Lincoln, Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Jackson. Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, Vicksburg, and Manassas. . . . The mere mention of these names stirs passion and wonder at what is still the greatest human tragedy in U.S. history: the American Civil War. In the wake of the first cannon’s fire—the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861—came four agonizing years of battle and six hundred thousand soldiers’ graves until General Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865.
It would seem that under the murky clouds of death, destruction, and human misery, spiritual darkness would prevail. However, one of the great stories of America’s Civil War is seldom told: God was using many chosen instruments to prepare for a spiritual harvest of souls that would sweep as many as 250,000 Union and Confederate soldiers into the kingdom of light!
Chosen instruments
One of those chosen instruments was our great president Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln had a supreme respect for the Christian faith and recognized its importance in maintaining the morale of the army. So on May 4, 1861, he ordered all Union regimental commanders to appoint chaplains for their units. God providentially moved in the heart of our nation’s commander in chief to send forth laborers into what would become one of the great harvest fields of all time.
Lincoln also had a great love for the Scriptures. He said, “In regard to this Great Book [the Bible], I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.”1 Perhaps this conviction led Lincoln to support government-sanctioned Christian volunteer work among the troops. He was unequivocal in his support for the United States Christian Commission, an evangelistic organization that provided tracts and testaments to soldiers in the Union armies. Lincoln’s personal faith in Christ is debated, but his leadership in affecting the spiritual welfare of the Union armies and encouraging their evangelization is unmistakable.
In the South, what the Confederate armies lacked in organized spiritual support from their president, Jefferson Davis, was more than made up for by great spiritual leadership in the field from Christian generals. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, the famous Confederate general, implored churches to send godly ministers to preach God’s Word to the soldiers. Jackson himself was known to ride through the camps distributing tracts to his men and attending his troops’ religious meetings. In Jackson’s army, religious meetings were to be conducted whenever conditions permitted, with the central focus being the preaching of God’s Word.2 These worship services could last three hours or more. As a tribute to his spiritual life, one historian noted Jackson’s “primary interests” as “Biblical theology and Christian discipleship.”3
The man who may be most responsible for the remarkable revival in the South during the war years is General Robert E. Lee. Lee was a man of prayer and spiritual devotion to Christ. His profound personal piety is well documented by those who were close to him. His friend and former slave William Mac Lee praised his onetime master, saying, “I was raised by one of the greatest men in the world. There was never one born of a woman greater than Gen. Robert E. Lee.”4
On one occasion, when Lee was informed that the Confederate chaplains continued praying for him, tears came to his eyes, and he replied, “I sincerely thank you for that, and I can only say that I am a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone, and that I need all the prayers you can offer for me.”5 Lee also prayed daily and unashamedly before his troops, and he and his troops attended meetings given to prayer.
Lee longed for spiritual revival, and his desire for revival did not end with the war. As president of Washington College, Lee said, “Our great want is a revival, which shall bring these young men to Christ.”6
Lesser-known heroes
Among the lesser-known heroes of war are the many chaplains and volunteer workers who marched, rode, slept, ate, fought, suffered, and died alongside the troops they ministered to. Of interest to those in our GARBC family is the fact that John Gano, the first pastor of First Baptist Church in New York City, left the city in 1776 to become a chaplain during the Revolutionary War. He became a close friend of George Washington and baptized the man by immersion. Gano served as a chaplain until the close of the war, at which time he returned to his pastorate.
Later, during the Civil War, Chaplain William W. Bennett played a major part in the spreading of the gospel throughout the Southern armies. As superintendent of The Soldiers’ Tract Association, Bennett once ran a Union blockade at sea to get printed literature to the soldiers of the South. Bennett also preached to the soldiers and documented much of the spiritual activity surrounding the revivals in the field. He wrote, “In the army of General Lee, while it lay on the upper Rappahannock, the revival flame swept through every corps, division, brigade, and regiment.”7 Another minister wrote:
The cold, mud, and rain, have produced great suffering and sickness among the troops; for we have been entirely without shelter in very exposed positions. . . . In our field hospital we have over 350 sick. . . . I never saw men who were better prepared to receive religious instruction and advice. . . . The dying begged for our prayers and our songs. Every evening we would gather around the wounded and sing and pray with them. Many wounded, who had hitherto led wicked lives, became entirely changed. . . . One young Tennessean, James Scott, of the 32d Tennessee, . . . continually begged us to sing for him and to pray with him. He earnestly desired to see his mother before he died, which was not permitted, as she was in the enemy’s lines, and he died rejoicing in the grace of God.8
Union workers noticed a similar phenomenon occurring in the armies of the North. General Robert McAllister, an officer who was working closely with the United States Christian Commission, had complained early in the war that a “tide of irreligion” had rolled over his army “like a mighty wave.” However, by winter 1863, things had changed. In the Army of the Potomac, numerous brigades constructed churches and chapel tents for prayer meetings. General McAllister said he had never witnessed a better religious feeling among the men. A reporter for a religious magazine thought the piety of the Union army would win the whole nation to Christ.9
Stories too numerous to mention stir the heart with thanksgiving for what God did among our nation’s fighting men in extremely dire circumstances. The American Civil War offers hope that God can use the darkest times in human history for great spiritual purposes.
Notes
1. Abraham Lincoln, “Reply to Loyal Colored People of Baltimore upon Presentation of a Bible” (September 7, 1864), quoted in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. 7, edited by Roy P. Basler. Available online under “Lincoln’s Words,” at the Abraham Lincoln Research Site, http://members.aol.com/RVSNorton/Lincoln2.html.
2. Todd Hollins, “Rebel Preachers: Confederate Chaplains in the Civil War,” www.rmjc.org/pdf/confederate
preachers.PDF.
3. Jeffery Warren Scott with Mary Ann Jeffreys. “Fighters of Faith,” Christian History (Winter 1992), available online at http://www.christianitytoday.com/
holidays/memorial/features/33h034.html.
4. “Robert E. Lee’s Religious Views,” available online at www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/Lee_Religious_Views.htm.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Gardiner Shattuck Jr., “Christian History Corner: Reports of the Revival,” Christianity Today (November 1, 2004), available online at www.ctlibrary.com/12008.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
Loren Olson is production manager for Regular Baptist Press.
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