Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/200

186 in our barracks three ministers—Rev. Dr. Handy, of the Presbyterian church of Portsmouth, Va., and Captain Harris, of Georgia, and Captain Samford, of Texas, local Methodist preachers. A revival of religion has been in progress for two weeks—17 converts, many backsliders reclaimed, and a refreshing season to old professors, numbering 150 reported names." Rev. Dr. Kavanaugh reports over 500 conversions in two brigades in the Southwest. He says in his report: "Wicked men come into the congregation, or into the outskirts of it, and are suddenly stricken down and fall to the earth, and remain for hours speechless and apparently unconscious."

At Atlanta the Confederates held that city against the heavy battalions of General Sherman. The fights along the lines were frequent and deadly, but the religious enthusiasm of the soldiers was undiminished. "They are not afraid of death," writes a devoted chaplain, A. D. McVoy, "and are ready to die when God calls them. The work of God is going on amid the cannon's roar, the fatiguing monotony of the trenches, and the heroic movements of the picket line. Religion is infusing a spirit of fortitude, endurance and determination into the hearts of the soldiers that no hardship, no suffering, can undermine or break down." Bishop Lay, of the Protestant Episcopal church, in a letter to a relative in Charleston, S. C., describes a scene of the deepest interest in the same army. The bishop was earnestly laboring as a missionary in the Georgia army. He says: "Yesterday, in Strahl's brigade, I preached and confirmed nine persons. Last night we had a very solemn service in General Hood's room, some forty persons, chiefly generals and staff officers, being present. I confirmed General Hood and one of his aides, Captain Gordon, of Savannah, and a young lieutenant from Arkansas. The service was animated, the praying good. Shells exploded near by all the time. General Hood, unable to kneel, supported himself on his crutch and staff, and with bowed head