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

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Often in these prayer-meetings there are from twelve to twenty mourners. There have already been two or three conversions, and four have joined the Church. Sinners are being awakened, mourners comforted, and the Christian established in. the faith. The camp is a rough, hard life. But, sir, I feel fully compensated for every privation and hardship I have been subjected to.

And now, one word to state a very important fact. The partitions are well-nigh broken down that have heretofore kept Christians so far apart. We know each other here only as Christian brethren travelling to a better world. Our meeting is still progressing. Pray for us.

There was scarcely a command in any part of the field that did not call for the gospel. Rev. J. W. Turner, writing from Savannah, Georgia, says: “ ‘Our people seem to have deserted us,’ was the language of a sick soldier in one of the hospitals in this city. He was a member of the 25th Georgia regiment, which has been encamped near this place for nearly eighteen months.” The Baptists had given fruitful attention to this part of the field, as they did indeed with self-sacrificing zeal to every portion of the army. “There are three Baptist ministers,” says Mr. Johnston, “acting as general chaplains, colporteurs, &c., within and around this city. They are giving their whole time to the distribution of Testaments, tracts, and Baptist periodicals, and to the preaching of the word.” But few of any other denomination were laboring at this time in this portion of the army.

Of the forces stationed at Cumberland Gap, Rev. A. M. Jones, chaplain of the 55th Georgia, writes: “Having no house of worship, and the weather being very inclement and unpleasant, I have done very little preaching, but am endeavoring to do all the good I can by visiting the sick and procuring religious reading for the soldiers. Yesterday morning the mail brought us one hundred copies of the Southern Christian Advocate, which ”