J. William Jones...

On the memorable 17th day of April, 1861— the day on which the Virginia Convention, in response to Mr. Lincoln's call for Seventy-five thousand men to coerce the seceded States, passed its ordinance of secession— there occurred at the little village of Louisa Court House a scene similar to those enacted all over Virginia and the South, which none who witnessed it can ever forget. The Louisa Blues, a volunteer company composed of the best young men of the county, were drilling at Noon on the cour

No army, with whose history I am acquainted, at least, was ever blessed with so large a proportion of high officers who were earnest Christian men, as the Army of Northern Virginia. We had at First such specimens of the Christian soldier as R. E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, D. H. Hill, T. R. Cobb, A. H. Colquitt, Kirby Smith, J. E. B. Stuart, W. N. Pendleton, John B. Gordon, C. A. Evans, A. M. Scales, Willie Pegram, Lewis Minor Coleman, Thos. H. Carter, Carter Braxton, Charles S. Venable, and a host

The piety of Stonewall Jackson has become as historic as his wonderful military career. But, as it was my privilege to see a good deal of him, and to learn from those intimate with him much of his inner life; and as his Christian character is well worthy of earnest study, and of admiring imitation, I give a somewhat extended sketch of it. I First came into personal contact with him on the 4th of July, 1861, while our army was drawn up in line of battle at Darkesville, to meet General Patterson.

The number and influence of Christian officers in our army is a chapter which expands so widely as One comes to write it, that I find myself compelled to condense much of the material that it may be brought within proper limits; but there are other facts which must not be omitted. General J. E. B. Stuart, Chief of Cavalry, Army of Northern Virginia, has been called The flower of cavaliers, the Prince Rupert of the Confederacy, and Harry of Navarre, and he has been described as a gay, rolicksome,

The world's history has never presented a wider field of usefulness to the humble colporter who tries to do his duty than the camps and hospitals of the Confederate armies, and rarely have Christian workers more fully improved their golden opportunities. When the war broke out, nearly all of the great publishing houses were located at the North, our people generally did their Bible and tract work in connection with societies whose headquarters were in Northern cities, and our facilities for publ

The work of colportage and the work in the hospitals run into each other so naturally that it is really difficult to separate them into chapters, and much written about the One will apply equally to the other. Eternity alone will reveal the amount, character and results of work in the Confederate hospitals. Wayside hospitals, where the sick and worn-out were cared for— Field hospitals, in rear of the line of battle— Receiving hospitals, from which the sick and wounded were distributed— and large

Unquestionably One of the most potent factors in the grand success of our work was the union of hearts and hands on the part of chaplains and missionaries, and indeed of all Christian workers of the evangelical denominations. The gifted and lamented Dr. Wm. J. Hoge thus wrote of a visit he made to Fredericksburg in the spring of 1863, during the great revival in Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade: The Rev. Dr. Burrows, of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, was to have preached that night, but as h

But, in pointing out the instrumentalities which God blessed to the spiritual good of our brave men, their own Eagerness to hear the Gospel must not be overlooked. Indeed I believe that the desire of these men to listen to the Gospel and to receive religious instruction has never been surpassed. Let us visit some of these camps, and mingle in some of these scenes of worship, and if I shall be able to picture them as I saw them, I can give a far more vivid idea of them than by the recital of the

Having brought out, in previous chapters, the various instrumentalities and influences which were so potential in promoting religious influences in the army, it remains to give a chronological outline of the results upon the men, which have been already indicated, but need to be more distinctly related. During the First months of the war, the influences of home and church were decidedly felt, and made their impress upon the soldiers at the front. Nearly every community had its weekly union praye

Even the brief season of comparative quiet which we enjoyed in the Lower Valley of Virginia, after our return from the First Maryland campaign, developed very decided indications of revivals in a number of the brigades. So far as I have been able to learn, the First revival of much interest which occurred in the army at this time was in Trimble's Brigade, and especially in the Twelfth and Forty-fourth Georgia Regiments. Rev. A. M. Marshall, who had been a gallant private in the Twelfth Georgia,

The march to Gettysburg, the great battle and fearful loss of many of our noblest and best officers and men, very seriously interfered with our regular meetings, but by no means suppressed the spirit of revival, which really deepened until, when we came back to rest for a season along the Rapidan, the Great Revival began with all of its power and made wellnigh every camp vocal with the praises of our God. A large number of our most efficient chaplains felt it to be their duty to remain with our

There were some peculiar difficulties in the way of our work during the period embraced in this chapter. The severe weather of the winter and early spring made outdoor services rarely possible, and the skies had scarcely begun to smile upon us when General Grant crossed the Rapidan. Lee at once advanced and attacked him, and there ensued the death-grapple from The Wilderness to Petersburg, when we marched or fought, or were busy entrenching nearly every day. And then followed the siege of Peters

From the minutes of our Chaplains' Association (now in my possession, by the kind courtesy of the accomplished secretary and chaplain, Rev. L. C. Vass), the estimate of other chaplains and missionaries in position to know, and a very careful compilation of facts and figures from files of religious newspapers, and hundreds of letters and narratives from chaplains, missionaries, and colporters, I make the following estimate of the number of men in the Army of Northern Virginia who professed faith

From a large number of letters received, in response to circulars sent out soon after the war, I select the following as either containing new matter, or as supplementing and corroborating statements made in the body of the book. They were personal letters not intended for publication, and yet I beg that the writers will excuse the liberty I take in publishing them in the form in which they were written, as I can thus give a clearer view of the interesting and important matters of which they tre

The following Roster is not as complete as I had hoped to make it, as some of my material has been lost, and I have been disappointed in not finding a Roster in the War Records Office in Washington. But even an incomplete Roster will be of wide interest. I shall give the names of all chaplains who were at any time connected with the regiments, so far as I shall be able to ascertain them from lists before me, Minutes of the Chaplains' Association, and other data. I should be grateful for any corr

In the body of this volume I purposely confined myself to Religion in Lee's Army, not only because I desired to write of what I had personal knowledge, and had far more material than I could possibly use, but because I have been hoping that some competent hand would prepare a companion volume to mine for the other armies of the Confederacy. This I sincerely hope will yet be done. But as there has been a demand on the part of many people for something concerning the other armies, and as the publi