Year: 1878

My travels abroad, and association


with a large variety of men of diff
! ferent Christian countries, thorough
! ly satisfied me that slavery was {


doomed institution-that the en-


lightened and Christian sentimen


of the world demanded its abolition
/ knew that with the humane


masters of the South the seventies


of the positions were not what this


world took them for-and yet ]


readily conceded to them, that with


their view of the facts their disap-


probation was well founded. IhOped
for its gradual extinction and disap.


proved of secession as a remedy fol
our troubles. When, however,
secession had become fixed fact,
and defeat with the sudden turning
loose of the slaves, seemed the only
alternative should we fail, thought
/ fOrsaw barbarismf for the negro and
destruction for that portion of the
white race with which I was most
nearly allied. With my view OF
the people North and South, and
their surroundings, l believed that
the only hope of the South was in a
quick, short fight, in which the
chivalry of the South would, by
rapid blows, deliver all its force be-
fore the North had become drilled
into veteran armies. So when
called to the hustings, by a war
meeting in Huntsville, Ala, where
/ was then pastor, / said: 1--WE
are in the midst of a struggle which
will demand before its close not the
young men alone, but every man
who can bear arms to make even
this exhaustive enlistment effective,
it must be made at once" This was
my first war speech, and vOlun-
teered at its close. i had been
abroad enough with military men
to feel that the position of chaplain
was not that which would give me
most religious influence. 1 there
fore allowed myself to be elected
to command. My Judgment proved
to be true in the end. / preached
as much as any cavalry chaplain
could have done, while my official
position gave me both, with soldiers
and citizens, attention which /
could not otherwise have command
ed. / never, however, prostituted
the pulpit, even though it was
a log in the grove, to the discussion
of political questions. Nor did /
hear during our whole struggle but
one political sermon. This much /
wish to say to help to correct, so far
as / may, wide spread belief that
the churches of the South before and
during the war, were prOstituted to
political uses.


FORESTS FIRST-FIEID FIGHT,


SACRAMENTO, KY.


Leaving to official sources the
general report of results, the lecturer
gave picture of the transformation
of Forrest under fire, his rapidity of
action, fierceness of expression,
blaze of eye, ready perception of
position, wild, reckless of pursuit,
hand-to-hand conflicts. Then illus
trated the other side of his character
tender as a woman. When two
weeks after the skirmish he sat at
the door watching Forests horse
he stepped into the house to ask
after a man named Williams who
had been wounded by him i'm a
hand to hand conflict and by him
sent home. His kindness to the
wounded Federal was such that as
he reappeared at the door the wife
of the man was clinging to him with
loud expressions of gratitude and as
/ threw him his bride rein / mark
ed him wipe tears from the eyes /
had seen so lately blaze with fervid
passion.


Thelecturer gave an amusing pic
ture of the gallant Col. Starns, who
we found at the close of the pursuit,
hat off, plastered with mud from top
to toe, thrown from the hoofs of the
retreating Federal cavalry. He had
exhausted both of his navy revOl-
vers and as his last act in pursuit,
having no sabre at the time, threw
his pistol at the head of a Federal
soldier Just in front of him, which
him in the back rolled
harmlessly to the ground. These
pictures were given as illustrations
of the over eagerness of Southern
officers in the early part of the war
for personal part in the affray.


FORT DoNELsON.


Touching lightly on the general
conduct of the battle at Fort Donel-
son, the lecturer claimed that moth
ing during this or any other could
excel the eager bravery, the deadly
aim and the steady vaior of the Sat
urday's contest. He particularly
claims that from personal Observa-
tiOn both into the dusk of Saturday
night, and until after A. NJ. on
Sunday morning, as we covered the
retreat of the forces under Forrest,
and remained near the field of bat
tie, that the belief upon the part of
the Confederate commanders that
the Federal army had reinvested
the Confederate position was fatal
deluSiGn. He further claims that
Col. Forrest was authorized by the
officers of his cOmmadd to pledge
the commander that he would cut a
way for his retreat Sunday morning,
and so soon as the army should
make good its passage of the Feder-
eral lines, that we would pledge our
selves to cover his retreat. We had
for two days before the battle
measured arms with the FEEDER
al cavalry, and were perfectly con-
fident of our ability to prevent them
from annoying him In retreat. The
lecturer also protested that the idea
that the infantry could not have
made the march was a mistake.
Had they been allowed to rest, as
the greater portion of them did,
from P. NJ, and aroused at IL p.
NJ, they would have been on the
march for six hours before any one
in the Federal camp would have
been aware of the fact. A few
wagons would have bridged the
swollen stream, while the energy
gained by the hope of escape, would
have insured their ability to make
the march. The lecturer closed this
part of his subject with an amusing
account of the escapade of a Confed-
crate cavalry regiment.


I ~ SHILOH.


After picturing the Sunday morn
ing, the prayer before action, the
beauty and evident surprise in the
Federal encampment, the capture of
Prentiss' brigade, the lecturer came
to the historic question. Could we
have ended the battle with a COM
plete capture of Grants army on
Sunday evening? Gave from per-
sonal observations the position and
,1ttar decentralization of the Federal