Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/380

 374 Southern Historical Society Papers.

told of past conflicts, betokening impending battle, and stirred the souls of preacher and hearer to an earnestness seldom attained. There were earnest faces and glistening tears, and when, at the close of the sermon, those desiring the prayers of God's people were invited to come forward, there were over two hundred who promptly re- sponded, a number of whom professed faith in Christ before leaving the ground.

In that long line of nearly forty miles of entrenchments, extending from north and west of Richmond to Hatcher's Run and Five Forks, below Petersburg, the opportunities for preaching and other religious services were varied. Some parts of the line were subjected to almost constant fire from the enemy, and the men could never assemble outside of the " bomb proofs," but other parts were sufficiently dis- tant from the enemy's lines to allow the men to assemble even out- side of the trenches A large number of comfortable chapels were erected — more would have been built but for the scarcity of timber — and where the men could not assemble in crowds, there were precious seasons of prayer and praise and worship in the " bomb proofs."

Let me try to picture several scenes as specimens of our daily work along the Petersburg lines. One day I went to Wise's brigade, sta- tioned in the trenches near the Appomattox, at a point where the lines of the enemy were so close that it was almost certain death to show your head above the parapet. As I went into the lines I saw what I frequently witnessed. An immense mortar shell [the men used to call them "lamp-posts"] would fly overhead, and some ragged " gray jacket " would exclaim, " That is my shell ! that is my shell! " and would scarcely wait for the smoke from its explosion to clear away before rushing forward to gather the scattered fragmenis, which he would sell to the Ordnance officer for a few cents a pound (Confederate money) to help eke cut his scant rations. Entering the trenches I soon joined my gallant friend, Major John R. Bagby, of the Thirty-ffnath Virginia regiment, who accompanied me down the lines as we distributed tracts and religious newspapers, and talked with the men concerning the great salvation.

There was a good deal of picket firing going on at the time ; the minnie balls would whistle by our ears, and (^ forgetful of Dr. Dabney's application of the doctrine of "Special Providence") I found myself constantly dodging, to the no small amusement of the men. At last we came to a man who was the fortunate possessor of a frying-pan, and the still more fortunate possessor of something to