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

This day of fasting and prayer was observed with the deeper solemnity, inasmuch as the people felt that they were on the verge of tremendous battles.

“Most of us,” said a chaplain in General Lee's army, “have made up our minds that the spring campaign here will open with the most desperate clash of arms that freedom ever cost on this continent.”

The chaplain's words were true. In front of General Lee the Federals were gathering in immense strength. At Dalton, Ga., they massed their finest Western army against Gen. Johnston. In the far Southwest General Banks had a heavy force, but he was met and driven back by the Confederates under General Kirby Smith. And now from the soldiers standing in the very front of death there came a solemn warning against the frivolities in which many engaged in our afflicted land. From the Christian Association of the First regiment of Virginia artillery an appeal was sent forth against “the gayety and pleasure-seeking” of the times. These faithful soldiers of Christ and of their country said:

We believe this war which is now desolating our land is a righteous judgment and chastisement from the hand of a just God for those various sins of which we have been and are still guilty; and we cannot believe, either from God's revealed word or from the dictates of our consciences, or from the teachings of those principles of right and justice and morality which have been implanted in our breast in the wise and merciful providence of God, that it is right or proper thus to answer God's call upon us for mourning by sounds of joy and rejoicing.

They urged their friends at home to join them “in seeking to do what we can to avoid receiving the afflictions of God's hand with an improper spirit, or engaging in any frivolities or pleasures, even though some of ”