The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1898-06-03
FIGHTING PREACHERS.
Prominent Ministers who Donned the
Confederate Gray.


tion under the banner of the Con-
federacy during the Civil War, some
of whom left their churches to fight
desperately all the week and to
preach with equal earnestness on
Sunday, while others have entered
the ministry since their soldier life
closed. Their experiences on the
battlefield now yield crisp anec-
dotes, which give point and power
to sermons and brighten the social
hour.
Rev. D. G. Kelley,a "a delegate from
the Tennessee Conference, is among
these. At the outbreak of the war
he organized company of cavalry
among the male members of his
congregation and at its head march
ed to join the forces of the Confede-
racy and fought brilliantly through
out the struggle. He was made to-
ward the close of the war a colonel
of cavalry and was one of General
Forests most trusted officers. 1t
is told of him that he fought and
preached at the same time with
equal energy and ability.
Bishop Granbery has the sobri-
quet, The Fighting Chaplain, won
while 'parson' of a Virginia regi-
ment, when he alternated between
the use of musket and hymnal.
Bishop Granbery lost an eye in the
fight at Frazier's Farm, before Rich
mOnd.
REV. J. M. Mason, d. D., of Ala
bama, chairman of the conference
committee on rules, and one of the
most prominent clergymen of the
denomination, entered the Confede-
rate army when seventeen years of
age and served throughout the war.
His career was filled with thrilling
incidents, eliminating in his cap
ture bv the federals in 1868 while on
a scouting expedition within the
Union lines at point about fifty
miles from Nashville. He effected
his escape, however, and success
fully made journey of one hundred
and fiftv miles to the Confederate
lines. The final fifty miles was
made on horseback, the young
scout having successfully mounted
and ridden off on the charger of a
federal cavalryman picketed at the
edge Of a wood. Rev. DR.. Mason
served under General Bragg and
participated in all of that COM
mander's memorable struggles with
the Union army under Rosecrans
and later against Sherman.
REV. r. w. Price, D. D., of the
Holston Conference, editor of the
Midland Methodist, volunteered at
the outbreak of the war in the
Fourth North Carolina Regiment,
commanded by bis brother-in- law,
Colonel Zeb B. Vance, afterwards
United States Senator from that
state. From the ranks of the
private DR.. Price was made chap
lain, with musketry privileges, and
served until the close of the war.
"Rev. Charles r. Carroll, Presiding
Elder of the Knoxville District,
Tennessee Conference, prominent
member of the General Conference,
was a Methodist local preacher in
West Virginia and enlisted at once
IN the Confederate army. His
career was ended by capture and
Imprisonment at City Point, where
he was finally made chaplain of a
regiment of Union soldiers.
"Rev. John s. Deering, of the Ken
lucky Conference, served through
out the war in the famous Orphan S
Brigade of Cavalry commanded
by General Ben Harden Helm, who
was killed at Chickamauga Park.
REV. Warner Moore, d. D., of the
Memphis Conference, pastor of a
prominent church at Mayfield, Ky.
was one of General FORESTS cavalry
men throughout the war and until a
week ago enjoyed the reputation oI
being the most 'unreconstructed
preacher in the South. Among the
Tennessee boys who answered the
! Presidents recent call for vOlun
teers, however, was Warren Moore
Jr., son of the clergyman, who
donned the blue of the Second Ten
nessee Regiment.
"'I never loved the flag before,
said Or. Moore the other day, 'but
with my boy fighting for it, whar
else can I do?'
"Rev. James A. Dyons, of the HOls
ton Conference, presiding elder OF
the Cleveland district, serveC
throughout the war with the
Bloody Nineteenth of Tennessee
and followed the fortunes of Gener
ais Bragg, Joe Johnson and Hood
and surrendered with his regimen
to Sherman at Fayetteville, N. G
He returned after the war witt
the ninety survivors of the 1920 mel
who formed the original Nineteenth
"Rev. w. G. PalmOre, of Missouri
served for four years as private ii
Sterling Prices army and at the enc
of hostilities was color-bearer TO
General John S. Marmaduke. Rev
DR.. Palmore wields mighty pen a
the editor of the st. Louis Christian
Advocate and is a foe to all In
fluences that tend to keep alive wa
time feeling in the South.
REV. John j. Lafferty, d. d.
editor of the Richmond Christian
Advocate, a Confederate cavalr.
major, Rev. D. c. Scales, of Ten
nessee, and Rev. J. H. Dye, d. D., o
the White River Conference, ar,
also among the number who tough
bravely and well for the cause they
thought right"