two months ;" — there
is something inexpressibly touching in finding his mark upon such
passages as these — " These are they which came out of great tribula
tion, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ;
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb
which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes."
Not only was the Testament read and re-read during the seven
months of imprisonment, but lent to others also. The day of ex
change, so earnestly prayed for, came at last, and when the wasted
ANDERSONVILLE. 403
form dragged itself out of the stockade, the little volume could not
be found ; it was in the hands of some fellow-prisoner, and gladly
left that it might continue to comfort him. Chapin reached Annap
olis, and sent a cheerful letter home ; his father went down to bring
him back, as he hoped, to the old fireside. It was not so to be.
Starvation and cruelty had done their work ; he had " fought a good
fight, the time of his departure was at hand."
Under the hardships of prison life, into which was crowded the
discipline of a score of common years, he had ripened for heaven.
" Father, sit down by me ; I want to tell you how I feel, — I don't
know as it's just right. I feel so perfectly satisfied with all God has
done. I wouldn't have one thing changed. I would be glad to go
home and see mother again ; but if God arranges otherwise, it's all
right. I would have it just as He pleases. Tell Eddie and Allie and
Millie to meet me in heaven ; and tell Mr. Hough to say to all my
young friends in Williston to meet me there too."
The last entry in his journal reads, " Mustered for pay ;" he was
being " mustered for pay" indeed ; the Captain of his salvation was
even then saying, " Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with
Me." Peacefully, even gladly, he entered into rest. Let those who
can, imagine the contrast between Andersonville and heaven.
During the weeks in which he lingered, business once called his
father to Washington. In the depot there was a group of soldiers.
Accosting them, he found that one was a released Andersonville
prisoner.
" Did you know Charley Chapin ?" he inquired.
" Charley Chapin ? Guess I did," was the quick rejoinder.
Explanations followed, and the soldier expressed his surprise that
he was yet alive. Opening his knapsack suddenly, he added —
" Here, I've got a Testament that belongs to him. He lent it to
me and I couldn't find him to return it. I've read it through four
times. I wish you would give it to him."
So the precious little book came back to him who had fed upon it
when starving, and to his friends in whose eyes it was a priceless
treasure. It lies on my table this afternoon, where the "Chaplain"
wrote in it four years and more ago. It bears on it the scars of ser
vice. Itg sides and edges are worn. Its back, having failed, has been
replaced by a piece of rough leather, once apparently part of a boot-
404 CHKISTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
leg, carefully stitched on. Its pages are wonderfully clean, testifying
to the care with which it was used, and reminding us of one of old,
who in the depths of an experience, not wholly dissimilar, exclaimed — •
" I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary
food."
During October and November, 1864, Rev. J. M.
Clark1 labored among the returned prisoners at Anna
polis. From liis report we make these extracts :
One of the men who wished to be prayed for, awakened uncommon
interest in our evening meetings. After a season of prayer a con
verted soldier rose and said —
" I am glad to see that brother soldier here for
prayers; we were in Richmond prison together, and
to God as he
used to?" * nave °^ten Prayed for him."
Soon after, the penitent rose to add a few words
himself:
" I have been a backslider from God. Before I entered the army
I enjoyed Christ ; but since, I have not lived as I ought. I've been
home on furlough, and if any one had heard the prattle of my little
boy, he would have been struck with it ; but how do you think it made
me — Ids father — feel, when he said to his mother, ' When papa comes
to dinner, will he talk to God as he used to?' Oh, I tell you it cut
me to the heart. I am determined, if God please, to live a Christian
life."
Two other men were forward for prayers at the same time. Both
had been wounded and in captivity, and now both came limping
along together and bent their crippled limbs in earnest humility and
petition before God.
One of the saddest sights we had to witness were the paroled men
leaving camp for home on furlough. Twelve ambulances came from
the city to convey those unable to walk. About fifty others hobbled
along on crutches, a pitiable sight! God help and
A Crutch Bat- ,,
bless them ! roor, brave fellows, they are cripples
for life, many of them for but a short life. It was
1 Pastor of Meth. Episc. Church, Ashburnham, Mass.
ANNAPOLIS. 405
mournful to watch them — a full hundred — as they turned their faces
homeward ; and to think of the aching eyes that would fill with
tears again when the maimed heroes got back to the old home town.
Eev. Wm. DeLoss Love1 was a Delegate at Annapolis
in December, 1864. We add a few sketches from his
pen :
When the steamers bearing the Union paroled prisoners reached
t;he wharf at Annapolis, it was customary for the Delegates of the
Commission and others to go down and greet those grateful, earnest
men, as they stepped again on the shore of what they
often termed " God's country." The hospital band
also met them there, and poured forth sweetest strains ^ Death
of music.
I was delayed one day on the arrival of a steamer, and when I
reached the wharf some were bearing the feeble, freed prisoners on
stretchers to the Naval Hospital ; others were placing some of their
suffering companions on a platform car, which was to be rolled along
up to St. John's College Hospital.
As I came near the steamer, the first object that specially attracted
my attention was an emaciated, feeble man, lying on one corner of
the car platform, the sun welcoming him with its gentle and soothing
rays, and he feebly, but touchingly, exclaiming, " Oh, that pretty
band!" My associate Delegate of the Commission had taken his
name, and was then trying to learn his regiment and his father's name
and place of residence ; for it was evident the young man could not
long survive, and that unless we obtained these particulars then, the
poor soldier would have that sad word, " Unknown" placed on his
little head-board in the cemetery, and no relative would ever know
where or when he died and was buried.
The soldier was not yet so far gone as to forget his own name, but
he was obliged to take a little time for thought to recall his regiment.
When the Delegate asked for his father's name and place of residence,
1 Pastor of Spring St. Congregational Church, Milwaukee, Wi?., and Editor of
the Wisconsin Puritan.
406 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
he could not at first tell, but in his hard effort at recollection, said,
" Wait a little and I'll get it." Soon he did get it, and then the atten
tion of most of the bystanders was turned to others.
But I felt in my heart a longing to know whether this soldier, so
near his end, was a friend of the Saviour. I came close, and putting
my lips near his ear, said —
" Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ ?"
He started with an animation not manifested before, turned his
feeble and glassy eyes straight and lovingly upon me, put an unwonted
energy into his voice, and replied, —
" My friend, I do !"
It was enough. I never saw the soldier again. Doubtless ere the
day wore away he was carried by angels into Rest.
There had come to Annapolis some months before, a skeptic to see
his severely-wounded and feeble son, who had recently arrived from
the Richmond prison. The father tarried, hoping to witness his son's
improvement, now that he had exchanged quarters
The Skeptic • -r M i /> i T-T. i i
,,. P in Lib by for those at Annapolis. But the change
he had looked for was of another character. Gan
grene had reached the wound, and the flesh of the young man's limb
was gradually rotting away.
The Surgeons abandoned nearly all hope of his recovery, and the
benevolent Chaplain told the father that his son must probably soon
die ; that he had better so inform him, and advise him to make all
needful arrangements before leaving the world.
The father replied that he could not bear the task, and asked the
Chaplain to do it for him.
" And," said he, " speak to him in regard to all his interests ; those
of the future also." Then he further added, in much seriousness,- " I
have been an unbeliever, a wicked man; but my son's mother is a
Christian, and he had better follow her."
The Chaplain gladly went to the son and told the father's message,
and asked what reply he should return.
" Tell my father," said he, " that I have not deferred preparation
for the future to this late time. Long, long ago, previous to going
into battle, I gave myself up to Jesus, and now am ready to go and
meet Him when He calls me. Tell him also that I hope he will pre
pare to meet Him too."
O- THE
UNIVS-RSI7Y
or
ANNAPOLIS. 407
This message, tenderly given by the Chaplain, made a deep im
pression on the loving but skeptical father.
One evening, as I sat writing letters for soldiers in Chaplain Hen
ries' office at the Annapolis Hospital, Division No. 1, there came into
the room a very aged and feeble man from Cambridge, 111., who with
trembling and sadness, inquired if we could tell him
anything about his son, N. H. Tilson. We replied ^ e,
that we did not recollect to have seen him. He said
that he had received a letter from some one in that hospital, inform
ing him that his son had reached there, a paroled Union prisoner from
Savannah. He further said that before receiving that letter he had
not heard from him for about a year ; that then he learned he was
probably slain in a battle near Knoxville, and he and his family
had given him up as dead. But when they received the news of his
arrival and sickness at Annapolis, they all sat down and wept in their
joy, and then decided that he and his daughter — both of them feeble
in health — must set out to find him. They had travelled a thousand
miles or more ; he had left his daughter at the hotel, telling her that
she must be prepared for the worst.
Chaplain Henries told him that he would go through the wards
and make inquiry for his son. After he had gone, I endeavored to
comfort the dear old man — a warm-hearted Christian — by saying
that we found many of the prisoners from Andersonville who had
either been converted there or soon after their arrival at Annapolis.
He replied in tears that his chief prayer for his son all along had been
that, if still living, he might become a Christian.
While thus conversing, I turned over the leaves of my Commission
note-book, then nearly full, to see if I could find any trace of the son
of this aged man. At last I discovered his name, but did not at first
mention my discovery, lest I should find there also a record of his
death. Glancing rapidly along the lines, I found this: "1ST. Holmes
Tilson, Cambridge, Henry Co., 111. Been in prison a year; taken
prisoner at Knoxville, Tenn., Nov. 18th, 1863 ; became a Christian
last of June or first of July at Andersonville. Not heard from home
for about eleven months."
I read my sketch to the father ; he was so overcome with joy that
he could scarcely speak. Soon the Chaplain returned with the glad
news that he had found him. He said that as he went into the room
408
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
where the boy lay, he recognized him as one he had several times
visited alone and with myself; but in the multitude his name had
been forgotten. The young man said—
" Chaplain, you have not been to see me in a great while. Have
you got a letter from my father ?"
' No, I have no letter from him. What would you give to see
your father ?"
" I will give twenty-five dollars this minute !"
"Wei], I'll go and bring him."
This last sentence was uttered so playfully that the lad hardly
knew what he meant, and presumed it could not be that his father
had come.
But soon the Chaplain escorted the old man to the room where the
boy lay. The father hurried over to the low cot in the corner, knelt
down, put his arms about his son, and the son threw his arms about
his father's neck, and there they kissed each other and wept.
The lost son was found,— in more senses than one, the father
thought, Not only had the Lord found him at Andersonville, but
in a few days it was evident that he would never recover, and that
the earthly loss would be the heavenly finding.
Perhaps one of the most remarkable episodes of the
history of the war, if it could be fully written, would be
the narrative of the preaching of the Gospel in Ander
sonville stockade. Little however remains beyond the
mere outline shreds of an account. Eev. J. M. Clark,
who after his first Delegate's experience, became the
Commission's permanent agent at Annapolis, preserves
a few disconnected relations of soldiers concerning this
phase of the story of the prison :
Among the thousands of unfortunate men imprisoned, there
were some Christians and Christian ministers, who were willing to
preach the Word in season and out of season. These were called
TheGoxpdin "ClmPlains;" l suppose few if any of them held
Andersonville. commissions.
Within the bounds of the camp there were three
ANDERSONVILLE ANNAPOLIS. 409
spots where the men were accustomed to hold preaching and other
services in the evenings. When the smaller area was too strait
for the congregation, notice was proclaimed for the next meeting in a
larger space. The spot most frequently used was on the south side
of the stream, in the place used for the execution of the six criminals,
or " raiders" as they were called. The attendants numbered as high
as four, five and six hundred at a time. Sad to say, the soldiers'
te&timony was that they were often disturbed by wicked fellow-
prisoners on the outskirts of the congregation. The meetings how
ever were attended and sustained by sincere, earnest men, whose
labors were not in vain.
Many of the men tell me that it was in the time of their captivity
that they " began to call upon the name of the Lord." Some of them
told touching stories of their weakness and consequent inability to get
to the prison prayer meetings. Said one —
"•' I was too weak to walk, yet I wanted to go to the meeting ; so I
crawled upon my hands and knees half-way and got where I could
hear, and stopped there thinking I could pray. Afterwards I crept
back to my old place."
One poor fellow who had been very wicked, became too sick to leave
his place. He had a desire to go to the meeting; so two of his com
rades took him up and carried him. Lying upon the ground amid
the congregation, he listened and was deeply convicted of sin. A
number of devout soldiers gathered about and prayed for him. He
was converted and shortly after began to recover.
In one of our wards at Annapolis lay a brave soldier, who had
escaped with life and no more. He was continually recurring to
thoughts of the old prison meetings. The first evening I met him he
was suffering from a severe cough, which continued
. , i . . . . n -. Prayinq for
with scarcely any intermission for more than two Enemies
hours. His agony was intense, and great drops of
sweat trickled from his brow. Meanwhile his heroic wife stood at his
side, grave and composed, as she had been through many anxious
days. In the intervals of coughing he would offer short prayers like
this—
" O Lord, bless those men whose cruel treatment has caused all
this suffering; have mercy upon them and show them the right way;
give them life, — eternal life."
410 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
At another time, as we stood by him, he said —
" The blessed Lord has been very good to me. Oh, yes, He has
brought me out of that horrible prison ; yes, He heard my prayer ;
He can make me well. They did use me badly, wife ; the Lord have
mercy on them ! Oh, I think of the poor prisoners left behind. They
are wicked — many of them. I have heard them swear and curse
and mock those who prayed ; and after a few days I have seen them
go to the meetings and fall down upon their knees to pray ; and some
of them came away with new hopes. Oh, yes, the Lord heard prayer
for sinners there ; He hears prayer always.. How good He has been
to me !"
In the same room lay another poor boy whose severe sufferings
moved all to pity. He had been a prisoner for fifteen months, and
had endured even more than the usual privations. Both his feet were
frozen, discolored, swollen and intensely painful.
p ,.„ So acute were his sufferings that the tears forced
themselves from his eyes in spite of his efforts to re
strain them. I tried to soothe him, and asked —
" Is there anything more I can do for you ?"
He looked earnestly up in my face and answered —
" Give me a prayer, if you please."
So kneeling by his side, I besought the Lord for him. During the
night, the nurse told me, he was much engaged in prayer. Early
the next morning he died.
Rev. Dr. Patterson puts into a few earnest words his
experience of the prayer meetings at Annapolis, attended
by the returned prisoners in March, 1865 :
If one wants to know what prayer and thanksgiving mean, he
must hear our returned prisoners pour out their hearts before God
for the redemption from Southern bondage, and supplicate for their
brethren still in the prison-house. Choirs, organs,
A Prisoners' rp T^ T^ i i i ^ • 1-1
Prayer Meeting. le Deums> Doxologies are poor, dumb things beside
the tears streaming down the smoke-dyed cheeks of
these veterans ; and as the manly, trumpet voice quivers and grows
husky, and breaks down in sobs at the throne of grace, one begins to
ANNAPOLIS. 411
know what is meant by "intercession with groanings which cannot
be uttered."
There is a lad of nineteen who stands up and says —
" I promised the Lord that if ever I got out of prison I would
stand up for Him the very first chance; and now I want to serve
Him, and I ask your prayers."
There is another who can only hang his head and weep, and stand
up also when the invitation is given. Just behind him a manly-
looking fellow gets up and says —
" Ain't there some more here who promised God if He wouid get
them out that they would be Christians? — Now, soldiers, don't be
afraid of men. We weren't afraid of men in Salisbury. We can't
put down God with a lie, no how. Just speak out and don't be
ashamed of Christ. He was not afraid to be ridiculed. He was put
to the most ridiculous kind of usage and death for us. Now, stand
up for Him." Thus the meeting goes on.
Mr. Chas. Harris,1 a Delegate at Camp Parole in
April, 1865, recalls a few interesting incidents of the
meetings and hospital work :
An Irish soldier, who had been formerly in the navy, was led to
Christ at our meetings. He was a tall, noble-looking man ; and his
change seemed to be thorough and deep. He thought a great deal
of a certain corner of the chapel in which he had been
..-. .-, .. •, ., « • How a Sail or
wont to sit about the time when the Saviour was n „, . .
Lame to (Jfinst.
seeking him. He used to speak of it as his "sweet
little corner," and was under the impression that the Spirit was some
how there especially present. When any one from that quarter rose
to ask for the prayers of those present, the Irishman's heart used to
go out towards them with special sympathy and a strong faith in
their salvation. When we asked him how he came to think of
coming to Christ after so many years of careless trifling, he said —
"The Lord got His grapnel-irons a hold of me ; He pulled on the
starboard side, and then He pulled on the larboard side, till I could
not hold out any longer, and so I surrendered the ship."
1 City Missionary of Peoria, 111.
412 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Poor fellows! God only knows how utterly disheartening their
trials had been. One of the soldiers in the hospital asked the nurse
to bear a message for him, — the tragedy and hopelessness of which
are beyond all conception :
" I am Dead." ,, . -, •, ^, . ,. ^ . .
" Ask the Christian Commission man to write a
letter to my sister, and to tell her that I am dead and to come for
my body."
So much has been written upon the subject, and so
few villages throughout the North lack stories — always
told with horror and tears — of their own unreturning
men who had been carried away into the hopeless coun
try, that we have not thought it necessary to enter into
the harrowing details of imprisonment miseries. With
Rev. Mr. Clark's account of the arrival at Annapolis of
2739 paroled men, on March 9th, 1865, we shall close
this chapter :
It has always been my custom to meet the transports at the wharf
and to render, especially to the sick and disabled, all the assistance
in my power. Stimulants — cherry cordial and brandy — given under
the inspection and with the approval of the Surgeons,
were most valuable in reviving the men, and in pro-
oners came into
Annapolis. longing or saving life.
The scene on one of the boats was beyond descrip
tion. After the comparatively well men had passed to the wharf, I
went below to the lower deck, where seventy-five poor fellows lay in
that dark, close part of the vessel, unable to help themselves; filthy,
ragged, infested with vermin. These sufferers were without shirts,
many of them barefoot, and some absolutely naked; others with their
fleshless limbs exposed, and themselves too feeble to gather what
shreds and rags there were about them. One man was helped along
towards the hatchway, a naked skeleton, with only a blanket thrown
over his shoulders. Another lay utterly nude, and so demented as
not to notice his exposure. I covered him with a bit of matting that
lay near, and gave him some cordial. Another lay stark and dead,
on his right side, in the same position of contortion and agony in
AT AXX4POLIS WHAEF. 413
which he had died. By the dim light of a lantern, I went to every
man and offered him a cordial ; many were too weak to drink, save
with the greatest difficulty. Two dead bodies lay on deck, covered
with coarse bagging. I lifted the cover to look at the face of one ;
it was a countenance of complete emaciation and agony. A thought
less prisoner looking on, said with a laugh —
" Give him a drink."
One man on a stretcher, on the way up to the hospital seemed very
weak and faint. The bearers paused, and I lifted up his head to give
him the cup with cordial. His thin, trembling hand carried it to
his lips, then holding it out from him, he said —
_ , T Deliverance.
" Here s bad luck to the Confederacy. May I
never fall into their hands again."
There was something in the words and action which thrilled the
bystanders.
A man tottered down the plank from the transport, pale and hag
gard, but with a smile upon his face. As he neared the wharf, he
raised his fragment of a hat, swung it in the air and
. , Too Weak to
tried to cheer, but his voice was too weak to make a ^eer
sound. All took the will for the deed, and the
nurses conducted him to the hospital.
Another prisoner told me of his feelings when he came into our
lines to embark :
" I thought I should shout lustily, but when the moment came I
was speechless ; my emotions were unutterable. I
felt only as if I would like to go down and kiss the
deck of the transport, over which floated the dear old stripes and
CHAPTER XVI.
THE WESTERN ARMIES.
FROM THE FALL OF ATLANTA TO THE CLOSE OF COMMISSION WORK; WITH
SOME NOTICES OF HOSPITAL AND OTHER WORK BEFORE ATLANTA FELL.
June 1864— September 1865.
THE great hospitals in the rear were soon overflowing
with patients from the front, both sick and wounded.
In June, Mr. A. E. Chamberlain writes from Cincin
nati :
A friend telegraphed me from Northern Michigan to go and see
his son, Willian Van Tine, a soldier in Marine Hospital. I did so,
and afterwards continued to attend him in his sickness. He had
been married only a few months before coming into
"I Have Gone
Home» the army, and now, the burgeon told me, he must
die. He was very cheerful about it, and continued
so during all his sufferings. When very near his end, I received a
despatch from his father, saying that he would be at the hospital
next morning. Van Tine looked up at me when I told him, with a
pleasant smile on his face :
" That will be good, but he won't find me here. I shall be gone
before that."
The soldier's words were evidently true ; I asked him for a last
message for his father. He was silent for a moment, the smile still
clinging about his lips and eyes, and then said —
" Tell him I have gone home."
" Have you any message for your wife?"
" Tell her I have gone home."
" Is there nothing more you want to say, William,— no other mes
sage I can bear for you ?"
414
NASHVILLE. 415
" No ; that is enough. They will all understand it, — I have gone
home."
Could we have sung a hymn by that couch, what one would have
been more appropriate than Dr. Bonar's ? —
" Beyond the parting and the meeting,
I shall be soon ;
Beyond the farewell and the greeting,
Beyond the pulse's fever beating,
I shall be soon.
Love, Best and Home !
Sweet Home !
Lord, tarry not, but come."
Within half an hour he was resting at home.
Mrs. E. I. Ford, the wife of Post-Surgeon Ford, of
Nashville, a constant friend of the Christian Commis
sion, relates an experience, in July, of work in the
wards of a new hospital opened at Nashville for the men
from the front :
Most of the boys, even those whose limbs had been amputated,
were doing well, when hot weather brought that scourge of the
wounded, gangrene, which in spite of every precaution attacked very
many of the patients. With most of them it was
arrested ; but such was the constant alternation and
of Hope.
suspense that they needed more than usual sympa
thy, and nourishment better than common. The Commission Dele
gates were always gladly welcomed.
Soldiers do not intrude their sorrows upon others ; only when yon
stoop down to them, and ask them of the homes they have left and
the toils they have encountered, and not always then, may you catch
a glimpse of the sacrifices they make for their country. A boy of
eighteen, of athletic frame and cheerful countenance, had suffered
amputation of a right arm, and was doing well when he was attacked
by the gangrene. From this time he was an object of my special
interest and attention. Many a little luxury was procured, but soon
they were seen to be of no avail. The disease, once arrested, reap-
416 CHBISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
peared with renewed violence ; its inroads upon his constitution could
not be repaired. A friend from his Western home came to cheer
him day after day with kindest converse and sympathy. One day,
before an operation, he said to me —
" I feel sometimes like giving up, but when I think of home and
friends, I try to live for their sakes."
" But, my boy, you were brave in the face of the enemy ; can't you
meet this foe with the same courage? You may have an Almighty
Arm to lean upon."
" Oh, how much I need it ! How I long to find it !"
" But you may find it at once ; Jesus says so, — ' Come unto Me, all
ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.'"
"Ah, yes; but I've been such a sinner, so wicked, such a hard boy,
— and all the while I had a praying mother at home."
" But the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Only re
ceive Him now, and your mother's prayers are answered."
He was soon enabled to accept the Saviour. He drooped gradually,
and cared less for the comforts brought him, but never wearied of
listening to the " sweet story of old." He looked at me thoughtfully
one day, and said —
"I have made up my mind that I can't live, and I'm ready to die;
but, oh, if I could only die at home, with my mother and little sister
beside me, I should be satisfied ! That's all I want now." With an
imploring look, he added —
"Will you ask my Doctor if I may be carried home? It is my
last request," and then the tears came. I turned away heart-sick, to
entreat for what I knew could not be granted. My husband assured
me it would be impossible ; so I carried back a reluctant response.
He was calmer. When I told him, he said —
" I could hardly have expected it."
"Shall we send for your mother?"
" No," said he, after a moment ; " she is feeble, and must not come
here."
No more earthly complaints were uttered ; no more wishes for what
might not be. The "Everlasting Arms" were underneath and
around him, until he was " present with the Lord."
The two following letters from a Tennessee cavalry-
TULLAHOMA. 417
man are remarkable alike for their earnestness and
their frank, blunt, unmistakable way of putting things :
TULLAHOMA, N. & C. K. R, TENN., July 18th, 1864.
GEO. H. STUART — Dear Sir :
Will you be so kind as to send me a book, the title of which is A
Pastor's Sketches, in two volumes ? In looking over the contents I
see a few pieces, the headings of which fit my case so well that /
w'int to see the reasoning. Paul said that he was the
" chief of sinners," but I think if he were here that
an Inner btrije.
I could drill him for two or three years to come in
that well-known science of the devil — wickedness.
I have taken it into my head that if there is grace for the devil's
" right bower," I will, through Christ, try and obtain it. I have no
faith that I ever shall be saved, but it is perhaps worth an effort in
that direction. I was brought to that conclusion yesterday by read
ing The Young Irishman,1 from A Pastor's Sketches. His case and
mine are not parallel by any means, but I hope some of the other
sketches are. If I thought God would forgive me at all, I would go
about praying with a light heart, even though the blessing was deferred
until the last moment of my existence. But I have been so wicked that
I knoiv He ought not to pardon, and I fully believe He will not. So
I do not feel like praying. Another thing, — I Can't Repent; I am
Waiting for Conviction; I think it possible that I may have com
mitted The Unpardonable Sin; I have No Escape ; I Can't Pray ; I
Can't Feel; What Can I Do?*
I have not the amount of money equal to the price of the two
books, or I would cheerfully send it. I, like the prodigal son, have
spent my money in " riotous living." I merely ask the books as a
favor — not that they will benefit me ; but they may be the means of
Driving the Arrow Deeper into my Divided Mind? If it does any
good, you shall hear from me.
Yours respectfully,
A. L. G., Co. F, 5th Tenn. Cav.
1 Published separately in tract form.
2 Those acquainted with Dr. Spencer's invaluable book will recognize these
phrases as the titles of several of the sections.
27
418 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The books named, with one or two others, were procured and sent
to him. In due time came the following letter :
TULLAHOMA, Augwt 12th, 1864.
DEAR BROTHER:
The books came safely to hand ; and they have more than met my
expectations in removing the obstacles in my way. I trust, under
God, through the merits of Christ, that every prop of unbelief and
sin will be knocked from under me, and that I shall be compelled by
the holy influences of the Divine Spirit to flee the wrath to come and
embrace the truths of Christ crucified.
I do not know in what terms to express my gratitude to you for
your kindness. I shall study the precepts of the books in as prayer
ful a manner as my wricked nature will permit ; and I pray God that
if you hear from me again, you will find I have fully embraced
Christ.
I have been desperately wicked, but I believe Christ died to save sin
ners, and I know 1 am one of them ; so He certainly died to save me.
Brother, will you pray that His dying be not in vain so far as my
individual case is concerned? I know you will; and after this life
shall have been spent, I hope to make your acquaintance in that
region where there is no sin to corrupt, no doubts to blind our vision,
but where we shall see as we are seen and be for ever under the shadow
of that love which fills the soul with eternal bliss. May God for ever
bless you and yours is the sincere prayer of your unworthy brother,
A. L. G., 5th Tenn. Cav.
We have only one other trace of the earnest Tennesseean's life.
It is after the war, in a town of Southern Tennessee. We find him
laboring to gather together a school of the neglected children of
the neighborhood, sending for books for them as once he had done
for himself. God grant him full entrance into the privileges of the
children of God!
The Pittsburg Branch of the Commission had sent a
large invoice of crutches to the office at Nashville. In
a letter under date August 10th, 1864, to Mr. Wm. P.
Weyman, the Receiver of the Pittsburg Committee,
CRUTCH EXCHANGE.
Page 419.
NASHVILLE. 419
Ilev. Mr. Smith takes this method of thanking and of
asking for more :
I have sent you by express a package of crutches, — a slight return
for the fifteen hundred your Commission has given through our office
to the maimed who come hopping and hobbling in from the fights.
And yet I think you will agree with me that my
, . Trading Crutches.
package 01 a dozen represents a heavier outlay than
your boxes of a thousand and a half. Each one of the sticks I send
had been cut and shaped by a man who has lost a limb or its use in
the service. They are the representatives of battle-fields all along
from Lookout Mountain to the hills looking down on Atlanta. We
have hailed the boys trying to make their way along the streets with
them, and brought them into our office for a trade. It is delightfully
refreshing to hear their remarks and see their satisfaction as they go
hopping off trying the new pair. One said to me —
"That's a bad trade for you."
"No, I think not," — said I; "if you can give that much of your
leg" — it was off above the knee — "we can give you the crutches and
have the best of the contract."
He looked down thoughtfully at the vacancy, and answered —
" I never saw it before, but that's so."
" That was a mistake of yours," I said to another, who came in on
the oddest pair of crutches I had ever seen, — one fashioned from a
panelled board, the head wound with cloth and a bit of suspender, —
the other an oak stick pulled up by the roots, one of the roots left
branching out to form the head of the crutch.
" What's a mistake ? " he asked.
" Why, losing that leg."
" Don't see how I could help it."
" Easily enough," I replied ; " suppose you had stayed at home, as
others did ?"
" I can't see it in that light," he said ; and then with flushed face
and flashing eye, stamping the sticks on the floor, he added —
" I would rather be here on crutches than at home a Copperhead."
He thanked me for the new ones, — they all do that most touch-
ingly, — and when I said it was he tha^was giving and not I, he said
420 CHKLSTIAX COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
it was not much that he could give, but he would like to give it over
again, and the other leg too, if it would help on the work.
The following story of prison work at Nashville in
August, is told by the General Field Agent :
Mr. Walter Tearne, from Covington, Ky., was our visitor to the
military prisons. Of the numbers of men confined in these, some
are not only innocent, but Christians. Through some misapprehen
sion or carelessness they have found their way there.
A Christian .-„
j^.,0 Ol course, on the prisoners own statements there
would be very few guilty ; but after investigation we
not unfrequently find men who ought to be released, and sometimes
are able to help them out ; at least we can comfort them in their
trouble by personal attention and sympathy.
Mr. Tearne found one young man very eager for a Bible. He
had read his Testament " all up," he said, and when he received a
Bible the next day, he could not conceal the glow of satisfaction
which lighted his face. He sat down to it at once as a student, reading
aloud to a group of prisoners in the yard, some of them coming up with
the " ball and chain." The next day the Delegate found his Bible
student with paper and pencil collating and comparing passages. In
other words, he was making his Bible, with its ordinary text, into a
reference Bible, and so he continues now, " searching the Scriptures."
When he finds a passage which matches or throws light upon one in
question, he is as glad as the woman with her candle and piece of
silver, and comes to Mr. T. as the neighbor to rejoice with him.
The boy has a history. Brought up by " the best father and mother
in the world," according to his account, trained from youth in the
Christian life, he was converted before joining the army, and came
away three years ago, with a mother's blessing upon him and God's
love in his heart. In his regiment he was known as a true soldier
and faithful Christian. Last Winter he was in a division sent, after
the Chattanooga battles, to relieve Burnside and raise the siege at
Knoxville. For three days and nights his regiment had been on
duty, marching and fighting, while he had scarcely an hour's sleep.
Prisoners were captured, and he wTas set to guard one who, it seems,
was as tired and worn as Himself. He told the Lieutenant who
NASHVILLE. 421
ordered him on guard that he could not keep awake, — that he
could not even keep his eyelids up while receiving instructions. But
he was put on, and remembered nothing afterwards except the snoring
of the prisoner lying at his feet, till he was himself aroused by a
guard and put in irons. His sentence was six months' imprisonment.
We would interfere in his behalf, but his time will expire before
official relief could be obtained, and his three years' service will
end about the same time.
He speaks of " these dreadful six months" with horror. Only
through the utmost vigilance by day and by night had he kept him
self clear from vermin. The single cotton shirt he wore was actually
hanging in shreds, while his pantaloons and blouse were patched and
tattered, though neatly washed and most elaborately darned. What
vigilance such neatness must have cost no one can know who has not
seen military prison-quarters and life ; and then, as the soldier says,
six. months in contact with such a crowd of wretches, so thoroughly
abandoned and impure, has horrors ineffable. In it all the true boy
has been cheerful, and without a word of murmuring against the
Government. He says it is an awful crime for a guard to sleep at
his post, and has no doubt the court-martial was sorry to sentence
him, but could not help it for the sake of the example.
When congratulated upon his double deliverance by the expiration
of his army service as well as of his prison term, he said —
" Oh, no ; I am coming in again. I shall run up and see my
mother and be back in a month in the ranks. I couldn't stay out
while this thing is going on. I think too much of the old flag to
hang round home while others are fighting."
When it was suggested that with his three years' duty and the last
six months' treatment, he had done his part, he repelled the idea,
saying that nobody had done his part till he had done all he could do.
The boy goes home to his mother in good clothes next week, and
if I could get a furlough I would give half of it to follow him to his
father's cabin on the Illinois prairie and see the greeting.
Rev. Victor Miller1 gives two items of work in Mur-
freesboro' and Nashville during October :
1 Pastor of Lutheran Church, New Wilmington, Penna.
422 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
We had a daily prayer meeting at our rooms in Murfreesboro'. A
Scotchman who had been a miner in the " old country," told me his
experience of them :
" They did me a wonderfu' sicht o' guid. I was a wicked mon
when I cam to th' army ; I car't for naething, and ance I was to be
shot for sleepin' at my post, after I'd been drinkin'. I had a bairn
at the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Columbus, Ohio.
. je He writ me when I was in prison, and tell't me of
some who had fouu' a freen' in Jesus. I couldna
help thinkin o't ; but then, there was the hate for the officers, and as
lang as I kept hold o' that, I couldna find Him ; I couldna read a
chaipter, nor pray. Syne I cam to th' meetin's, an' then I let the
spite all go. Whiles I had to stand guard, I chang't wi' some one
else, at the meetin' times."
As the humbled man talked, the warm tears rained down his
bronzed cheeks.
As I went down the steps after a preaching service in the Zolli-
coffer Barracks at Nashville, I Avas passing out between the two
guards.
" Let the Christian Commission man pass," said
Finding Home. -, . • i
one, and there was a tremor in his voice as he
added —
"Wherever you find that, you find home"
Mr. A. E. Chamberlain, writing from Cincinnati,
gives a glimpse into the meaning of faith, in Christian
plans and work :
Our treasury in Cincinnati ran dry in October, and wTe scarcely
knew where to look for more money. Just then word came from
Nashville that our men wanted onions immediately. I looked at Mr.
Marl ay1 and Mr. Marlay looked at me.
Moneii from .. Ar , , , ,, . , „ . , ,
You haven t a dollar in the treasury, said he.
the Lord.
" That's a fact," was all I could say in reply.
But I thought I would start out and see what I could do. At
1 Rev. John F. Marlay, Secretary of the Cincinnati Branch of the Commission.
A member of Cincinnati Conference, Meth. Kpisc. Church.
CINCINNATI. 423
Seventh and Western Kow, I found fifty barrels of very nice
onions :
" How much are you asking for them, Mr. Buck?"
" Seven dollars a barrel, sir. Cost me six."
" Send them down to the boat at six dollars," and Mr. Buck, for
the soldier's' sake, obeyed. When I got back to the office I told
what I had done :
' But where on earth's the money to come from ?"
" I'm sure I don't know, unless the Lord sends it."
Of course, under the circumstances of the purchase, the bill must
be paid on presentation. Soon a clerk brought it in, and while he
was laying it upon the desk, a little boy entered the room, bringing
two checks from gentlemen I had not known before as at all inter
ested in our work ; one was for $200, the other for $100 ; both for the
Christian Commission. Did not the money come from the Lord ?
A month or two afterwards our Field Agent sent us word that the
men were dying of scurvy — that he must have a supply of crout and
cabbage for immediate distribution. For months we had been
spending all we had received as fast as it came into
our hands ; there were no funds to meet any new **ow we
r
purchases. The remembrance of how God had
helped us before, returned to encourage us, — and yet
we did not know just what to do. Musing on the matter, I stepped
to the window, and there saw the drays, used in my own business,
unloading casks on the sidewalk. I called to the driver to know
what they were. He didn't know, but had left a letter on the desk.
I opened it. It was an invoice from the town of Lebanon, Ohio, of
thirty-four barrels of crout and pickled cabbage. I could not help
crying out on the spot —
" Thank God for Lebanon ! Thank God for the crout and
cabbage."
That very day it was sent down to the army as a first installment.
A grateful Surgeon sent me back word that if barrels of gold dust
had been sent instead, they would not have compared in value with
that crout and cabbage.
Lieut. Gen. J. B. Hood, after the fall of Atlanta,
made several abortive movements to draw Sherman from
424 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Georgia ; but that commander, after vainly attempting
to lay his hand upon the nimble-footed Confederate,
committed the defence of Tennessee to Maj. Gen.
Thomas, and gathering up all his garrisons and cutting
completely adrift from all communications, on -Novem
ber llth began his memorable march through Georgia
and the Carolinas to the sea. Two Christian Commis
sion Delegates, Mr. Wm. A. Lawrence and Mr. Arthur
Lawrence, accompanied the army to Savannah, and
there received and distributed the large invoice of stores
with which the New York Committee of the Commis
sion welcomed their arrival. The opportunities for
Commission work were so restricted by the character of
the march, and the losses to the army of life and limb
were so small, that we shall not need to delay upon the
incidents of the movement.1
While the Federal General lingered before beginning
his hazardous march, Hood hung along the Tennessee
about Florence, Alabama. The moment the tidings of
Sherman's movement reached him, he put his army in
motion towards Nashville. On the last day of Novem
ber was fought the sanguinary battle of Franklin, re
sulting in Hood's temporary repulse and the continued
falling back of the Union forces. On December 2d
Hood appeared before Nashville, and sat down to his
impotent and impudent siege2 of a city defended by a
1 On pp. 391, 392, will be found a few incidents of the movement, related in
the prayer meetings about the time of the " grand review" at Washington.
2 While all in the city were held in no slight suspense by the close siege, and
apparent inaction of General Thomas, the night before his movement against
Hood was made, Mr. Smith, returning from a reconnoissance along the lines,
overtook a gray-headed negro hobbling into town. "Well, uncle, how are the
times ?" he asked. " I was jus' study in' dat ar, Colonel." " What about General
BATTLE OF NASHVILLE. 425
force twice as large as his own. On the 15th, Thomas
moved out of his entrenchments against the besiegers.
The evening of the next day witnessed the complete
defeat and disorderly rout of the Rebel Army. From
this time it well nigh ceased to be an army. In the
Spring following, Forrest's cavalry, the special pride of
the Western Confederates, could oppose but a poor
resistance to Wilson's raid through Alabama.
Mr. B. F. Jacobs preserves a number of incidents of
the battle of Nashville :
Gen. Steedman's Corps of colored troops made a reconnoissance in
force, on the eve of the battle of Nashville. Mr. Dutcher1 and I
made every preparation to receive the wounded. Soon they began
to come in on stretchers. Suddenly, we saw a bare
headed soldier staggering towards us ; his hand was
to his forehead, blood was pouring down his face, and tears were
washing this away, almost as fast as it came. I supposed he must be
very badly wounded, and went to meet him :
" My boy, are you hit ?"
"Yes," said he, in a dazed way, taking the hand from his forehead,
and seeing the blood on it ; "I b'liebe so."
" Don't it hurt you ?"
" Oh, no," said he, "I don't mind it much."
""Well, what are you crying for?"
Turning round, with a scared look he pointed to the woods from
which four men had just emerged, bearing a stretcher with an offi
cer's body on it.
" Oh," said the poor fellow, " look dar ! My Captain's wounded !
My Captain's wounded !"
Hood ?" " Dat's it, Colonel ; I's jus' studyin' on 'im." " Is he coming into Nash
ville ?" "Dat's it, Colonel ; dat's it 'zackly ; I was studyin' dat ar berry partick-
ler." "Well, is he coming in?" "No, sah ; General Hood won't come in."
v Why not ?" "He couldn't do jtis'is to hisself in heah, sah."
3 John A. Dutcher, Esq., Milwaukee, Wis.
426 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
This was the hero's sorrow ; and all the time we were caring for
him it seemed to be the uppermost and only grief.
During the cannonading on the Sunday before the raising of the
siege, I was in front of the headquarters of the Fourth Corps, at
Acklin Place. General Wood was in temporary command. Major
Bridge's Battery held the summit of the hill just be-
A Battery Si- i 4^ -,. .,
lenced far a J distributing some things among the
Sunday Service. mcn> I suggested to the Major that we might have a
meeting in spite of the cannonading, as it was Sunday
morning. He said at once that I might take all the men who were
not absolutely wanted to work the guns. There were two infantry
regiments supporting the battery, so after several hymns were sung,
a pretty large audience was gathered. Officers came riding up, and
all were on the qui vive of expectation. I mounted a cracker-box for a
pulpit, read a chapter and then talked for fifteen minutes, while the
battery near was sending its constant response to the Confederate shells.
Generals Wood and Schofield, the Chief of Artillery, and their staffs
were by this time a part of the audience. I reminded all present of
the peril of the hour, and asked them to unite with me in prayer.
The Chief of Artillery sung out to his Orderly to have every gun
cease firing ; the soldiers knelt upon the ground, and the officers,
taking off their caps, bowed their heads, while, during the silence of
the guns, we invoked the Divine blessing. The Chief came to me
when it was over, and said earnestly —
" In the name of these soldiers, I want to thank you for this."
The General Field Agent gives the narrative of relief
service during the night of the first day's battle :
The work for the night was to go over the field, searching for men
who had been missed by the stretcher-bearers ; to gather up the dead,
identify them through their comrades, if possible, and mark them by
a card; to give coffee and hot soup at the flying hos-
A Brother's -^ ^ ^ ^ to
Rest u-ith his P ' a be llcxt fnend to men Dreadfully wounded,
Dead. —many of them dying.
Coming upon a straw stack in our search for the
dead, we found two bodies side by side, as if laid together by some
friendly hand. As we were lifting them on the stretcher one of them
sprang out of our hands, and pointing to his comrade, said—
BATTLE OF NASHVILLE. 427
" It's my brother, sir ; it's my brother that's dead. We two were
all ; we enlisted together, and I am alone now."
Missing him in the fight, he had hunted over the field and found
him dead by the stack ; and lying down to watch him till morning,
had fallen into " the image of death," from which we had awakened
him. When we took up the body to lay it in line with others, the
brother followed after, bringing straw to make a bed for himself and
hi.< dead. We gave him room in that long row of silent sleepers,
and nestling close to the corpse, he lay down for his last night's rest
with his brother.
The scene at the house taken for the flying hospital baffles descrip
tion. While Hood was falling back, the citizens who still believed
in the Confederacy had taken their movable property, including bed
ding and best furniture, to the rear, for protection
within Kebel lines. This house had been made a re- c
scene.
ceptacle for neighbors' furniture, and we were hence
able to put a first-class mattress under every wounded man. All the
rooms below, and the piazza on three sides of the house, were laid
thick with officers and privates. Some were sleeping under the power
of opiates, some were already sleeping in death, others were writhing
in mortal agony. Some were calling for the Surgeon, some for water,
some for mercy ; others were offering a prayer of trust and joyous
hope of heaven just at hand, and others still were waiting in silent,
anxious suspense for the Surgeon's decision as to the nature of their
wounds.1
Mr. Jacobs writes of a soldier to whom lie ministered
at this hospital :
Our improvised hospital was at the foot of the hill our boys car
ried by storm on the first day's fight. Shortly after it was established,
I met four men bringing in a soldier of an Indiana regiment, named
Jackson. I saw that he was shot through the lungs,
and must die— indeed, I thought he would live but ™e Sweetness
of Prayer amidst
a few minutes. 1 stooped down to him as the men pa{ns
walked along :
1 Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, pp. 508, 509.
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" You are badly wounded ?"
;'Yes."
I asked his name, regiment and home. He told me about his fam
ily. I inquired if he was a Christian :
" Yes ; but what do you ask that question for ?"
" Why, my brother, you are going to die."
" Oh ! am I ?"
"Yes."
" Soon ?"
" Yes, very soon."
He was in very great pain. We laid him down on the piazza, and
arranged as soft a place as we could. His groans were dreadful. He
told me what to write to his wife, and gave me her photograph and
his watch to send home. After taking care of many others, about
eleven o'clock at night I went back to him. Kneeling at his side, I
strove to comfort him in his pain. I told him he would not suffer
long, and asked how he felt :
" It would be so sweet if I could hear somebody pray once more."
While I offered a short prayer he held my hand in both of his,
and sobbed out responsively to the petitions, adding at the close—
" Oh ! I do so love to hear you pray. Ai'n't you going to stay
with me ?" said he, as I turned away — " ai'n't you going to stay with
me until I die ?"
" I can't, Jackson, while all these men are here."
Amidst the paroxysms of pain he labored until his last breath.
His frequent exclamation was —
" Blessed Jesus, come and take me out of my pain !"
Mr. Smith's attention was attracted to this soldier
later in the night. He writes of him :
At one o'clock, after personal attention to every man, and having
arranged for a watch by relief, we rolled up in our blankets for a
little rest. But there was one voice from the wounded, rising above
all the others, now in a shriek of torture and now in
The Invincible
Love. a tender appeal to the Saviour. It was from an In
diana soldier, wounded in the bowels. One of the
Delegates, bending over him, whispered —
BATTLE OF NASHVILLE. 429
" Jackson, do you love Jesus ?"
"Don't I love Him !" was the instant reply.
His wound was mortal, and beyond any human relief. We were
obliged to leave him and go back to our blankets. Long after mid
night that voice from the piazza, distinct in the dreadful chorus of
groans, making sleep impossible, stole in on the chilly night air like
the voice of a flute in the clangor of trumpets :
" Dear Jesus, You know I love You. Come, Jesus, dear Jesus ; I
am all ready now. Come, Jesus. You love me, and You know I
love You, dear Jesus."
Fainter and less frequent came that sweet, divine appeal, till it
ceased and we slept. In the morning we found a smile in the eye
and on the lips of the dead patriot, which seemed to be still
repeating —
" Dear Jesus, You love me, and You know I love You."1
Mr. Jacobs continues the account of the second day's
conflict :
About four o'clock in the morning we began supplying the men
with whatever we had to comfort them, and especially attending to
the removal of the wounded from the immediate front. This work
continued throughout the day, while our men were
Iving down, awaiting the orders for the final charge.
just Be/ore the
The monotony of the position, with the accrued wea- charge.
riness of the previous day's fighting, put one poor
fellow to sleep. A shot came, as he lay unconscious, piercing his
head and killing him instantly. He was a magnificent-looking sol
dier ; his whole appearance and physique were of the finest. There
was no change upon his face as his comrades bore him back ; the
smile of rest even was undisturbed. In a little while the charge
would be ordered. Yet I was anxious to give him a Christian burial.
The boys said "Aye, aye," with a will, — and with such things as we
had, pieces of boxes and boards, we dug a grave. Before he was
wrapped up in his blanket, I looked to find some little token to send
Annals, U. S. Christian Commission, p. 509.
430 CHRISTIAN' COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
home to his family. Not finding anything of special interest, I cut
a lock of hair, warm still with his life's blood, and put it in my mem
orandum-book, to be afterwards forwarded to his mother. There was
no dying word to accompany it. We buried him hastily, but de
cently ; on an end of an old ammunition-box I inscribed his name, —
his only head-stone. When the grave was filled, I said —
" Let us have a moment of prayer, boys."
Just as we had all bowed round the grave, the hastening hoofs of
the aids' horses called the men to the charge. The prayer was brief,
but ere it was over the bullets had begun to sing, the men were back
in their places, and the line was sweeping on in triumph towards the
doomed works of the enemy.
Just before this scene, while I was moving about among the men,
Gen. A. J. Smith, commanding the Sixteenth Corps, came by with his
staff. He jumped off his horse near where I stood and looked at
me curiously. I was a rather strange-looking figure,
A Cup of Coffee T . . IT -, -, • i
for Gen Smith imagine ; two great haversacks, distended with
crackers, tea, dried toast, whisky, bandages, brandy,
sponges, etc., were over my shoulders ; a three-gallon coffee-pot was
in one hand ; a big twelve-quart tin pail with fresh water in the
other, while a bundle of tin-cups hung on my arms and over my
back and shoulders. I suppose I looked like Robinson Crusoe, or
somebody laying in supplies for an indefinite siege or a life on a
desert island. The General demanded who I was. I told him I
was a Commission Delegate :
"What have you got in that big pot?"
"Coffee, General, — for these wounded men; it is very good for
some of them, you know. Won't you have a cup ?"
" Thank you ; I don't care if I do. I haven't had a mouthful to
day, and I've been in the saddle since four this morning."
An Orderly rode up just then, and seeing the General drinking,
said to me —
" I'll take some if you please."
" Haven't you had your breakfast ?" asked the General, sharply.
The Orderly replied in the affirmative:
" Don't give him any ; keep it for the men ; I don't think I ought
to have taken any myself."
When the fight was over, Gen. Smith in a tent with Gen.
BATTLE OF NASHVILLE. 431
McArthur and a number of Delegates, after recounting the above
incident, said1 —
" I must say that since Jesus Christ left this world, there has never
been a more heavenly institution than the Christian Commission. I
thought when I passed your folks going out, that their place was
about six miles in the rear, but I have now come to a different con
clusion. Many a man owes his life to you."
It was unequivocal testimony from an officer who made no preten
sions to be a Christian.
When the charge was ordered, the troops to whom I had been
ministering carried the enemy's works, capturing eighteen hundred
prisoners. In the charge they lost heavily ; a Minnesota regiment
had one hundred killed or disabled. I pushed on
over a corn-field after the troops, and came to a large
nzed Flying Hos-
house about a mile beyond. It had been the head- -tal
quarters of a Confederate General, and its occupants
had all run away during the battle. No one was on hand to organize
a hospital, so I undertook it myself, directing stragglers and all other
unemployed persons I could find to clear the rooms and bring in the
wounded. Going out then to the point where the fighting had ceased,
I turned the streams of wounded towards the house. It was supplied
with magnificent furniture, which we had to put out into the yard
to make room as the wounded accumulated. Every floor in the
house, the great halls, the porches in front and rear, were soon crowded
full with suffering soldiers. About this time a Surgeon 2 arrived. He
asked who was in charge of the hospital. I reported myself as a
Commission Delegate, who had taken the direction of affairs until the
proper parties should arrive, and was very glad to surrender my
trust to him.
"By no means," was his reply ; "retain your command and I'll
serve you to the best of my ability."
Two Assistant Surgeons soon came in, and we all went to work
with a will. With the concentrated beef in my haversack, we
soon had twenty quarts of soup ; putting into it what crackers and
1 The words are recorded by Mr. Chas. Harris, of Peoria, who was present at
the interview.
2 Surgeon Kennedy, of a Minnesota regiment.
432 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
crusts of bread we had, I was able to give every wounded man in the
house a light supper. Poor fellows ! they were almost starved, few
having had anything since their early morning rations. I succeeded
in confiscating a horse, and sent a soldier back through the mud at
midnight to our office in Nashville with an order for supplies. He
returned about two o'clock with stores packed in two grain-bags, and
otherwise distributed about his person. At three we had coffee and
soup made, and the men had another meal.
About seven our Christian Commission wagon made its appearance,
loaded down with supplies. With that wagon-load the men were fed
morning, noon and night of Saturday, and morning and noon of
Sunday. Not a particle of Government stores reached the hospital
in answer to the Surgeon's requisition until late Sunday afternoon.
When they did come, the Surgeon, with manifest feeling, said to the
Assistant Medical Director who accompanied them —
" If it hadn't been for the Christian Commission, these wounded
men would have starved to death before this."
We wanted some one to take more particular charge of our prop
erty ; so on Sunday I found an able-bodied Englishman of fine per
sonal appearance, whom I " detailed" as Hospital Steward. He did
us most efficient service. In our general clearing-out
Our Sunday on the evening of the battle, there had been only
Morning Prayer
Meeting. three things kept m the house, — a piano, a family
portrait and a large mirror with a six-pound shot
through it. After the men had been cared for on Sunday morning,
we arranged to hold service. Thinking it would be pleasant to have
singing, I made the remark that if we onlv had some one to play
the piano for us, it would be everything we could want. The Sur
geons were still at work in the amputating-room ; they could not
help us even if any of them had been able to use the instrument.
To my surprise my English Steward stepped forward, and said
modestly —
" Colonel, I used to play the piano a little in England ; 'maybe I
could draw down a tune for you."
He had on a red flannel shirt, picturesque but unfashionable, and
his sleeves were rolled up above his elbows, more unfashionable still.
Without stopping for any preparations, he took his seat on a cracker-
box to make a preliminary trial. The practice was highly satisfac-
SONGS FOR SIGHING.
Page 432.
BATTLE OF NASHVILLE. 433
tory, and so he accompanied us excellently, while we sung our songs
of Zion, and,
" My country, 'tis of thee,"
to the melody " God save the Queen," familiar to every Englishman.
And never did boys enjoy music as did our wounded in that morning
meeting.
Surgeon Ford, of Nashville, already referred to as a
constant and valuable friend of the Commission, fur
nishes the narrative of Henry Cutler, a young Illinois
soldier wounded in the Nashville battles, and brought
in the night to a hospital :
I examined his wound — in the right lung and liver, — and gave
the nurses directions about the dressing. As I was about leaving,
he asked what I thought of his case.
" You have a very serious wound," I replied. A Martyr
" Do you think it is mortal ? You need not be Pairiot-
afraid to tell me the truth, for I am not afraid to die."
" Such wounds," said I, " are necessarily fatal, and I fear you have
not long to live."
" Well," said he, " it's all right, though it seems hard to die so
young ; I had high hopes, but God has so ordered it, and I am willing
to go."
" Do you feel that you are a Christian, and ready to die ?"
" Well, I don't know ; I have tried to be a Christian, but the army
is a hard place."
" True ; but if you can put your trust in Christ now, He will not
forsake you."
He spoke of his mother, and asked if I thought she would have
time to come to him before he died. I had to tell him that I thought
it impossible, but would telegraph her if he desired. He thought a
moment, and then said that perhaps it would be best not to. I asked
him for any message he might have for her:
" Tell her I would like to die near her, but that I die happy. I
am thankful I can die among friends, and that I did not fall into the
hands of the enemy. I had a presentiment when I left home that I
28
434 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
should never see mother again, and when I leaped the breastworks to
make the charge, I was sure I should be wounded or killed."
" Do you regret now having enlisted in the service ?"
Immediately his eye brightened, and a smile of profound satis
faction overspread his face, as he answered with the greatest em
phasis —
" Oh, no, by no means"
It was painful for him to speak, so I bade him good-bye. He lin
gered until the morning in great agony, yet without a murmur, when
death eased him of his pains.1
Mr. Chas. Harris writes from Nashville in December:
A Mission Sunday-school in Peoria had sent me the means of sup
plying many little needed luxuries for the soldiers. Purchasing
some oranges once, I handed one to a poor, sick boy in the Post Hos
pital. He took it with a suppressed exclamation of
The Children's •, ,. , , , , , . -. .,
delight, held it up, turned it round and round, and
at last broke forth —
" My little daughter wrote me two days ago, ' Papa, I would like
to send you some oranges, but I can't do it.' And now, here the Lord
has sent me one ; my little girl couldn't send any to me, but He puts
it into some other child's heart to do it, who could."
After the benediction in our prayer meeting the other day, a Sur
geon rose and said —
" I have been at this meeting twice, and perhaps some of you think
I am a Christian, but I am not ; I have risen to ask
A Surgeon's , ^ . . .,
w your prayers. I want to be a Christian.
We had a few moments of silent prayer on his be
half; and earnest, I arn sure, were the petitions offered. The next
day he rose again, and testified of the power of Jesus to save. Our
1 Surgeon Ford adds : " I regret that I had not leisure at the time to send
Henry Cutler's message to his mother, — and now I have lost her address. Per
haps this may meet her eye, and bring some comfort to her afflicted heart." It
is worthy of record in this connection, that after the Nashville battles, during
four or five days, an average of 35,000 sheets of letter paper and envelopes were
distributed daily by the Commission Delegates.
PADUCAH. 435
thanksgivings were now as fervent as had been our prayers before.
He was the second Surgeon converted at our daily meetings while I
attended them.
Rev. H. McLeod, laboring in the hospitals at Padu-
cah, Ky., in January, 1865, tells the following story of
his experience :
I was called one night to see a soldier who was thought to be
dying. Two days before, he had been put ashore from one of the
transports hastening up the river. He was unconscious, and no one
could tell me anything about him, save that he be
longed to a Michigan regiment. Remembering that Though he
. „ , _ _ were Dead, Yet
the mere utterance oi the name of Jesus had often shall he Live"
recalled the wandering senses of the dying Christian,
I sat down by him, and opening the little Testament on the stand,
read —
" For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens."
I next read Jesus' words to Martha :
" I am the Resurrection and the Life : he that believeth in Me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever believeth in
Me shall never die."
The dying man opened his eyes and looked at me :
" Does it pain you to hear me read ?"
" Oh, no ; when well, I used to love to read the New Testament.
There's one in my knapsack."
" Are you afraid to die ?"
" No," and the face grew bright; "I long to go to heaven."
" Is Jesus with you ?"
" Yes, He is with me."
I asked for his father's name and home ; he gave me the particu
lars, but added —
"Write to mother; she is a Christian, father is not," and he passed
again into the old state of unconsciousness. I began writing a letter
to his mother. After a little while he opened his eyes and asked for
me. The nurse pointed me out. He said —
436 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
"Oh, yes, you are writing to mother; tell father to become a
Christian."
Calmly he gave directions about the division of certain property
between his two younger brothers; and very soon he was resting with
Christ.
Mr. A. E. Chamberlain writes of a visit paid by him
self, in company with Judge Bellamy Storer and Rev.
B. W. Chidlaw of Cincinnati, to a Nashville hospital :
We came to a soldier who looked very desponding.
" My good fellow, you look sad," I said.
" I feel so," was his reply. His left foot was off at the ankle, from
a wound on the last day of the battle of Nashville.
The Arch of A _ . v • • ™-
p r A father and mother were living at home m Mis
souri. His wife lived on Empire Prairie, in the
same State :
" Have you written to your wife since the battle ?"
" No, sir," said he ; " I got one of the boys to write."
" But you told all about your wound ?"
" Well, I told him to write that I was slightly wounded ; I didn't
want to let her hear all the worst at once."
" Did you tell her about your amputation ?"
" No, sir ; that would have broken her heart."
I told him how I thought he was doing wrong in so concealing his
condition :
" Now I am going to write her and tell her all about how you are.
Is she a Christian ?"
" Yes."
" Are you ?"
" No."
" You need your wife's prayers, my brave fellow."
" Yes, and I have them."
" But you know she can't pray for you intelligently, unless she un
derstands all about your case."
I wrote all the particulars, so far as I could get them, and then
told the soldier that I wanted him to add one more paragraph at the
bottom of the letter :
NASHVILLE. 437
" Your wife has been praying alone long enough. I want you to
add that from this very evening you are going to pray for yourself.
And then hereafter, if you never meet her again, your prayers will
go up from here, while hers go up from Empire Prairie, both meeting
at the throne. It will be an arch of prayer, with God at the key
stone. Will you leave the arch incomplete? Will you authorize me
to tell your wife that you will so pray?"
The poor fellow went through a deep struggle ; his whole frame
shook with emotion. But after a minute he threw up his arm and
said —
" God helping me, I'll do it. Put it down."
I knelt and prayed with him. Then reading over the letter, with
the added clause, I asked if that was all right, — if he was willing to
stand by it.
"Yes," said he; "that's all right."
The next morning I went in to see him again. One of the pleas-
antest countenances I ever met was that of the poor soldier. It
seemed as if the invisible arch of prayer had been already established.
Mr. G. W. R. Scott1 went to the Army of the Cum
berland as a Delegate, in March. On the road to Nash
ville the following incident occurred :
In the evening, as the train was passing through the woods, about
six miles south-west of Cave City, Ky., it was attacked by guerrillas,
who had previously torn up about one hundred yards of the track.
They fired volley after volley into the cars, shouting
all the while like demons. The train-guards returned A Dele9ate's
Shirts for Band-
the nre, but as the robbers were protected by the s
bank, no injury was done them. Soon the train was
surrendered by the military conductor, and the bandits began a gen
eral work of pillage. Each passenger and soldier was thoroughly
searched ; money, watches, and even finger-rings were taken. The
amount of property which thus unceremoniously changed owners was
estimated at fifty thousand dollars.
The work completed, the train was fired and seven cars consumed.
* Of Pittsburg, Penna. A student of Andover Theological Seminary, Mass.
438 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The guerrillas remounting their horses, rode off with their booty.
The wounded were now to be looked after. There was no Surgeon
on board ; so Mr. Scott found it necessary to begin his Commission
work before he had expected to be called on. He began to dress
wounds, and, in utter lack of bandages, was obliged to tear up his
own shirts. Two soldiers volunteered to assist. Five balls were ex
tracted, dislocated members set, and the wounds of sixteen men
dressed. Mr. Scott remained with the wounded till the next after
noon, when Surgeons came. He had the gratification of hearing from
them that the disabled men had all been properly cared for, and that
their wounds were doing well.
From Mr. Scott's report of work at Tullahoina, to
which post he was assigned, we select two incidents :
I stopped at the bedside of a young man, the classic beauty of
whose face strangely attracted me. I asked him if he was getting
better :
" No. sir; I am going: to die."
" Mother's Here." , „,,
Are you prepared r
" Oh, yes," said he, with a glad smile ; " I gave myself to Christ
long ago."
" Shall I write home ?"
" Yes, sir, do ; it would please mother so much. Tell mother, —
tell — father," — his voice faltered, and soon his mind began to wan
der. He lay unconscious afterwards for a little while ; then waking
from his stupor, he said, in a manner which I can never forget —
" Wait, Chaplain, you needn't mind ; mother s here"
He lay quiet for a moment, filled perhaps with the invisible com
munion, and then " fell asleep."
A scene in one of the wards impressed me with its deep solemnity
Three convalescent soldiers were grouped about an old, gray-haired
" veteran." They had just finished singing a familiar and beautiful
hymn. Evidently the old man's heart was deeply
Earthh H touched by the song of Zion. His face was lit up
with something of the brightness which must have
shone from St. Stephen's ; he scarcely seemed to be a creature of earth.
NASHVILLE. 439
The convalescents began another hymn. There was a quivering of
the old man's lips, but no sound came from them. By and bye thfc
smile and the brightness became fixed, — I looked closer, — he was
dead ! The soldiers sang on, — not noticing the change. The hymn
would not open the dull ear of death, but who can say that the freed
spirit did not drink in the upward floating melody ?
Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, — whom we have already met
with in the earlier operations of the Western army —
during the Summer of 1865 was acting for the Freed-
men's Bureau in the State of Tennessee, with his head
quarters at Nashville. Rev. Edward P. Smith1 relates
an incident told by the General at the close of a Sabbath
service in Cumberland Hospital, Nashville, during July :
One of my noble boys, very young and a Christian, was brought
into the hospital, stricken down with malarial fever. Weary with
the tedium of camp-life he longed, as he lay on his weary cot
through the " lazy, leaden-stepping hours," for the
active fray. His ideal of a soldier's life was " at the F t"
front." Learning of his sickness, and that he must*
soon die, I hastened to his side. After talking with him about his
soldier life, his home and his approaching death, I said —
" Now, my boy, when I get back to St. Louis, I shall go to see
your mother, and the first question she will ask will be, ' How did
Charley die?' Can't you tell me in a few words exactly how you feel
about dying ?"
" Yes, General," said he, fastening his deep, blue eyes upon me ;
" I think I can. It seems just as if I was going to the front"
And so indeed he was. For is not the real campaign beyond, for
which this life is only the drill camp ?
Our record of incidents of work in this army may
1 Eev. Mr. Smith had in February been called from work in the Western
army to the Potomac field, and in the following month had been transferred to
the post of Field Secretary at the Central Office in Philadelphia.
440 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
close with one related by Rev. Jeremiah Porter,1 who
was laboring in August among the troops of General
Logan's Corps, in and about Louisville, Ky. It is
characteristic of the devoted and energetic lady, whose
care and kindness had won for her the title of " Mother
of Sherman's Army" :
Several regiments had been ordered to Texas ; and there were in
dications of scurvy within their ranks. Energy and promptness
could provide potatoes for them, — a capital anti-scorbutic. Mrs.
Bickerdyke determined that they should have them.
How Potatoes jt wag gund and th t embarking ; the
were sent to
Texas. potatoes must be drawn from the Sanitary rooms
and shipped that day, or the men would suffer from
the want of them. An ambulance was ordered for Mrs. B. and my
wife ; it was raining in torrents ; they went to the Quartermaster's for
the teams which had been promised the day before, and which the
storm had delayed. The captain of one of the steamers had pro
mised to take the potatoes.
The ladies waited in the storm until the army wagons were loaded
with fifty barrels of the needed vegetables ; and then, hastening in
advance to the river bank, were astounded to find that the boats had
already left the levee. The spectators volunteered to comfort them
by remarking —
"You're too late ; the boats have gone."
" Gone ! they shall come back," said Mrs. B., decisively.
Assuming an attitude of command worthy of Joan of Arc, waving
her sun-bonnet and gesticulating with her hands, she made known
her orders. The steamer obediently returned and took on board
the supplies.
1 At the outbreak of the war Pastor of the Edwards Congregational Church
[now Seventh Presbyterian), Chicago.
CHAPTEE XVII.
THE WESTERN ARMIES.
WORK ALONG AND NEAR THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
July 1863— Dec. 1865.
OUR last notices of the operations on the Mississippi
were, of the fall of Vicksburg. After that event Gen.
Grant sent Sherman after Johnston, who had been
hovering upon the verge of the Union Army, awaiting
any opportunity that might offer to compel the raising
of the siege. Sherman drove his adversary out of Jack
son, after a painfully fatiguing march from Vicksburg.
Mr. A. E. Chamberlain narrates an incident connected
with this movement :
The 57th Penna. was one of the regiments which went with Sher
man. The intense heat and fatigue of the rapid journey compelled
the men to throw away their baggage. A soldier named Wilmarth
had with him a Bible, — a mother's last gift. When
he had thrown away his knapsack, he carried the j „
book in his hand for a long distance, until the ques
tion of retaining it came to be one of life itself. At last, to keep up
with the rest, he was obliged to leave it behind him on the road. He
put it where he could see it for a long time as he marched away.
When it had faded from view, he could not say that his burden was
lighter than before.
When the expedition was ended, several fractions of regiments
which had suffered greatly passed through Cincinnati. Among these
was Wilmarth's. I went over on their arrival to see the Regimental
441
442 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Hospital. For six weeks the men had had no changes, and were
fearfully dirty and neglected-looking. Wilmarth lay on the first cot.
He pulled the blanket up to hide his squalor and wretchedness. I
had brought up some Scripture portions for distribution ; but the mo
ment I entered, I saw it was not the time for tracts in that room.
The seventeen men needed another phase of Christ's Gospel.
" Boys, you want clean clothes first of all," I said ; and began tak
ing an account of missing stock to be supplied. Coming to Wil
marth, I asked what could be done to make him more comfortable.
" I was never a beggar in my life," he replied.
" My dear boy, this isn't begging; all I want to do is to pay a little
installment on what we owe."
The Surgeon sent his ambulance to the Commission rooms for the
goods, and within three hours I called again.
The three hours had certainly developed a revolution ; one would
not have known the place or the men's faces. Now was the time for
Testaments. Coming to Wilmarth, I asked him if he had one. His
answer was the incident of the march to Jackson. I put a copy of
St. John's Gospel at his side, marked a few passages, and spoke of
the great love to him. So with them all. Then, after a short ser
vice, I bade them good-bye, never expecting to see them again.
Two weeks afterwards, Rev. Mr. Chidlaw and I held Sunday ser
vice at Licking Hospital. I noticed a soldier leaning against a post;
going to him, I asked if he was a Christian:
" I don't know, sir ; I'm trying to be one."
" How long have you been trying ?"
" Ever since" — and he held up a little Scripture portion as he
spoke — " ever since you gave me that book, sir."
I remembered him at once. Taking out a bright, new copy, — for
his was already worn with use, — I asked —
" Suppose you give me that one, and take this."
" You could not get this book, sir, for the whole State of Kentucky ;
it brought me to Jesus."
Going over not long afterwards with reading matter, Wilmarth met
me at the gate and said —
" Mr. Chamberlain, I want to ask a favor of you; would you mind
giving me the reading you send over here to the hospital ? I could
talk to the men about Christ, if I had it to distribute "
MEMPHIS. 443
I gladly assented to the arrangement, and until he was sent tf his
regiment, several weeks later, he did a faithful Chaplain's duty in
that hospital.
The work along the Mississippi was mainly in the
field of the St. Louis Committee of the Commission.
Mr. K. A. Burnell and Mr. F. G. Ensign were its
Agents, with their headquarters at Memphis. Some of
Mr. Ensign's reminiscences follow :
In the Gayoso Hospital at Memphis, I found a soldier who had
lost an arm and leg in the first grand assault on Vicksburg. I gave
him some cordial, and made him as comfortable as I could. He asked
in a surprised tone —
"Who are you? Where did you get these Dom
things?"
I told him how they came from Northern homes.
" Who sent them ?" he asked again, in a kind of bewilderment.
" The people at home who love you."
Tears came into his eyes as he lay quiet for a moment.
" Why," said he, " I haven't done anything to be remembered so."
" You have given your leg and arm."
But this fact did not strike him as at all important ; he only reit
erated, — " I haven't done anything." I told him I had a nice little
Testament for him :
"My eyes are weak, sir; I'm afraid the print's too small," and he
looked longingly at the book.
I gave him one of the beautifully-printed Scripture portions of the
British and Foreign Bible Society.
" Well," said he, when he found that his eyes rested on the page
without pain, " this is the best of all. I have been here for weeks,
and I did want to read the Bible so. This is just what I want. Who
sent it ?"
" Those at home and across the sea who love you and pray for
you."
Again the unselfish heart found utterance :
" Why, I haven't done anything."
444 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
I spoke to him of Jesus, and visited him often afterwards. He
gave his heart to the Master.
About the beginning of November, a soldier of the 7th Indiana
Cavalry came into our rooms, with soiled clothes and a worn appear
ance generally. Cut off from his comrades while on a scout, he had
with much difficulty straggled back to Memphis.
The Two Let- J F
JT His nrst request was lor envelopes and paper to write
home. Bringing his letter to me, he said —
" Could you lend me a stamp ? I have no money."
I told him I would mail the letter for him.
" Well, but," said he, argumentatively, " I want to pay for it."
" We don't take any pay here."
" But how do you get these things to run the concern ?"
I told him friends at home sent them :
" Whose friends ? You don't mean mine ?"
" Yes," I replied ; " friends who are Christians sent them."
" Why," said he, musingly, " my wife's a Christian."
" Very probably then, she helps to send such things."
I showed him an envelope, on which was printed, " This is a gift
of Christian love to you, soldier." His eyes filled, as he read it :
" I never knew religion meant this before."
In the afternoon, we began our daily prayer meeting with the
hymn —
"All hail the power of Jesus' name."
During the first prayer, I heard some one sobbing aloud. When the
meeting was over, I found it was my soldier friend of the morning.
He told me, that while passing the door, something urged him to
enter ; it seemed to him that he would be lost if he passed on, and
that there was salvation if the inward voice was obeyed. We prayed
for him, and with the confidence of a little child, the man there gave
himself up to Jesus.
He came in the next morning. There was another letter to be
written ; it was to tell of a life turned at last into its right course,
and it was to gladden the heart of a waiting, praying wife.
A soldier of the 89th Indiana came in one morning in the begin
ning of 1864, sat down at my desk and opened a letter. He sobbed
aloud as he read it. I asked what I could do for him. He gtvve
MEMPHIS. 445
me the letter to read ; it was from his sister, with
. , , . mi "SheWon'tPray
the sad news of his mother's death. The poor, jorme anymore»
bereaved man said —
" My mother's been praying for me all my life, and especially since
I came to the army. I've felt her following me. Those prayers have
been a great protection, — and now she is dead, — and mother won't
pray for me any more. What shall I do ? I don't feel safe without
mother's prayers."
" Why," said I, " Jesus loves you, and you must pray for yourself.
Your mother's prayers cannot save."
" But, can I pray ?"
" Certainly you can."
" Won't you teach me how to pray ?"
" I will try," I answered. " Don't you want to give your heart to
Jesus, and love Him for giving you such a mother. Now, I'll pray
first, and I* want you to follow me."
I prayed with the burden of the poor, chastised heart on mine,
and I shall never forget his childlike petition which followed —
" Dear Jesus, my mother is gone home to Thee ; teach me to pray
as You taught her," — this was his deep and earnest longing, some
thing to fill the void which had been made in his life. He very soon
gave himself entirely to Jesus, and came forth a bright and devoted
Christian. He used to say to me —
" I want to live as my mother prayed."
As long as I knew him his life was consistent with his desire.
The St. Louis Committee succeeded in enlisting quite
a number of earnest, self-denying ladies in its work.
Some of these labored more especially in the barracks
and hospitals in and near the city. A sample of their
service and method of dealing with the men may be
gathered from the following extracts from the journal
of Miss Sue McBeth :
"No. 1, Schofield Barracks" is a transportation depot for going
South, or returning home on furlough. One day it is crowded, the
446 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
next almost empty. All classes of men are for a time brought
together here.
"Hard Ca " " ^e nave a^out the hardest men in our hospital
that you can find anywhere," said the commanding
officer, one November afternoon when Mrs. M. and I went to see if
he would not appropriate to us a room for Commission purposes,
wherein to store our library, stationery, etc.
" We've been up stairs all the afternoon, and haven't yet found
any 'hard cases.'"
" Of course, they wouldn't behave badly before you."
He was very kind, promised us the room, and allowed the men
afterwards to go across the street to prayer meeting, and very pre
cious hours were some of these.
" Can you raise yourself up, so as to look out ?" I said to a sick
boy as the wind one day bore the voice of singing from the yard
below ; " isn't that a pleasant sight ?"
" Yes, indeed it is," was his answer.
The setting sun was glancing on a hundred or more new uniforms,
as their wearers sat ranged in rows on the narrow piazza, or stood
facing the Delegate who spoke to them the words of life.
Yesterday, as I was talking to this same soldier, I noticed two
strangers coming into the ward. One of them belonged to the 176th
Illinois, a regiment just discharged and going home, but this man, too
sick to proceed, had got a comrade to stay with him.
Getting Ready
to Live n wantmg so much to see you again, he
said when I spoke to him :
" Why, did you ever see me before ?"
" Yes, in Ward 1, Benton Barracks. Don't you remember, I was
the one, you said, who was taking jaundice."
I could not remember him ; but he went on :
" I've been thinking so much of what you said then, and I wanted
to see you again to tell you. You remember I said something about
' getting ready to die,' and you said you didn't believe in that, — it
wasn't the right thing to do ; I ought to ' get ready to live' ; I owed
my life to God, and it was not right to keep it back from Him ; I
ought to present my body a living sacrifice to God, which was my
reasonable service, instead of turning to Him at the last moment,
so as to get into heaven."
BEXTON BARRACKS. 447
'•And did you do so?"
" Yes, I think I did," he said, earnestly.
He had many of the Christian family marks, and again expressed
his strong desire, in life or in death, to be only the Lord's.
" You remember you wanted me to promise to begin praying
that night," he said after a little, " and I told you I was afraid to
make the promise, for fear I would break it."
" But you did pray ?"
" Oh, yes ; that night and many times since."
His comrade came up then, and I began giving him some of my
little tracts.
"You gave me that before," said he, handing me back"TAe
/Substitute.7'
.. TTT, ,., T . .. . „„ The Substitute.
" When did I give it to you?"
" In the hospital in Benton Barracks, where I was sick. Don't
you remember? I have all the little books you gave me in my
knapsack here, and I'm taking them home to the children."
" You have a ' Substitute,' have you, brother ?" I said as I re
turned the tract to my satchel. " You see there is a last great ' Draft '
coming, for which every man on earth is ' enrolled.' I was in Ohio
a few weeks ago, and some who didn't go to war tried very hard to
get 'exempt,' and if they could not, they took great trouble to find a
'substitute,' paying large sums to get others to take their ' chance,' as
they called it, of death. Now, against that last grand ' Draft,' there
is a ' Substitute' provided, Who has already taken our place even
unto death, and He is offered ' without money and without price.'
Have you accepted Him as your ' Substitute' ?"
" I hope so," said he, earnestly ; " I have never made a profession
of religion, but —
" You think you possess it," I said, as he hesitated :
" Yes, I do hope so."
We had a little talk about the duties of a new life :
" My wife wrote me that she had been thinking about these things
too ; in her last letter she said she was going to join the church, and
wanted me to do the same. I was so glad to hear it, but I told her
to wait until I came home, and we would take hold of hands and go
together."
The " supper-call" sounded. I wrote their names in their Testa-
448 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
merits ; their good-bye was " God bless you," and mine, the prayer,
"Send them forth into Thy Kingdom, dear Saviour."
One Sabbath, towards the year's close, while talking to a little
fourteen-year-old drummer-boy in AVard P, Jefferson Barracks, I
noticed a soldier at a little distance with his back towards me, busily
writing. Going to him presently, I asked —
The Wife's ,„ . . ,
prayers. Writing home, are you ?
He looked up, and I saw it was one whose wife
had been lately visiting him :
" No, I wasn't writing a letter ; I was only copying a prayer my
wife sent me. You see, when she was here I told her how I felt, and
when she went home she wrote down two prayers, and I'm copying
them in this," showing me his note-book. " I might lose the letter,
and I'm learning them by heart. My wife's a Christian, but I never
cared anything about these things until I came into the army. I
had no father or mother or anybody to teach me anything good when
I was a boy, and I just worked my own way the best I could. I didn't
know how to pray right, and, oh, I've been so wicked."
"Then you feel how much you have sinned against God?"
" Yes, oh, so much."
" Did you tell God how you felt?"
" Yes, but you see, I'm so little used to pray that I hardly knew
how."
I told him that
" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,
Unutter'd or expressed,"
and urged him to give himself to the Saviour now.
" I have tried to do that," he said, humbly.
" Do you think He has pardoned you?"
" I don't know ; sometimes I think He has ; then again, I'm afraid
to believe it, for you don't know how great a sinner I've been," and
the soldier's lips quivered.
" But, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, — not the righteous.
Don't you find some love for Him in your heart?"
" Oh, yes, a great deal."
VICKSBUEG. 449
" More than for your wife even ? Could you give up her and the
little ones, rather than Him ?"
He hesitated a moment, then looking up with tear-filled eyes, he
said, slowly —
" Yes, I think I could give up everything in this world rather than
give up Him."
I spoke a few words of cautious encouragement, for evidently the
Spirit was teaching him. It was not long until the witness of this
was given. While he remained, his life was quiet, consistent, up
right : he carried to the field the sure trust that Christ would be with
him " even to the end."
The veterans of Gen. A. J. Smith's Corps, after co
operating in the ill-fated Red River Expedition, were
brought back to Vicksburg. Rev. R. Brown,1 a Dele
gate during June and July, 1864, thus describes work
among them :
Worn and discouraged, they lay on the sands by the Mississippi
near Vicksburg. The tents for the troops did not average more than
one to a company, so that they spent most of the day under their
blankets stretched out on sticks to shelter them from
, ,T Evening Meet*
the intense heat of the sun. Meetings among them ingsat VicJcsburgt
were impossible in the day-time ; as we distributed
papers from company to company, the question was asked if we could
not have a night meeting ? The men were more than willing.
Chaplains Smith and Bardwell co-operating, the band was pro
cured to play, and the soldiers began gathering about us in the dark
ness. Night served the double purpose of sheltering from the heat
and of hiding the nakedness of many who lay under their blankets
during the day for want of clothes. There was a solemn glory in
the scene ; the sparkle of the stars far over our heads, the dark,
broad, silent river, with the fleet of transports on its breast, the un
seen presence of the distant city, the flickering light of the circling
camp-fires — and close before us the shadowy forms of the brave men
upon whom still rested the dust of battle.
1 Pastor of First Congregational Church, Oswego, 111.
29
450 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
We spoke of friends and loved ones at home, and then of the
" Friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Half-suppressed sighs
and sobs began to come to us out of the midst of the great company ;
and when at last we asked who would pledge themselves to become
the friends of Christ, though in the darkness we could not see them,
we knew that many were standing up in solemn dedication ; and our
hearts went out in earnest prayer that the consecration might be
unto life.
During our two weeks' stay with these noble men, the night meet
ings were continued with great success, the sun-down gun being the
signal for gathering. They had a great effect upon our daily prayer
meeting in the city ; the best-dressed men coming in
large numbers from the camp. The testimony borne
by some of them was remarkable. One young soldier, I remember,
rose the day before my departure, and with deep emotion, said —
" Early this morning, before sunrise, I heard the sound of a hu
man voice coming up from a sheltered ravine. I followed in the di
rection of the sound, and found it was the voice of an old colored
woman in prayer. She was thanking God for His mercies to her,
praying for the soldiers who were fighting for her liberties, and for
the masters who had enslaved herself, her children and her race.
She committed the yet undecided contest, with all her personal inter
ests, into His hands, with such implicit, childlike trust that I turned
away utterly condemned. Since then troops of broken vows and
pledges have come to memory. They are so many, and have filled
me with such confusion, that I have come here to day to renew them
before you all, and to pledge again my whole heart and life to the
Saviour."
The soldier's intensely earnest manner thrilled every listener.
In the Fall of the year, the Chaplain of a large col
ored regiment in the neighborhood of Vicksburg, wrote
to Mr. A. E. Chamberlain, of Cincinnati, for Primers.
Mr. Chamberlain sent them, and adds a subsequent
history :
Soon after, another request came for five hundred Testaments, and
again another for five hundred more. In his last letter the Chaplain
VICKSBURG. 451
told me that he had one thousand men who could read the Tes
tament. Shortly afterwards I had a visit from him.
TT i j • 11 r- i • . T*-I i " Uncle Readin'
He asked me especially for a large-print Bible or .. rT. „..
for Hisself."
Tt-stament, to be used by an old soldier named
" Uncle Sam," whose story is worth preserving.
" The day before I came away," said the Chaplain, " we were orga
nising regimental writing schools. ' Uncle Sam,' though an indus
trious student of reading, seemed to lack enthusiasm in the new
enterprise.
" ' Uncle,' said I, at last, ' you want to learn to write, don't
you ?'
" ' No, massa, no ; uncle care's nun*in' 'bout de writinV
" ' What made you so anxious to learn to read, then ?'
" ' Wanted to read God's own word, massa.'
" ' Can you read it yet, uncle ?'
" He took his Bible, and opened it at St. John's third chapter :
' God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.'
" He began spelling the words ; when he was half through the sen
tence his feelings overcame him ; looking up, he asked —
" ' Is dis ra'al ? Is dis de sure-'nuff word ob de Lord ?'
" ' No doubt about it, uncle.'
" ' An' uncle readin' it for hisself !'
" He took the book and spelled through the rest 'of the sentence.
" ' Now,' said he, ' if ole uncle dies, he kin go up dar, and tell de
good Lor' Jesus dat he read in His Own Book, " Whomsumever
b'liebes on 'm shan't perish, but hab eberlastin' life," an' de Lor'
knows dat Uncle Sam b'liebes on 'm, — an' he read it for hisself in
His Own Book.' "
Uncle Sam's indifference to his opportunity to learn to write was
fully explained ; his mind was occupied with the direct revelation
from God.
An interesting letter, written in October of this year,
by an officer of the army in Louisiana, to Mr. J. H.
Parsons, the Corresponding Secretary of the St. Louis
452 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Committee, gives an observant soldier's opinion upon
the comparative mortality among Christians and others
in the army :
H. Q, ProvisiosrAL BRIGADE, MORGAXZIA, LA., Oct. 19th, 1864.
4 We have lost very severely in men and officers this
Summer and Fall. Some regiments have buried nearly one-half of
their men. I had from the first taken special pains
Religion and -. . .
JT • to have religious services held often in my regiment,
when I commanded it. Often hearing irreligious
officers say that this was one of the causes of great mortality, as
' religion tended to depress the spirits of the men,' and that if these
exercises were banished, the health of my men would improve, I de
termined to find out the truth of this ; and upon a careful examina
tion, I was disappointed, I must acknowledge, to find that, while tico-
fifths of my regiment had died since entering the service, only one in
every eight of those who were Christians had died, showing a great
disparity in favor of the latter. I also, by the same examination,
learned that those who were most zealous in learning were least liable
to sickness, and when sick they generally recovered soonest.
" These facts at first impressed me as strange, but I have no reason
to doubt them, as they were obtained by careful officers. * * * *
" A. J. EDGERTON,
" Colonel Commanding Brigade"
Near the close of 1864, by an arrangement between the
Western Branches, the care of the important station of
Cairo, the " gate" of the Western army, was transferred
to the special superintendence of the Peoria Committee.
From reports of their Agent, Rev. J. D. Wyckoff,1 we
select the following incidents of work :
No part of the Delegate's ministry was fuller of consolation and
blessing than the duty of writing home letters for the men. I re
member a noble-looking, reticent Indian of the 16th Wise., named
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Elmwood, 111.
CAIRO. 453
Peter Powels, who had not heard from wife or mother
,, . An Indian's
for six months, and who was too shy to ask any one „ ^ 7
J J Reserve Broken.
to write for him. By degrees I found out something
about his friends, and was able to write a letter for him, which
pleased him mightily. I shall not soon forget how his brown face
flushed up, when he found that in his delight he had let go the
sentence —
" Tell her I would be glad to see her," as if that was too much for
an Indian to confess.
Passing along the street, I once greeted a stalwart soldier, who
warmly grasped my proffered hand, and said, without further intro
duction —
" I have no 'abiding city' here."
"May I ask if you seek one to come?"
J J Burning.
" Yes, thank God, I do. I don't have any time to
myself, but I try to keep the lamp burning."
On inquiring, I found his to be a most remarkable case. Away
from home and all Christian associations, with no Sabbath, with in
adequate rest, with no time even for a prayer meeting, pursuing his
laborious duty of wagon-master in the wicked city of Cairo, he could
yet so keep the inward light burning, that when I met him first, it
seemed to shine out from his eyes into mine.
In the Keceiving Ship at Cairo were six or seven hundred sailors.
Among them all I could learn of but a single Christian. Accident
ally another was discovered by his coming to me for a Bible :
" Haven't you got one ?"
a -\r • T ± -j. e J.T i » John Jones.
Yes, sir ; I want it for a mate, though.
I gave him one with a word of encouragement, and left him, to
watch for the tug which was to carry me to Mound City. Presently
he returned and asked me for a New York Observer. Some further
conversation ensued. I found that he had no father or mother, that
Jesus was his only friend, and again bade him good-bye. The tug
was still invisible, and the sailor came up again. Extending his
right hand, partly closed and inverted, he said —
" I want to do something for Christ ; won't you take this for the
Commission ?"
He had handed me five dollars out of his poverty, and would not
be denied the privilege of giving it. I asked his name ; reluctantly
454 CHKISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
he gave it — a rare one, I believe, — John Jones. I shall not soon
forget his quiet, subdued, half-tearful manner.
This was in November ; two months later I started from Cairo to
visit the Mississippi gun-boat fleet. After boarding several vessels, I
was transferred to the St. Clair, Captain J. S. French. I had been
so disheartened at not meeting with any Christians
John Jones
Aqain ou some 0* tne °ther boats, that this visit charmed
me exceedingly. Here were three Christian officers ;
the commander was a generous, courteous " old salt," who, the first
evening of my visit, called the men on deck and introduced me to
them with some crisp, telling words. He showed me a well-worn
copy of the little book called Daily Food, to which, he said, it was just
as natural for him to go in the morning as it was to eat his breakfast.
I found four Christian sailors on board. After a meeting on Fri
day evening, a man came up on the quarter-deck and said he would
like to " see the Keverend." I stepped aside to see him ; he handed
me a five-dollar bill, saying —
" Put that where it'll do good."
I looked narrowly at him, and lo ! there was my old friend, John
Jones of last November. It was as good as a run home to meet him
again and find him still holding to the blessed way.
The terrible " Eclipse disaster"1 changed all my plans of visita
tion. God grant I may never have such work to do again. Such
was the accumulation of severer cases, that the men with broken
limbs had to wait a whole day ere they could be
Crying out of attended to> The fri htful bu with the excrucia-
Pain for a Sa-
v-our ting resulting pain, made the scene one of living death.
One poor fellow recognized my voice. He had been
a few times at our Cairo meetings. He was fearfully scalded all over
the body, and could scarcely see. He moaned out that he wanted
" to see the Christian Commission man." I came to him :
" I am the Christian Commission man, my dear fellow ; what can
I do for you ?"
" I was in your meetings there; I was ashamed to ask you to pray
1 The Mississippi steamboat, Eclipse, was blown up while bringing North a
large number of men, who were on furlough, or whose terms of enlistment had
expired.
VICKSBUKG. 455
for me then. I've been a great sinner, but I'm seeking repentance
and forgiveness. I'm not ashamed to ask Christians to pray for me
now. I've been in battle since I saw you ; but oh, that was nothing
to this!"
I told him about the Healer of pains,— the ever-waiting Saviour
of the world.
It was a solemn, oppressive, dazing day ; one which made me wish
for the end of the misery of the war, for the coming in of the day
of Eternal Peace.
Poor fellows! they had taken passage on their way home from the
war ; many of them having just finished their terms of enlistment.
They had had bright anticipations of the pleasant greetings hidden
by the hills and the long prairie reaches between them and home, —
greetings which to so many never came.
Miss Katharine M. Bissell 1 was a Delegate in the
Commission rooms at Vicksburg towards the close of
1864 and in the beginning of 1865. An incident told
by her illustrates the value of the work which could be
done by ladies in the army :
In the neighborhood of Vicksburg, about December, was quartered
a brigade of soldiers, who for several reasons were in a rather de
moralized condition. The men were often almost ungovernable.
Only one of the officers seemed to have any special
The Sergeant's
control over them, and he never left them for a mo- Determination
ment, exerting himself earnestly to restore reason
and authority.
Sergeant Fuller, of one of these regiments, came into our rooms
one morning and leaned against the reading rack. The whole ex
pression of his face was one of homesickness and indifference, — per
haps of something worse. I was taxing my brain to find some way of
approaching the Sergeant without giving offence, when I thought of
a beautiful bouquet of flowers which I had received that morning.
Holding them out to him, I said —
" Don't you think they are pretty, Sergeant ?"
Of Hartford, Wis.
456 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
He vouchsafed them a peculiar, masculine glance, bowed and
smiled carelessly, then turned to his reading. I was a little non
plussed at first, but soon saw that he wanted to talk with me, —
whether it was their fragrance which reached him, or possibly some
home memories which the flowers had quickened, I don't know. I
watched him a while till I was sure, and then told him I would be at
leisure in a moment. We began a general conversation. As soon
as I could I introduced the great question —
"Are you a Christian, Sergeant?"
" I am not a Christian now ; I hoped once that I was, but there
seemed to be so little about it which I could claim as a Christian
experience, that I came to doubt it altogether, and now I'm as reck
less as any of the others."
I talked with him seriously and earnestly. He seemed deeply
impressed, but would make no promise concerning the future. After
that he came often to our rooms, and always renewed the conversa
tion about the Christian life, until one day, after an unusually long
talk, he stated his determination to become a Christian. From that
time he was one of the brightest examples I ever met. His com
rades noticed the change, and asked what made him " so still ?"
He told them he had found something to keep him quiet all the rest
of the days of his life.
Rev. Ewing O. Tade,1 the Local Agent at Memphis,
in May, 1865, sent to the Chairman of the Commission
a watch, handed him by a noble-hearted Christian sol
dier of the 113th 111. Inf. The following note accom
panying the gift, explained its beautiful meaning and
purpose :
"A soldier, whose earthly light went out when his little boys, Paul
and Frankie, died last March, thought, though poor, that decent
gravestones should mark the spot where they lie listening for the
word which shall call them forth to immortality.
The Children's tt ^ . , ... ,
Memorial thinks he now sees a more excellent way,
— to leave their precious dust with no costly rnemo-
1 Pastor of Congregational Church, Washington, Iowa.
LITTLE ROCK. 457
rial, seeing that He who redeemed shall watch it carefully. Let the
price of the marble be expended in sending forth the Living Word; so
they, being dead, shall yet speak. That whatever the accompanying
watch may bring shall be devoted to the American Bible Society, as
the gift of two little lambs, Paul and Frankie, who are now walking
in the green and pleasant pastures by the side of the river of Life, —
is the wish of their father,
" S. L. URMSTON."
The watch, with a narrative of the particulars, was sent to the
American Bible Society. The reading of the soldier's letter, at a
meeting of the Board of Managers, excited deep interest and sym
pathy. Urmston was made a Life Member of the Society, and pre
sented with a handsomely bound copy of the Bible.
The work among the troops in Arkansas was much
the same as elsewhere. A few of its incidents, from the
reports of Agents and Delegates, may be given. Mr.
C. C. Thayer,1 who was for a long time a Field Agent
in Arkansas, narrates an incident occurring at Little
Rock:
A very devoted Christian soldier, whose love for his country and
family I had never seen surpassed, lay dying. He was dreaming ;
and as he approached the River of Death, a vision of his home came
back to him vividly. He seemed to be leaving it
once more for the war, and to be passing along the *"* Heavenly
and the Earthly
old road ; a bend would soon hide all he loved from Homes.
view. In the dream he turned for one last look : in
his agony, he cried out —
" O my wife, my darling wife ! who made my home so happy, must
we separate ? My dear only son, — our joy and pride, must I leave
you ?"
He was silent a moment. Perhaps in the mean time, a new and
brighter vision, — the verity from which the earthly one had ever
1 Of Chicago (Congregational) Theological Seminary. Now, a Missionary of
the American Board in Central Turkey.
458 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
drawn its brightness and beauty, — was revealed. There was another
bend in the road ; beyond were kinder arms than behind :
" Yes, wife, I can give you up, and darling Henry too, — country,
friends, all — all ; but, Jesus, I cannot give You up."
The eyes that were looking upon the "Elder Brother" shone
brightly. Doubtless, ere this, he has found that pure human ties
never break ; that they could only be weak here on earth, because
Christ's unseen presence was weak also ; that when that grows into a
continual knowledge, they will become infinitely more real and
beautiful.
Another sketch by Miss Bissell, of work at Little
Rock in June, gives the result of an effort to bring a
soldier to a present decision for Christ :
Joseph Adams was a small, slender boy belonging to the 25th Ohio
Battery, — a wild set of men, as far as any religious influences were
concerned, and who had the reputation of being rather aristocratic.
Delegates used to say they were the hardest men to
Decide Now. J . m.
preach to on the whole station, ihey prided them
selves on their fine appearance, were always well dressed, never left
their camp without polishing their boots, cleaning their teeth, ar
ranging their hair, and in every way making themselves as attractive
as possible. Adams was nineteen years of age, and had already
contracted many of his comrades' bad habits. He was one of the
best gamblers in the battery. His habit was to save his wages, and
use his gambling gains for other expenses. The first time I saw him
he was bringing back a book to our library :
" I'm tired of these religious books ; I'll take a history."
I got the desired history for him, and began a conversation. Pie
was very communicative, but his use of tobacco was so excessive as
seriously to impede conversation. Several times he begged my par
don, while he awkwardly hurried to the door to discharge his over
flowing mouth. It began to dawn upon him then that chewing in a
lady's presence was hardly in good taste, and so mortified was he
that he apologized and declared that he would never chew again.
In our talk he expressed his utter unbelief in Christianity, and spoke
lightly of conversion. When he wras through, I asked him —
LITTLE ROCK. 459
" Adams, do you really know what we mean by conversion ?"
" Well, no," said he ; " I don't know that I do— exactly."
I gave him the best idea of it I could, — how it was our duty to put
ourselves in harmony with God, and consecrate our lives to Him.
Not regarding his sneers against Christianity, I urged him to make
this consecration at once. He was unwilling. I told him how much
less willing he would be in three or four years hence. He looked up
in a sharp way :
" I suppose three or four years ago you would have said the same
thing."
" Very possibly," I replied ; " and can you say that it would not
have been true?"
As he went away I gave him God's Way of Peace, by Bonar ; he
promised to read and return it. When he came back, I found that
he was trying to compromise the matter, but I held him to the point
of present decision. Finally he could elude the issue no longer, so
he told me —
" I won't decide the matter here. I want to think it over more."
He looked at the clock ; it was just a quarter to eleven :
" Can you decide within twenty-four hours ?"
" Yes," said he ; " I can, and will."
The next day, at a quarter before eleven, a note came from him,
stating that he had been assigned to duty the preceding evening, and
could not get off; that he had been thinking the matter over while
walking his beat, and had decided to be a Christian ; " with God's
help," he added, " I mean to be one truly."
He kept his word nobly, and for the months in which he remained
at the post he gave the clearest evidence of a change of heart. Of
course he was subjected to no small measure of ridicule, but he en
dured it bravely for the sake of the Master.
The Lieutenant of his battery was an exceedingly upright and
moral man, and on this account nicknamed among the boys "Abe
Lincoln." He was not a Christian, though he had thought seriously
on the subiect. One dav Adams went to him for
. . . "Abe Lincoln."
permission to come to the prayer meeting at our
rooms. The Lieutenant was struck with the request, hesitated, and
looked at Adams for some time before granting it. From that day
a change came over him ; nor did the impression made by this
460 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION" INCIDENTS.
young soldier's request lose its hold upon the officer, until he became
an humble, sincere Christian.
Rev. R. Brown, a Delegate among the troops at Fort
Leaven worth, in the Fall and early Winter of 1865,
describes an episode in his work :
About one hundred men of the 17th 111. Cav. were confined in the
Military Prison at Fort Leavenworth, on the charge of mutiny. On
investigation I became satisfied that, while they had done wrong,
there were many palliating circumstances. They cer-
Work on be- t inl needed u th h j could render. Many
half of Military
Prisoners ° "iem were without shoes, shirts or stockings ; some
were very sick, and all sad and anxious. I interested
myself earnestly for their release, and at last, through Gov. Oglesby
of Illinois, an order was procured from the War Department, send
ing them to Springfield before their discharge.
Visiting them again, just as they were preparing to obey this order,
I held a parting meeting. Never did praise and prayer seem so de
lightful ; never was temple of worship more truly filled with the
Divine presence than was that forlorn prison-house.
A lady from the East, of fashion and culture, reluctantly accom
panied us to our last prison meeting with them. A box — the only
movable thing that would answer for a seat — was placed in the
centre of the cell for her. She wept as she saw the
Life Becomes . , , „ . .
P , gratitude glowing in every face, and evident in every
pressure of the hand and utterance of the lips. She
was a church member, but this scene of praise and prayer gave her an
entirely new view of life. She was silent afterwards about the meet
ing ; before her return to the East I asked the reason :
" When I think of my reluctance to accompany you, and then of
the evident presence of God in that meeting, I begin to fear my own
hope is false, and my religion an empty form."
It was the occasion of a new consecration, and a determination to
do some of Christ's work among the poor.
Intercourse between the citizens of Leavenworth and the impris
oned soldiers had been quite frequent. In the opinion of many, the
wonderful revival which visited the city soon after, and which re-
ST. LOUIS. 461
suited in adding one-third of their present strength
The Germ, of
to the Protestant churches, was due in no small a
measure to the quickening granted to many during
their visits to the Commission meetings in the prison and elsewhere.
Two sketches of St. Louis hospital work may close
this part of our record. Miss McBeth furnishes the
first :
" Why, who is this ? How did you get here, little brother ?"
1 had slipped into the wards after the lamps were lighted, to see
some of the new patients who had reached us from the South that
day, and just as I opened the door my eye fell on the
strangest sight. The bed nearest me had been newly
filled with straw, and upon the top of it, his little limbs scarcely
reaching more than half its length, lay the oddest, oldest-looking
boy, with a pair of bright, black eyes, looking at me out of a little,
thin, withered face:
" I came up on the boat. I belong to the - Regiment" — I have
forgotten the number ; would the face were as easily forgotten !
"A drummer-boy?"
" No ; a soldier !" and what pride there was in that shrill, childish
voice, as he called over the names of the battles he had fought.
He was a waif from one of our great cities, such as only cities
nourish. He had never known either parents or home, but "just
growed," Topsy-like, and struggled up and out into the world the
best way he could, until a recruiting officer, seeking one more name
to complete his number, added this, and the boy was a soldier.
" Have you seen ' our baby' yet ?" asked a nurse, as I came out of
the ward that night, — so all had christened him from the first. I
never knew another name for him. They moved him to a cot near
the stove $ attendants and convalescents petted and nursed him, and
for a time he grew better under their care. Our hospitals were very
full at that time, and death was busy in every ward. I spent my
strength with those I knew must soon die, and gave " our baby" only
a few passing words, waiting until I could have more time with him.
He was getting much better, I thought, and needed careful instruc
tion. He could neither read nor write ; knew little more of God
462 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
than a heathen child ; had scarcely heard Christ's name, save as an
oath. I must begin with the very rudiments of the Gospel. And so I
waited for a more convenient season, giving him my brightest-covered
little tracts, for his comrades to read to him, and resting myself
when I came home at night by putting all the old engravings I could
find into picture-books for his amusement. At last a day came when
I thought I could give him an hour ; but when I stood beside his cot
he had gone beyond my reach ! I thought at first he was asleep —
but no, he was dying ! I bent close to his ear and tried to make him
hear me, but not a muscle of that still face moved. Light, or sound,
of earth could reach him no more for ever.
Rev. E. P. Smith, during a brief visit to St. Louis,
was invited by Miss McBeth to see a Michigan soldier
in Jefferson Barracks, in whose case she felt a peculiar
interest :
I saw at a glance that he had not long to live. In his pale, thin
face, flushed with the last sign of flickering life, there was a beseech
ing — a piteous longing, such as in all my hospital experience I had
rarely seen. At first he gave rne little heed, but as I
Christ Rejected . . , . . , _ . . ,
, , j ' . laid the back 01 my hand upon his burning cheek,
and stroked the hair from his forehead, he turned
his eyes full upon me, in a look that spoke things unutterable :
" How are you to-day, my soldier friend ?"
" Poorly, sir ; very poorly ; a few days more — only a few."
" You are all ready, I trust ?"
" I am going — there is no help for it ; if you call that ' ready/ I
am ready."
" But I mean, are you prepared to die ? Is this exchange of worlds
going to be pleasant to you ?"
" Pleasant ! It is awful, sir ; horrible beyond all account ! But I
have got to come to it!"
" No, my brother, there is no such ' got to' about it. You are in
this world yet, and it is a world of mercy. This is the world where
Christ died. Let me tell you what He says : ' Whoso cometh unto
Me, I will in no wise cast out.' "
" I know it, I know it all ; I have heard it a thousand times."
"I CANNOT COME NOW— I WILL NOT" Pjge 463.
ST. LOUIS. 463
"Well, isn't it true?"
" It may be — but not for me, now."
" But He says, * If you will come to him;' He does not say, 'If you
had come,' or, ' If you would have come,' but ' if you will come' —
' whoso cometh' — comes to-day — ' He will not cast out.' It's a great
pity you haven't come already, but —
" Pity ! It's my ruin, sir. I cannot come now — I will not. See
there, stranger, do you think I am going to give that withered, dried-
up hand to God, after I have given all its strength to the devil ? Do
you think I'm going to drink the devil's wine all my life up to this
last day in hospital, and then offer the settlings to Jesus?"
" It was wrong, it was mean for you to refuse the best to your God,
but see what you are doing now. Jesus has followed you all through,
and to-day asks for this remnant of your life, ' these settlings,' as you
call it. He really desires your affection and trust in Him for the
little while you will lie on this bed."
"Is it honorable or decent to give it now?"
" If He can ask it, is it honorable or decent -for you to refuse it
now ? You have refused everything ; Jesus makes a last request ;
will you refuse that?"
" I see it — that's so, — but — I am afraid I shall. You come a little
too late ! , It's getting dark now."
I prayed at his bedside, but he was only partially conscious. As I
sat watching him, he said in a whisper, scarcely audible —
" If I could get back again — back again — "
Supposing he was thinking of his friends, I asked about his home
in Michigan ; rousing slightly, and with a shake of his head, he
said —
" No, no — a boy again — a boy again — "
Thinking that he might have fallen into a sleep from exhaustion,
I left him for a while. But it was the sleep of death. The consist
ency of sin held him straight through his course. He could not
break it. He must begin anew, if at all, he thought, with the begin
ning of life ; but, alas ! for the boyhood with its thousand invitings
it came back no more !
The work under charge of the Western Army Com
mittees did not close as soon as did the field labors in
464 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
the East. The St. Louis Branch kept open its office at
Memphis until October, 1865 ; and work upon the
Plains, directed from Fort Leavenworth by Rev. W. J.
Glad win, as Field Agent, was continued into 1866.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ALONG THE COAST.
1861—1865.
THE New York Branch of the Commission on its or
ganization took the charge of the work among sailors
and soldiers operating along our extended coast line
from Virginia to Texas. It was a quieter service than
was found elsewhere in any field of the war. On account
of the distance from New York, Delegates were chosen
for longer periods of labor. So much, however, which
was common in all army experience, has been anticipated
in the notice of other fields, that we shall not repeat
ourselves by attempting to give even a representative
series of incidents of this coast work. We begin our
record on the seaboard of North Carolina.
Rev. Dr. A. L. Stone, who was for a time Chaplain
of the 45th Mass. Regt., in a letter from Newbern, N.
C., to the people of Park Street Church, Boston, his
parish at home, gives a narrative of the illness and
death of a soldier of his regiment, a younger brother of
the Rev. Phillips Brooks of Philadelphia :
George Brooks, one of our own Boston boys, a member of Co. A,
recruited by Captain Russell Sturgis (now our Major), was taken ill
of typhoid fever about a week ago. From the first, he expressed his
30 465
466 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
entire resignation to the Divine will, and enjoyed
The Three Pe-
the constant presence 01 Jesus at his side. When I
asked him daily, "Is your Saviour near you to-day?"
the look upon his face had a radiant answer before his lips could
speak, and through his sickness that faithful Presence sustained
and cheered him. He was never dejected, never murmured. He
would say but little, as his lungs seemed congested ; but by gasps
and whispers, one day he told me — holding my face close to his, so
that he could make me hear his lowest words — that he had never had
a full assurance of his pardon and acceptance until he became a
soldier. He said that in the battle of Kingston, under that terrible
fire of the enemy, "His Saviour came to him as never before, declared
His presence, revealed His love, and ' held his soul in His hand.' "
As the hour of death drew on, he seemed to have three burdens of
prayer ; the first was quickly disposed of — he prayed aloud :
"O Lord, keep me, hold me fast, leave me not, let me not go!" and
then all thought of himself seemed to be at an end.
Shortly after his lips moved audibly, and his second burden was
laid down at the Divine feet :
" My God, spare my country — oh ! save my dear native land !"
After a few moments of silence, the voice of prayer was again
heard, — the last earthly articulation of his tongue. The words were
those of the old familiar petition —
" Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven."
His own soul, his country, the Israel of God — these three interests
he thus commended in last utterances to the faithful Promiser. How
could a Christian life close more appropriately, more triumphantly ?
The following incident of the siege of Washington,
N. C., by the Rebels in March and April, 1863, related
by a soldier of Co. G, 46th Mass. Regt., is a beautiful
instance of heroic self-sacrifice and courage :
A brave band of soldiers were set for the defence of Rodman's
Point. The enemy, ten to one, pressed heavily upon them to drive
them from the Point or destroy them. Overpowered, they fell back
WASHINGTON, N. C. 467
to the Tar river, where only a scow remained in
which they could embark. They hurried into her. ^W ^
Others might
The balls came thick and fast from the Rebels close
upon their heels. The boat had to be pushed from
shore with poles. But alas ! when she was loaded, she stuck fast in
the mud. The sides afforded some shelter to the soldiers while they
remained lying ; but who would leap overboard and push her out
into the stream ? Who would deliberately lay down his life for the
possible salvation of his fellows ? When several soldiers were about
to do it, a large negro said —
" You keep still and save your life. I can't fight. I can push off
the boat. If they kill me it's nothing. You are soldiers, and they
need you to fight."
Leaping overboard, he pushed the boat out into the stream, then
sprang back, pierced by seven bullets. He died in two days. Does
Greece or Rome offer a higher patriotism ?
Rev. A. P. Johnson,1 a Delegate in the neighborhood
of Hilton Head, S. C., in 1863, recalls several incidents
of his experience :
On board one of the gunboats, I found a number of very sick men.
T gave such stores as were needed to make them comfortable, and
talked and prayed with them. One of them, evidently a foreigner,
interested me exceedingly. I asked him —
"Are you a Christian?" Waiting to
Join in the One
" Yes," said he, " but there are few Christians in New s
my country."
" What country is that ?"
" Turkey."
I asked him how he became a Christian there ; his answer was a
very interesting story of the missionary labors of Rev. Dr. Dwight.
Here, far from home and kindred, he had been fighting for the land
of his adoption, and was now dying in perfect peace, waiting for the
fulfillment of St. John's vision of the one song in one language :
"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man
Pastor of First Congregational Church, Charlemont, Mass.
468 CHEISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues,
stood before the Throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying,
Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the
Lamb."
There were large numbers of colored people at Hilton Head, and
I had interesting intercourse with them. One day a number of chil
dren came asking for books. One wanted a Testament. He was a
" darkey" pure and simple, as bright in mind as
Washed White were ^ teeth and eyeg< Hig Qn| name wag mytj10.
in the Blood of , ,
the Lamb logical — Neptune, or as he gave it to me —
"Nep; on'y leben yeahs old, sah."
He could read well. I asked him what he wanted with the Testa
ment :
"T learn 'bout heben."
" Why learn about heaven ?"
" So I kin go dar when I die."
" Why do you suppose you can go to heaven ? You are only a
' little nigger.' You don't imagine there are any ' niggers' there."
"Yes, massa."
" But, you see, white children go there ; and you don't love each
other much, — can't play together. How can you get along together
in heaven ?"
" Dunno, massa ; but I 'specs dey will."
I kept on raising objections, until finally I asked —
" Now, do you really believe that there are any black children in
heaven ?"
He reflected a moment, and then answered —
" No, massa, I 'specs dey isn't."
"Well, then, you cant go there, can you?"
" Reckon I kin, massa."
" But how can you go there, when there are no black children
there ?"
" 'Kase dey is all white."
"But how's that?"
" Oh, dey is all ' washed white in de blood of de Lamb.' "
It was a " child's" faith, true to fact, whatever may be thought of
its form.
OFF CHARLESTON. 469
A correspondent of the Sunday School Times, writing
from Bentley, N. Y., in June, 1863, gives an account of
a Bible-class scholar in that town, who enlisted on board
the gun-boat Daylight, one of the blockading squadron
off Charleston :
In a crew of two hundred men he found only one Christian. One
Saturday it occurred to him that he would like to hold a prayer
meeting the next day. His companion suggested the propriety of
asking; the Captain about it. To their great aston-
A Bible-Class
ishment his reply was-
"Yes, you may have the free use of the ship, and
I am proud to think I have young men on board that do pray."
The next day about ten o'clock he got his hymn-book and Bible,
and took charge of the " right wing" of the ship to begin his meet
ing. It was a very solemn service ; an invitation was given to all
those who felt their need of Christ to express it; twelve men knelt
and asked the two to pray for them. Several of these found the
" pearl of great price."
Thus the Bible-class scholar had found another field of usefulness,
far away from his own loved Sunday-school.
Not a few of our naval officers were throughout the
war constant in their efforts to bring the Gospel with its
holy influences near to the sailors' hearts. A corres
pondent writes of Admiral Dupont :
Before going into the " iron-clad" fight off Charleston, in April,
1863, the Admiral had prayers offered on his flagship, the New Iron
sides. From the Admiral down to the powder-boys, all humbly
knelt and sought strength for the coming trial, by
.... , . , , ~ Prayer on the
joining in a short, touching prayer read by Commo- « New Iron8ides»
dore Turner. The recollection of the sight of those
four hundred determined, battle-eager men, bowing in picturesque
groups among the grim implements of war, before their Maker, will
never be effaced from my memory.
470 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
An address was made by Captain Winslow of the
Kearsarge, the destroyer of the Alabama, before the Port
Society of New York, in December, 1864, which inci
dentally revealed a beautiful Christian influence over
his men :
He stated that during the long cruise of the Kearsarge only two
Sabbaths had passed without a religious service on board the ship.
It was his custom to have the bell tolled and the men invited to come
to his cabin, which was often filled with sailors for
Lupt. in- j^is exercjse> jn addition to the prayers, he corn-
stows Services on
the"Kearsarfie" nionly took up a portion of Scripture, expounded
and endeavored to illustrate it ; and when in the
vicinity of the lands of Bible history and prophecy, he would call
attention to the fulfillment of God's Word, and thus set Jack think
ing upon the reality of Divine truth.
The following incident of the assault upon Fort Wag
ner, in July, 1863, was related to the writer by the rela
tives of the soldier :
A colored soldier from Philadelphia, who had enlisted in Col.
Shaw's Massachusetts Regiment, was carried back at the close of the
assault on the fort, shockingly torn with wounds — wounded unto
death. Some one came to him, washed the grimed
The Kingdom „ , , , . , ., ,
,/ , TT^V/ A iace and attended him while he was unconscious.
that Will Come.
After a while he began to talk as if he were in a
dream. He thought that his wife Chloe was near him and giving
him all the kind attentions. He told Chloe of his joy and assurance
in the approaching freedom of his whole race :
" De Lor' kep' us patient long, Chloe, den His Kingdom come."
Recalling perhaps the last conscious sight of the repulse and of his
falling and flying comrades, he continued —
" It don't look es if He thought we wus riddy for't yit ; but den,
Chloe, it am gwine to come"
He murmured on for a while about Jesus and Chloe and "<ie
chillens," and then fell asleep.
SOUTH CAROLINA. 471
In the New York Parish Visitor of October, 1863,
occurs the following narrative of a Delegate on the South
Carolina coast :
On returning to quarters, I found a soldier of the 7th New Hamp
shire who begged for some reading. Said he —
" I am a poor sinner and want something to guide rne. The night
of the assault on Fort Wagner, when the balls were
-, . . , , T , , . A Consecra-
so swift and thick around, I heard men swearing ^ ^ Battle
dreadfully, and it seemed so awful that I could not
bear it. It made me afraid, and I promised my God that I would
swear no more, but would serve Him from that hour ; and He is my
witness that I have tried faithfully ; and now I want something to
read besides my Testament, to help me along. This religion has a
wonderful effect over me even in my dreams. When I got into
temptation the other night in a dream, I turned away from it."
He spoke with the deepest emotions of his early religious training,
his pious parents and of all the mercies of God. It seemed in all
he said as if the very marrow of the man was penetrated by this
new fear of God and love of His Son, which had come to him in the
hour of peril.
I gave him the little book, Come to Jesus, and turned to the Soldier's
Series, to find a tract entitled Past Sins. Holding it in my hand,
while we pursued our conversation, I saw that the title caught his
attention. In a moment he asked me for it, eagerly. Mr. B —
said something to him about being a missionary in camp now.
" Yes," said he, " I try to be. You may depend on my doing
what I can."
His " God bless you" at parting was fervent and heartfelt.
Some time afterwards, as I was passing in a crowd of men along
the beach, my eye was attracted by the salute of a guard. I looked
up just in time to catch the pleasant smile of my Christian soldier ;
it told of a heart completely happy in the Saviour's love.
Rev. Robert J. Parvin furnishes a sketch connected
with the battle of Olustee, Florida, in February, 1864 :
The 31st U. S. Colored Regiment was recruited at Camp William
472 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
Perm, not very far from St. Paul's, Cheltenham, Pa,, my parish
church. Its commander was Col. Friblcy, who had formerly been a
Captain in the 8th Pa. Regiment, At the camp he
The Lesson of
Loss> became deeply interested in his own spiritual condi
tion, as well as in that of his men ; and about a fort
night before leaving for Beaufort, he, with his young and devoted
wife, was confirmed at St. Paul's by the lamented Bishop Potter.
Soon after reaching Beaufort, the regiment was ordered to Florida.
On the 20th of February, the Colonel was killed at the head of his
men in the disastrous ambuscade at Olustee. His body was left
upon the field.
When his regiment started from Camp William Perm, I gave him
a Christian Commission Testament, with these words under his
name —
"Be thou faithful unto death."
He carried the precious volume with him to the fatal field.
The blow was very severe to his wife ; for a time almost too great
to bear, but it wrought a beautiful purification. After many un
availing attempts to recover her husband's body, she returned to the
North. A letter received from her shortly afterwards revealed her
feelings :
" I have been ill both in body and mind ; and could do nothing,
think of nothing, but this great grief that has darkened my whole
life. God alone knows how much I have suffered ; and I fear I have
rebelled against Him, for my heart constantly questions why it must
be so, — why my dear husband, so good, so noble, so brave, must lay
down his life in the bright promise of his youth, with the great work
in which he was so earnestly engaged but just begun. My happiness
was so bound up in him — my life so complete in his love — and now,
what is it ? — a blank, a wreck.
" Yes, often do I think, and my heart softens with the thought, of
that Sunday morning in December, when together we knelt in your
little church, and made an open profession of our faith in Christ.
My dear husband was led there by a deep sense of his duty and love
to God ; I, I fear, from my love and duty to him. I hesitated long,
for I feared my heart was not right, but I knew that he desired so
much that I should unite with him, and I felt it my duty to do so, —
and with him to lead and advise me, to assist and encourage me, I
GALVESTON. 473
hoped to be able to live a Christian life. But now my pillar of
strength is gone, and I am left alone in darkness.
" There are many beautiful things in my husband's past life that
I should love to tell you, but I cannot now ; — only this, that the last
\vords I heard from his lips were those of prayer. He left me in the
night. The Adjutant came for him in great haste, as the ship was
then weighing anchor ; but even then he did not forget to pray for
us before we parted. And thus he ever did in our many meetings
and partings ; prayer was always his first and last thought."
After recovering from the first sadness of her loss, Mrs. Fribley
resolved to devote her strength to care for the race in whose behalf
her husband had been so especially interested. For a time her home
was the Christian Commission headquarters in Memphis, where she
was a teacher under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau. She
was one of the earliest of these, and still continues in the work which
is alike a memorial labor and a joy.
A story of the battle of Galveston, on January 1st,
1863, which is a good example of the bravery and de
termination of our sailors, is preserved by the New
Orleans correspondent of the Boston Traveller :
William Reid, an old sailor and man-of-war's man, who was on
board the Owasco, was one of the heroes of the fight. During the
hottest moments of the battle between his ship and the Rebel batter
ies, this man, who is forty-eight years of age, received
, . ., . ^ /? i j- i • -n A Sailor Hero.
a severe wound while in the act ot loading his rme.
Two fingers of his left hand were shot away, and the Surgeon or
dered him below ; but he refused to go, and tying his handkerchief
around his fingers, remained on deck and did good execution with
his rifle. Thirty minutes later, another shot struck him on the right
shoulder ; the blood came out through his shirt. Master's Mate Ar-
bana then ordered him below to the Surgeon. The brave old fellow
said —
" No, sir ; as long as there's any fighting to be done, I stay on
deck."
When the engagement was over, he had his wounds dressed. He is
still on board the Owasco, and whenever they beat to general quarters,
174 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS,
William Reid stands at his post, ready for orders. He was told one
day by the Captain to go below, as he was on the sick list, and his
place was the hospital. Displeased with the remark, he replied —
" No, Captain, my eyes are good, and I can pull a lockstring as
well as any on 'em."
Rev. Jeremiah Porter and wife were appointed by the
Commission in the Fall of 1805, to labor among the
troops in Texas. Extracts from Mr. Porter's narrative
of that work — the last field-work of the Commission,
which continued into the first months of 1866, may fitly
close the coast record of incidents :
Mrs. Porter, just before we started from Chicago, informed Mr. E.
W. Blatchford, Treasurer of the N. W. Sanitary Commission, of our
destination. "With accustomed liberality he placed at our disposal
four thousand dollars' worth of choicest supplies.
B 77 With these we started on October 20th, accompanied
by Miss Lizzie S. Gary, of Galesburg, 111. A month
later, in attempting to go from Brazos Santiago to Brownsville, our
operating point, a terrific " Norther" so crippled the steamer and
exhausted all our fuel, that, unable to cross the bar, the commander
ran the boat ashore on the beach near Bagdad in Mexico. In the
yawl we went as near terra firma as we could, and were at last carried
safely ashore in the sailors' arms.
On the beach we unexpectedly and joyfully met Mr. William
Kirkby,1 another Christian Commission Agent, who had that morn
ing ridden from Brazos to learn our fortunes in the storm. The
next morning, Sunday, after witnessing the genuflexions of Maximil
ian's soldiers at the mass, I crossed over into Texas and, finding
some colored soldiers assembled for worship, joined them. A later
appointment to preach filled up the day. Mr. Kirkby had happily
prepared the way for us at Brownsville, and we were most cordially
welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Downey, " faithful among the
faithless" during the rebellion, Rev. Hugh McLeod, and Mr. Jas. A.
Martin.1
Of Brooklyn, N. Y.
BROWNSVILLE. 475
Our stores were placed in the hands of Mr. Town for Indianola.
and of Mr. Martin for Brownsville and the Upper Rio Grande. Rev.
Mr. McLeod was laboring with a brigade of white soldiers, three
miles from town. In his Commission tent he preached
The Laborers
every Sabbath, with help from myself and others. and th&ir Work
Mrs. Porter and Miss Gary took up their abode in a
tent pitched for us at Orange Grove Hospital. Here Mrs. Porter
distributed her stores, and Miss Gary taught the colored soldiers in a
tent prepared for a dining-hall and place of worship.
On the night of Nov. 29th we had our first social meeting in the
Commission Rooms in town. Thirty-five attended, and the Holy
Spirit was evidently present. Prof. Shephard, of Yale College, re
turning fjpm a geological expedition to the Mexican mines, with Mr.
Lyon, an American merchant of Monterey, encouraged us by their
presence and remarks. Three Christian army officers spoke, and
prayers were asked for many.
Among the colored soldiers, we found many strange notions and
perverted, physical ways of looking at spiritual realities, which did
not however prevent a precious and beautiful simplicity of trust in
Christ. A soldier named Emanuel Rickets had
Wanting to Go.
entered the army in JNew York, about ten months
before. He told me his history, when I met him first, and spoke
with confidence of his knowledge of Christ as the Saviour ; with this
he could compare no earthly pleasures or hopes. The next time, I
passed his cot, I found him sinking rapidly. Thinking an orange
would comfort him, I gave him one. He was engaged in earnest
prayer as I offered it to him :
" Do take me to Thyself, dear Father ; I want to go."
After prayer he exclaimed —
" I see my Father ; I see Him. Don't you see Him ? Around Him
they are singing and dancing. Why shouldn't they dance? Well,
I'll dance soon."
He tried to thank me for the orange, but could do it only with the
simple words —
" My Father has oranges enough."
" Tell my mother," said he, as I went away, " I die happy ; I
didn't want to stay here ; it ai'n't a good place."
Soon after the first of the new year he went home.
476 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
We were grieved to find in Brownsville no Protestant school of
any kind, and planned one for our soldiers and the Southern chil
dren of the town. Aided by Government officers, a building was se
cured and seated as a school. On the 1st of March,
A Protestant 186g we took egsion of the geminary for our
school in Browns- J
mile. own duelling.
Our school began with six scholars, all from one
family. But in a few days some Mexican children came in, and
prejudice began to give way. One anxious father asked Mrs.
Porter —
" Do you teach any ' religion' here ?"
" Oh, yes," was the answer ; " we teach the children to love one
another, to love and obey their parents, to be kind and gentle, to obey
God, and to love the Lord Jesus ; and we teach the ten command
ments."
" Oh, that's good," said he, considerably relieved.
At the end of four months, the ladies had sixty scholars, more
than half of them from Spanish Catholic families. In April the
Commission closed its work, and all its Delegates and Agents, except
ourselves, left the field. In the middle of June, our work accom
plished, we left Brownsville, the last Commission Delegates.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE HOME SIDE.
BEAUTIFUL and wonderful as were the sacrifice and
Christian experience which the workers of the Com
mission beheld in hospital, in camp, on the march and
on the field, in many a saddened, anxious, loyal home
other sacrifices were made and other experiences per
fected. There were poor men and women whose mites
swelled the millions which the nation gave ; there were
mothers and children who could not be denied the privi
lege of foregoing many luxuries and comforts, that the
boys at the war might be helped and cheered. The
purpose of this chapter is to preserve a few of the many
incidents of the home side of the war.
Mr. Charles Demond, whose long charge of Com
mission work in New England brought him closely in
contact with those who prayed and gave, furnishes the
following :
At a meeting in a small town in New Hampshire, Prof. E. T.
Quimby, of Dartmouth College, who had been a Delegate in the
Army of the Cumberland, told his experience. When the boxes
were passed, an old man of eighty put in a small,
red cotton handkerchief. The collector, thinking Capt^n, Wes-
tons Handker-
hc had made a mistake, was about to return it, but c^. *
the old man made a sign to have it retained. When
the meeting was over the clergyman of the place said to the speaker —
477
478 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
" Captain Western has given to you the last thing owned by him
which he could give. A few years ago, the only one of his sons who
could aid him came home to take charge of the aged parents, and
they looked to him for support in their declining years. When the
war came the son felt it his duty to enlist. He went with his father's
blessing, and he now fills a soldier's grave in the South. Since his
fall the old man has supported himself and his aged wife by his own
labor. He is utterly penniless. He recently told me that he would
be glad to do something for benevolence, but 'for six months,' said
he, ' I have had but three cents of my own.'"
Rev. E. G. Parsons, of Derry, N. H., had been a Delegate in the
Potomac Army. Under date of July 28th, 1864, he wrote me :
" I told my little story to my congregation last Sunday afternoon,
and took up a collection. A silver dollar was sent
"Moth&r Would
Have Given it" m a"erwards "7 a g°°d lady, who has a son in the
Union Army. With it came this message :
" ' My mother, dying twenty years ago, gave me this dollar, which
I have sacredly cherished ; that mother, if now living, would have
five grandsons in the army. One has fallen upon the battle-field and
another has barely escaped death of malignant disease, and I think
she would have given this dollar for the soldiers.'
" Acting up to her convictions of her mother's washes, she sends
the precious coin to your treasury."
One of the most touchingly suggestive incidents I remember was
that of a widow, who sent me her wedding-ring. She first gave her
only son to die for the country, and then withheld not this dear pledge
of love, made sacred by the death of him who gave
The Widow's .x . . .
,,. it. feuch benevolence gives to patriotism a purer
lustre, and makes even the smoke and carnage of
battle radiant with the reflected brightness of heaven.
Mr. B. F. Jacobs, the Secretary of the Chicago
Branch of the Commission, tells two incidents of scenes
in his collecting tours through the Northwest :
Speaking at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, after the addresses were
1 over, we were raising a contribution and men were announcing their
subscriptions. A soldier in the far gallery rose and said —
WISCONSIN. 479
" Maloney, 85."
Three or four gentlemen who stood near me at
loney gave Jbive
once remarked—
" He can't afford to give a cent. He ought not to
do it. He has a wife and four children and they are very, very poor.
He has hardly been able to support them with his soldier's pay."
At the close of the meeting I asked for him, and he came forward
to the desk :
" Mr. Maloney, they say you ought not to give $5 to this cause."
" They don't know anything about it," said he, very emphatically.
" Well, do you think you ought to?"
"Let me tell you," said he : " Seven years ago, when you were a
clerk in Chicago, I used to buy goods of you. I failed in business,
became dissipated till I was nothing but a miserable, drunken,
wretched sinner, and my wife and children were well-nigh beggars —
and almost worse than that, before I entered the army. In Virginia
there, I was led to the Christian Commission meetings. I gave my
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. After that I saved every dollar of
my pay to send home, whereas before I never sent a cent. All that
I have, and all that my family have for time, and all that I hope
for in eternity, under the blessing of God, I owe to the Commission.
Don't you think I ought to give five dollars ?"
Eai4y in 1864, a Commission meeting was held in Milwaukee.
After the audience had retired, I was told that a lady was waiting to
speak with me. She was standing near the doorway, dressed in deep
mourning. As I went to meet her, she put out her
-i-i "She was a Mo-
hands with great earnestness, and said — t^er to m -^^ „
" I could not go away without thanking you and
telling you how grateful I am."
I replied that she must be mistaken, as I did not remember to have
met her before :
" Oh no ! I'm not mistaken ; it's no difference ; any Delegate of
the Christian Commission would be the same."
" What has the Commission done for you, madam ?"
" My only son died in the hospital at Memphis. I was too poor
to go and see my boy, after the letter came telling me that he was
sick. But a lady Delegate of the Commission visited him daily in
the hospital, ministered to his wants, comforted him in his loneliness,
480 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
and above all led him to Jesus. When he was dead, the same lady
cut off a lock of his hair and sent it to me in a letter, with his dying
words. She was a mother to my boy. And as long as I live, while the
Christian Commission lasts, I want to pray for God's blessing upon
all who love it and work for it."
Mr. Jacobs illustrates both the confidence reposed in
those connected with the Commission and the stuff of
which many a soldier was made :
A man came into my office in Chicago, about the first of May,
1864. He was an Irishman. Said he —
" I want to see Mr. Jacobs, the Secretary of the Christian Com
mission."
Confidence and
I told him I was the man he was lookin for :
" I have come to ask you to do me a favor. I've
been in the service since April, 1861. I was rather wild before that.
After I enlisted I saw how men went straight to ruin, and I made up
my mind I would try and save myself and my money. I have laid
by 8700. Before the war I lived in Chicago, and at the expiration
of my second enlistment I have returned with that amount of money.
I have bought a house and lot on the west side, have paid the 8700
down and given a mortgage for the balance, payable after 09 year.
I have re-enlisted, and am going back to Virginia. I have no rela
tives in this country, except a brother in New York, who is quite
well off. I want to put my property in trust with some one, — and I
want you to take it. Here are the papers which I have drawn up
myself. I have been protected so far, but I may fall in the next
battle ; so I have brought my will here too. "Will you take charge
of the matter for me ?"
I told him I was a perfect stranger to him, and hesitated about
assuming the trust :
" Who recommended me to you ?"
" Nobody," was his answer ; " but I have been in the army, and
have seen the Delegates of the Commission, how faithful they have
been. I am sure they won't steal. That's the reason I have hunted
you up. Won't you take charge of all this till I come back, for if I
ever do, I shall want it all ?"
ILLINOIS. 481
I opened the will and read it. In case of his death, unmarried, he
had arranged that his property should go to the Commission, with a
proviso remunerating me for my services. This latter was changed
on the spot. I asked him why he willed his money to the Com
mission :
" I know of no men to whom I would so soon give my money as
to the soldiers of the army ; and though I have never needed the
services of Commission Chaplains in hospital, yet I have seen what
they have been doing for others, — and have got little books from
them at times ; and I know if I leave my money to them the soldiers
will get every cent of it."
I accepted the trust, and as the soldier went away spoke to him of
the duty he owed to God.
The man lived to return from the war, pay off the mortgage on
his house, take back the deed and will, and is now a member of the
Young Men's Christian Association of Chicago.
Mr. William Reynolds, the President of the Peoria
Committee, out of a large and successful experience
as a volunteer collector, furnishes the two narratives
which follow :
Chaplain McCabe, of Libby Prison renown, came to Peoria.
We determined to canvass Central Illinois, with the purpose of
raising fifty thousand dollars. Our first meeting was held in Gales-
burg, where $1800 were collected. Next followed
Peoria and Bloomington, raising $1500 each. We MvrganComty
Illinois, and Jacob
then went to Jacksonville, and held a meeting at gtrawn
" Strawn's Hall," where $2000 were contributed. I
knew that Mr. Jacob Strawn, the largest farmer in the State of
Illinois, was living two miles from Jacksonville. The next morning
we went out to his house to solicit a contribution. He was absent,
and we understood that he was going to Springfield the following
day. Meeting him on the train, we presented the cause. He said he
knew nothing about the Commission, but that he was going to call on
Governor Yates, and if he said it was all right, he would make a
contribution. He appointed an hour to meet us at the hotel.
We met him at the hour fixed ; he said he had seen the Governor,
31
482 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
who had told him the Commission was " all right ; a good institu
tion." He then wrote a check for $500 and handed it to me,
saying —
" If you raise $10,000 from the farmers of Morgan County, I'll
make it $10,000, instead of $500."
We thought the sum too large, especially as Mr. Strawn refused to
let us count the $2000 just raised in Jacksonville. Our efforts to
have the sum reduced to $5000 were unavailing ; there was no alter
native but to work for the $10,000, trusting in God to open up the
hearts of the people. Mr. M. P. Ayres, a banker of Jacksonville,
encouraged us to accept the proposition, promising the aid of his
extensive acquaintance in the county, in appointing meetings and
securing a full attendance by the people. He arranged for eleven
meetings in various parts of the county, in school-houses, small
churches and groves. We entered on the canvass, and within nine
days held the eleven meetings and raised $11,400. The meetings
occurred in July, the farmers' busiest season ; many of them coming
from their fields to the speaking-places, and immediately after the
addresses returning to their work.
When we came back to Mr. Strawn with the proof of our success
in hand, he at once gave us his check, with the single remark —
" Pretty smart fellows ; didn't think you would do it."
After dinner he took us to the top of his house, to
,„ show us his splendid farms lying along the country
in every direction far as the eye could reach. I
asked him how many acres he owned :
" Forty thousand, — all under cultivation."
" How much is the land worth an acre?"
" Not less than $50, sir."
" Then you are worth $2,000,000 ?"
" Yes. I made it all myself, too. When I started I hadn't fifty
cents."
I turned to him ; a look of pride flushed his face, while his eyes
swept the country in every direction :
" Mr. Strawn, you have asked me to look north and south, east
and west, and view your possessions ; and you say I cannot see the
end. Now may I ask you to look up yonder. How much do you
own up there ?"
WISCONSIN. 483
"Ah," said he, the tears filling up his eyes, " I'm afraid I am poor
up there."
I tried to point him to the treasures and the mansions above.
This was the largest single subscription received by the U. S.
Christian Commission. Mr. Strawn died very suddenly about one
year afterwards.
I went to Sparta, a little town in Monroe County, Wisconsin,
where I was personally an entire stranger. It was shortly after the
Wilderness battles. I set forth to the large crowd of people who had
gathered, the objects and labor of the Commission,
.„. The Soldier's
but felt somehow that they might be unwilling to
credit a stranger's statements of so great a work. I
longed for a familiar face, some one in the audience to whom I could
appeal for endorsement of what I was saying. But the whole com
pany was strange. While speaking I noticed a one-armed soldier
sitting immediately in front of me. I watched his face with great
interest to see what impression my story was making upon him.
When I had concluded and was about calling for subscriptions, this
soldier rose and said —
" I would like to say a word, citizens, before the collection is taken
up. You all know me, who I am, and where I came from. I have
lived here long in your neighborhood. I enlisted in the first regi
ment that went from this district. I fought through the battles of
the Wilderness ; near the close of one day I fell wounded. I dragged
myself into a bush concealed from the enemy, and lay there. Night
came on. I think I must have died before morning, if no help had
come. It grew very late, and there was no appearance of assistance.
At last I heard a sound ; there might be help in the distance. I
tried to call out, but my voice was too weak ; it went but a short way.
A light came near me. I summoned all my energies and raised
my voice to its highest pitch. Directly I saw a lantern approaching.
Soon a man's voice asked what was the matter? I told him I was
dreadfully wounded. He set his lantern down and started off to get
assistance. Soon I heard the roll of wheels and there was an ambu
lance for me. He put me in it. From that time till I was well
enough to come home on furlough — nay, till I reached Chicago — I
never was outside of the care of Delegates of the Christian Commis
sion. Citizens, I owe my life to them."
484 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
The enthusiasm aroused by this testimony was unbounded, and
found practical expression in an excellent collection. From that
time we were reminded monthly of the soldier's testimony by the
contributions which regularly found their way to us from that little
town.
The story of Mrs. Ellet of Philadelphia, recalls the
memory of some of the deeds of the mothers of the
Revolution :
Mr. Stuart, the Chairman of the Commission, with Rev. Dr.
Robert Patterson, of Chicago, called upon her early in 1863. She
brought out two valuable and beautiful shawls, the proceeds of which
she wished to have distributed among the widows
yr j and orphans of soldiers fallen in battle.
The dead body of her grandson had just arrived,
and Dr. Patterson expressed the hope that God would sustain her
under the bereavement. She stated that she had given her two sons
— Commodore Ellet, of the Ram Fleet, and Brigadier-General Ellet,
of the Marine Brigade — and four grand-children; and then added —
" I do not regret the gift to my country. If I had twenty sons, I
would give them all, for the country must be preserved. And if I was
twenty years younger, I would go myself and fight to the last."
Few men in the country could so well appreciate the
motherly sacrifice which was being made all over the
land as President Lincoln. His letter to a pious
widow living in Boston, deserves a place in history with
his speech at Gettysburg and his second inaugural
address :
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, Nov. 2lst, 1864.
DEAR MADAM : I have been shown in the files of the War De
partment, a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that
you are the mother of five sons who have died glori-
The Costly . „ , , ,, , -
0 .„ ouslv on the field of battle.
Sacrifice. J
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words
of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a
loss so overwhelming ; but I cannot refrain from tendering to you
BOSTON UTICA. 485
the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Eepublic
they died to save.
I pray that Our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of
your bereavement, and leave only the cherished memory of the
loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid
so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. LINCOLN.
To Mrs. BIXBY, Boston, Mass.
To receive such a letter, written by him who was within a few
months to realize the sacrifice which he here writes of, seems almost
a compensation for the loss.
The following soldier's letter needs no introduction.
Its reading moistened every eye at the meeting which
organized the Central New York Branch of the Com
mission in Utica. The father who penned it received
his mortal wound the next day:
FORT BAKER, Oct. 2()th, 1864.
DEAR LOTTIE : I found a small white envelope among the others
that you put into my box before I came away from home, and I knew
that Lottie put it there, because she wanted me to
,TT -. , . , Father to Lot-
wnte to her. Well, it always does us good to please
those that love us, and I am glad to think that my
little girl would be pleased to have me write to her. It is a pleasant
task for me, and the thought of good, loving children at home, who
think of me every day, who for my sake are trying to be good to
their mother and make her happy, is a source of comfort and encour
agement and of consolation that I cannot describe with my pen nor
tell with my tongue. How far this thought goes, or how much it
contributes to reconcile me to the separation that for their sakes I
have voluntarily endured, you can never realize. I know that you
do not realize that I am here because I love you, and that you do
not appreciate the necessity of my being here. But by and bye, when
you grow up, you will understand things better, and when you read
in history of this war and of its causes and objects, you will be glad
that your father left home when you were a little girl, and went
486 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
forth to contend for the right. You will love me all the more then,
and so will all the rest of my children. This is the thought that
encourages and consoles me ; and then, beside this, the conscious
ness of none other than good and pure motives, and above all, the
consolation from day to day that religion affords me, all contribute
to make me happy, even while the constant longing, lingering
anxiety about my home and family keeps them every moment in my
thoughts.
Try and be good, Lottie, if you love me and want to do what you
can to make me happy. Be good to your mother and grandmother,
and brothers and sisters. Try and be good to the Lord, and then you
will be happy yourself, and everybody will love you ; and if I should
never see you again on earth, we shall meet in heaven.
I pray for you many times every day, and I want you to pray for
yourself and me. Try to learn in your books ; go to school and
Sunday-school always when you can. Save this letter till you get old.
Tell Harry I will write to him before long, and Freddy that I mean
to send him some pretty stones I have picked up for him. Kiss all
the family for me, from grandma to the baby, and love them all.
God bless you ! FATHER.
Occasionally throughout these chapters, the story of
a " comfort-bag" or " housewife" has been inserted.
These were mainly the gifts of little children, and often
contained letters to soldiers, which in turn called out
replies from the camps and hospitals. Thus sprung up
many a pleasant and profitable correspondence. Rev.
E. P. Smith, while a Delegate early in 1863, near Belle
Plain, wrote back to his Sabbath-school at Pepperell,
Mass., concerning these bags :
It seems that the Sabbath-school children in Albany united to send
" comfort-bags" to the soldiers, and on a given Sabbath each scholar
brought a bag to her class. The superintendents collected them,
and on Monday, when they came to count them,
in the ' Arm\ they f°und five thousand ready to go. They came
in boxes to the Christian Commission at Washing-
ISTEW YOKK. 487
ton, and have been given out one by one to the soldiers in this
army. If you could see their faces when I hand out a bag and
say —
" Boys, do you want any needles, pins, thread and buttons ? Some
little Sabbath-school girl made that for you, and sent it to me to give
to you."
" To give to us? Bully for you ! A new kind of sutler, boys!" —
" See here, Jim, if a fellow goes ragged after this, he's a bummer."
(That's a soldier's name for loafer.) — "Sabbath-school girls, eh?
those are great little girls; they don't forget the boys gone a-soldier-
ing." — " I used to go to Sunday-school." — "That's \vhere I belong."
— " I have got a little girl in Sunday-school ; wonder if she did not
have a hand in one of these bags."
So they talk till I am out of sight. Some of them pull out the
tract, and some find a letter in the bag and read it aloud. The
news that Vicksburg was taken would not wake up a more lively,
pleasant feeling among the men than a quantity of these bags freely
given.
I read some of the letters. Here is one, as nearly as I can
remember it:
" DEAR SOLDIER : It must be hard for you to keep your clothes
nice, so far away that your mother cannot come to mend them ; so I
send you this bag of needles and thread, and you can mend for your
self. I would send you a thimble, but mother says you could not
use it. Now I hope you will keep your clothes very nice, so that
when the ragged Rebels see you they will be ashamed of themselves.
" We talk about you, and pray about you in the Sunday-school
concert, and every night I pray, ' God bless the soldier !' Good-bye,
soldier !
" From your young friend,
" HATTIE."
I'll warrant the soldier will put that letter in his Testament, and
if he lives to go home, it will go with him.
Some children in Lewistown, Penna., in February,
1864, sent a box of seventy-three housewives to the
army. Each enclosed a note, with the little writer's
488 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
name and address. By and bye the answers came back,
and one who read them all writes of them :
One of the letters spoke of verses contained in his little housewife;
the soldier said he had never before felt the great importance of the
words. Another -spoke of the housewife's use, and said he should
always carry it with him, and, if he fell, it should fall
with him. Another said that on his return home, he
Uomjort - bag
would go out of his way quite a distance to see and
thank his " little friend Hallie." Another wrote
that he was in name a Christian, but " someway he did not get along
as he would like," but he promised renewed efforts in " walking the
narrow way." Another had made a profession five years ago, had
sadly gone astray, but now renewed afresh his "covenant with God;"
he prayed for strength to endure unto the end. Another was one of
six who, the Sabbath previous, had been baptized. He was from
Maine, and had been from home four years. He could apply the
beautiful verses contained in his gift ; they had touched a tender
chord in his heart.
Another brave fellow's acknowledgment runs thus:
" I have received your kind gift, for which I return my most grate
ful thanks. I have been in the army two vears, — have been in all
the battles my regiment was engaged in, and have escaped unhurt.
I thank the Almighty. Our good Chaplain preaches for us every
evening. When I first joined the army I was wicked — would laugh
at good men — but I had no parents ; — father and mother died when
I was young. I was taken by an uncle, who was a wicked man, and
let me run at large. I went to sea — and after that enlisted. It is
the first time I have written a letter since I have been in tJte army, and
it makes me feel so happy to have a chance to write to a friend."
The charm of the letters was given them by the child
authors ; their simple, hearty, confiding words brought
to the soldier a vision of bright, earnest eyes following
little hands guiding unsteady pens across the paper;
and with that vision came all the remembered sweetness
of home. Mr. J. N. Stearns, the Editor of Merry's
NEW ENGLAND. • 489
Museum, a Delegate at City Point in July, 1864, trans
cribes two of these children's epistles :
"BOSTON, MASS.
"I am but a very little girl, six years old, but I thought I would
like to make a comfort-bag for you as well as the big ones.
" I go to the Shawmut Infant School. I know lots of verses in God's
Holy Book. I have got a mother, but I have not a
dear father living. I hope he is living in heaven
with Jesus Christ.
" TENY."
" NEW IPSWICH, N. EL
" MY DEAR SOLDIER : I wonder whether you are a well or a
wounded soldier. I hope you are not sick. I am a little boy nine
years old. I hope you love Jesus Christ. I hope you will love Him,
if you do not. I shall pray for you. I hope you will write me a
letter if you have time. From
" JOHN W. CUMMINGS."
The following, written by a very little girl whose
brother had fallen upon the field, is from the Sunday -
School Times of Jan. 7th, 1865 :
" DEAR SOLDIER : It is Sunday afternoon, and I thought it would
be so nice to print you a little letter to put in the bags I finished yes
terday. Mamma gives brother Charlie and me twenty-five cents a
week each for giving up sugar, so we have earned a good deal of
money already to give to the soldiers, so we both bought some of
the things to put in the six bags. I hope you will take as much
comfort as I did in making them for you. I hope this cruel war will
soon be over, and let you come home to your children and friends.
Won't we all be happy then ! I pray God every day to bless you
and bring you home. I hope you love Jesus. If you do not live to
get home, I hope you will go home to Him, where I hope to meet
you. Good-bye.
" From your little friend,
" MINNIE OLIVE C."
Rev. Luther Keene, a Delegate during October and
490 • CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
November, 1863, gives the following account of the re
ception of an interesting letter from a soldier by two
little children of his parish :
As I was going away to the army, Charlie Huntingdon and Katie
Walker gave me a little money for the soldiers. I bought a Bible
with it, and intended to hand it to some soldier. But sickness so
hastened my return, that I left it with Rev. Mr. Bow-
„.,. ' ler, the Agent at Washington. The address of the
two children was written in it, and this request :
" Will the soldier who receives this book, when he is converted,
write a letter to these children, telling them about it?"
In about six months after my return, they received the following
reply :
"To Katie Walker and Charlie Huntingdon,
North BrooJcfield, Mass :
*****" Rev. Mr. Bowler gave me the Bible you sent to the
soldier. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge its receipt. I
have a great many things to tell you, but you know a poor soldier
does not have a great many advantages. If I had you here with
me, wouldn't we have a nice time then ? I would take you to see
the ' front,' and the big guns, and the soldiers on dress parade, and
I would tell you how they fight when they are in line of battle. I
would tell you about the fourteen regular engagements I have been
in, and how I was wounded five times, and how the bad Rebels took
me prisoner, and how they kept me for three months and gave me
very little to eat, — and how God brought me safe back again. And
then, I wrould tell you how I used to drink a great deal, and what a
bad man I once was ; and now, how I don't drink at all, and how I
love to read the little Bible you sent me. I would then share my
rations with you, and give you a part of my bed, and we would say
a little prayer together, and I would kiss you, and God would watch
you and me, until we awoke again to enjoy His love, His sunlight,
His flowers amid their vernal bloom and fragrance, — and then we
would praise Him again.
" I love little children, because I see God in their ways. Let your
little hands be busy at all times, and your tender hearts bend to the
MASSACHUSETTS - ILLINOIS. 491
service of God. Never waste one moment ; life is very short. There
is a fire-fly in Southern climes, which shines beautifully when it is on
the wing, but the very moment it rests it looks black and ugly. So
it is with us ; we are beautiful while we are working in the vineyard
of God, and black and ugly while we turn towards worldly things.
"Now my little friends, you will continue to be good, will you not?
And you will say a little prayer for me now and then, — asking the
good God to forgive me what I have done wrong, and to make me
good in the future.
" I sincerely thank you, and if you would like to hear from me
again, it will be pleasant to write to you ; and, if you have your little
pictures, send them to me. And now, ' may God bless you and keep
your hearts full of the Holy Spirit/ is the prayer of,
" Yours very affectionately,
" E. H. UNiAc.1
" Camp Distribution, Va.,
" Care of U. S. C. C."
Chaplain Thomas tells how a little Chicago girl made
herself useful to sick soldiers in the Western Army :
Jennie D - wanted to do something for the sick soldiers. She
remembered how they were deprived of the delicacies and comforts
of life, and her heart yearned for their relief. Not discouraged, as
too many are, because she could not do everything, she
resolved to "do what she could." But what could gu
she do except save her lumps of sugar ? When she
had more than a pound, in the Spring of 1863, she sent it to the
Army of the Cumberland by our Brigade Quartermaster. He
handed me a package one day labelled thus :
" Lump-sugar saved by Jennie D- - , a little girl six years old, to
give to some sick soldier."
" Do you know any sick soldier, Chaplain," said the Quartermaster,
" who needs that ?"
" Yes, sir, a good many of them," I replied.
At a prayer meeting in my tent, I held up the package and told
Mr. Uniac, since the war, has been a successful Temperance Lecturer.
492 CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
the men present what the little girls at home thought of the soldiers.
They were not accustomed to tears, but if I am not mistaken, there
was an unusual glistening in the eyes that looked on the package.
I carried it afterwards to the four Regimental Hospitals in our
Brigade, and gave a lump to every sick man, telling him who sent it.
How happy the poor boys were at the child's practical remem
brance ! They made all sorts of grateful and curious remarks.
One more incident of the children's interest in the
soldiers, told by Rev. Eobert J. Parvin :
I had been addressing a meeting in Rochester, N. Y., towards the
close of 1864. A little girl was greatly interested in my story and
wrote to me after my return to Philadelphia, enclosing a small con
tribution :
What the Sol
diers Deserve, KOCHESTEB, December 23d, 1864.
DEAR MR. PARVIN : What you said about the
Soldiers has made me think of them very often, every day and when
I kneel down at night. It makes me very happy to send some of
my Christmas money to buy some little comfort for a Soldier.
(Mamma says I should use a little " s" for Soldiers, bid I think they
deserve capital letters.^)
I mean to do all that a little girl can to help you.
Your affectionate friend,
JENNIE LEE.
These illustrative sketches of purposes, sayings and
deeds begotten of the war will find an appropriate
closing page in the words of Rev. Herrick Johnson, a
Delegate about the Wilderness time.
They are the closing part of his address at the last
Anniversary of the Commission in the Capitol at
Washington :
" It was once my privilege to stand upon the summit
of Mount Righi in Switzerland, and from its queenly
top witness an autumnal sunset. Far away to the west,
NASHVILLE. 493
the monarch of day wrapped the drapery of his couch
about him, and lay down as if he were a god confessed.
He flung his splendors on that unequalled landscape with
royal munificence. He kissed the waters that lay em
bosomed among the hills, till they all blushed. The bald
peaks to the right and the left of us bared their storm-
beaten brows and bathed in the sunlight. And higher
up and farther away, the snow-capped monarchs of the
Alps tossed back the sun's last rays from their icy sides
in cold and proud disdain. But, more beautiful than all,
the gem of that most wondrous picture was the bridge
of golden sheen that stretched over hills and valleys and
lakes and dells from the far distant horizon to our very
feet. It seemed as if heaven's gates had been left open
and glory had stolen through. It was cast up by the
hand of God, a way of gold, on which angels might
have trodden.
"So I have stood beside the dying soldier, when it has
seemed as if a bridge of golden sheen were let down
from heaven, a highway for the ransomed of the Lord.
And that way, cast up of God, has glowed with the steps
of the angels, come to bear the soldier who had made
his last charge and fought his last battle — home. And
up that shining path, with angel convoy, the spirit has
gone, — away from the clang of arms and the din of
strife and the groans of the wounded, — away, away, to
the very gates of pearl, to the Peace like a river and the
Rest of God.
" Oh, there are the undying tokens and proof of the
success of the Commission. The Nation may point to
its States won back from treason ! the Army may point
to its battle-flags wrung from the foe by vigor and valor
CHRISTIAN COMMISSION INCIDENTS.
and victory! Generals may point to their starred
shoulders as proofs of undaunted heroism! Sanitary
Agencies may roll up their peerless record of sublime
beneficence ! But there, up there, are the souls that are
marching on — marching on! there are the trophies
immortal that have been snatched from death ! there are
the unfading stars that have been set in Christ's diadem
through the agency of this Christian Commission."
INDEX.
N. B.— The names of Delegates are printed in SMALL CAPITALS; the titles of Incidents within
quotation marks.
" ABE LINCOLN," 459.
" Abraham Lincoln's heart," 89.
Acquia Creek, 130-132, 154, 155.
Adams, Joseph, 458-460.
" Adverse influences," to the Gospel, 389.
Advocate and Journal, New York, 16.
Alabama regiments, 45.
Albany, N.Y., comfort-bags sent by Sunday-school
children of, 486, 487.
Alexandria, 357 ; 388.
'• Alice Loyal," 188, 189.
" All right," 380.
'•Almost up," 233, 234.
ALONG THE COAST, chap, xviii.
"Amen," the soldier's, 106.
" American Bayard, an," 285.
American Bible Society, 457.
American Presbyterian, Philadelphia, 176.
Anderson, James, 326-331.
Andersonville, 399-404, 407-409.
Andrews' Latin Grammar, 234.
•'Angel unawares, an," 276.
Annals of U. S. Christian Commission, referred to,
15 ; 229, 230, 237 ; 270, 272, 276, 286, 289 ; 427,
429.
Annapolis (and Parole Camp), 54-57; 403, 404-413.
•' Answers to comfort-bag notes," 488.
Antietam, 41-18; 150.
" Arch of prayer, the," 436, 437.
Armstrong, Chaplain C. S., 93.
Army Committees, preliminary work by, 58.
" Army prayer meeting, an," 140-142.
Army Soldiers' Associations —
1st Michigan Engineers, 97-99.
llth Pennsylvania R. V. C., 204, 205.
9th New Jersey, 332.
" Artillery Reserve Bible-class," 197.
Ash, Harrison, 182-184.
Ashamed of Christ, 109.
" Asleep," 115, 116.
" At home with Jesus," 354.
ATKINSON, REV. THOMAS, 93, 102-104: 224, 237-
241 ; 273.
Atlanta, the campaign against, 282-295.
" At the front," 308-311.
il At the front in the prayer meeting," 281.
Ayres, M. P., 482.
" BACKSLIDER, THE," 87.
Backsliding, equivalent to desertion, 82; turned
to confession, 87 : a wife's entreaty against,
109, 110 : its cause, 132 : a child's prattle ter
minates it, 404.
BAILEY, REV. N. M., 303, 304 ; 336, 337.
BAKER, ISAAC, 259.
Baker, Lieut., 271.
BALLANTYNE, WILLLIAM, 252.
Baltimore, 47.
Baltimore Committee, 47.
Baptism, by Chaplain Chidlaw, 82 : in Stone River,
99: in Chickamauga Creek, 278.
" Barefoot Delegate, a," 36.
BARROWS, REV. JOHN 0., 144, 145.
BARROWS, REV. WILLIAM, 140-142.
BARTLETT, REV. LYMAN, 347.
" Battery silenced for a Sunday service, a," 426.
Battle-field, its voices, 73 : a bird on the, 184.
Battle-hymn of the Rejmblic — Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe's, sung in Libby prison, 396, 397.
Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, 31 2; Saints' Rest,
384.
BEACH, LEWIS, 263.
Beattie, Brig-Gen., 220.
BEATTY, REV. ARCHIBALD, 41, 42.
" Beginning to pack up," 260.
Belle Plain, 129, 130.
Belmont, 60, 61.
Bermuda Hundred, 297, 298, 315 ; 358.
Bernard, Jules, 386.
" Best crutches," 51.
" Best kind of breastwork," 96, 97.
" Best way to thank you," 37.
" Better than gold," 380.
Bible, Cromwell's Bible offered to President Lin
coln and a hospital cook, 53, 54 : open at the
23d Psalm, after death. 85 : learning the way
of life from it, 135—137; longed for on ac
count of coming battles, 139: paying for
reading it, 197: "A Bible-loving General,"
220; a German wants the whole, 221; a faith
ful German Bible reader, 237, 238: it saves
life, 263 : " The Bible and mother too," 295 :
a dead Rebel's Bible used by a Union officer,
347 ; " Little Clara's," and its influence, 348,
349 : reading it in a tent, 353 ; its price above
495
496
INDEX.
rubies, 353; carried into battle, 362, 363: "I
will read the Bible," 386; the result of a
candid reading, 387 : manufacturing a Refer
ence Bible, 420; "Uncle readin' for hisself,"
451; "The children's memorial," 456, 457:
" A letter for a Bible," 490, 491. See SCRIP
TURES, TESTAMENT.
Bible-class, in First Michigan Engineers, 97, 98 :
at Artillery Reserve Station, No. 2, 197 : in
5th corps, 352 : " A Bible-class scholar's work,"
469.
BlCKERDYKE, MRS., 440.
BIGELOW, GEORGE W., 337, 343, 344.
Billings, Captain, 171, 172.
" Bill of fare," how one brought a smile, 306.
Birney Station, 357.
Bishop, Captain, 292.
BISSELL, Miss KATHARINE M., 455, 456, 458-460.
Bixby, Mrs., 484, 485.
Black Valley Jiuilroud Guide, 210.
BLAKE, REV. D. UOYT, 325, 326.
Blutchford, E. W., 474.
" Blessed Book, the," 150.
Blood of Jesus, the, 379.
Bloomington, 111., 4S1.
BOLTON, C. E., 304, 305 ; 362, 363.
Boston, Sergeant W. II., 324.
Boston Traveler, 473.
BOURNS, DR. J. FRANCIS, 175, 176.
BOWLER, REV. S. L., 344 ; 490.
Bowman, Colonel, 153.
" Boys, I give in," 384.
Bragg, Frankie, 65-G7.
Brandy Station, 193, 197, 198.
Bread, soft, 51.
BRIDGMAN, S. E., 115, 116; 259, 262, 263.
"Brighter and brighter," 83.
" Bright side where Jesus is, the," 119, 120.
BRINGHUUST, REV. GEORGE, 24-27; 56, 57; 162;
258, 259.
Bristow Station, 202-205.
British and Foreign Bible Society its Scripture
portions, 443.
" Broken rest," 300.
Brouson, Capt. Isaac R., 151.
Brooks, George, 465, 466.
Brothers, dying together, 31 : a child brother's
prayers recalled, 100: the living and the
dead, 180, 181 : the living and the dying,
193-195: "The brother's book," 272. 273;
Capt. Bishop's letter to his brother, 292:
'• The brothers Bible," 362 ; " A brother's rest
with his dead," 426, 427.
" Brought to Christ by a storm," 341, 342.
Brown, Chaplain, 39, 40.
BROWN, REV. R., 112; 449, 450, 460, 461.
BROWN, REV. SEWALL, 384, 385.
Brown, Tom. 334, 335.
Brownsville, Texas, 474-476.
Bruce, Michael, 329-331.
BUCHANAN, REV. W. HOWELL, 354, 355.
BULLARD, REV. ASA, 346.
Bull Run ; the first battle, 14, seq. : the second,
35, SKq.
" Burial just before the charge, the," 429, 430.
" Buried in his blanket," 285.
Burke, Captain, 289.
BURNELL, K. A., 74-76; 107, 110, 111; 229; 443.
" Burns, Old John," 165.
CAIRO, 60, 61 ; 452-455.
CALHOUN, JOHNSTON, 196.
Camp Convalescent (Distribution) 146-148 ; 207-
211, 212-214; 372-376.
Camp Douglas, 67-70.
Camp Remount, 384, 385.
Camp Stoneman, 211, 212.
Camp William Penn, 473.
" Can't keep track of Sunday," 379.
" Can't stand without the ' little ones,' " 350.
"Can't you trust Jesus?" 226.
"Captain Billings in his place," 171, 172.
" Captain's epitaph, the," 85.
"Captain Weston's handkerchief," 478, 479.
Card-playing, in Camp Douglas, 69, 70: put an
end to, 94 ; interrupted, 110-112 : on Sun
day, 379.
" Cards and Testaments," 138.
Care, our safety in God's, 96, 97.
Carleton, see C. C. COFFIN.
CARNACHAN, REV. J. GORDON, 300, 301.
" Carrying the war into Africa," 110, 111.
CARTER, WALTER S., 298-300.
Cavalry Depot, Army of Potomac, 337-344.
Cave City, Ky., 437.
Cedar Mountain, 35, 36.
Central New York Branch, 485.
CHAMBERLAIN, A. E., 78-80, 86, 87 ; 414, 415, 422,
423, 436, 437 ; 441-443, 450, 451.
CHAMHKRLAIN, JOHN C., 161, 162.
Chancellorsville, 149, seq.
" Changed life, the," 100, 101.
Chapels, supplied to Army of Potomac during the
Winter of 1863-64, 196 ; built and furnished
by soldiers, 197 : chapel building at Cavalry
Dep6t, 339, 340 ; in Army of Potomac, Win
ter of 1864-65, 344-347, 353-357 ; " A chapel's
influence," 354; "The gate of heaven," 354,
355; "Coming to chapel alone," 371 : in the
Shenandoah Valley, 384.
Chapin, Charley B., 400-404.
Chaplains, work cordially with Delegates, 93 ; 277 :
449: heroism of Chaplain Eastman, 164:
petitioning for one, 205, 206: coming for
Testaments, 352: " Chaplains" in Anderson-
villo, 408.
" Charity," 373.
Charleston, 469, 470.
INDEX.
497
CHARPIOT, REV. L. E., 299.
CHASE, GEORGE S., 302.
Chattanooga, 224-231, 237, 238 ; 269-272, 276 ; 399.
Cheat Mountain, 16.
" Cheerfulness," 304, 305.
Cheltenham, Pa., 472.
Chicago, 480-482.
Chicago Army Committee, 58, 60, 62, 67-70, 71,
84; 123; 478.
Chickamauga, 73 ; 221, 224, seq.
CHIDLAW, REV. B. W., 77, 81, 82 ; 222, 223 ; 436 ; 442.
Children, " Little Lizzie's letter," 91-93 ; waiting
until Pa comes home, 110 : " The Humis-
ton children,'' 175, 176: "German children
preaching in America," 203 : " Beginning to
pack up," 260 : " Who'll be my Pa ?" 325 ; a
child's message leads to her father's conver
sion, 345 ; " Can't stand without the ' little
ones,' " 350 : " Will he talk to God as he used
to ?" 404 : " The children's orange," 434 : " The
children's memorial," 456, 457: "Washed
white in the blood of the Lamb," 468 : a
father's letter to Hattie, 485, 486 : " Comfort-
hags" from Sunday-school children in Al
bany, 486, 487 : letters from Teny, John W.
Cummings, and Minnie Olive C., 489 ; E. II.
Uniac's letter to Katie Walker and Charlie
Huntingdon, 490, 491 ; Jennie D.'s lump-
sugar, 491, 492; Jennie Lee's capital " S"
for soldiers, 492.
" Child's prayer, the," 211, 212.
" Child soldier's faith, the," 227.
" Choosing a prayer meeting," 382.
CHRIST, His presence gives happiness amidst pains,
39, 40, 45 ; 83 ; 259 : " The source of courage,"
48 ; not ashamed of, 55, 56 : no cloud between
Him and the soul, 60, 61; without Christ,
62, 63; a verse leads to Him, 64; lifted up to
draw men unto Him, 71, 72; He receives a
backslider, 87 : deciding to follow Him, 94,
118; Christ saves— not our works, 102, 103;
His love best in the battle, 107 ; a counter
sign, 107; ashamed of Him, 109; "The De
liverer," 127, 128; "I haven't got to Him
yet," 137 ; found, 148 ; the sweetness of His
Name, 150; near in the battle, 154, 155:
preached in spite of infirmities, 164; "Christ's
drink and mine," 170 ; precious, 187 : the
Good Shepherd and Friend, 193-195; His
goodness, 198 ; hiding behind Him, 212, 213 ;
enlisting for Him, 213 : the covenant to hold
to Him, 219 ; " Not here," 219 ; trusting Him
now, 226 ; the pardoning blood, 228 ; received
and rejected, 239-241: "Near by," 248, 257;
321: the precious Name, 257, 258; found
through a brother's death, 226 : " Christ
wanted, not the prayer meeting," 270 ; com
rades in Christ, 271 ; how His work might be
done on the battle-field, 283; faith in Him
32
in battle, 284 ; giving directions how to find
Him, 288 ; " Christ, all I want," 288, 289 ; com
plete iu Him, 293: clinging to His cross, 318,
319 : " Reporting" to Christ, and under or
ders, 333-335 ; brought to Him by a storm
341,342; "Trying" to find Him, 348, 349;
Christ, the comfort in death, 349: "At home
with Jesus," 354; forgotten and recalled,
375,376; "The precious Christ," 379 ; found
to be more than human, 387, 388; remem
bered when home is forgotten, 405, 406 : " He
died to save sinners, therefore He died for
me," 418 ; Christ slays enmity, 422 ; " The
invincible love," 428, 429 ; " The substitute,'*
447; giving up all for Him, 448, 449; "The
healer of pains," 454, 455; "I cannot give
You up," 457, 458; "Rejected for the last
time," 462, 463 : the faithful presence, 466 ;
" The kingdom that will come," 470.
Christian, choosing not to be a, 87 : vs. forty-
pounders and sickness, 96, 97 ; manliness and
constancy, 120-122 : how long it takes to be
come one, 129, 130 ; how a soldier learned to
be a Christian before enlisting, 135-138 ; " The
whistling Christian," 137 ; becoming one on
account of the prayers at home, 139 ; influ
ence of a Christian's courage, 145, 146 ; kind
ness leads to become a Christian, 155, 156 :
" The Christian victory," 171-174 ; becoming
a Christian and a patriot together, 185-189 ;
a soldier's address on beginning the new life,
200; power of a Captain's Christian life, 202;
Christian living in the army, 209 : telling the
truth about wanting to be a Christian, 230,
231 : the soldier's admiration for the Chris
tian life, 247 ; a Christian General's death,
247, 248; easy to be one, 262: refusing to
use a furlough until becoming a Christian,
272 ; Christians as soldiers, 281 : Christian
patriotism, 316: power of a Christian life,
323 ; the Christian's " orders," 334, 335 ; the
word " Christian" on a sign, 343, 344 ; how to
become a Christian, 346 : a Christian colored
soldier's opinions, 364-367 : earnest desire to
become one, 379, 380 ; dying a Christian, but
not a Christian worker, 394 : " A Christian
hero," 420, 421 ; wanting to be a Christian,
434, 435; "Tell father to become a Chris
tian," 435, 436: comparative mortality of
Christians and others, 452 ; letting the light
shine, 453 ; " The Sergeant's determination,"
455, 456.
Christian Banner, 370.
Christianity, patronized not realized, 132, 133:
living, 384: vs. skepticism, 406.
" Chronic, the," 96.
Church, " In the woods," 98, 99 ; " Unity of the
church," 168, 169.
Cincinnati, 78-80,86, 87; 414, 415, 422, 423 ; 441, 442.
498
INDEX.
City Point, 297, 298, 300, 301, 305 306, 317 ; 324-
326, 331, 332, 333-335, 345, 346, 349 ; 351, 353,
358-360, 361, 363, 371.
CLAPP, HERBERT C., 361.
CLARK, REV. J. M., 404, 405. 408-410, 412, 413.
CLARK, REV. P. K., 348, 349.
" Cleveland— Jesus," 279, 280.
Cleveland, Tenn., 279-281.
" Coals of fire on the head." 158.
COAST WORK, chapter xviii.
Coffee, a cup for Gen. A. J. Smith, 430.
Coffin, C. C., 61, 65-67 ; 248-251 ; 308-311, 317-319 ;
379, 380.
COIT, REV. MR., 191, 192.
" Cold shoe, the," 51.
COLE, JOHN A., 138 ; 253.
Colored troops, Army of Potomac, work for, 357,
358; their characteristics, 358, seq. ; "Ques
tioning General Grant," 358-360 ; '• Why the
war came," 360; their eagerness to learn,
360-362; attachment to the Bible, 362, 363;
faith, 363, 364 ; "A colored sergeant's opin
ions," 364-367 ; patriotism, 364-368 ; " Enlist
ing to suffer," 369, 370 ; love for the brethren,
373: "Devotion," 425; "Uncle readin' for
hisself," 451: "Dying that others might
live," 466, 467; "The kingdom that will
come," 470; "Wanting to go," 475: regi
ments, 450, 477 : 31st U. S. C. T., 362 ; 473.
" Come, Thou fount of every blessing," 251.
Come to Jesus, 79 ; 155 ; 473.
Comfort, from a son's death in Christ, 166, 167 :
"In the dark valley," 349: for a soldier,
492.
Comfort-bags, 154, 178 ; 219, 220 ; 486-489.
"Coming to chapel, alone," 371.
" Coming to Jesus," 79.
" Coming to the waters," 216.
Commandments, keeping the, 135, 136.
Communion, better than going alone, 98: Chris
tian communion, 145 : longing for it, 200; at
Vermont Station, 201 ; in the llth P. R. V. C.,
204, 205 : at Ringgold, 278 : with Christ, 321.
" Compensation," 256 ; 393.
" Complete in Christ Jesus," 293.
"Concerning hard cases," 446.
"Confederate prisoners and wounded, treatment
of, 43-45: 157,158; 232; 3-84: feeling toward
Rebel sympathizers, 46, 47 : altered feeling
after Gettysburg, 176, seq. ; difference be
tween officers and privates, 182: touched
with kindness at Resaca, 283: after Fort
Harrison, 300.
" Confessing with the mouth," 331.
" Confession, the," 209.
Confidence of soldiers in Delegates, 343: " Confi
dence and thrift," 480, 481.
"Conflict and a victory, a," 127, 128.
Conyregationalist, Boston, 116 ; 283 ; 308 ; 379.
Connecticut regiments. 155 ; 1st Cavalry, 139 ;
14th Infantry, 151.
" Conquerors through Him," 205.
"Consecration in battle," 471.
Contributions to the Commission, by a sailor,
454, 455 : by Capt. Weston, 477, 478 ; by a
wife, and a widow, 478 ; by " Mr. Maloney,"
479 ; an Irishman's will, 480, 481 ; largest
single contribution (Jacob Strawn's), 482,
483 ; by Mrs. Ellet, 484.
Conundrum, a, 349, 350.
Conversion, a hymn-book loads to, 59; "Little
Piety's" testimony conquers a Captain's op
position, 59, 60 ; one verse, 64 : " Little Liz
zie's letter," 91-93; conversion changes a
life, 100, 101: personal decision, 129, 130: a
contraband's account of conversion, 183, 184 :
in a prayer meeting, 198-200 ; cases at Camp
Convalescent, 207,208; as a little child, 211,
212, 213: how it transforms life, 262, 263: a
comrade's death leads to conversion, 276: fol
lowed by Christian work, 331, 332; "Old
things become new," 332, 333 ; a conversion
and consecration, 346, 347 : a chapel's influ
ence, 354; a Christian's life leads to it, 354:
a sutler converted, 400 ; at Andersonville,
407 ; a sailor's account of conversion, 411 :
the meaning of the word, 458, 459.
"Converted sutler, the," 400.
Conviction, a Sergeant's, 69 ; 199, 200 : not excite
ment, 230, 231 : through reading Baxter's
Call, 372, 373 ; " Curious, angry, convicted,"
392, 393.
" Convinced," 230, 231.
COOLIDGE, REV. AMOS H., 195, 196.
Cord, Thomas A., 399.
COREY, REV. CHARLES II., 31 ; 36, 37.
"Costly sacrifice, the," 484, 485.
"Countersign, the," 107.
" Country above, the," 214.
Courage, Christ its source, 48 : Frankie Bragg's,
65 ; in death, 76, 77 ; 416 : of an armless sol
dier, 86 : springing from Christ's love. 107 ;
power of moral courage, 111; on a forlorn
hope, 117; "Get the ship by, boys," 124:
finding courage to enlist, 134-137 ; a Chris
tian's courage, 145, 146 ; " Four inches longer
than yours, Johnny," 304, 305 ; " Not much
in the Rebel's debt," 314, 315 ; a Corporal
promoted to die, 316 : courage in duty con
quers opposition, 331 ; prayer gives courage,
336, 337 : " A sailor hero," 473, 474.
Cowan Station, Tenn., 220.
CRAWFORD, T. 0., 125-128.
Crittenden, General, and Sabbath-keeping, 84.
Cromwell's Bible, 53, 54.
Crozier, Chaplain, 86.
"Crutch battalion, a," 404, 405.
Crutches, odd, 419.
INDEX.
499
" Crying out after God," 373, 374.
" Crying out of pain for a Saviour, 454, 455.
Culpepper, 200, 201 ; 244.
Ciinimings' House Station, 346, 347.
Cummings, John W., his comfort- bag letter, 489.
Cumrnings, Lieut., 124.
" Cup of coffee for General Smith, a," 430.
" Curious, angry, convicted," S92, 393.
GUSHING, REV. CHRISTOPHER, 50-53.
GUSHING, REV. S. A., 220.
Cutler, Henry, 433, 434.
CUTLER, REV. CHARLES, 324, 325.
DAILY FOOD, 454.
DISCOMB, REV. A. B., 100, 101.
Dvvis, REV. J. B., 196.
Daylight, gunboat, 469.
Days and nights on the battle-field, 65.
" Dead," 210.
Death, cloudless, 60,61 ; bringing nearer to God,
62 : not ready for it, 62, 63 ; 133, 134 ; 462, 463 :
love makes it easy, 66, 67 ; " God have mercy,"
67 ; " With face upwards," 71 ; the soldier's
reverence for a Christian death, 75, 76; a
coming to Jesus, 79, 80; happiness in death,
83 ; its brightness, 83 ; its peace, 85 : readi
ness for it, 93, 94; 125, 126; 289: death and
sleep, 115, 116; bringing home, 118: "Swal
lowed up in victory," 151: peaceful death
answers prayer, 169, 170 : with only two
mourners, 192 : hopeless, 219 ; a " transfer,"
not a " discharge," 223, 224 ; Christ dearest
in death, 240, 241 : " A short cut to glory,"
247 ; it comes only when work is done, 252,
253 : " Dead, but marching on," 255 : the
comrades' death together, 271 ; the Angel by
the bed, 276 ; " Discharged to-night," 280 : a
text for preaching death and eternity, 313,
314 ; a Christian Indian's death, 317 ; Ed
ward M. Schneider, 318, 319: removes above,
324 ; like the life, 324, 325 ; its gloom and
hope, 329-331 ; prepared and not prepared,
345, 346 ; Christ precious in death, 349 : death
of REV. J. P. FISHKR, 376; near tlie prayer
meeting, 392: death in life at Annapolis
wharf, 412, 413 : Christ's love prepares for it,
416 ; " A brother's rest with his dead," 426,
427 ; a sleeping soldier's death and burial,
429, 430: Henry Cutler, 433, 434: getting
ready to live vs. getting ready to die, 446 ;
between the heavenly arid earthly homes,
457, 458.
" Decide now," 458-460.
" Decision, the," 94 ; 129, 130 ; 200 ; 279, 295 ; 437 :
456, 459.
Delegates, arrival of the first at Old Point Com
fort, 18-20 ; called " Chaplains," 21 ; their
pay, 24 ; 225 : REV. GEORGE BRINGHURST, the
first, 24; doing nurse's work, 29, 30; divi
sion of labor at White House Landing, 32,
33: "Barefoot," 36; outfit, 36; exposed to
fire ; 41, 42 ; save life, 42, 43 ; 160, 161 ; 246 :
washing shirts, 45, 46 ; acting for crutches,
51 : first Delegates to the West from the
Central Office, 58, 84, 85 : assisted by officers,
106: open-heartedness of the men toward
them, 144; how soldiers were touched by
their kindness, 154-156 ; anticipating the
wounded, 157 : value of their slightest, ser
vices, 161, 162 ; their most precious reward,
166; their hardest task, 171, 172; one be
comes a stretcher, 173 : means of communi
cating news otherwise never known, 217 ;
relief work at Chattanooga, 224-226 ; estab
lish a hospital on Mission Ridge, 232 ; confi
dence reposed in them, 232 ; building a fire
on Mission Ridge, 235, 236 ; night work on
the Ridge, 236 : getting straw at Fredericks-
burg, 249 ; an evening prayer meeting, 250,
251 ; a Surgeon-Delegate's work, 251, 252 ; a
son's death heard of, 259, 260 ; hardships on
a march, 264, 265 : an Agent's troubles on a
Sunday in Kingston, 286, 287 : writing let
ters for soldiers, 298 ; " Broken rest," 300 ;
gets a hundred dollars for mother, 301 ; long
march in the ranks, 302, 303; "Carleton"
acts as a Delegate, 309-311 : in place of a
father, 335, 336 : a Delegate's last hours, 376 ;
experience-meeting in Washington, 379, 380 ;
a busy afternoon at Provisional Camp, 388,
389 : " Finding home," 422 ; a Delegate's in
terview with General A. J. Smith, 430: "A
Delegate's shirts for bandages," 437, 438:
work of last Commission Delegates in Texas,
474_476 ; an Irishman's confidence in them,
480, 481 ; " I owe my life to them," 483.
" Deliverance," 413.
DEMOND, CHARLES, 29, 30 ; 45, 46; 73, 74 ; 161, 162,
177 ; 477, 478.
" Depth of the revival, the," 277.
Derry, N. H., 478.
" Descriptive lists," 21, 22.
" Deserter mustered in, a," 82.
" Deserting from Satan's army," 108.
Detectives, General Baker's corps and a Delegate,
266-268.
Detroit Advertiser and Tribune, 180 ; 314.
" Devils and Angels," 177.
Devotion to the flag, 76, 77 ; to officers, 425.
" Dew-drops for rations," 65.
Diary, extracts from one kept in Amlersonvillo,
401,402.
" Died for me," 242.
Diligence, Satan's past service a reason for the
future service of God, 100, 101.
" Disappointment," 325, 326.
"Discharge, the," 108.
Discipline, 310.
500
INDEX.
" Distributing reading," 312.
"Divinity doctor washing shirts, a," 45, 46.
" Doctor, your name," 28.
" Doctrine of perfection, the," 208.
Doherty, Jesse, 239.
" Doing nurses' work," 29, 30.
Doubleday, William 0., 169.
Doubt, its influence, 132: conquered by "the
Bible and mother, too," 295.
" Doubting, I stopped praying," 132.
Downey, Mr. and Mrs. Edward, 474.
Doxology. in Libby, 396.
Draft, escaping the, 447.
Drake, C. F., 370.
" Drill," 31.
'• Drilling for Jesus," 381, 382.
Drinking visages in the army, 121.
" Drummer-boy's prayer," 13, 14.
DUFFIELD, KEY. GEORGE, Jr., 179-184; 314, 315.
Dupont, Admiral, 469.
Durgan, Rev. John M., 149.
DURYEA, REV. JOSEPH T., 164.
DUTCHER, JOHN A., 425.
DUTTON, ALBERT, I., 95.
Dwight, Rev. Dr., 467.
"Dying beneath the stars and stripes," 123.
" Dying close to the prayer meeting," 392.
" Dying Indian chief, the," 317.
"Dying pillow, the," 47.
"Dying that others might live," 466, 467.
" Dying that the land might be righteous," 322.
" Dying with face upwards," 71.
" Dying without the sight," 233, 234.
" EAGER FOR GOD'S WORD," 143, 144,
EARLE, J. H., 385, 386.
EASTERN ARMIES, chapters i., ii., v., vi., vii., ix.,
xi., xii.. xiii.. xiv. Short summaries of army
movements, 14, 16, 17, 18, 27, 29, 34; 35, 36,
40,41,48,49; 125,148,149; 156,159,160; 190,
192, 193; 243, 244, 248, 263, 264; 296, 297;
370, 371 ; 376, 377, 382, 383, 388.
Eastman, Chaplain, 164.
EATON, REV. W. II., 149, 150, 153, 154.
" Eclipse disaster, the," 454, 455.
Edgerton, Colonel A. J., 452.
Edwards, General, 370.
Elegy, by Michael Bruce, 329, 331.
Elizabeth, Ky., 23.
Ellet, Mrs., 484.
Enemies, relieving their thirst, 37, sacrifice on
their behalf, 42, 43.
Enfans Perdus, 25, 33.
" Enlisted to suffer," 369, 370.
"Enlisting for Christ," 213.
Enlistment, preparing for, 134-137.
ENSIGN, REV. F. G., 118 ; 443-445.
" Entering into life maimed," 337.
" Entire company for Jesus, an," 202.
Essex, gunboat, 61.
EVA, REV. WILLIAM T., 172, 173.
'Evening meetings at Vicksburg," 449, 450.
' Evening scenes in Fredericksburg," 250, 251.
"Even so must He be lifted up," 71, 72.
•' Everybody feels so," 380.
Examiner, New York, 193.
Experience, related by proxy, 131.
Express business, done by the Commission in
Army of the Potomac, 306, 307.
" Extemporized flying hospital, an," 431, 432.
FAITH, in Christ lifted up to draw men unto Him,
71, 72; the prayer of faith, 79, 80 : amid dif
ficulties, 95, 96; articles of faith in an army
Christian Association, 98 ; in the Atonement,
102, 103 ; it conquers the Adversary, 110-112 ;
preached to others, returning to comfort one's
self, 119, 120 ; a colored woman's faith, 119,
120: in battle, 154,155: its justification, 163 :
saves from death, 227 : faith in recovery, 252,
253 : in Grant and in Christ, 284 : it prepares
for sacrifice, 322 ; how Tom Brown was taught
it, 334, 335 ; faith, not " trying," 348, 349 :
" Giving up when the Lord does," 363, 364 :
in Providence, 366 : faith in Christian plans
and work, 422, 423 : " Washed white in the
blood of the Lamb," 468 ; a colored soldier's
faith, 470.
Fairfax C. IT., 142, 143, 144, 156-158.
Fairfax Station, 36, 37 ; 143, 144, 156.
" Falling in for the front," 356.
Palmer, Sergeant, 122, 123.
Falmouth, 144, 145, 155, 156.
" Farewell on the battle-field," 167, 168.
" Father's last look, a," 175, 176.
" Father, meet me in heaven," 294.
" Father's rest, the," 257, 258.
" Father to Lottie," 485, 486.
FERRIS, EDWIN, 360, 361.
Fever and ague, exorcising, 222, 223.
" Finding home," 422.
" First prayer, the," 281.
" First-rate," 377, 378.
FISHER, MRS. J. P., 375, 376.
FISHER, REV. J. P., 374-376.
FISK, GENERAL CLINTON B., 88-90 ; 105, 106, 113,
114; 439.
Flag, how one was made in Libby, 397.
Flowers, their use by a lady Delegate, 455, 456.
Foote, Commodore A. II., a Christian, 61 ; his
" Order, No. 6," 62.
Ford, Mrs. E. I., 415, 416.
Ford, Surgeon, 433, 434.
Forgiveness, fits for heaven, 130, 131 ; "Of sins,"
136, 137 : for a backslider, 193-195 : through
a Testament's teachings, 218 : for sufferings
at Andersonville, 409, 410 : not expected,
but wanted, 417.
IXDEX.
501
"Forgotten Saviour recalled, the," 375, 376.
Fort Albany, 17.
Fcrt Baker, 485, 486.
Fort Donelson, 62-64.
Fort Harrison, 298-300.
Fort Henry. 61, 77.
Fortitude, 51; 115, 116; 137, 138, 149; 163, 164,
170,174; 225; 256; 377,378.
Fort Leavenworth, 460, 461, 464.
Fortress Monroe, 18-20, 25.
Fort Stevens, 377, 378.
Fort Wagner, 470, 471.
" Forward— Double-quick-March," 393, 394.
" Fourth in Libby^the," 397.
Fox, Chaplain Norman, 193.
Frederick, Md., 190.
Fredericksburg, 49, seq.; 248-263.
Free, Isaac, 208-210.
Freedom, its value, 366, 367.
" Freeman indeed, a," 182-184.
Freeman, Thomas and William, 362.
French, Captain, J. S., 454.
Fribley, Colonel, 473, 474.
" Fruit after many days," 74, 75.
FULLER, REV. A., 368-370.
Fuller, Sergeant, 455, 456.
Fulton Street prayer meeting, New York, inci
dents related in, 13, 14 ; 49.
GAINES' MILLS, 31.
Galesburg, 111., 481.
Gulveston, Texas, 473, 474.
GANSE, REV. HERVEY D., 128.
Garnett, Harlem T., 263.
GARY, Miss LIZZIE S., 474, 475.
"Gate of heaven, the," 354, 355.
" General Fisk's Tactics," 113-115.
General Grant's railroad. 350.
George, Mrs., 291.
" George's Furlough," 326.
'• German Bible reader, a," 237, 238.
" German children preaching in America," 203.
" German's joy, a," 203.
Gerrigan, John, 332.
'•Get the ship by, boys," 124.
" Getting ahead of the wounded," 157.
" Getting ready to live," 446, 447.
•'Getting straw for the wounded," 249.
"Getting to the front," in the trenches, 311,
312.
GETTYSBURG, 137 ; chapter vi.
GILBERT, REV. W. H., 353.
Gillespie, John, 393, 394.
" Give me a prayer," 410.
''Given life, a," 174.
" Giving up when the Lord does," 363, 364.
"Gladdened home, a," 262, 263.
GLADWIN, REV. W. J., 464.
" God bless you," the Delegates' pay, 24 ; 275 ; 384.
! " God bliss the likes of yees," 305.
"God, country, mother," 74.
" God have mercy," 14 ; 67.
God's Way of Peace, Bonar, 459.
" God's word a defence," 263.
"Going down to get up," 17.
" Going into battle," 345, 346.
"Going through it again," 255.
" Going to the front," 439.
"Going up among the stars," 256.
" Good-bye, old arm," 86.
" Good cause to be wounded in, a," 284.
"Goodness of Jesus, the," 198.
GOODWIN, REV. E. P., 23; 76-78; 388-394.
Gospel, vs. hospital comforts, 51 ; quells a disturb
ance, 56, 57 : rejected, 62, 63 ; gospel-rations,
65 ; making it plain, 67-69 : not returning
void, 101, 111, 112; preached in face of dis
couragements, 110-112 : " The gospel of bread
and coffee," 158; makes freemen, 182-184:
in season and out of season, 193-195 : reject
ing and receiving it, 239-241: preached be
fore Grant's advance, 244, 245: its battle
with Satan at Cavalry Depot, 337-344 ; fled
from at home, met in the army, 342, 343:
"Better than gold," 380; for body and soul,
384 : " In Andersonville," 408, 409 : the op
portunity for preaching it past, 461, 462.
Grace, a triumph of, 100, 101 : God's grace and
" Old Brindle," 134-138 : its victory, 172, 173;
known and declared, 183, 184: its power in
converting a sutler, 400.
" Grand review, the," 388.
GRANT, JAMES, 37, 42-44.
Grant, Lieut. Gen., and the contraband, 358-360.
Grassie, Rev. Thomas, 160.
Graves, nameless, 77, 78.
" Greater includes the less, the," 53, 54.
Greedy, George, 32.
Greene, Dr., 28.
Griffeth, Captain, 167.
Griffith, A. L., 416-418.
"Guiding into the kingdom," 192.
Gwyn, General, 355.
" HAD TO BE DONE RIGHT OFF," 88, 89.
HALL, Rev. GEORGE A., 356, 357.
" Halt and armless," 224.
Ham, Amos L., 345.
" Hand at the window, the," 230, 231.
Hanover C. H., 37.
Hans, David, 115, 116.
" Happiest man yon ever saw, the," 40.
" Happy as a prince," 45.
" Happy day, 172, 173.
" Happy in Jesus," 83.
" Hard cases, concerning," 446.
HARJ>FNG, REV. J. W., 358.
" Hard on sinners," 213.
502
INDEX.
Hardships, after Fort Doiielson, 63 : in the South
ern prisons, chapter xv., passim.
"Hard wading through mother's prayers," 283,
284.
Harker, Brig. Gen., 287.
HARRIS, CHARLES, 411, 412 ; 431, 434, 435.
HARRIS, MRS. E. N., 15. 10, 30; 42; 179-184.
Harvey, Governor, of Wisconsin, 74, 75.
Haskett, Captain B. F., 85.
Hastings, Clara, 348, 349.
Hatcher's Run, 304, 305 ; 345 ; 351, 352.
Hattie's letter, in a comfort-bag, 4S7.
HAWES, REV. EDWARD, 210, 212-214.
Hays, John, 102, 103.
'• Head devil," vs. " Head angel," 52.
11 Healing the sick," 386.
Heath, Lieut. Col., William S., 30.
Heaven, Bernard's hymn, 26; a country of
growth and toil, 31: looking towards, 42;
214; 226: no home in heaven, 62,63; point
ing towards, 71; from the battle-field, 73:
praying to meet a child in heaven, 130, 131 ;
the glory beyond, 151 : a home and a Father
there. 174 : heaven and perfection, 208, 209 :
rest, 258: the true home, 240, 241; 414, 415:
longed for, 271, 272: about forgetting in
heaven, 394: "Going to the front," 439:
'•The heavenly and the earthly homes," 457,
458: "Are there any black children in hea
ven ?" 468 : " Wanting to go," 475.
"•Heaven down my throat," 146, 147.
" Heavenly treasures, the," 482, 483.
Hefele, Jonas, 304.
11 He giveth His beloved sleep," 304.
" He is not here," 219.
Helena. Ark., 88, 89, 105, 106, 108-110.
Hell, in one's own heart, 209.
" Helpless and hungry," 254.
HENRIES, CHAPLAIN II. C., 54-56.
Henry Station chapel, 345.
HERBERT, REV. C. 1)., 367, 368.
" Here and now," 277.
"Heroes, Chancellorsville," 149.
" Heroic mother, a," 484.
HEYDRICK, E. M., 253, 254, 261, 262, 263.
"Hidden prayer meeting, the," 112, 113.
" Hidden with Christ in God," 258, 259.
"Hiding behind Christ," 212, 213.
High bounties, a discussion concerning, 364, 365.
Hilton Head, S. C., 469, 470.
" Hitting and hurting," 97.
" Holding on to Christ," 219.
HOT.MES, REV. JOHN M., 284.
HOLY SPIRIT, striving with a soldier, 55, 56; 205,
206; 417,418: His victory over Satan, 340-
344: "Working as It wills," 389-391.
Home, "Mother and Annie," 15: "Sergeant's
last halt," 37-39: a mother's counsels re
hearsed, 59, 60; "Love makes death easy,"
66, 67; home recalled by the prayer meet
ings, 100, 101 ; recalled for the benefit of gam
blers, 111, 112: home prayers, 139 ; turning
back towards home, 153, 154; 1G6, 167; a
Rebel's letter about the loss of home, 178;
an East Tennessoean's dreams of home, 185-
189 : " Prayer at seven," 202 ; " Reflex work,"
204 : home in Pleasant Valley and in heaven,
240: a soldier's letter leads to conversions at
home, 262, 263; recalled, by a rebuke to pro
fanity, 267, 268 : the soldiers' thoughts ever
turning homewards, 294, 295 : a Scotchman's
reminiscences of his youth, 328, seq. : power
of evil early training, 373, 374 : " I have gone
home," 414, 415 ; the yearning to go home,
416 : " The heavenly and the earthly homes,"
457, 458.
HOME SIDE, the, chapter xix.
" Honor that dishonors," 324, 325.
Hood, General J. B., a negro's speculations con
cerning, 424, 425.
Hopkins, Surgeon, 115, 116.
Hospital, at Mission Ridge, 235, 236 : a field hos
pital after Fort Harrison, 299 ; at the front
before Petersburg, 308-311: extemporized
flying hospitals at the battle of Nashville,
427, 431, 432.
" Hospital relieved, a," 161, 162.
HOUGH, REV. J. W., 372, 373; 400-404.
Housewife, used at a grave, 285 : stories of house
wives and comfort-bags, 486-489.
HOVEY, REV. HORACE, C., 257, 258, 264, 265.
" How a great work began," 203.
Howard, General 0. 0., 167, 168 ; 279, 287, 288.
" How a sailor came to Christ," 411.
Howe, Mrs. Julia Ward, her Battle Hymn of the
Republic, 396, 397.
" How potatoes were sent to Texas," 440.
" How Sheridan's men were fed," 383.
" How the prisoners came into Annapolis," 412,
413.
" How to become a Christian, " 346.
" How to come home safe," 345.
" How to fight best," 107.
" How we got crout for Nashville," 423.
"How we heard of Gettysburg in Libby," 395-
397.
Humiston, Amos, 175, 176.
"Humiston children, the," 175, 176.
"Hundred dollars for mother, a," 301.
" Hungry for primers," 361, 362.
Huntingdon, Charlie. 490, 491.
Hymns, their influence, 25: snug on Antietam
battle-field, 42; how they quieted Govern
ment workmen, 52, and quelled a riot, 56.
57: "Leading to Christ," 59; "Nearer to
Thee," 62; on Shiloh battle-field, 73: mak
ing melody in the heart, 121 ; in an army
prayer meeting, 140-142 ; sung by wounded
INDEX.
503
men, 150 ; sung in the last hour, 151 ; 258 :
soldiers' hymns on occasion of the forma
tion of a "Christian Union," 204, 205 : "The
lost hymn line," 228: "The last earthly
hymn," 438, 439.
'• I AM DEAD," 412.
' I am praying for you," 144, 145.
' I am to be shot for defending my country." 123.
'• I cannot read, sir," 226.
' I can pray that," 262.
1 o;norance, the Gospel for," 67-69.
'• I have gone home," 414, 415.
'• I haven't done anything," 443.
'• I joined because so young and strong," 65.
'• I like your name," 332.
Illinois Regiments. 230, 242 ; 407 ; 420 ; 433 : llth,
76: 18th, 122: 33d, 58; 116: 83d, 82, 83:
104th, 392: 113th, 456: 176th, 446: 17th
Cavalry, 460, 461.
'•In chnrch in spite of himself," 342, 343.
Indiana Regiments, 111, 112; 222; 290; 427:
37th, 86; 289: 75th, 219: 89th, 444: 7th
Cavalry, 444.
Indian's reserve broken, an," 453.
lufidel, testimony to Christian morality, 70 : a
skeptical father wants his son to follow his
Christian mother, 406.
"Influence of the army meetings," 201, 202.
" Influence of a Loan-Library book," 386.
" In season and out of season," 244, 245.
Inspiration, 387.
" Instrumental music," 69.
" In the battle to the last," 30 ; 76, 77.
" In the Christian's home in glory," 258.
" Into the light," 81.
« Invincible love, the," 428, 429.
" Involuntary interview with General Sherman,
an," 286, 287.
Iowa Regiments, 60, 61 ; 108, 112.
Irishmen, " The difficult Irishman conquered,"
20-24 : an Irishman's sacrifice for an enemy,
42, 43 : their good wishes, 177, 178 : an Irish
man's blessing, 305.
" Ironsides," 355.
" It brought me to Jesus," 441-443.
"It reads of Jesus," 217.
" Its price above rubies," 353.
li It would break my heart," 108, 109.
" I want a discharge," 108.
"I will," 118.
"I will try to go," 54-56.
JACKSONVILLE, ILL., 481.
JACOBS, B. F., 58-60, 62-64; 425, 426, 427, 428,
429-433; 478-481.
James' Anxious Inquirer Directed, 128.
"Jesus can make a dying bed," 106, 114.
" Jesus, I my cross have taken," 278.
'Jesus is here," 321.
' Jesus, lover of my soul," 194, 195 ; 257.
JEWELL, REV. FRANK F., 325.
' John Jones again," 453, 454.
' John Shearer's letter," 105, 106.
JOHNSON, REV. A. P., 467, 468.
JOHNSON, REV. HERRICK, 255-257. •
Jones, John, 453, 454.
Tones, Joseph, 153.
Journal, Boston, 61 ; 248 ; 317.
Joy, Christian, 203.
Judgment, convicted by the thought of God's,
148.
" Just as I am," 103.
KANSAS REGIMENTS, 1st, 112.
Kearsarge, gunboat, 470.
KEENE, REV. LUTHER, 191, 192; 489^191.
" Keep it for them," 173, 174.
Kellogg, Captain Henry M., 116, 117.
KELTON, REV. W. H., 386-388.
Kenesaw Mountain, 294.
Kennebunk, Me., Soldiers' Aid Society, 304.
Kennedy, Surgeon, 431.
Kentucky Regiments, 277, 281, 284 ; 4th, 227-
KIMBALL, REV. JAMES P., 249.
Kindness, a little, 154-156; 161, 162: conquers
enmity, 177, 178 : conquers evil passions, 385.
" Kingdom that will come, the," 470.
Kingston, Ga., 286-291.
KIRKBT, WILLIAM, 474.
Knapsack Books, one leads to Christ, 79.
KNOWLES, REV. J. H., 316.
Knoxville, 420, 421.
" Knuckling to the Lord," 184.
LADY DELEGATES, 445-449, 455, 456, 458-460, 461,
462 ; 474-476, 479, 480.
Laird, David, 166, 167.
Lamb, Aaron, 255, 256.
LANDIS, REV. JOHN L., 270-272.
" Last earthly hymn, the," 438, 439.
" Last letter," 16 ; 294.
" Last of an offered life, the," 376.
" Last prayer," 101.
" Last Sunday at Culpepper," 244.
Last words of soldiers, 74, 85 ; 101 ; 241 ; 280 ;
393,394; 414, 415, 434.
LATHROP, REV. HENRY D., 241.
" Latitudinarian, a," 279.
Law. its sanctions and divine authority, 387.
LAWRENCE, ARTHUR, 276, 285.
LAWRENCE, WILLIAM A., 269.
"Lead Thou me on," 211.
" Learning to pray," 136.
" Leaven of prayer, the," 345.
Lebanon, Ky., 82.
Lebanon, Ohio, and faith, 423.
" Lesson on plain English, a," 239.
504
INDEX.
Let mo call yon father,'' 335, 336.
•' Let not your heart be troubled," 75, 76.
Letters, a child's letter leads to Christ, 91-93;
John Shearer's, 105, 106; Captain Kellogg's
last letter home, 117 : the preciousness of
home letters, 192: writing for the wounded,
225, 226 : an unwritten letter, 275 ; the dying
letter to father, 294, 295 : Delegates writing
for soldiers, 298 ; distributing writing mate
rials in the trenches, 313 : a letter rewritten,
374 : paper and envelopes distributed after
the Nashville battles, 434; a postscript about
prayer, 436, 437 ; " Mother's here," 438 : " The
two letters home," 444 ; an Indian's letter,
453: "Father to Lottie," 485, 486; "Comfort-
bag letters," 487-4S9 ; soldiers' letters in an
swer to " comfort-bag" notes, 488 ; " A letter
for a Bible," 490, 491.
" Letting the spite go," 422.
Lewistown, Pa., 487, 488.
Libby prison, 394-399.
" Library at the front, a," 156, 157.
Life, owed to God, 46 : saved by timely relief,
146, 147 : " Becomes real," 460 ; wasted, 462,
463.
" Life saved, a," 42, 43.
•• Light burning, the," 453.
Lincoln, Abraham, receives a Commission sol
diers' book, 54 : his kindness of heart, 89,
90: his address to members of the Commis
sion about "thanks," 246: his letter to Mrs.
Bixby, 484, 485.
Liquor, noble refusal to "drink," 121, 122: its
temptation overcome, 127, 128 : its evil con
sequences, 210; 385.
" Little child in the kingdom, the," 210, 211.
" Little Clara's Bible," 348, 349.
" Little Lizzie's letter," 91-93.
"Little Piety," 59, 60.
Little Rock, 457-460.
LIVERMORE, REV. S. T., 302.
"Living it into them," 323.
" Living waters," 64.
Lochleven, by Michael Bruce, 329.
" Lock of hair, the," 175.
Loneliness, a remedy for, 219, 220.
"Longed-for country, the," 271, 272.
" Longing for the meetings," 200.
" Long march in the ranks, a," 302, 303.
Loomis, Lieutenant, 347.
" Lord rising up to judge, the," 148.
" Lord's prayer, the," 216, 217.
" Lord's supper under marching orders," 356, 357.
" Lost hymn line, the," 228.
" Lost son found, the," 407, 408.
Louisville, 221 ; 440.
Love, " Makes death easy," 66, 67 : Christ's love,
the source of courage, 107 ; for those at
home, 117 ; the meaning of love to Christ,
118: love to the brethren, the test of life,
207 ; 373 : in the last hour, 211, 212 : the sol
dier's yearning for paternal love, 335, 336:
"The love that could not be told," 375; the
forgotten love recalled, 375, 376: "The in
vincible love," 428, 429.
LOVE, REV. WILLIAM DE Loss, 405-408.
LOWRIE, REV. JOHN M., D. D., 301-303.
" Loyal East Tennesseean, the," 185-189.
LOYD, REV. J. F., 269.
Lucille, by Monod, 386.
Lump sugar, Jennie D.'s, 491, 492.
LYFORD, REV. CHARLES P., 244-246.
MAINE REGIMENTS, 30 ; 255 ; 337 : 378, 394 : llth,
254 : 20th, 171.
" Major General preaching Christ, a," 288.
"Making him smile," 306.
" Making him sweat," 361.
MANHELL, REV. WILLIAM A., 345, 346, 349.
" Man immortal till his work is done," 252, 253.
" Marching on," 255.
"March to Gettysburg, the." 137. 138.
MARDEN, REV. GEORGE N., 154, 155 ; 351, 360, 361,
362, 363, 364.
MARLAY, REV. JOHN F., 422, 423.
Marsh, John B., 123.
MARTIN, JAMES A., 474, 475.
Martinsburg, 383, 384.
" Martyr patriot, a," 433, 434.
Maryland Heights, 384, 385.
Maryland Regiments, 1st, 346, 347.
Massaclmsetts Regiments, 22; 133-138, 150; 174,
175 ; 311 ; 380 : 1st, 152 : 10th, 193 : 12th, 48 :
22d, 259: 32d, 390: 37th, 370: 45th, 465:
46th, 466 : 57th, 317 : Colonel Shaw's, col
ored, 470.
MATTHEWS, A. D., 190, 191.
Matthias, Corporal, 345, 346.
McArthur, General, 112; 430, 431.
McAULEY, REV. A. G., 85.
McBEi-n, Miss SUE, 445-449, 461. 462.
McCABE, CHAPLAIN, C. C., 86 ; 395-899 ; 481.
McGurk, Andrew, 76, 77.
MclLVAiNE, RT. REV. BISHOP, 259.
McKenna, David, 317.
McKim's Hospital, Baltimore, 47.
McKinloy, Sylvester, 47.
MCLEAN, REV. J. K., 337-344.
McLEOD, REV. H., 291-293: 435, 436; 474.
Meade Station, 354, 355.
"Meeting of the maimed and halt, a," 153, 154.
Mementoes, a soldier sends a hymn-book to his
wife, 59 ; 194 ; 218 : " The three photographs,"
290, 291 .
" Memorial Testament, the," 400-404.
Memphis, 106, 107, 118; 443-445, 456, 457, 464;
479.
Mercy of God, 82 ; 101 ; 274, 275 ; 327 ; 409, 410.
INDEX.
505
" Messages for home," 168 ; 194 ; 290, 291 ; 414,
415 ; 435, 436.
METCALF, E. W., 302.
Methodist, Baptist, or Presbyterian ? 279.
Michigan Regiments, 130; 166; 211: 285; 336,
337 ; 414, 435 ; 462 : 1st, 317 : 5th, 315 : 8th,
322 ; 20th, 263 : 4th Cavalry, 92, 93 : 5th Cav
alry, 144 : 1st Eng., 97-99.
Military terms, used by soldiers to express their
spiritual condition, 82; 107, 108; 213; 223;
280 ; 333-335 ; 381 : to indicate God's Word,
113, 114.
Milk, a hospital wonder. 223.
Mill Creek Hospital, 26.
Miller, Enoch K., 160, 161.
MILLER, GEORGE W., 252, 253.
MILLER, J. R., 297, 298 ; 383.
MILLER, RKV. VICTOR, 421, 422.
Milliken's Bend, 108, 111-113.
MILNE, CALEB J., 92.
Milwaukee, 479, 480.
Mineral Point, Wisconsin, 478.
MINGINS, RET. GEORGE J., 18-24; 45,46; 146-148.
' Ministry of a kind word, the," 385.
Minnesota Regiments, 431.
Minnie Olive C., her comfort-bag letter, 489.
•' Minute Men," 49.
•' Missionary. in the ranks, a," 392.
Mission Ridge, 231-237.
Mississippi (Confederate) Regiments, 347.
Missouri Regiments, 439 : 33d, 88.
Mitch, Johnny, 227.
Mitchell, John B., 125, 126.
" Money from the Lord," 422, 423.
MONFORT, REV. P. P., 246 ; 317.
" Monthly concert in camp," 204, 205.
MOODY, D. L., 60, 63, 71, 72; 100.
Moody, Colonel Granville, 84.
MOORE, RKV. J. II., 305, 306 ; 371.
MOREY, IlAVILAH, 206, 207.
•' Morgan county, 111., and Jacob Strawn,"' 481-
483.
Morganzia, La., 452.
Morin, Lieutenant Anthony, 42, 43.
MORLET, J. II., 205, 206 ; 331.
MORRIS, LEWIS, 302.
MORSS, REV. GEORGE H., 155, 156.
Mother, " Mother and Annie," 15 ; mother giv
ing up a son, 15, 16 ; last letter to a son, 16,
17 ; absent, yet present, in death, 22, 23 ;
" 'Seems as if mother had been here," 22 ;
thanking God for such a mother, 27, 28 ;
praying that she might be comforted, 31 :
her last counsels rehearsed, 59, 60; "God.
Country, Mother," 74 : anxiety changed into
gladness, 122 : " Take care of the rest," 128 ;
" Mother's letter," 139 : a mother's tender
ness, 166 ; a message to her, 167, 168 ; a lock
of hair for her, 175 : a mother's courage,
190,191: writing to mother " gently," 256 ;
"A mother's trust and a son's," 265, 266:
" Mother's first question answered," 272 ; " I
have killed my mother," 274: "Hard wad
ing through mother's prayers," 283, 284;
" The Bible and mother too," 295 : a hun
dred-dollar note for mother, 301 : faith, 319-
321 : " My mother's religion," 351 ; " Mother
taught me to read it," 353 : " Mother's here,"
438 : " She won't pray for me any more,"
445 : " Mother would have given it," 478 ;
" She was a mother to my boy," 479, 480 ;
" A heroic mother," 484.
Mound City, 75, 76.
Murfreesboro', 93, 95-99 ; 215-217, 241 ; 422.
" Mustered for pay," 403.
" My body is not me," 117.
" My country, 'tis of thee, 433.
" My mother's religion," 351.
" NAMELESS GRAVES," 77, 78.
Nashville, 76, 77, 86; 91-93, 100-104; 217, 218,
223, 224, 239-241, 242 ; 272-275, 280, 293-295 ;
415, 416, 419-421, 433-435, 436, 437, 439.
Siege and battle of, 423^134.
National Orphan Homestead, 176.
" Nearer to Thee," 62.
" Near me all that dreadful day," 154, 155.
Nelson, Rev. Dr., 88.
"Nettie," 186-189.
Newberne, N. C., 465.
New Hampshire, Commission meetings in, 477,
478.
New Hampshire Regiments, 7th, 471 : 12th, 149 ;
18th, 345.
New Ironsides, Admiral Dupont's flagship, 469.
New Jersey Regiments, 325, 343 : 9th, 332.
New Market Roads, 303, 304 ; 332, 333, 336, 337.
" New stretcher, a," 173.
New York Branch, 128; 464; chapter xviii.,
passim.
New York Regiments, 37, 43, 44 ; 334 ; 373, 385 :
5th, 38: 14th, 247: 77th, 193: 78th, 154:
94th, 304: 108th, 160: lllth, 325: 118th,
319: 146th, 347: 147th, 126: 154th, 176:
Enfans Perdus, 25: 5th Cavalry, 386: 1st
Mounted Rifles, 348: 2d Mounted Rifles,
265 : 8th Artillery, 347.
NICHOLS, REV. CHARLES L., 324.
Nichols, Stanley, 92, 93.
" Nigger," a discussion about the, 366, 367.
" Noble to the last," 254.
" No charge for letters," 225.
" No pay," 51.
North Baltimore Ladies' Union Relief Associa
tion, 47.
North Carolina (Confederate) Regiments, 37.
Northwestern Sanitary Commission, 474.
Norton, Surgeon, 78, 79.
506
INDEX.
" Not a cloud," 60, 61.
" Not discharged." 223, 224.
" Not going home," 62, 63.
" Nothing in my hands I bring," 103.
" Not lonely," 26.
" Not long parted," 80.
'• Not much in the Rebels' debt," 314, 315.
" Not much, sir," 225.
'• Not quite so hard," 380.
" Not the prayer meeting, but Jesus," 270.
u Not the Rebels' bad shooting," 46.
'•Not willing to go alone," 98.
" Now I lay me down to sleep," 212.
NOYES, REV. G. C., 293.
NOTES, REV. H. V., 335, 336.
OBSERVER. New York, 49.
Officers, devoted to his men, 30 : sympathy for
their sufferings, 61 ; regard for Sunday, 84 :
assist Delegates in their work, 106 : influence
in misleading their men, 132: influence of
an officer's conversion, 202: testimony to the
Commission, 430, 431.
Ohio Regiments, 82; 100, 123; 234; 271, 292;
400: 31st, 392, 393: 51st, 85: 60th, 261:
121st, 395 : 124th, 400 : 12th Battery, 458.
"Old things become new," 333.
Olustee, Florida, 471, 472.
"One cipher too many," 396.
" One Sunday's preaching," 195, 196.
" One taken and another left," 179.
"One Testament for thirty men," 138.
Onions, for Nashville, 422, 423.
" Only one verse," 64.
" On the right side of the Old Master," 84.
Opequan, 382, 383.
Opposition, of a Captain turned to support, 59,
60 : of officers and men to Christianity, 113.
"Oranges," Carletoirs distribution of, 310,311:
"The children's oranges," 434.
"Orphan, the," 219, 220.
" Our Baby," 461.
" Our Father." 174.
"Our Jubilee song," in Libby, 396, 397.
" Out of darkness into light," 69.
Owasco, gunboat, 473.
Owen, Rev. Mr., 249.
PADUCAH, KY., 64-67 ; 435, 436.
Pardon, by President Lincoln, 89, 90.
Parish Visitor, New York, 471.
PARKER, DR. S. J., 251, 252.
PARSONS, REV. BENJAMIN, 219, 220 ; 399.
PARSONS, REV. E. G., 478.
PARSONS, J. H., 451.
"Parting of the heroes, the," 167, 168.
PARVIN, REV. R. J., 44, 45, 54-56; 160, 161, 166,
167, 171, 172, 173-175; 319-321; 471-473;
492.
Pastor's Sketches, by Dr. Spencer, 417, 418.
"Patience of hope, the," 415, 416.
PATRICK, REV. II. J.. 304, 305; 346, 347.
Patriotism, Christ's cause only before the coun
try, 85 : dying beneath the flag, 123 ; shot
for defending the country, 123: a soldier of
1812, 165 ; an East Tennesseean's devotion to
the Union, 185-189 : a young soldier's patri
otism, 227 : giving up sons, 254 ; in the last
hour, 257; 316; 393,394: "A good cause to
be wounded in," 284; not sorry he enlisted.
291; a gray-haired soldier, 293: a colored
Sergeant's patriotism, 364-367 ; " Volunteered
to die," 368; "Is that a Rebel band, sir?"
369: "Too weak to cheer," 413: "Rather
on crutches than a Copperhead," 419 ; " A
Christian hero," 421; Henry Cutler, 433, 434:
a heroic mother, 484.
PATTERSON, JOHN, 32-34; 177,178; 266-268; 326-
331.
PATTERSON, REV. ROBERT, D. D., 64, 65, 67-70, 72,
73 ; 307 ; 351, 352, 355 ; 410, 411 ; 484.
Pay, none asked or taken by Delegates, 24 ; 51.
" Paying for Bible reading," 197.
Peace, in death, 85 : " Peace after prayer," 152 : a
symbol of it, 184: after a struggle, 199, 200:
Christ's peace for the weary, 258 ; " Past all
understanding," 259 ; " Within," 260, 261.
PEARNE, REV. THOMAS H., 305.
PEARSON, REV. J. B., 202.
PELOUBET, REV. F. N., 50-53; 208-211.
"Penalty of Rebellion, the," 180.
Peninsula, campaign on the, 17-34.
Pennsylvania Regiments, 47 ; 125,143; 174; 200,
210; 244; 341, 342; 393, 394: 3d P. R. V. C.,
32 : 10th P. R, V. C., 55 : llth P. R. V. C.,'
202: 57th, 441: 68th, 151: 84th, 153: 90th
42 : 91st, 300 : 2d Cavalry, 156, 157 : 15th
Cavalry, 215: 17th Cavalry, 199, 205.
Peoria Army Committee, 452; 481.
Perfection, the doctrine of, 208, 209.
" Perfectly satisfied," with God's will, 403.
Perkins, John, 155, 156.
PERRY, REV. JOHN B., 353, 354.
Perryville, 81-83.
Petersburg, mine explosion at, 362; the victory
before, 368-370.
Pews, in the army and at home, 355.
Piano-playing in an extemporized flying hospital,
432, 433.
Piety, a principle of extension, 59, 60.
Pittsburg Branch, 418.
Pittsburg Landing, 71, se.rj.
" Playing base ball," 313, 314.
" Pleading for a Testament," 352.
Point of Rocks, 297 ; 326, 335, 348, 349.
" Poor Little Rob's asleep," 31.
Porter, B. F., 347.
PORTER, II. L., 347.
INDEX.
507
PORTER, REV. JEREMIAH, 440 ; 474-476.
Port Society of New York, 470.
Posey, John, 65.
Post, New York, 65.
" Postscript, the," 167.
Potatoes, how they were sent to Texas, 440.
Potomac Creek Station, 153, 154.
Potter, Rt. Rev. Bishop, 152; 472.
Powels, Peter, 453.
•' Power of God blessing, a," 307.
PRATT, REV. A. L., 337.
Prayer, in presence of comrades, 13, 14; shielded
by a wife's prayers, 15 ; in a bomb-proof, 17 ;
with thanksgiving, 27, 28: bringing happi
ness, 40; causes peace, 52: wanting to be
taught one, 67-69; "The prayer of faith,"
78, 79; for salvation, 81 ; neglected, leading
to backsliding, 87 : when one may pray with
thanksgiving, 95, 96; the last prayer, 101:
learning how to pray, 136 ; prayer at home,
139 ; a dead mother's prayers, 144, 145 ;
"After sudden visitation," 152: a child's
prayer for a father, 169; a strange prayer,
184; the Collect for the second Sunday in
Lent, 187: a wife's pi-ayers discovered, 198-
200 ; " At seven," 202 ; the origin of a revi
val, 203; "For blessing," 204; the child's,
211, 212; the remedy for not being a Chris
tian, 213: prayer for one's self, 216; for ene
mies, 218 : the prayer for rest answered ;
256: the prayer to be with Jesus, 257; "I
can pray that," 262: "The Surgeon's first
prayer," '281 ; " Hard wading through moth
er's prayers," 283, 284 : the duty of not con
cealing prayer, 331; its leaven, 345: "Pray
for thine enemies," 370 ; 409, 410 : the Swede's
prayer, 385 ; two comrades pray together,
390 : " Give me a prayer," 410 : its sweetness
amidst pains, 427, 428: prayer by a grave
during the battle of Nashville, 430; "The
arch of prayer," 436, 437 : " She won't pray
for me anymore," 445: "The wife's pray
ers," 448, 449 : " The three petitions," 466 :
on the gunboat Daylight, 469 ; on the New
Ironsides, 469 ; the first and last thought, 473.
Prayer meeting, John Waugh's resolve told, 55,
56: the concealed Sergeant, 69 ; vs. fiddling
and dancing, 69, 70 : in Nashville, 100, 101 ;
hidden, 112, 113: testimonies in a prayer
meeting, 131, 132; an army prayer meeting
described, 139-142; at Camp Convalescent,
146-148 ; of the maimed and halt, 153, 154:
growth, 199 : in a wagon train of wounded,
229 ; at Chattanooga after Chickamauga, 230,
231 : of Delegates in Fredericksburg, 250,
251 : on the railroad track, 270; it supplants
cards, '277; "At the front in the prayer
meeting," 281 : at Cavalry Depot, 340, 344 :
at Quinnipiac chapel, 355 ; the last meetings
at the Sixth Corps chapel, 356, 357 ; at Camp
Distribution, 374, 375 ; voting for one, 382 ;
the soldiers' own, 390; first at Provisional
Camp, 390, 391 ; on the " Great March," 391,
392 ; " Dying close to the prayer meeting,"
392 ; " Curious, angry, convicted," 392, 393 :
in Andersonville at night, 399 ; in Ander-
sonville, 408, 409 ; crawling and being car
ried to the prayer meeting, 409; at Annapo
lis, among returned prisoners, 410, 411 : a
Scotchman's experience, 422; on Sunday
morning after the Nashville battles, 432,
433 : evening meetings at Vicksburg, 449,
450 ; asking to go to prayer meeting, 459,
460 ; in prison, 460.
"Praying drum corps, a," 201.
Preaching, vs. " Practising," 119 : while wounded,
164 : " One Sunday's preaching," 195, 196 ;
despised, yet convicting, 199 : before enter
ing the Wilderness, 244, 245: "A Major
General preaching Christ," 288: a five-min
ute sermon, 381; "Drilling for Jesus," 381,
382 ; the sermon-book in a crmrchyard, 387,
388: in Andersonville, 408,409: "A battery
silenced for a Sunday service," 426.
" Precious Christ, the," 379.
" Preparing to enlist," 134-137.
Presbyterian, Philadelphia, 32.
PRISONERS IN THE SOUTH, THE, chapter xv.
" Prisoners' prayer meeting, a," 410, 411.
Profanity, how a regiment was freed from it, 88 :
as against mules and men, 206, 207 : replaced
by blessing, 307: "At home and in the
army," 339.
" Promoted to die," 316.
"Protestant school in Brownsville, a," 476.
Provisional Camp, Alexandria, 388-393.
Pnlford, Colonel, 315.
Pulpits, in the army, 196.
" QUESTIONING GENERAL GRANT," 359.
QUIMBY, PROFESSOR, E. T., 477.
Quinnipiac Tabernacle, 307 ; 355.
" RALLY ROUND THE FLAG, BOYS," 316.
Rand, E. A., 265, 266.
Rappahannock Station, 193-195.
Raymond, Chaplain, 279.
" Ready to die," 93, 94.
Realization of faith, 119, 120.
Rebellion, its penalty, 180, 181.
"Rebel's comfort-bag, the," 178.
" Reconnoissance in force, a," 338.
Record, Bible Society, 50 ; 217, 221.
" Record of an inner strife, the," 417, 418.
Recorder, Boston, 140.
Red River expedition, 449.
Reed, Inspector, of U. S. Sanitary Commission,
23; 76,77.
508
INDEX.
REED, REV. ALEXANDER, 49.
REED, DR. WILLIAM A., 251, 252.
" Reflex work," 204.
Regular army Regiments, 17th Infantry, 170:
19th, 399 : 1st U. S. V. V., 387.
Reid, William, 473, 474.
" Reign of Divine law, the," 387, 388.
" Religion and Hygiene," 452.
Religions muling, rejecting it, 53, 54 ; 87 : helping
to Christ, 155 ; soldiers' desire for it, 156,
157: relative merits of tracts and Testa
ments, 208 : distributing religious newspa
pers in the trenches, 312: Baxter's Call read,
372, 373 : Dr. Spencer's Pastor's Sketches, 417,
418 : " Crying out of pain for a Saviour,"
454, 455.
" Remedy, the," 213.
" Removed above," 324.
Repentance, it must be from the heart, 99 : its
day past, 133, 134: refusing.it, 324, 325.
" Reported for duty and under orders," 333-335.
Resaca, 282-286.
Reserve, overcome, 256 ; 453.
Resignation, 179 ; 289, 291, 292 ; 320, 321.
" Rest for the weary," 261.
" Restless night, the," 52.
" Rest of God, the," 255.
Returned prisoners, at Annapolis, 404-413.
Revival, general in Army of Potomac during
the Winter of 1863-64, 196; at Bristow Sta
tion, 202-204: in Fredericksburg hospitals
after the Wilderness, 251 : at Ringgold and
Cleveland, 276-281 : the beginning, hin
drances and victory of the revival at Cav
alry Depot, 337-344: at Provisional Camp,
388-393 : " The germ of a revival," 460, 461.
"Rewritten letter, the," 374.
REYNOLDS, WILLIAM, 108-113 ; 277-279, 281 ; 481-
484.
Rhode Island Regiments, 144.
Rice, Colonel (General), James C., 37-39 ; 247, 248.
Rice, Colonel Samuel, 113.
RICHARDS, C. II., 311-314 ; 323.
Richardson, C. A., 116.
Richardson, Surgeon, 300.
Rickets, Emanuel, 475.
Right, ever the same, 121, 122.
" Right name among the people of God," 322, 323.
Ringgold, 276-279, 281.
" Riot quelled by the cross," 56, 57.
Robinson, Rev. Mr., 80.
"Rock of Ages," 25, 26; 211; 258, 259.
Rockwell, Charles, 198-200.
"Rolling Chaplain, a," 164.
Roman Catholic exclusiveness overcome, 168, 169.
SACRIFICE, for the country, 15, 16 ; 86 : a mother's
128,129; 320,321: by soldiers, 173, 174; 234;
life given for a neighbor, 242 : " Willing to
give up all," 254; in death, 254 ; " Willing to
go through again," 254, 255 ; a family sacri
fice, 255 ; all but life, and ready to give that,
259 ; willing to give up, if only a child of
God, 265, 266 : " An American Bayard," 285 :
faith in God prepares for sacrifice, 322:
" Trading crutches," 419 : " Dying that oth
ers might live," 466, 467 : at home as well
as at the war, 477 ; " Captain Weston's hand
kerchief," 477 ; 478 ; by a wife, and by a
widow, 478; Mrs. Bixby's oifering of five
sons, 484, 485.
Safety, in God's care, 96, 97.
" Sailor hero, a," 473, 474.
Sailor's Creek, 370.
St. Louis, 88 ; 445-449, 461-463.
St. Louis Army Committee, 74: 106, 118; 443,
445 ; 463, 464.
Salvation, making the way simple, 67-69; the
soldiers' cry for it, 81 : the prayer for salva
tion, 101 ; its freedom and fulness, 102, 103:
it consists in belonging to Christ, 133, 134 ;
238 : " To the uttermost," 274.
Sangden, John, 384.
SAVAGE, REV. G. S. F., 60, 61.
Savage's Station, 30, 31.
" Savant in the ranks, a." 378, 379.
" Saved for just nothing at all," 102, 103.
"Saved life, a," 160, 161.
" Saving a life," 246.
" Saving lump-sugar," 491, 492.
"Say, brothers, will you meet us?" 56, 57; 356.
" Scene by a Roman Catholic altar," 169.
SCHAFF, REV. DR. PHILIP, 299.
Schaub, Philip, 77.
SCHILLING, REV. I. S., 302.
Schneider, Edward M., 317-319.
Schofleld, General, 426.
SCOTT, G. W. R., 437-439.
Scott, Lizzie, 91-93.
" Scouting party, the," 44, 45.
Scribner, Colonel, 220.
Scripture, only one verse, 64 ; " Dew-drops for
rations," 64; "Written down," 68, 69: dis
tribution in Potomac Army, 138, 139, 142;
men eager for it, 142, 143: reading, 216;
distribution in Cumberland Army, 217, 220,
221: "portions" of the British and Foreign
Bible Society, 443. See BIBLE, TESTAMENT.
Sectarianism, how affected by Christian com
munion in the army 201.
"Self-forgetfulness." 284; 443.
" Sergeant's determination, the," 455, 456.
"Sergeant'8 last halt, the," 37-39.
" Service at headquarters in the woods," 287, 288.
" Services on the Kearsarge" 470.
SEVERANCE, REV. M. L., 373.
" Sharing dainties," 47.
Shay, John II., 392.
INDEX.
509
Shephard, Professor, 475.
SHEPPARD, THOMAS J., 399, 400.
Sherman, Major General, an involuntary inter
view, 286, 287.
" Sherman's march to the sea," prayer meetings
during, 391, 392.
'' She was a mother to my boy," 479, 480.
" She won't pray for me any more," 445.
" Shielded by prayer," 15.
Shiloh, see PITTSBURG LANDING.
" Shining shore, the," 261.
Shipman, A. M., 123..
" Short cut to glory, ^' 247.
" Shortened leave of absence, the," 315.
" Shorter Catechism vs. swearing," 266-268.
" Short sermon, a," 381.
" Shying up cards." 69, 70.
Sickness, cured by faith, 119, 120; 386.
Silent Comforter, in Atlanta hospital, 295.
Sin, repentance is more than forsaking it, 99;
rebuked in a stronghold, 111: "Known by
the Law," 135, 136 : the war of the flesh and
of the Spirit, 191, 192; vs. perfection, 208,
209; " Hard on sinners," 213.
Sinner, not too great, a, 71, 72, 87.
Sister, remembered in the army, 16; 100: at a
brother's death-bed, 37-39 : " Finds a brother
in Christ," 266: extracting comfort from
"me brother's book," 272, 273.
Sixth Corps Station Chapel, 356.
" Skeptic and his son, the," 406, 407.
Sleeping at his post, 420, 421.
SLOAN, REV. I. OLIVER, 48 ; 150.
Smay, Albert, 348, 349.
SMITH, REV. E. P., 91, 95-99, 119-122; 129-139;
215-218, 221, 223, 224, 228-237, 242; 269, 270,
272-275, 276, 277, 278-280, 281, 286-291, 293-
295; 333-335,349, 350; 364-367; 394; 419-
421, 426, 427, 428, 429, 439 ; 462, 463 ; 486, 487.
Smith, General A. J., " A cup of coffee for," 430 ;
his testimony to the Commission, 431.
SMITH, REV. GEORGE MURE, 201.
Smith, Henry C., 322.
SMITH, REV. J. WHEATON, D. D., 254, 255.
Snyder, Willie, 271.
" Soiled Testament, the," 347.
"Soldier's Amen, the," 125, 126.
" Soldier's breakfast, the," 155, 156.
Soldiers' Prayer-book; 152.
" Soldier's presentiment, the," 117.
" Soldiers' tea-party, the," 222, 223.
" Soldier's testimony, the," 483.
"Songs on the battle-field," 42; 72, 73.
Sorrow, for sin, 99; "Turned into joy," 103, 104.
"Source of courage, the," 336, 337.
South Mountain, 41.
Sparta, Wisconsin. 483, 484.
" Speaking Testament, the," 50.
" Speaking with tongues," 241 ; 385.
" Speak to me of Jesus," 257.
" Speechless," 413.
Sperryville Pike Station, 198-200, 205, 206.
" Spirit's secret work, the," 343, 344.
" Spirit working as It wills, the," 389-391.
Spottsylvania C. H., 247, 248.
" Stand by the flag and the cross," 318, 319.
" Star of Bethlehem, the," 225.
Station, description of that at WThite House, 32-
34: — at Potomac creek, 153: the rooms in
Fredericksburg, after the Wilderness, 250,
251.
STEARNS, J. N., 488, 489.
Stephenson's Station, 385, 386.
Stevens, Jesse, 152.
Stevenson, 222, 223.
STILLSON, J. B., 161, 164, 165, 178, 179.
STOCKWELL, REV. G. S., 197.
STOEVER, PROFESSOR, M. L., 167-169.
Stone, Rev. Dr., A. L., 465, 466.
Stone River battles, 85, seq. : 220.
STORER, JUDGE BELLAMY, 436.
" Story of James Anderson, the," 326-331.
Strawn, Jacob, 481-483.
Streight, Colonel, 397, 398.
" Strife of the Spirit, the," 205, 206.
STUART, GEORGE II., 53, 54 ; 151, 152 ; 169, 170 ;
259; 484.
Substitute, at the grave of a, 242 : " The Substi
tute," 447.
"Such bread!" 51.
Sunday, Commodore Foote's Order, No. 6, 61, 62;
General Crittenden's advice before Stone
River, 84: before Petersburg, in the hospitals
at the front, 309-311: "Can't keep track
of Sunday," 379 : " Sunday morning prayer
meeting after the battle of Nashville,"432,
433.
Sunday-school, soldiers' religious training due
to them, 47 : teaching in the army, 98 ; the
teacher's rank, 105 ; 171, 172 : proportion
of soldiers who had been Sunday-school
scholars, 346: comfort-bags from scholars
in Albany, 486, 487.
Sunday School Times, 13, 14 ; 311 ; 469 ; 489.
" Sun-shades," 162.
Surgeon, why he should be a Christian, 281:
serving a Delegate in a hospital, 431; "A
Surgeon's want," 434, 435.
Swearing, " For a regiment," 88 : influence of an
officer's swearing, 132; how a soldier was
cured, 135, 136: "In its theory and prac
tice," 206, 207 : reproved by the Shorter Cat
echism, 266-268: swearing at horses, 339:
"Not quite so hard," 380. Sre PROFANITY.
Swede, in Mount Pleasant Hospital, Washing
ton, 378, 379 ; at Maryland Heights, 384, 385.
" Sweetest Name, the," 150.
" Sweetness of prayer amidst pains, the," 427, 428.
510
INDEX.
" Sweet was the time when first I felt," 228.
" Symbol of peace, a," 184.
Sympathy, its value, 304, 306.
TADE, REV. EWING 0., 456, 457.
" Take care of the rest," 128, 129.
Taylor, Rev. Dr. J. W. 11., 15.
TAYLOR, REV. W. G., 321.
TAYLOR, REV. WILLIAM M., 201 ; 227.
Tea and Toast, 222, 223.
" Teamster-distributors, the," 144.
TEARNE, WALTER, 420.
"Tell me just what to do," 379, 380.
Temperance, its grounds, 121, 122.
Temptation, strife with and victory over, 127, 128.
Tennessee Regiments; Confederate, 67,68; 185-
189 ; 232 : Union, 95, 293 : 5th Cavalry, 417,
418.
" Teny," 489.
Testament, a companion, 26; saves life, 32:
" Best way to thank you." 37 ; a dying pil
low, 47 ; '; William Glover's," 49, 50 ; " The
speaking Testament," 50 : "Gen. Fisk's tac
tics," 113, 114: the wife's letter in the un
read Testament, 133; distribution in Poto
mac Army, 138, 139, 142 ; '• Testaments and
cards," 138 ; one for thirty men, 138 ; " Dis
tribution," 142-144; "Unread." 143; mak
ing dark days happy, 150 : " The Loyal East
Tennesseean," 185-189: " vs. Tracts," 208:
precious because telling of Jesus, 217, 218;
teaching forgiveness, 218 ; " A lost Testa
ment," 225; read for one who could not
read, 226 ; conversation by means of a Dan
ish Testament, 241 : how the veterans left
them at home, when furloughed, 272 : distri
bution in the trenches, 312, 313 : " A soiled
Testament," 347 ; the Testament on the sol
dier's breast, 349 : opening a box, 351, 352 :
a child's Testament for a courageous soldier,
377, 378 : Charles B. Chapin's Testament, a
memorial of Andersonville, 401-404: loving
to read it, 434, 435: "It brought me to
Jesus," 442 ; the large print Testament, 443 :
carried into battle, 472.
Testimony, last words concerning a Testament
and Hymn-book, 59 : " By proxy," 131 ; in an
army prayer meeting, 140-142 : " At Camp
Convalescent," 207, 208 : at Tullahoma, 219 :
a German's Testimony to the Commission,
246:— General A. J. Smith's, 430, 431 ;— a
Surgeon's, 432 : of reconsecration, 450 : a
soldier's testimony at a Commission meet
ing, 483.
Texas, Commission work in, 474-476.
"Thank God for such a mother," 27, 28.
" Thank Him first," 95.
" Thanking God for wounds," 80.
Thanks, " Best way to thank you," 37 : oefore
prayer, 95. 96; for the fulness of salvation,
102, 103: "To God, not to me," 181, 182:
"Thanksgiving" after Mission Ridge, 237:
for a letter written, 298 ; for oranges, 310,
311 ; that could not be told, 375 : for deliv
erance from bondage, 410, 411.
"That's me," 27.
THAYER, C. C., 457, 458.
THAYER, REV. P. B., 383, 384.
"Theology of repentance, the," 99.
" There is a fountain filled with blood," 211; 278.
THOMAS, CHAPLAIN, J. C., 82, «3 ; 93, 94 ; 237, 238 ;
491, 492. f
THOMAS, LUDLOW, 298.
THOMAS, REV. S. W., 44.
Thompson, J. P., 271.
THOMPSON, REV. DR., J. P.. 283-285.
" Thou art with me," 85.
" Though he were dead, yet shall he live," 435,
436.
" Three letters, the," 292.
'• Three petitions, the," 466.
" Three photographs, the," 290, 291.
" Three unimproved years," 394.
"Till Pa comes home," 110.
Tilson, N. Holmes, 407.
Tobacco, its effect on a conversation, 458.
Todd, John, 88, 89.
" Together," 271.
"Toilsome march, a," 264, 265.
" Too late," 133, 134.
" Too weak to cheer," 413.
"Torn Prayer-book, the," 151, 152.
" Towards the enemy," 247, 248.
Tracts, soldiers acting as distributors, 33: one
leads a soldier to Christ, 54-56: "Among
the letters," 77 : when needed and when
not, 442 ; distribution at Schofield Barracks,
447 : Past sins, 471.
" Trading crutches," 419.
" Transformed life, the," 198-200.
"Trio of good wishes, a," 177, 178.
Trenches, work before Petersburg in them, 308-
314.
Trouble, how a soldier was not in trouble, 95, 96;
how faith conquers it, 119, 120.
Trust, in Christ, 45; 213: in God's truth, 66, 67.
Tullahoma, 218, 219; 416-418, 438, 439.
Turkey, a soldier converted in, 467, 468.
Tumor, Commodore, 469.
TuxiiUET, REV. FRANKLIN, 145, 146.
" Two letters home, the," 444.
"Two voices, the," 191, 192.
" Tying a soldier's shoes," 162.
" UNCLE READIN' FOR HISSKLF," 451.
" Unconscious influence," 145, 146.
Uniac, E. H., 490, 491.
"Union," not "Confederate," 1S5-189
INDEX.
511
UNITED STATES CHRISTIAN COMMISSION, its Anni
versaries at Washington, 1864, 53 : 1865, 89,
90 ; 254 : 1866, 26 ; 73 ; 161 ; 255 : Anniversary
of 1865 at Philadelphia, 105 ; 224.
United States Sanitary Commission, Incidents
related by Inspector Reed, 23 ; 76.
" Unity of the Church, the," 168, 169.
" Unknown tongue interpreted, the," 385.
" Unquenchable thirst," 245.
" Unspoken words," 290.
" Unwritten letter, the," 275.
Upcheer, Joseph, 360.
Urmston, S. L., 456, 457.
VAN METER, REV. W. C., 123.
Van Tine, William, 414.
Vengeance, with God, 365-367.
Vermont Regiments, 324: 1st Cavalry, 401.
Vicksburg, 115-124; 399; 449-451,455,456.
" Victory amidst wretchedness," 173.
"Victory," the evening when Petersburg fell,
368, 369.
Vinton, Rev. R. Spencer, 47.
" Volunteered to die," 367, 368.
" Volunteer Surgeon's work, a," 251, 252.
Vows, made in Salisbury, to be redeemed at An
napolis, 411.
WADDLE, REV. BENJAMIN, 201.
Wagner, John, 261.
"Wagon prayer meeting, the," 229.
" Waiting to join in the one new song," 467, 468.
Walcott, Lieut. William Henry, 170.
Waldon's Ridge, 228, 229.
Walker, Katie, 490, 491.
WALLACE, REV. C. W., D. D., 373, 374.
" Wanting to go," 475.
War, God in the, 360.
Warren, Charles, 150.
Warren Station Chapel, 353, 354.
Warrenton, 36; 202, 206, 207.
Warrenton Junction, 201, 202.
" Washed white in the blood of the Lamb," 468.
Washington, 15, 17 ; 37-40, 51, 53, 54; 145, 146;
191, 192; 372-382; 393,394.
Washington, N. C., 466, 467.
" Waters at home and above, the," 239-241.
Waugh, John, 55, 56.
"We don't mind our soaking," 174.
" Wee letters," 489.
Weldon railroad, 302, 303, 315, 316.
" We shall pray for you at seven," 202.
WESTERN ARMIES, chapters iii., iv., viii., x., xvi.,
xvii. Short summaries of army movements,
58, 60, 61, 70, 71, 80, 81, 83, 84 ; 104 ; 215, 221,
222, 231 ; 269, 282, 283; 423-425; 441.
" Wet meeting, a," 391, 392.
WEYMAN, WILLIAM P., 418.
" What can I do?" 273-275.
" What is right, is right," 120-122.
" What is your name?" 225.
" What one soldier could do," 331, 332.
" What right have I?" 372, 373.
" What the soldiers deserve," 492.
" When I can read my title clear," 73 ; 288.
" Where's Papa ? " 130, 131.
White House Landing, 31, 32-34 ; 265, 266.
Whiten, John C., 368.
Whitmore, Peter, 336, 337.
WHITNEY, D. C. H., 344.
WHITNEY, H. M., 377-379.
WHITNEY, REV. NELSON, 252.
Whittlesey, Major, 150.
" Whole Bible sought for, the," 221.
"Who'll be my Pa?" 325.
" Why Mr. Maloney gave five dollars," 479.
" Why not complain ?" 51.
" Why the war came," 360.
" Widow's mite, a," 478.
Wife, touching letter from a, 77 : sorrow turned
into joy, 103, 104 ; letter to a husband, 105,
106; pleading for her husband's better life,
109, 110 : a wife's letter about a child's death,
130, 131 ; a wife's letter in the unread Bible,
133: a wife discovered by a ferrotype, 175,
176: disappointment by death, 325, 326:
praying no longer alone, 436, 437: "The
wife's prayers," 448, 449 : sorrow and resig
nation, 472, 473.
Wilderness, the, 243-246 ; 362 ; 483.
Wild's Station, 357, 361.
" Will he talk to God, as he used to?" 404.
William Glover's Testament," 49, 50.
Williams, Captain William Fitz, 265.
WILLIAMS, REV. E. F., 142-144, 151, 156-158 ; 163 ;
193, 197-200, 201-204, 207, 208 ; 244, 247, 248,
254 ; 297, 298, 315, 316 ; 332, 333, 345 ; 358-360 ;
381, 382.
Williamsburg, 27, 28.
Williams College Alumni Address, Demond, 29 ;
45,46; 177.
"Willing to give up all," 254.
Williston, Vermont, 400, 401.
"Will you enlist?" 208.
"Will you go?" 54-56.
Wilmarth, — , 441, 442.
Winchester, Tennessee, 219, 220.
Winchester, Virginia, 383, 386-388.
Windmill Point Hospital, 125-129, 132-134.
Winslow, Captain, 470.
Wisconsin Regiments, 261 ; 279 ; 14th, 74 : 16th,
452.
" With us and against us," 70.
" Won't you teach me a prayer?" 67-69.
Wood, General, 426.
Wood, Lieutenant, 394.
WOOD, REV. ABEL, 322.
" Word of sympathy, a," 304.
512
INDEX.
" Work on behalf of military prisoners," 460,
461.
" Worse off nor I," 43, 44.
Wounded, relieving those at Fairfax Station, 36 ;
forgetting wounds in Christ and prayer, 40;
hymn-singing, 42 ; saved from death by Dele
gates, 42, 43 ; 100, 161: neglected after An-
tietam, 44, 45 ; destitution after Fredericks-
burg, 51 : the prayer of faith saves life, 78,
79; thanking God for wounds, 80; farewell
to an amputated arm, 86: unmurmuring
suffering, 115, 116: suspense before relief,
147; after Chancellorsville, 149; anticipat
ing and attending them, 157, 158: ''The
rolling Chaplain," 164; a suffering and an
active volunteer, 166 ; wounded in the back,
166 ; the thought of Christ's sufferings a sup
port, 170 ; Confederate father and son, 179 ;
" The penalty of Rebellion," 180-182 : desiring
to be prayed for, 224 ; " Not much, sir," 225 ;
a wagon-train of wounded, 229 ; " Latin
scholar," 234; hospital on top of Mission
Ridge, 235, 236: who could not be relieved,
245, 246 ; getting straw for them, 249 ; in
Fredericksburg, 250-252; "Man immortal
till his work is done," 252, 253 ; " Helpless
and hungry," 254; "Don't trouble the boys,
Colonel," 254; peace within, 260, 261: "A
good cause to be wounded in," 284; "My
mouth's all bloody, sir," 285, 286: the speech
less at Kingston, 290: after Fort Harri
son, 300; cheerful, 304, 305; a wounded pa
triot and Christian, 316: grateful for being
wounded, 337: "Lightly wounded, 377. 378:
"A crutch battalion," 404, 405: "Trading
crutches," 419 ; " My Captain's wounded,"
425.
Wright, Charles, 389-391.
WRIGHT, J. E., 275.
Writing down a prayer, 68, 69.
" Writing letters for the men." 298.
WYCKOFF, REV. J. D., 452-455.
YAGER, THOMAS JACKSON, 363, 364.
Yates, Governor, of Illinois, 481.
" Yes, sir, I did it," 129, 130.
Yorktown, 17-25.
Youthful patriotism, 65.
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