L. P. Brockett, The camp, the battlefield, and the hospital: or, lights and shadows of the great rebellion

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[396] by religious exercises; and I could well see, in his manifestations of deep and fervent piety, that a higher inspiration than the blazon of martial glory moved him — that it was truly in that sign that he sought to conquer.

The same writer says of Captain G. W. Rodgers, of the Catskill, U. S. N.:

Of the officers of the fleet to which Captain Rodgers belonged — the North Atlantic blockading squadron, under Admiral Dupont--I scarcely knew one that was not either a sincere Christian or at least a respecter of religion. Rodgers was one of its brightest ornaments. I lived on board his vessel, the Catskill, for several weeks previous to his death, and had sounded the depths of his tender and pious nature. Latterly there was seen in him a strange unworldliness that seemed to withdraw him from life, lifting him above the coils and confusions of this “weary and unintelligible world;” and there was seen that in his mood and manner which struck his friends with the sad premonition that he was not long to move among us. Yet this took away none of his alacrity in the discharge of his duty, and in the ironclad assault on Fort Sumter that soon followed, he ran his vessel far ahead of his fellows, and laid it almost under the frowning battlements of the fort. The assault failed, and I spent the night with him in his cabin. It was expected that the attack would be renewed in the morning. Our conversation was prolonged till after midnight, and without undressing I lay down. Rodgers never retired; but, when he thought his companion was