The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-06-18

down at them the weeping brother
looked up into my face steadily, help
lcssly, appealingly. Suddenly he
ceased weeping; calmncss came over
his countenancc: he really looked as
lf he felt pleasant. l have thought
he probably saw greater distress in
my face than he felt, for copious
weeping had been some relief to him,
while felt too badly dazcd and dis
tressed to weep. Still I did not be.
lieve my brother was dead.
That young man, if alive, is nov an
old 1lan, and if he should read this he
will doubtless remember it.
could never bear to look into the
face Of the corpse Of one who was dear
to me while Ii 'ing, and / do not know
what l would have done or how it
would have affected me if had found
my brothers manglei and dead body
lying on the ground.
The truth was, as I afterward learn.
ed, my brother was one Of tie first, if
not the first one. in the regiment that
was shot, the cruel ball striking his
temple, fracturing the skull and in.
juring the brain, and the litter bearers
quickly bore him away to the hospital,
where he slept his life away without
feeling pain. AS l turned my eyes
from his face as described above, the
firing commenced, SO that the instant
| looked away from him as my earne st,
righteous prayer 70. his safety was
being ended, tia: Instant he was
stricken down.
And to think that if the cruel ball
had varied from his brow but frac-
tion Of an inch in its course he would
have escaped! For many weeks felt
disconsolate and dazed, wondering
what was the use OF fervent, righteous
prayer when such results would fol-
low, though I never for once lost faith
in the goodness and business of God.
1t was years afterward before it
ever occurred to me that while I
prayed, that while my brother was so
tenderiy looking into my face, he
prayed the same prayer l did, only in
reversed order, praying as fervently
for my safety in preference to his own,
probably neither of us praying for
Gods will to be done in preference to
ours.
In those days Of war tens of thou
sands of people we're praying to God
in direct opposition to each other,
some praying for the success of the
Southern arms, while at the same in
slant others we're praying for the sue
cess of the Northern arms. But as
we'll as L remember. it seemed to me
after my unavailing prayer that God
had nothing to do with the battles,
that He had for the time abandoned
the American people and let them
destroy each other on account Of their
wickedness, north and south, and that
the prayers of the noble Christian,
Stonewall Jackson, were all in vain,
any farther than they would naturally
tend to keep him in an humble, de-
pendent frame Of mind.
For some cause both sides delayed
long after the enemy gave back before
putting out any pickets. Finally, 1
was sent out with others as scouts to
beat up the enemy, and we found
them in double line of battle about a
half mile in our front. The ground
Immediately in their front was thickly
covered with scrub oak bushes, so that
we crept very near them unseen-near
enough to plainly hear them talking.
L selected @ position where could
see thcm through narrow opening in
the bushes. They appeared to be in
very great furry Of excitement.
They were evidently in great appre-
hension that our line would advance
on them at once, and were making
Preparations to receive us in the
greatest haste, expecting our attack to
be severe and determined. They must
have calculated our strength from our
determined resistance and from the
terrible damage We had just done
them. If they had known it we were
too badly crippled, weak and exhaust
ed to think of renewing the combat by
attacking them, though we were de-
termined to hold our ground if they
would renew the attack on US.
McRac, Ga.