The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes Dec. 7, 1862, as “the bloodiest day in Arkansas history.”

“During the night (of Dec. 6), the Southern commanders learned that U.S. Brig. Gen.

Francis J. Herron’s men in blue had arrived at Fayetteville,” reads the online resource. “They decided to march north to intercept and attack the Union reinforcements somewhere between Fayetteville and Cane Hill. It would be at Prairie Grove.”

The result was a Union victory at the Battle of Prairie Grove.

The Confederates retreated, and 2,700 men were killed, wounded or missing. The Union, thus reinforced, maintained control of Missouri.

With similar terrifying scenarious being played out across the settled lands, and more than 3 million soldiers involved, religion certainly played a role among the troops.

“We have soldiers’ letters and diaries galore saying they attended this service on Tuesday or attended a service with this preacher,” said Alan Thompson, museum registrar for Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park.

He shared an example from “I Acted From Principle: The Civil War Diary of Dr. William McPheeters, Confederate Surgeon in the Trans-Mississippi”(University of Arkansas Press, 2002). McPheeters and the Confederate Army were camped south of the Arkansas River at the time of this entry, Thompson said.

“October 18th (1864): A delightful and peaceable Sabbath day for which I desire to thank God. Attended preaching at ½ past 10 in Gen. Fagan’s Brigade near by.

Dr. Kavanaugh preached a good sermon in the woods surrounded by camps. It was a solemn and impressive occasion - soldiers very attentive. I love to worship God in camp. Would that we had divine service regularly. (The) rest of the day passed oft quietly.”NO DIFFERENCES

Steve Woodworth, a history professor at Texas Christian University specializing in the Civil War, studied faithfulness among Civil War soldiers and reported his findings in his book, “While God Is Marching On: The Religious War of Civil War Soldiers” (University Press of Kansas, 2003). He spoke this fall as a part of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary in Arkansas at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville.

“I wanted to find major differences other than slavery” between Union and rebel troops, he said. “But for the common man, there wasn’t much diff erence North or South.”

Faithful soldiers attended local churches in the areas where they were camped, Woodworth explained. But often the fighting kept them on the lines - close enough they could hear the church services in the camp on the other side, Woodworth said. They thought, “‘Hey, they sound like us. They are singing the same hymns.’

“Until they prayed asking God ‘to turn their wicked Rebel hearts,’” Woodworth continued. While in the nearby trenches of the Confederates, “a rebel might be praying God would bring destruction, death and doom on their enemies.’

“And this would go on until they got tired of hearing it and opened up the artillery.”

Most organized worship happened when the troops retired to their winter quarters and “the Army was just sitting there,” he said.

Denomination of local churches did not seem to matter, Woodworth found. “They would just go to a church in the town nearby. They would go to whatever there was. Often it was Methodist or Baptist,” he said.

Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches were available to soldiers in Northwest Arkansas for the Missouri campaign, according to information provided by Thompson.

Although, “there was no town of Prairie Grove in 1862,” Thompson said, “they named the battle for the nearest landmark, which was the Prairie Grove Presbyterian Church.” DEVOTION

Religion, faith and God appeared often in letters from soldiers as they wrote of their experiences in battle, Woodworth said.

Some remained devout Christians throughout their service, he added.

“They’d write about what it meant to go forward into heaven. They would write about what it would be like to be there; they were counting the days. They were very thoughtful and articulate.”

A pair of brothers in an Indiana regiment marched miles without complaining, Woodworth shared. They would lay their ponchos over a bush in a rainstorm. They wrote that their tent was water proof and kept most of the water out.

“And through it all, they’d proclaim, ‘God is good.’”

Others found their faith on the field. Soldiers wrote of being ready or getting ready to die, or how God protected them in battle, Woodworth said. “Or, ‘all these people died, and I didn’t …’

“When they saw wounded die, they became determined to be Christian,” Woodworth continued. “Often the very moments they find their faith are found in diaries and letters to best friends.”

From a guy saying “preached from St. John” to comments like the following:

“While in this camp there was a great religious revival among our soldiers. Menwho had been very wild and reckless suddenly became very religious. Of evenings after dress parade they would repair to some secluded spot and there off er up their devotion to Almighty God, and never after that did we have so much recklessness or games among our men.”

But not everyone found faith - or kept it. A common theme in letters is how ungodly the soldiers acted, he said. “They speak of cursing, profanity, playing cards and drinking on the Sabbath. In the Army, you’re getting close contact. You’re living closely in company you’d not normally be around.”

Soldiers in the Union’s 19th Iowa arrived in St. Louis before they headed to Northwest Arkansas on steamboats, Thompson shared. Some people were passing out Bibles, and some soldiers just threw them on the ground or tossed them in the river.

Sometimes a soldier didn’t turn to God until the last possible moment. Thompson shared the story of one deathbed salvation of an Iowa soldier fighting in Northwest Arkansas. It is taken from the memoir of John Shepherd, 33rd Iowa Infantry:

“One day, one of the men of our company by the name of Henry Carder came to me and said, ‘Shepherd, what are you doing about your religion, don’t you know that war and religion don’t mix?’

“’Yes,’ I said, ‘But I am keeping all I had.’ He said, ‘Well, I left my religion at home and I will take it up again when I get home.’

“Well, I said that the Lord had not forsaken me and that I wouldn’t forsake him.

“Not long after that we were on the march to Little Rock, and we stopped one afternoon to rest and clean up. I heard someone screaming nearly a quarter of a mile from me, and I hastened to the place and here lay Henry Carder on the ground screaming, and crying out, ‘Oh, I am going to die, and I’m lost - I’ve lost my soul!’

“When I stood beside him he said to me, ‘Shepherd, can’t you help me?’ He wanted me to pray for him, and I couldn’t bend my knees; the doctor said 15 minutes more would tell the story one way or the other.

“I walked away a few steps and knelt down and prayed for him. He had said if the Lord would spare him hewould live a Christian life. I pled with the Lord to spare him and while I was praying the pain left him but he soon forgot his promise to live right for I heard him swear before the sun went down.

“He lived to get home but I don’t know whether he ever found his religion or not.” LAST WORDS

Diaries, which Woodworth described as very moving, tell the final chapter for many of the soldiers.

He opened up one diary and a lock of hair fell out. The diary read, “‘I cut off my hair today,’” Woodworth described. “It was the diary of a wife (from Ohio) during a soldier’s last year of life, of a wife in winter quarters.”

The armies did not have chaplains, as does today’s military, Woodworth explained. It would be up to the regimental leader - or more often a friend - to notify the families of those who died.

“But if no one saw him fall, loved ones might never know the fate of their family member.”

One family in Indiana received notice only that their brother was coming home because he was wounded,Woodworth tells. They sat on the train platform and waited and waited and waited.

“Pretty soon, they read between the lines, learning he was dead,” Woodworth said. “There was no use to go to meet the train. It was very sad for them to sit there and wait. Reading it, I was just about to cry.”

“Colonel Brooks lived a noble life, he died a glorious death. Bitter are our memories of his loss, but sweet are those of his many manly deeds,” wrote Lt. S.J. Clark of the 56th U.S. Colored Infantry in an 1864 letter from Helen, provided by Thompson.

“Brooks’ last thoughts were full of tenderness to those he loved, and free from vindictiveness towards his foes,” Clark continued.

“He said again ‘I only regret that I have not lived a Religious life.’ He asked me to pray (which I did) for him, as well as my sinful nature would permit. He prayed - “Oh Lord, receive my spirit” and soon after ceased to speak. His sufferings seemed to grow less, and he soon breathed his spirit into the hands of “’Him who gave and who taketh away’ and to whom he prayed ‘Receive my Spirit.’”

Religion, Pages 8 on 12/28/2013