Chapter 11: religious life of Lee's Army
- Revival in Barksdale's brigade at Fredericksburg -- a model chaplain -- personal conferences with comrades -- a prayer between the lines -- a percussion shell at Gettysburg.
No account of my experience as a Confederate soldier would be complete if it failed to refer to the religious life of the army. This was an element of importance in all our armies, from the outset to the end, and was recognized and fostered as such by our leading generals, many of whom attended the religious services held among the men of their commands, some of them taking loving direction of these services. I remember on one occasion, when my father was preaching to Tom Cobb's brigade, on the lines about Richmond in 1862, that the service was interrupted by sharp firing in front and the command marched off into the woods. It proved a false alarm, however; the troops soon returned and the service was resumed. But the men were preoccupied, nervous, and widely scattered, and everything dragged, until the general, rising, begged my father to wait a moment, and called out: “Men, get up close together here in front, till your shoulders meet. You can't make a fire if the sticks don't touch.” They “closed up” and the meeting proceeded with great power. Volumes have been written on this general theme by chaplains and others, and I have already made brief incidental reference to it; but more than this is required. Not that I propose to condense into this chapter every fact or incident within my knowledge illustrative of this phase of life in the Confederate armies. On the contrary, I shall, in the main, throughout this book, allow the religious element to
