Appendix no. 2: the work of grace in other armies of the Confederacy.
In the body of this volume I purposely confined myself to ‘Religion in Lee's Army,’ not only because I desired to write of what I had personal knowledge, and had far more material than I could possibly use, but because I have been hoping that some competent hand would prepare a companion volume to mine for the other armies of the Confederacy. This I sincerely hope will yet be done. But as there has been a demand on the part of many people for something concerning the other armies, and as the publishers generously propose to give the additional matter without increasing the price of the book, I have consented to compile it. I had hoped to get some chaplain in the Western Army to undertake the work of compilation for me, but as I have failed in my efforts to secure this, I must do the compilation myself, using freely such material as I can command, and the kind help of such brethren as I have been able to induce to help me.But I shall not be able to observe the same order and consistency of narrative as I could do with more space, and with more time at my disposal to make the compilation. I can only use as I find them newspaper clippings, and extracts from letters of chaplains, colporteurs, and other army workers. I shall have occasion to make free use again of the admirable little volume—‘The Great Revival in the Southern Armies,’—of my friend and brother, Dr. W. W. Bennett, whose lamented death last summer has added fresh interest to his very valuable book.
In speaking of helps to the revival, Dr. Bennett says: ‘A writer, speaking of the religious influence in the Army of Tennessee, says: “General Cleburne, the hero of many battle-fields, had a place prepared for preaching in the centre of his Division, where himself and most of his officers were present, and where I was assisted by General Lowry, who sat in the pulpit with me and closed the services of the hour with prayer. He is a Baptist preacher, and, like the commander of the Division, is a hero of many well-fought battle-fields. He takes great interest in the soldiers' religious welfare, often preaches to them, and feels that the ministry is still his high and holy calling.” Generals Findly, Bickler, Stewart, with others of the same army, were pious and devoted Christian officers, and gave much assistance to the chaplains and missionaries in the revival that swept so gloriously through the armies in the West. They recommended religion to their soldiers by precept and example. But these men were generals, and their contact with the soldiers was not so close as that of inferior officers. In the companies and regiments the work of pious officers was most effectually done.’
Rev. B. B. Ross, of Alabama, writing to Rev. A. E. Dickinson, says: ‘I am just from a pleasant tour among the hospitals in Mississippi, where I found 3,000 sick. They are greedy, yea, ravenous, in their appetite for something to read. Under the labors of your colporteurs there has been a revival of religion at Quitman, and there is also a revival in progress at Lauderdale Springs. The surgeons have been especially ’
