Religion in the Army.
Doctors Pryor, Fontaine, Stiles.
General Pendleton.
Young Men's Christian Association.
Frazier, Our Preaching-Fighting Chaplain.
My presentation of the subject of religion in the army will necessarily
be confined to the command to which I belonged and what came under my
personal observation. When the call to arms was made in 1861, the
sentiment of our people was a solemn appeal to God for the rectitude of
our intentions and purposes, an appeal to the God of battles for His
abiding presence and blessing upon our undertaking. Nearly every step
taken was witnessed by religious services. Our whole Southland was
permeated with the spirit and teachings of the Bible. The brave people
of our land believed in God--indeed, the foundations of their state
government were based upon their faith in the Author of their lives and
liberty. This was no mere phantom. Most of our great leaders were
Christian men, who feared and worshipped God.
At the beginning of the war we had many wild, profane men who had
joined the army, but from this it must not be inferred that our camps
were scenes of vulgarity, and profanity. With but few exceptions, after
the first year or so of the war, there was never an army freer from
vice, immorality and anger. That which in the beginning would have
been offensive and insulting, and probably brought the parties to
blows, was now passed by. The men had come to understand each other's
temperaments. They had lived, associated, marched, fought, slept and
eaten together too long, had suffered in common too many hardships,
enduring the same privations, not to know each other's Christian
convictions. They were therefore "Souls that had but a single thought,
and hearts that beat as one." They were, with a true Christian spirit,
ready to bear each other's burdens, care for each other when sick or
wounded, comfort each other when in trouble and distress, and therefore
the better prepared to entertain the "King of Peace."
Many of the men of my company, some of whom I have already mentioned,
were Christians when they entered the army, and by their example and
character exerted a wholesome influence for good. When resting in camp,
these men remembered their vows, conducting religious exercises in
their quarters before retiring at night. On Sunday we usually had
services, led by the Chaplains, who were zealous Christians, and
patriotic men, even going into battle with us. One, Dr. Granberry,
chaplain of the 11th Virginia, and after the war a Methodist Bishop,
was wounded in the battle of Seven Pines. In the absence of the regular
chaplain, Brother Frazier, acting as such, preached to us.
Near the close of 1862, and throughout the greater part of the year of
1863, a religious spirit seemed to possess the army; at least this was
true of our command. Christians had great reason to thank God and take
courage when they thought on the remarkable progress the gospel was
making in the camp. Thousands of young men embraced religion. While
churches at home were languishing, the gospel was moving forward with
marvelous strides among the soldiers in the field. Indeed, what could
be more fitting, with real men accustomed daily to witnessing carnage
and death. There was therefore much comfort to the men in having the
gospel successfully preached and the standard of the Master borne aloft
in the trenches, in sight of the enemy, even within musket and cannon's
range. At the administration of the baptismal ordinance, the banks of
the Rappahannock, Rapidan and the James and other streams resounded
with the songs of praise. Our chaplains often proclaimed the glad
tidings amid the noise of the booming cannon and rattle of musketry.
This spirit was caught by our division at Taylorsville in the spring of
1863, when Dr. Pryor of Petersburg preached for us for several days in
succession, hundreds professing-faith in Christ. The whole camp was one
religious gathering, and all men seemed greatly interested. There was a
grand and glorious awakening. Many in the Spring of 1863 found the
blessed Savior precious, to their souls and rejoiced in His love, I
among the number.
When on the march to Gettysburg, halting for a day or more, religious
exercises were conducted; scarcely would the column halt at night and
supper over before the sacred songs began; around those singing would
gather the soldiers in large numbers, the chaplain, or someone else,
conducting the exercises. This was continued during the fall of 1863,
in Culpeper, on the Rapidan, again at Taylorsville, in North Carolina,
in Virginia, near Hanover Junction, around Cold Harbor, Malvern Hill,
and on the south of the James, where Drs. Stiles and Fontaine were
occasionally with us. The latter, Rev. P. H. Fontaine, a minister
of the Baptist Church, visited us in September, 1864, preaching
successfully for several days; many desiring baptism going to a small
branch close by our line in a ravine, where a dam was constructed,
furnishing sufficient water to bury a man in baptism, as was our Savior
in the Jordan, a comforting scene to many wearied and homesick hearts.
On Monday, September 12, 1864, Mr. Fontaine baptized a large number of
soldiers on their profession of faith--how many I do not recollect, but
of our company two, Tim P. Darr and the writer. Darr became a Methodist
preacher, dying last year (1913) in the State of Kentucky.
The army of Northern Virginia by the close of the year 1864 had in
large measure become a band of Christian soldiers, God-fearing men.
Amid the trying scenes, shoeless, in tattered rags, hungry, chilled by
the cold, they gathered, if opportunity offered, and on bended knees
asked God to comfort their homes and little ones, to bless our arms
with success and to crown our efforts with early peace and stable
government.
The venerable Doctor Stiles and General Pendleton--the latter an
Episcopal minister and the chief of artillery of the army of Northern
Virginia--occasionally preached to the troops. Through the
instrumentality of J. Tyler Frazier there was organized a Young Men's
Christian Association, of Kemper's brigade, into which was largely
incorporated all the professing Christians in the brigade. It met
regularly when not on the march, and among the articles of the
constitution was one providing that if any member of the Association
should desert or absent himself from his command without leave, he
should be excluded. The Association stood pledged to discourage
desertions or insubordination, and on the other hand to encourage
obedience and fidelity to cause and country; by all means within its
power to diffuse religious thought and morality throughout the brigade.
While on the Bermuda Hundred line, the men built a church in which
religious services were held, and which was also used as a place of
entertainment.
J. Tyler Frazier, whose name has been frequently mentioned in this
narrative, deserves a more extended notice. Mr. Frazier was born in
Giles County, Virginia, in the year 1840, embracing Christianity at an
early age. His early opportunities for acquiring an education were
quite limited, but being a man of exceptionally good sense, a preacher
when he entered the army--the company chaplain, did his duty nobly and
well. By precept and example upon all proper occasions he endeavored to
impress upon the men the importance of living a Christian life. Notice
has already been taken of some of his messmates, Taylor, Henderson,
Fortner, Darr and others, God-fearing men. Mr. Frazier preached
whenever opportunity offered, not only to the company, regiment and
brigade, but to the people of the region roundabout. The chaplaincy of
the regiment being vacant, the Young Men's Christian Association
desired the appointment of Mr. Frazier to the vacancy, naming a
committee consisting of Thomas S. Taylor (who died in this year,
1914), Edward Hoge (now dead), and David E. Johnston, to take up the
matter with the Colonel, but our mission failed because the commander
felt that a man could not be spared from the ranks who was so good a
soldier as Brother Frazier. We secured, however, the privilege for Mr.
Frazier to preach where and when he pleased, having his musket and
accouterments transported in headquarters wagon, the only requirement
being demanded that he should take his gun and go into battle. Mr.
Frazier was as useful as chaplain without a commission as with it, for
he still continued to preach, pray, march and fight, to exhort and
encourage men to do their duty to God and their country. He was spared
and returned home, entered the regular Methodist ministry of the
Southern Methodist Church, has been a presiding elder, a successful
preacher, and still lives to bless humanity. He now resides on his fine
estate near Chilhowie, Virginia, preaching regularly, esteemed and
highly respected by his brethren, old comrades, friends and neighbors.
In closing this chapter, I may be permitted with genuineness of purpose
to add a final word to the sons and daughters, descendants of the noble
Confederate soldiers of Virginia, whom I deeply loved, and of whom I
have endeavored, though with much imperfection, to write in these
pages.
Another warfare is today calling you to the field. I have seen much of
life and know the fruits of vice and shame, the danger of gilded
pitfalls and deceptive traps which are set for you and your children. I
beg of you not to think of this as idle talk on my part. You are in
imminent danger of the captivity from which there is no return. For
your safety the Great Leader is calling you to join His forces, to
enlist in His cause. This Leader has never known defeat, has never lost
a soldier. If you are in His service, your name is enrolled on high. If
you are faithful, you will not be overlooked nor forgotten. If you have
not given Him your life and everything belonging to you, I beg you not
to delay. Your father obeyed our country's call in 1861. It is fitting
now that you obey the gospel call into the noblest army earth has ever
known. More than once did I look into the faces of your noble sires, as
they stood at Sharpsburg, Gettysburg and Cold Harbor, in defense of the
right. I think of the courage with which they followed the old flag,
and I love you for their sakes. I pray God that each of you may honor
the memory of those fathers by being brave and steadfast soldiers of
the Cross; that you may have a place in the ranks of that great army
composed of the pure and the good on earth and in heaven.