J. William Jones, Christ in the camp, or religion in Lee's army

[377] do not indicate on the part of ‘Marse Robert’ any design of accommodating the Northern press by ‘evacuating Virginia.’ General Lee issued an order the other day, intimating that all lady visitors in the neighborhood of camp had best go to the rear as soon as practicable, and in accordance with the order every train is loaded with the wives of officers and soldiers who have been spending happy days with their loved ones. I have witnessed at the cars several parting scenes which touched me deeply. At the signal for the cars to start, manly frames choke with emotion, and helpless womanhood weeps bitter tears, at what may prove a final parting. Mrs. General—— veils her face that she may conceal from rude gazes the bitter anguish of a parting which may know no meeting again—while on the next seat the wife of some rough private sobs aloud as she parts from her all who may leave her and her little ones to the cold charities of the world.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the secession of Virginia and the first moving of the Virginia troops to the capture of Harper's Ferry, Norfolk, etc. Three years of carnage have passed by, many hearthstones of the ‘Old Dominion’ have been polluted, her fields have been laid waste, blackened ruins mark where some of her proudest mansions stood, her sons have been slain, and her people draped in mourning; but thus far she has borne herself proudly amidst the battle-storm, and she now enters upon the fourth year of the war with the same stern resolve as when her ‘Sic semper tyrannis’ first rung out defiance to the foe. What shall be the end of this year? Shall it terminate, or serve to indefinitely protract, the war? For myself, I have but one fear. I do not doubt the valor or the patient endurance of the army or the people at home. I only fear that we may ‘trust in an arm of flesh’—may look to Lee and Johnston instead of to the ‘Lord of hosts.’

Our chaplains' meeting on last Tuesday was of more than usual interest, since the report elicited showed a very general revival throughout the army. Extensive revivals were reported in Kirkland's, Davis's, Cooke's, Harris's, Wright's, Perrin's, Scales's, Lane's, Stonewall, J. M. Jones's, Steuart's, Gordon's, Battle's and Daniels's Brigades and portions of the Artillery of both Corps, while in all of the brigades there was a very hopeful state of things. The Lord is evidently with us in these