#5l5 
 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 The camp and th 
 Conf Pam 12mo #515 
 
SOLDIERS' TRACT ASSOCIATION, ) No. 70, 
 
 Richmond, Va, \ 
 
 THE CAMP AND THE CROSS. 
 
 It was Commencement week at Wofford College. There 
 was an address to be delivered to the alumni. The orator se- 
 lected for the occasion was a former graduate. His theme was 
 Patriotism, and from it, he seamed to have caught inspiration. 
 Eloquence, chaste yet impassioned, flowed from tois lips, and 
 you felt that the speaker was ready to illustrate practically, 
 the sublime virtue he was so enthusiastically portraying. 
 
 Those who that day heard him exclaim, u God grant, that 
 ere Death's scythe shall cut me down, This arm may strike one 
 blow for Southern Rights," felt, iu after times, that* the inspi- 
 ration of the eloquence of that occasion, was akin to prophecy. 
 
 The date of that address was nearly five* months antecedent 
 to the passing of the ordinance of secession of South Carolina 
 from the Northern States, but the ptfblic mind was then pre~ 
 pared for the momentous action. The orator, on the occasion 
 of which we hive spoken, was, though young in years, an old 
 secessionist. At the State Convention (held in June of that 
 same year of the secession,) of which he was a member, his 
 spirit-stirring speech there contained this sentiment : "I was 
 a secessionist before I knew what the word meant, except re- 
 sistance to oppression." 
 
 At the fist call for volunteers to defend his State, promptly 
 did he respond. lie left for Charleston 2<1 January, 1861, in 
 the first company sent from Columbia, (the artillery,) com. 
 manded by Capt. Green. The night before he left, he met 
 around the family altar and prayer was specially made for hjm,. 
 
 Kfc fcafy at an tfarly age^ madfe a prO'ftfeeabn bf religion ecm. 
 1 
 
2 The Camp and the Cross. 
 
 necting himself with the church ; but, by the temptations of. 
 college life, had been led into forbidden paths of pleasure. 
 Yet we always felt that the child of so many prayers, though 
 erring and straying for a while, would surely return to the fold 
 at last. Little did we deem by what way he was to be led. 
 How could we think by that most unlikely one, the camp ? 
 But I anticipate. 
 
 His mother gave him a Bible which he pro # mised her to read, 
 and which afterwards, by the marks in it from his pencil, she 
 knows he di4 read ; and, when he arrived at the Fort, his des" 
 tination, on opening his trunk, which was sent to him, the 
 first thing that his eyes must have lighted on was a paper con- 
 taining the following : 
 
 " My Beloved Son } — In the day, yea, in the very hour you 
 
 were born, I gave you, soul and body, to God. That gift I 
 
 have never reclaimed, but a thousand times have I, on my 
 
 knees, with a full heart, renewed it. I do now renew that gift. 
 
 I also now give you to your country, humbly praying that the 
 
 God of your father may be your God, that t He may makejou 
 
 useful to your country, and that He may protect you and save 
 
 your life; or, if it be His will that you must die, that He will 
 
 convert and save your precious never-dyiug soul. 
 
 Your affectionate 
 
 Father." 
 
 His letters home, we could not but perceive, were written 
 in a more serious vein than usual. He wrote of "praying," 
 of "tryiugtodo his duty towards God and man," of "hoping, 
 that God in His mercy would pardon, his sins, for Christ's 
 sake." Death was menacing them every moment, from their 
 exposed situation in gun range of Fort Sumter. Anderson 
 had threatened to open his guns upon them if they fired upon 
 any VetB'el couairjg iu. £till they determined upon that dur* 
 
The Camp and the Orois. 8 
 
 ing act, which they soon put into # execution, firing upon the 
 "Star of the West." Then the "Brooklyn" was expected 
 in. They were but few in number, and at that time poorly 
 prepared to repel the force that likely would be brought against 
 them in disputing, her passage. Still they purposed to do 
 this, though at cost of their lives. Their work was exceed- 
 ingly arduous, often twenty-four hours on duty, and exposed 
 to the rain and sleet of mid-winter. The incessant toil and 
 excitement began to tell upon his fine constitution and hitherto 
 uninterrupted health, but the long night watches, and lonely 
 hours in the hospital, afforded time for reflection, and the im- 
 minent clanger of death, at any moment, evinced the necessity 
 of prayer. 
 
 After a night of great exposure, and having been suddenly 
 called from his bed to his gun, he was taken with a chill 
 attended by some fever. This was the beginning of the end. 
 He delayed too long to obtain a sick furlough. When he came 
 home, oh ! what a wreck ! how different from the gay, gallant 
 craft that had left with streamers and pennons flying, to the 
 sound of martial music and the cheering of loud huzzas! 
 
 On his arrival at borne, we immediately sent for a physician, 
 who did not apprehend a very serious attack. When all had 
 left the room but his another, he said : 
 
 " Mother, come near me, I want to kiss you, and tell you I 
 have beeu your good boy ever since I went to the island. 
 Mother, 1 am coming back to you." 
 
 She replied : 
 
 " My son, I have aothing to complain of as regards myself, 
 but. you know you have wandered far from your father's God." 
 
 "Yes, I know it," said he,- "but I am coming back to Him 
 too." 
 
 Stifling her emotion, his mother said : 
 
 " God bless you, my child,"* but did not encourage him to 
 
 P34219 
 
4 T.he Camp and the Uro§*. 
 
 converge farther, conscious as she was that ho needed vest and 
 quiet, but afterwards she said to his father, " do take an op" 
 portunity early to-morrow morning to speak to W. on the sub- 
 ject of religion, for [ am sure he desires it." 
 
 So, early the next day, Sunday, his father held with him the 
 following conversation : 
 
 " My dear son, it may be, that your Heavenly Father, fore- 
 seeing what is to happen, has brought this sickness upon you, 
 in order th^t you may retire awhile from the bustle and ex- 
 citement of the camp, and have time to prepare for whatever 
 is to come." 
 He replied : 
 
 "Father, I have been praying a great deal, and I believe 
 my prayers have been heard and answered, and I believe that 
 if death now comes, I shall be ready." 
 His father replied : 
 
 "My son, a preparation for death is the best preparation for 
 life. Do you think that you have made peace with God?" 
 "Yes," said he; "I have b^en trying, and think I have." 
 On Mom ay morning his father said to him : 
 " My dear son, are you trying to look to God ?" 
 " Yes, father," said he, " I am looking to God, and have 
 been looking to Him for some time." 
 
 " My turn., how long have you been thinking seriously about 
 your soul ?" 
 
 "Nearly ever since I went to the island. I would, if it 
 were God's will, rather live longer to see, how they get on with 
 the Fort; but I do trustfully in God, and confide in my Sa- 
 viour. He will do what.-is right." 
 
 " My son. you know perfect resignation to the will of God 
 is the best thing for the body as well as for the soul*" 
 
 k 'Oh!.l flu i'eel perfect resignation to the will of God— I 
 have no fear of death — I am not afraid to die." 
 
She Camp and the Oro89. 5 
 
 Well was it for us that we ha J these satisfactory assurances 
 of a great and saving change having taken place, for, on Mon- 
 day evening, the delirium of typhoid fever came on, which 
 never entirely left him until soul and body parted. During 
 all those hours of delirium, the two themes, religion and pa- 
 triotism, were, from his expressions, alternately and uppermost 
 in his thoughts, his military phrases and the language of Ca- 
 naan, blendiug, though incongruously, yet to us most affect- 
 ingly, for we knew the exercises of his mind that had given 
 rise to them. Once he said, " Father, I know that you hav,e 
 often said a man must be willing to give up all and leave every- 
 thing to preach the gospel; but how about taking that Fort.? 
 that has to be taken. " 
 
 How mysterious are God's dealings with His children ! 
 Our prayers are answered sometimes in the strangest way, 
 still, that they are answered, in any way, let us be grateful. 
 When his parents prayed God to lead their child back to the 
 Saviour, little did they deem it was to be by the camp, for 
 they thought that a place of peculiar temptation and danger, 
 for both soul and body, which belief, nfl doubt, was the moans 
 of inciting them to more fervent prayers for the beloved one 
 so exposed to its influences. The gates .of hell shall not pre- 
 vail against prayer, and, thank God, prayer can be made, heard 
 and answered as well in the camp as in the pulpit. 
 
 This young man was wreathed with buds of promise. 
 Fame, in the world of letters, at his early age, twenty-three, 
 had already placed on his young brow a fair chaptet of laurel- 
 He had, before a month's service, been promoted for soldierly 
 conduct. Judge Longsfreet, President of the South Carolina 
 College, has written of him thus : 
 
 "His last public address was on Patriotism, and ihe fast 
 scene of his life was a beautiful illustration of it He was 
 among the first to volunteer in the service of the State after 
 
 d O /i en 1 n 
 
ti . Tht Camp and the Croat. 
 
 her second declaration of independence. He was assigned to 
 the defence of Fort Moultrie. Here he renewed his covenant 
 with his Maker, and now, uniting in himself the Christian, 
 the scholar and the soldier, he discharged his duties to the ad- 
 miration of all. Called suddenly from. his bed to his gun upon 
 a raw and chilly night, exposed to its severities through many 
 hours, he contracted the disease which terminated his exist- 
 ence. He lived to reach the paternal home, leave his parents 
 the last consolation in their bereavement, and died — the first 
 martyr to Southern independence." 
 
 OUT ALL NIGHT. 
 
 Oat all night ! tlie long dark night ! 
 
 When cold and wiutry blew the blast; — 
 It seemed the night v^ould ne'er be past, 
 
 Nor ever dawn the morning light. 
 
 'Call'd from his sick bed to his gun, 
 There stood he at his duty'* post, 
 And there, altho' his life he lost, 
 He there immortal honor won. 
 
 That night's sore toil his life-blood sappd — 
 A few weeks and that spirit brave 
 Lay cold and lifeless in the grave, 
 
 All in funereal silence wrapped. 
 
 Yet, 'tia no dim, sepulchral lamp 
 That lightens up that lonely tomb, 
 Dispelling every cloud of gloom, 
 
 Which else had been so drear and damp. 
 
 For Fame has lighted up the place, 
 That brightest Fame for duty done, 
 And Futh, that's brighter than the sun, 
 
 Enhaloes it with rays of grace. 
 
The Camp and the Cross. 
 
 THE CAMP AND THE CROSS. 
 
 Pray in the camp ! yes, in the camp 
 
 God hears and answers prayer ; 
 What though the place to kneel is damp, 
 
 And raw and chill the air; 
 What though the sun pour down his rays 
 
 On the unsheltered head, 
 Yet there's the place the God of grace 
 
 Full many a soul hath led 
 Unto the Cross — the blessed Cross — 
 
 The Cross of Calvary ; 
 Thank God that everywhere on earth, 
 
 Our eyes that Cross "may see. 
 
 Our God is not coufined to p'ace — 
 
 Not to the temple's dome 
 Doth He restrict His grace, 
 
 But bids His kingdom come, 
 Wherever there's a praying heart. 
 
 In camp, as cloister-cell, 
 To the. praying heart He'll grace*impart ; 
 
 What, to Him, where we dicell? 
 So that in view wc keep the Cross — 
 
 The Cross of Calvary ; 
 Thank God that everywhere on earth 
 
 Our eyes that Cross can see. 
 
The Camp and the Cross. 
 
 THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 
 
 "When marshalled on the nightly plain, 
 
 The glitt'ring host bestud the sky, 
 One star alone of all the train 
 
 Can fix the sinner's waud'ring eye. 
 Hark ! hark ! to God the chorus breaks, 
 
 From every host, from every gem ; 
 But one alone the Saviour speaks, 
 
 It is the Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 Once on the raging seas' I rode: 
 
 The storm wan loud, the night was dark, 
 
 The ocean yawned and rudely blovved 
 
 The wind that tossed my found'ring bark. 
 
 Deep honor then my vitals froze; 
 
 Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem ; 
 
 "When suddenly a star arose, 
 . It was the Star of Bethlehem. 
 
 It was my guide, my light, my all ; 
 * It bade my bark foreboding cease ; 
 And, through the storm and danger's thrall, 
 
 It led me to the port of peace. 
 Now, safely moored, my perils o'er, 
 
 I'll sing, first in night's diadem, 
 For ever, and for evermore, 
 p The Star !— the Star of Bethlehem ! 
 
 Soldiers' Tract Association, M. E. Church, South. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
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