--Rev
Dr Quintard of
Atlanta, in the funeral sermon over the remains of
Lt Gen Polk, said:
‘
He was eminently a man of prayer.
Not praying where he could be seen of men, but restoring to commune with God in secret.
He never ceased his devotions.
He was instant in prayer; and I remember how, after the bloody field of
Perryville — when the noise and heat of the battle had passed, we were in the town of
Harrodsburg.--There was a beautiful church there, rich in architectural proportions and carved work.
He asked me to visit it with him. As we walked up the alone, he exclaimed, with emotion, "On, for the days when we went up to the house of the
Lord, and compassed his altar with the voice of prayer and than keeping."
’
Reaching the chancel, he said to me; "Can we not have prayers?" and we kneeled down and poured out our hearts to God; and he left the sanctuary with a face, all bathed in tears.
Such a soldier did not fight for fame.
I remember or
Chickamauga, as we were scatted upon the ground a few days after the battle, he said to me; "God answered my prayers in giving us this great victory, for I prayed long and earnestly that he might our arms."
Yes, he was emphatically a man of prayer.
The last few weeks of his life were, more than others consecrated by prayer As we took back upon them, now that he is gone, we see how God was preparing him for the higher communion of the
Church triumphant.
At midnight, with a faithful few, he baptised one of his companions in arms — the gallant
Hood —— and received a few days later his
Commanding General into the Church of Christ His last sunday on earth, he gathered all his staff and attendants about him, and with prayer and with litany supplication and praise seemed to leave them his benefaction.
Me was greatly beloved by his troops.
The tears of his
Commanding General were mingled with those of his privates when he fell.
