William W. Bennett, A narrative of the great revival which prevailed in the Southern armies during the late Civil War

[213] a man to be reproved for his sins in the presence of the men who are the daily witnesses of his transgressions of the laws of God. Pity that any such men should have the control to such a great extent of the souls and bodies of our citizen soldiers; but, unfortunately, there are many such officers in our army. I recollect a case in which one of this class took the chaplain to task for having preached against profanity, and charged him with having taken advantage of his position to lecture him on swearing, and that, consequently, he should hear him preach no more. Was not this very dignified behavior from a man who filled the important and responsible position of Colonel, commanding perhaps a thousand men, who were not only to obey his orders, but also look to him for an example as an officer and a gentlemen? He should have encouraged his men to attend on religious services and should have set them the example, whatever may have been his own personal predilections on the subject of religion. And this man is, I fear, only a type of a large number of men who occupy positions of command in the Confederate army.

Such cases, we are happy to say, were rare exceptions in our army. The great majority of the officers, if not personally pious, were men who had been trained up under moral influences, and they gladly afforded the chaplains every facility for conducting religious services.

Among the episodes of this period of the war, there are few more touching than one that furnished the ground work for a tract written by the Rev. William M. Crumley, of Georgia, and widely circulated among the soldiers with the happiest results. Mr. Crumley was one of the most faithful and untiring chaplains that labored in our armies. Thousands yet living remember with grateful hearts the self-sacrificing devotion of this excellent minister. He was chaplain of the Georgia hospitals at Richmond, but did not confine his labors to the city; on every battle-field where the army of Northern