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

[208] with so much interest to a long sermon, that I was not surprised to hear of such a beginning of religious interest in various regiments of the brigade as issued in a half-way promise on my part to fall in with the proposal of the General to preach very early to his soldiers for a succession of nights. In General Lawton's brigade there is a more decided state of religious excitement. The great body of the soldiers in some of the regiments meet for prayer and exhortation every night, exhibit the deepest solemnity, and present themselves numerously for the prayers of the chaplains and the Church. Quite a pleasant number express hope in Christ. In all other portions of Gen. Early's division (formerly Gen. Ewell's), a similar religious sensibility prevails.

In Gen. Trimble's, and the immediately neighboring brigades, there is a progress, at this hour, of one of the most glorious revivals I ever witnessed. Some days ago a young chaplain of the Baptist Church--as a representative of three others of the same denomination-took a long ride to solicit my co-operation, stating that a promising seriousness had sprung up within their diocese. I have now been with him three days and nights, preaching and laboring constantly with the soldiers when not on drill. The audiences and the interest have grown to glorious dimensions. It would rejoice you over-deeply to glance for one instant on oar night-meeting in the wild woods, under a full moon, aided by the light of our side stands. You would behold a mass of men seated on the earth all around you (I was going to say for the space of half an acre), fringed in all its circumference by a line of standing officers and soldiers-two or three deep-all exhibiting the most solemn and respectful earnestness that a Christian assembly ever displayed. An officer said to me last night on returning from worship, he never had witnessed such a scene, though a Presbyterian Elder, especially such an abiding solemnity and delight in the services as prevented all