Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-09-22

noble army of heroes.
revert rather to another and far differ
ent scene from the one I have sketched.-
Over a year has rolled by, and that fair
haired, rosy-cheeked boy, "mother's dar-
ling" of April. 'G1-now brouzed veteran
Of the A. N. ", who has followed the
'tstars and bars'' on many victorious field
returns to his boyhood's home. But he
comes not back with light, elastic step,
erect carriage as when he marched forth so
gaily at his country's call. He is borne on
litter-he has been shot through the
lungs, his life-tide is ebbing away, and he
has come home to die On that memorable
9th day of June, 1862, at Cold Harbor,
when "Stonewall'' Jackson issued his crisp
order, ''Tell Gen. Ewell to sweep the field
with the bayonet," and our whole line
pressed grandly forward, carried every
position before it, and persuaded Gen. Nc
Clellan that it was indeed time to "change
base'' from before Richmond to the shelter
of his gun boats at Harrison's Landing,
our youthful hero fell in the very forefront
of the battle in ons of the most splendid
charges of the famous old Thirteenth Vir-
ginia Infantry. Tne surgeons gave us no
hope, but God spared him to reach home
and linger for over six months to illustrate
under suffering and how, when he came to
die, a smile could light up his countenance,
ioy could beam from his eye and peace
reign within his heart. The camp had not
proven to him ''school of vice." but on
the contrary he had learned there the pre-
ciousness of his mothers Bible, and had
gone with simple faith to her Savior. And
as the last hour drew near he met death
with calm resignation, said to the weeping
loved ones who stood around Il trust in
Jesus and am not afraid to die," and left,
in his triumphant death as we'll as in the
peaceful hours of his assurance that he went
to join his sainted mother-for she had
"gone before" a few weeks prior to his
death-in that brighter, better home above,
where "war's rude alarms" ne'er disturb,
and loved ones never part.
The fears of that Christian mother, as
her boy left the paternal roof to encounter
the peculiar temptations of soldier life,
were the fears of our wisest and best men.
Armies had been hitherto regarded as de-
cidedly demoralizing, and had passed into
proverb: "Tne worse the man the bet
ter the solder,' against which the exam
pies of Hedley, Vickars, Havelock, Col,
Gardner, and other Christian soldiers were
cited in vain. 1t is not for a moment de-
MED that these fears were we'll founded,
and that as a rule the influence of an army
is demoralizing. Its very object is to de-
stroy life, and its scenes of carnage unques-
tionably tend, if not properly used to blunt
the moral perceptions and harden in
iniquity. And, then, absence from the in
huences of home and church, and the re-
straints of society, coupled with the COM
mon idea that things which would be crimi-
nal at other times are allowable in the az
my-all tend to raise the floodgates of i'm
morality and vice.
l shall give no rose-colored picture in
these papers, but shall frankly admit that
vices common to most armies were, alas
but too prevalent in CUR own, and that
many of our most skillful officers and
bravest men blotted their fair name by open
vice or secret sin.
But I shall be able to show, on the other
hand, that Jesus was in our camps with
wonderful power. and that no army in all
history, not even Cromwell's "Roundheads'
had in it as much real, evangelical re-
ligion and devout piety as the Army OF
Northern Virginia.
| shall not discuss here the 'buried is
sues" of the war, or revive its bitter memo
ries Or stormy passions. Let these be for
ever forgotten.
But it is due to the truth of history to
say that the Christian people of the South
not only thought they were right in resist
ing the invasion of their soil and the coer-
cion by the Federal Government of SOW
ereign States, but that they went forth to
battle, or sent their sons, in firm reliance
upon "the Lord of hosts" Scarcely COM
pany moved without some public religious
service, and it was considered a most i'm
portant part of each mans equipment that
he should carry in his knapsack a copy of
Gods word.
All of our evangelical denominations
were we'll represented in the rank and file
of our army, and many of our preachers
felt it their duty to go to the front, accom-
panied by the very flower of their young
men. Of the first four companies from
Georgia to arrive in Virginia, three of the
ca ptains were earnest Christian men, and
fifty of one of the companies were members
of the same Baptist church. A regiment,
stationed near Portsmouth in June, '61,
was reported to contain 400 Baptists, and
another regiment had in its ranks five min
listers of the gospel. we'll remember that
the first time l ever saw the famous old
Rnckbridge artilery-on the 4th of July,
1861, when we were drawn up in line of
battle at Darksville, in the lower valley Of
Virginia, expecting an attack from Gen.
Patterson-it contained seven Masters of
Arts of the University of Virginia, % other
college graduates, 10 theological students,
others (including a son OF Gen. R. E. Lee)
who were among the noblest young men of
the South, and a proportion of Christian
men as surprisingly large as it was highly
gratifying.
mention the above merely by way of il
lustration, but could easily fill several COL
umns with such proofs that we had most
remarkable proportion of Christian men in
our ranks at the beginning.
CHRISTIAN OFFICERS.
No army, with whose history, at least, 1
am acquainted, was ever blessed with SO
large proportion of high officers who were
earnest Christian men as the Army of
Northern Virginia.
We had at the first such specimens of the
Christian soldier as R. E. Lee, Stonewall
Jackson, D. H. Hill, T. r. Cobb. A. a..
Colquitt, Kirby Smith, J. E. B. Stuart, w.
N. Pendleton, John B. Gordon, q. A..
Evans, A. NJ. Scales, 'Wiilie" Ptgram,
Lewis Milnor Coleman, Thos. H. Carter,
Oafber DrdACon, CnaTleS .. Veudule, duu d
host of others too numerous to MENTION
And during the war Generals Ewell, Pen
der, Hood, R. II. Anderson, Rodes, Paxton,
W. Ell. S. Baylor, Col. Lamar, and num-
ber of others of our best officers prOfessed
faith in Christ.
Nor was the example of these noble men
merely negative-many of them were &C
tive workers for the Master, and did not
hesitate, upon all proper occasions, to
''stand up for Jesus
Our Christian President, Jefferson Davis,
was always outspokene on the side of evan
gelical religion, and manifested the deepest
interest in all efforts for the spiritual good
of the soldiers. His fast-day and thanks
giving day proclamations were not only
beautiful specimens of the chaste style and
classic English for which this great man is
remarkable, but they also breathed a spirit
of humble, devout piety, which did not fail
to have its influence on the armies of the
Confederacy.
He said to Rev. A. E. Dickinson, who
was then Superintendent of the Virginia
Baptist Colportage Board, which resolved