Faith in their hearts, battle at hand

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Readers of Civil War literature have long known that the average soldier, both Confederate and Union, had strong religious faith that carried him through battle and the separation from home and loved ones.

Leaders such as Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson for the South were quick to thank the Almighty for victories and to pray for continual strength in battle. Even Ulysses S. Grant, who was not given to public religion, said children should attend Sunday school and receive "instruction in the science of morals."

However, it is in the writings of ordinary soldiers, chaplains, women at home and slaves that devotion to God comes forth most strongly. It is from this great source material that Terry R. Tuley, a minister in Tennessee, compiled a yearlong devotional book called "Battlefields and Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage From the Civil War."

For each day, he cites a section from a private letter or diary written by one of the war's participants, adding to it a Bible verse, and closes with a very brief comment. From the horrors of the battlefield come the heartfelt prayers and observations of the participants, words of faith that helped them in their struggles and that may be valuable to contemporary readers as well.

There was no dearth of religious material from the soldiers. According to the author, "The Southern Baptist Convention in a single year produced 6,187,000 pages of tracts and 6,000 Bibles. In less than a year, the Methodists circulated 17,000,000 pages of tracts and 20,000 Bibles. From May 1863 through March of the following year, Presbyterians produced more than 6,000,000 pages of religious material."

A random sampling gives the tone of the book.

Feb. 2 brings a little-known story of President Lincoln en route to visit Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's headquarters near City Point, Va., in late March 1865. Stopping in the telegraph hut, he came across three tiny kittens, crying piteously. Picking up one, Lincoln asked, "Where is your mother?" One of the men answered that the mother cat was dead. Continuing to pet the kitten, Lincoln said, "Then she can't grieve as many a poor mother is grieving for a son lost in battle."

He picked up the other two kittens and sat there "with all three in his lap. He stroked their fur and quietly told them, 'Kitties, thank God you are cats, and can't understand this terrible strife that is going on. ... Poor little creatures, don't cry; you'll be taken good care of. He looked toward Col. Bowers of Grant's staff and said, 'Colonel, I hope you will see that these poor little motherless waifs are given plenty of milk, and treated kindly.' Bowers promised that he would tell the cook to take good care of them.

"Col. Horace Porter watched the president and recalled, 'He would wipe their eyes tenderly with his handkerchief, stroke their smooth coats, and listen to them purring their gratitude to him.' Quite a sight it was, thought Porter, 'at an army headquarters, upon the eve of a great military crisis in the nation's history, to see the hand which had affixed the signature to the Emancipation ... tenderly caressing three stray kittens.' "

The author then remarks that mercy and kindness are rare commodities, but urges the reader to "go out of your way to treat someone with mercy and kindness this week."