#576 
 
 Bill 
 
SOLDIERS' TRACT ASSOCIATION, "» tfo. 60. 
 
 Richmond, Va. '/ 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S BIBLE 
 
 BY REV. WM. M. CRUMLY, 
 
 CHAPLAIN OF GEORGIA HCoPITALS, RICHMOND. 
 
 Among the' v multiplicity of knapsacks, haversacks, bundles 
 and old clothes, stored in one of the" baggage ro#ms of a hos. 
 pital in Richmond, I found a Soldier's Bible. In ttois'mass 
 of seemingly worthless effects, once owned by our brave sol- 
 diers who had died in the hc^nital, were many precious relics 
 intrinsically worthless and, to the common observer, rather 
 offensive, being soiled, worn and strongly tinctured with th$ 
 pe3uliar odor of the camp. Yet each article is a precious gem, 
 a link in the bright chain of memory around which many pain- 
 fully pleasing recollections cluster. 
 £ There is an old uniform, hastily made by a mother or sister 
 when the loved one rushed at his country's call to drive back, 
 the invading foe. Here ? re the accoutrements of war that 
 w,ere buckled cc by fair**nd loving hand>, while aa earnest 
 prayer was breatheu ' ir brushed from the flushed 
 
 cheek of a devoted ir 'uer, who whispered, in suppressed 
 tones, "Go,^my son, '.v*:ing in the God of thy fathers/' 
 See that neat little ain-I it is a daguerreotype taken from 
 that coat pocket — the '"y. v keb nearest the wearer's heart. It 
 was a noble, warm K ..—the heart of a southern soldier— 
 1 
 
2 The Soldiers Bible. 
 
 buj now it lies cold and silent in Oakwood • Cemetery, that 
 rich mine of Southern wealth. 
 
 That daguerreotype v Let us look in upon that modest face, 
 half-smiling, half-blushing, in all fhe charming besfaty of early 
 womanhood ; her large liquid eyes are the very soul of genius ; 
 her full suit of dark hair is thrown back from a loftj> brow, 
 white and pure as the soul within; her dress is exquisitely 
 simple — a close-fitting black silk, With a Confederate bow on a 
 •bosom as true to the honor of the South as the ocean is to the 
 rising moon. How much this token was prized by the former 
 owner may be inferred from the well-worn clasp, and that the 
 last glance of his dying eyes fell on it as it dropped fqpn his 
 trembling hand, all moistened with the cold dew that distilled 
 from his brow" as the evening twilight of death closed around 
 him, ancl a low murmur escaped his pale lips, farewell, dear- 
 est, beloved only less than my Saviour. 
 
 How changed is the original since the bright spring morn-* 
 ing when, with Albert by her side, Jennie left her beautiful . 
 thadow on the chemical plate — the rose is faded to the lily — 
 the bright smile that played. on her sweet face, like pure water * 
 rippling over golden sands, has spread into -a deep calm eddy, 
 the repose of confiding faith, reflecting the untold glory of thel- 
 heavenly worlds above, while the eye has a clearer,^ brigl#er W 
 fire kindling the light of hope, that penetrates tb^e thick gloom** 
 of the great hereafter. - '_.'•' 
 
 In th? same po«ket with the daguerreotype, I found thU 
 Soldier's Bible. It was a neat London edition, with a silver 
 clasp, on which was engraven the initials A. L. C. On the 
 fly-leaf was written, in a neat and delicate hand, " A present 
 to my dear son, oif his fifteenth 'birthday, from his mother, 
 M. A. C. Below was written, in the same hand, " Search the 
 Scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and 
 
The Soldiers Bible. 8 
 
 they are they which testify of Me" " Remember now thy 
 Cfeator in ^he days of thy youth/' "If sinners entice thee/ 
 consent thou not." 
 
 The book had the appearance of being carefully read, there 
 being many chapters and verses marked with pencil, as though 
 they had strongly impressed themselves on the mind of the 
 young reader. Among them were the chapters which describe 
 the heroic daring of the youthful David, the saintly purity of 
 Joseph, and the unflinching fidelity of the three captive boys 
 at the court of Babylon. The first, twenty-third and fifty-first 
 Psalms bore marks of an interested reader. In the New Tes- 
 tament such Scriptures, as speak of the love of Go4 to sin- 
 ners, were carefully noted : " G>d so loved the world that he 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life." Isajah, i. 18: 
 " Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
 snow : though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool." At this remarkably encouraging promise was a large 
 blood stain, as though gory fihgeis had been tracing out every 
 word; also at John xiv. 1, 2 — "Let not your heart be trou- 
 bled : ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's 
 house are many mansions" — were the same stains of still 
 broader and deeper dye. 
 
 Some of the incidents in the life and death of the soldier, 
 who owned the Bible we have just examined, may prove inte- 
 resting and useful to our readers. 
 
 Albert wa^4he only son of a pious and wealthy planter of 
 the South. Most of his time during his childhood was spent 
 in the country on his father's plantation. The little white 
 cottage was half buried in evergreens and richly festooned 
 with fragrant vines, among which the wild birds nestled and 
 sang their sweetest melodies. On the hill, at the end of a 
 
4 The Soldier's Bible. 
 
 • 
 long avenue, stood the quiet country church, where- little Al- 
 bert, accompanied by bis parents, sister and aged grandmother, 
 met the families and children of the neighborhood to spend an 
 hour in Sabbath school, and then listen to the reverend man 
 of Grod, who preached to them the precious Word of the Lord. 
 Here and around the family altar, Albert received that moral 
 training which laid a deep and broad -foundation for a charac- 
 ter, in many respects, worthy of imitation by all who may read 
 this simple narrative. In the Sabbath school, Albert first 
 formed the acquaintance of little Jennie, neatly dressed in a ^ 
 white muslin with a blue sash, who afterwards became the 
 beautiful and accomplished Miss S., whose daguerreotype we 
 found in the soldier's coat* pocket. Sh* was the intimate 
 friend of his sister Hattie, and often his successful competi- 
 tor for prizes offered by the superintendent of the Sabbath 
 school. 
 
 In the year 1856, Albert was sent to college to complete 
 his education, and Jennie went to a female institution of high 
 grade to mature hef classical studies. 
 
 A few notes that ran the college blockade and .vacation 
 meetings sufficed to keep up their acquaintance and friendship. 
 In the summer of 1860, they both graduated with honors ■ 
 highly creditable to them and gratifying to their friends. On 
 their return home, early attachments ripened into something 
 more than friendship ; but scarcely had the bright vision of 
 hope dawned, when it was overcast by the dark cloud of war 
 that suddenly arose upon our horizon. The*«ountry called 
 the brave young men from every quarter to rally in Southern 
 prowess, and with battle shock roll back the invading foe. 
 Albert was' one of the first to respond. He took his place in 
 the ranks as a common sol'drer/feeling it was houor onough # to 
 be a private, defending his country, his home and his beloved- 
 
The Soldier's Bible. 5 
 
 Jennie; and all the more, as he had her approving smile to 
 encourage him. # 
 
 Albert's departure and- transfer to Virginia by rail are 
 scenes so common to soldiers, that they can be imagined or 
 remembered far better than I could describe them. 
 
 There is one incident, however, which I will mention : 
 Just before he took lea ve r they were all called around the old 
 family altar. Jennie was there. Maum Patty, the nurse of 
 his chTldhood, was there, with snow-white kerchief about her 
 ebon brow and silver locks. Many were the bitter sobs, while 
 the deep, earnest voice of the father in solemn prayer, like the 
 patriarch Abraham, bound his son, his only son, a sacrifice on 
 his country's attar; the victim was covered with a rich gar- 
 land of warm embraces, gemme'd with many a burning tear; 
 when the amen was pronounced,- there was in all a feeling far 
 " too deep for utterance. In this moment of ominous silence; a 
 mother!s hand placed the Soldier's Bible in a pocket near his 
 "heart. Albert moved slowly down the avenue, the embodi- 
 ment of youthful chivalry and manly beauty. The spectators 
 stood like breathless statues, fearing, most of all, they would 
 see his face no more. Just as he turned the corner at the end 
 of the avenuef he cast one glanee back to the scenes of his 
 childhood, which never before seemed half so dear. It is the 
 last sight — he will see them no more forever ! 
 
 His first night in camp was a trying one, surrounded, as he 
 was, by many that were thoughtless and gay, as if they were 
 merely on a holiday campaign ; but Albert was more serious 
 and felt that he must maintain his religious character, and that 
 to begin right was of great importance in his new position. 
 By the camp-fire he read a chapter in his Bible and knelt on 
 the ground and prayed, covered by the silent heavens that 
 looked down with a thousand starry eyes on the lone worship- 
 
6 The Soldier's Bible. 
 
 per, surrounded by tlje glare of camp-fires and the hum of the 
 multitude, that rose on the night wind like the voice of many 
 waters, and died away among the distant hilW. After a long 
 and uncocafortable transit by rail and forced marches, with 
 weary limbs and blistered feet, he was thrown into the battle 
 of Manassas, on the. 21st of July, 1861, with scarcely time to 
 
 * kneel by an apple tree in battle line, over which the shells 
 were howling furiously. Here, in prayer, he- hastily commit- 
 ted his soul and body to his faithful Keeper, then rose calm 
 and serene, with an assurance that -no weapon of the enemy 
 would harm hia*. 
 
 When the battle was over and victory perched upon our 
 banner, Albert found himself surrounded with* the dead and 
 
 ' dying, among whom were some of bis particular friends. He 
 was strongly and strangely exercised with a mingled feeling 
 of joy and grief, a sort of hysteric paroxysm of laughing and 
 crying^ weeping for the slain, and rejoicing that he had es- 
 caped unharmed, with a deep consciousness that God had 
 been his. shield and hiding-place in the hour of danger. Al- 
 bert endured all the sufferings of. fatigue, cold and hunger in- 
 cident to a winter campaign ; none murmured less, none were 
 more faithful in the discharge of duty than he. » The demoral- 
 izing effects of the camp^ with almost the entire absence of 
 religious privileges, produced a coldness in his state; and 
 although he flid, not compromise his moral character by pro- 
 fanity, gambling and drunkenness, as many others did, yet he 
 failed to enjoy the close communion and clear sense of the 
 Divine presence which he had done in former days. In this 
 state of mind, he entered upon the seven days battles before 
 Richmond. The solemnities of the occasion aroused him to 
 a sense of his danger, causing him to cleave more closely to 
 his Bible and its precious promises. With his hand on this 
 
* 
 The Soldier's Bible. . 7 
 
 blessed book pressed to his heart, he called on God to be his 
 shield and support in the hour -of battle. He passed the ter- 
 rible ordeal of Graines* Mill on Friday, and Malvern Hill on 
 Tuesday, where the men ftll around him like grain before the 
 reapers, and covered the ground thick as Autumn leaves. A 
 degree of joy and gratitude swelled his heart as he surveyed 
 the field of death, in view" of his own wonderful escape, but 
 not so deep and warm as on a former occasion, when his faith 
 And piety were more earnest and simple, Albert continued 
 at times to read his Bible : but it was evidently more as a 
 task than % pleasant duty, his keen relish for divine things 
 had abated very much ; the excuses of camp life, long marches, 
 and the general indifference of officers and men upon the sub- 
 ject of religion, offered his conscience the consolation of a 
 temporary opiate. Sometimes, however, on the reception of 
 letters from home, and sometimes when alone on his midnight 
 round of picket duty, he would shed a penitential tear, and 
 resolve to double his diligence and regain his lost ground as 
 a Christian ; but a plant so tender and unprotected by the 
 pale of the Church, unwat*red by the dews of the sanctuary, 
 persecuted and scathed by the lightnings of contempt, nipped 
 and browsed upon by every wild beast of the forest, neces- 
 sarily became greatly dwarfed in life and growth ; a feeling of 
 self-security, a trust in fate or chance, impressed him more 
 than a simple faith in the ever-present God. In this spiritu- 
 ally demoralized condition, he entered the Sljarpsburg fight, 
 without even asking God to protect and save him from danger 
 and death. Soon after the battle opened, he was struck by a 
 ball, and carried back to the rear a#wounded man; from pro- 
 fuse hemorrhage, a sick,- .dreamy sensation stole over him ; the 
 light facfedjrom his eyes ; while a thousand mingled sounds 
 filled his ears, and a faint vision of home, friends, green turf, 
 
8 The Soldier's Bible. 
 
 battle-fields and grave-yards flitted by like phantoms of the 
 nigh't. With returning consciousness, there came a sense of 
 shame and sorrow* for haviDg declined in his religious state, 
 and a conviction that his wound was the chastening of the 
 Lord, to rebuke his wanderings and check his self-reliance. 
 
 As soon as he was sufficiently restored, he drew from his 
 pocket his neglected Bible, kissing it many times over, and 
 bathing it in tears, as truly penitential as Peter when he wept 
 at the feet of Jesus. His bloody fingers searched out the old* 
 cherished promises of God, leaving many a gory stain on the 
 blessed pages of inspiration. The law of the Lord again be- 
 came his meat and his drink, on which he feasted by day and 
 by night; a new life was infused into bis soul, which enabled 
 him to bear his sufferings with true Christian heroism. 
 
 In this condition, I found him in the old Academy Hospital 
 in Winchester, lying on the dirty floor, with a blanket for his 
 bed and a wisp of straw to pillow up his wounded limb. While 
 sitting by his side, trying to minister to his soul and body, I 
 received from him this narrative substantially as I have given 
 it to you. After much severe suffering, when our army fell 
 back, he was sent to Staunton and thence to Richmond, where 
 I again met him' just in time to witness his last triumphant 
 conflict with suffering and death. He was in a hospital, re- 
 clining on a clean, comfortable bed), his head resting on a soft, ' 
 white pillow, on which the familiar name of a distinguished 
 lady of Georgia was marked — she having contributed it from 
 her own # bed for the benefit of the suffering soldiers. Near 
 him sat the matron of the hospital, rendering every possible 
 .comfort that the sympathyof a woman could suggest, intensely 
 sharpened by the recent loss of a promising son, who fell in a 
 late battle. Reduced by a secondary hemorrhage and ampu- 
 tation, Albert, with a calm, steady faith, came down to the 
 
The Soldier' £ Bible. 9 
 
 *%■ 
 
 cold waters of Jordan, where lie lingered for a snort time, and 
 dictated a letter to his mother, which I wrote for him, in which 
 lie gave an appropriate word to each one of the family, not 
 eve^forgetting Maum Patty, his old nurse, and reserving a 
 postscript, the last and best, for Jennie. I would like very 
 much to give my readers a copy of this letter, but it is the 
 exclusive treasure of the bereaved and afflicted ones, whose 
 grief is too sacred for the intermeddling of any save the most 
 intimate friends. After pausing a few moments at the close 
 of the letter, he seemed self-absorbed, and soliloquized thus : 
 I die for my country and the cause of humanity, and, with 
 many others, have thrown my bleeding body into the horrid 
 chasm of revolution to bridge the way far the triumphal car 
 of Liberty, which will roll over me, bearing in its long train 
 the happy millions of future generations, rejoicing in all the 
 grandeur of peace and prosperity. ' I wonder if they will ever 
 pause as they pass to think of the poor soldiers whose bones 
 lie at the foundation of their security and happiness? Or 
 , will the soul be permitted from some Pisgah summit ty take 
 a look at the future glory of the country I died to reclaim 
 from fanatical thraldom ? Will the soul ever visit at evening 
 twilight the scenes of my childhood, and listen to the sweet 
 hymn of praise that goes up from the paternal altar at which 
 I was consecrated to God? Though unseen, may it not be 
 the guardian angel of my loved one V* Checking himself, he 
 said : "These are earthly desires, which I feel gradually giv- 
 ing way to a purer heavenly sympathy." Then, in a low, 
 sweet voice, lie repeated : • 
 
 •'Give joy or grief, give ease or pain, * 
 
 Take life or friends away, 
 So I but find them all again 
 In that eternal day." 
 
10 The Soldier's Bible. 
 
 He repeated the last line with an emphasis that threw a 
 beauty and. force into it which I never saw or felt before. 
 Seeing that he was communing with his own soul, and that 
 spiritual things in the opening light -of eternity were rising in 
 bold relief before his vision of faith, I withdrew a short space 
 from him, feeling it was holy ground, "where the good man 
 meets his fate, quite on the verge of heaven." He then gently 
 laid his hand on his Bible and the daguerreotype that lay near 
 his side, and amid this profound stillness, surrounded by a 
 halo of more than earthly glory, gently as the evening shadows, 
 the curtain dropped, leaving nothing visible to us but the cold 
 and lifeless clay, on which a sweet smile rested, as though it 
 had seen the.hapgy soul enter the pearly gates of the New 
 Jerusalem. Thus, far from home and friends, this nobleyouth 
 fell asleep in Jesus, swelling the long list of the honored dead; 
 but, "though dead, he yet speaketh." The precious treasure, 
 " The Soldier's Bible" has been returned to the family, and 
 is now one of those valued relics that bind many sad hearts 
 with links of gold to by-gone days. 
 
 Now, my dear fellow-soldier, I leave with you this simple 
 narrative, without comment or application, hoping that you 
 may find something in it to interest, instruct or encourage you 
 while performing the Honorable, yet responsible and arduous, 
 duties of a soldier. - - 
 
There is Sweet Best. 11 
 
 THERE IS SWEET REST, 
 
 Come, soldiers, don't grow weary, 
 But let us suffer on ; . 
 
 The moments will not tarry — ' ■ 
 Thfs strife will soon be done. 
 
 The passing scenes all tell us 
 
 , That petice will shortly come: 
 
 Our banners wave in triumph 
 O'et every Southern home. 
 
 There is sweet rost for you. 
 
 We never will grow weary,. 
 
 But battle to the end, 
 And trust in God and Davis 
 
 Our country to defend. 
 The battle-fields all round us 
 
 Are red with human gore, 
 Where friend and foe together 
 
 All sleep to wake no more. • 
 
 There is sweet rest for them. 
 
 And when we close this warfare, 
 
 That sets our country free, * 
 We'll change the swords to plough-shares 
 
 That won our liberty. 
 Then crowned with fadeless honor 
 - To AWul life return, 
 Till the evening shadows darken 
 Our quiet Southern homes. 
 
 There is sweet rest in Heaven. 
 
12 My Bible. 
 
 * 
 
 MY BIBLE 
 
 This book is all that's left me now ; 
 
 Tears - will unbidden start — 
 "With, faltering lip and throbbing brow 
 
 I press it to my heart. • 
 For many generations past, 
 
 Here is our family tree : 
 My mother's hands this Bible clasp'4 — 
 
 She, dying, gave it me. 
 
 My father read this holy book 
 
 To brothers, sisters dear : 
 How calm was my poor mother's look, 
 
 Who lean'd God's word to hear. ' 
 Her augel face — I see it yet! 
 
 What thronging memories come 1 
 Again that little group is met 
 
 Within the halls ef home. 
 
 Thou truest friend that man ever knew, 
 
 Thy constancy I've % tried ; 
 Where all were false I've found thee true — 
 
 My counsellor and guide ! % 
 
 The mines of earth no treasures give 
 
 That could this f oltftne buy ; - ' . 
 In teaching me the way to live, 9 » 
 
 It taught me how to die. 
 
 Soldiers' Tract Association, M. E. Church, South. 
 
Hollingpr 
 
 pH 8.5 
 
 Mill Run F03-2193