Evening star., 1921-10-02
A MARKED. little Baptist
~ church stands by the side of |
a road which was one Of the

~ church stands by the side of
~ road which was one of the
great troopways OF the Amer.
fcan civil war. The brick walls of
this church were preached by shot
from Union cannon and part of the
.. church was blown away by shell.
When the peace Of Appomattox had
| been signed and a few years had gone
by, the survivors of the congregation
regathered at this little church, re-
built that part which had been wrech-
ed by the lead and iron storm, and
bricked up the breaches in the walls
that had not been blown down. The
walls and parts of walls that had been
only pitted by musk, balls and grape.
or battered by can.i,-. shots that had
nearly spent their force, we're not re-
putt. The congregation did this not
with the thought of preserving the
little church as war relic, for that
section of Virginia was SO spotted
with ruins and Uttered with mournful
teiics or the war that nobody thought
inc "orio could ever have interest in
such things. The SCARED walls were
lett to stand because they were still
aoie to shelter the congregation and
mat congregation had no money to
fepulid walls that still served the
purpose for which they had been set
up. IT had taxed the resources of the
people to rebuild the walls that had
ncen blown oown and to repair those
/ that mad been broken. Now. these old
gun marked walls are a matter of
price with the congregation and are
priceless. They are a memorial of a
battle.
once lines Of shallow. hasty trenches
stretched along one side of the church
ana only few yards-perhaps eight
or ten-from 1t. The trench lines be-
gan In dim. close woods half mile
: south or the church, passed through a
/; grove of oaks that grow around the
church. crossed the old war road fifty
yards north of the church, and pur-
Sued their wavy, sometimes sigZag
course beyond the road and over a
| Wide held to stretch of woods vined
with deep ravines. down which little
streams ran to the Rappahannock
river.
Much Of these lines of trenches has
been erased, but in the woods south
OF the church one can walk in the
shai.ow bitches where soldiers of the
south lay and stopped a Union as
sault which. had 1t been successful.
| might have had a potent influence on
| the war. Even through the grove of
| oaks and along the east side of the
"hurch one can make out traces of the
SHSA.s uC SoiA Is STdNEt1S clay. WOrn
lard by the feet of worshipers at the
| church. by teams that have brought
| them there and by the hoofs of horses
tethered under the oaks.
F! X X *
CHADE Of the oaks and rains that
have dripped and pelted through
/ their branches have helped to keep
down any growth of grass that might
| have covered the ground. One Of the
Erasslike rushes grows there and a
few sprigs Of golden rod and, white
wood asters try to put on cheerful
bloom, but the floor of the grove is
mostly covered with gravel beautifully
mixed with acorns fallen from the
churchyard trees. Across the road in
patch Of oak woods where an old
; and abandoned country schoolhouse
stands. one can still follow the trench
lines. From the schoolhouse woods
and over the wide field to the woods
| that reach to the Rappahannock the
trenches have been smoothed out by
plow and harrow. South from the
main war-road and along the east sihe
! of the church leads an ancient road,
crooked and hiily, which few persons
: travel now. From the church il leads
through the woods where the trenches
are, down a steep hill. over little
stream which seems to have no name
| up steep hill. to a road called long
ago and still called the Mine road"