Immutable Kingdom – Part 75

(Above: Otsego Lake State Park – photographer unknown)

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 75

By Scott A. Klaft

The Church In Time Of War  …continued

Prior to the horrifying battle at Pea Ridge, William Baxter, president of the once prosperous ‘brotherhood school’ in Fayetteville, Arkansas, took an associate with him to visit B. F. Hall, who was preaching in Texas at the time. This would be one of the more lamentable trips that Baxter would ever recall. Hall, once a grand proponent of the Restoration, had undergone a troubling change.

Hall was now, not only touting the southern cause, but also acting more of a fiend than a Christian gentleman. The historian, Earl West described Hall at the time of their visit as “[Riding] a fine mule, had a splendid rifle, and expressly requested of all friends that if a ‘Yankee’ appeared, please let him get his share.”[1]

During their conversation, Baxter noted that Hall spoke not a word about the church, the gospel, or any of the spiritual things one might expect from a preacher dealing with serious matters; but rather, he ranted about his rifle, and how many Yankees he hoped to kill. Having never met Hall before, Baxter’s associate was stunned at the vitriol with which he spoke about the North. This ‘chaplain’ for the Texas Rangers spoke admiringly of a friend who was going over a field after an intense battle; and, finding a wounded Federal soldier begging for medical help, ruthlessly shot him instead. Hall expressed his approval with laughter while telling the tale, thoroughly enjoying the cold-blooded conduct.

While the two visitors struggled to retain composure, Hall promoted the policy of catching every Yankee, cutting off their right hand, and sending them home with the severed hand tied to their saddle. When asked how he could feel such hatred toward the northern brethren, Hall snapped back that he had no brethren in the North; they were all infidels. On their way out, Baxter commented to his associate that he felt like they had been in the presence of a “highwayman” rather than a Christian.

As it is so often the case, men who boast of great things will be the ones who do the least. At the battle of Pea Ridge, Hall accompanied the Texas Rangers, and about the only action he participated in was running to the rear. The shattered lines of Confederate General M’Cullach sent his soldiers pouring through Fayetteville, returning south. Baxter and his associate were able to watch B. F. Hall in retreat looking exhausted and spent.

*   *   *

The passions of either side drove them to increasingly dark deeds, as the war continued. Andrew Allsman, though not exactly known for his faithfulness, was a member of the church in Palmyra, Missouri. Confederate General Porter had taken him and abruptly executed him without a warranted reason. The news came to the Union General McNeil, who decided ten Confederate prisoners must be shot in retaliation.

Jacob Creath Jr. spoke with the captured soldiers before execution. One or two were silent. Many others were weeping bitterly and begging for mercy. One tall, blond headed youth, was brave, but downhearted. His girl back home was anticipating his return that they might marry. Creath could do nothing to stop the proceedings, but he pleaded with them to have their hearts right with God. The next morning, a firing squad sent the ten men to their graves.

Pillage, rape and plunder followed in the wake of General Sherman as he led his Fourth Kentucky Regiment toward Atlanta. He was defeated outside Atlanta; among the few captured was J. B. Vawter, who would become, in later years, a well known preacher of the Restoration principles in Iowa. Unrestrained abuses of authority occurred throughout the states. Often we are reminded of the nobility of the great leaders in American History. We give them their due, but the violence of war tends to bring out the worst in those who have already given up the roots of morality in the Bible.

While some within the church managed to remain outside the fray, both literally and figuratively, the clash of philosophies concerning the war was inevitable.

(Continued next week)

 

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[1] West, Earl Irvin; Search for the Ancient Order, The – Vol. I; (Religious Book Service, 1990) pp. 326, 327

Immutable Kingdom – Part 74

(Above: a light tower at the end of a peer in Manistee, Michigan – photographer unknown)

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 74

By Scott A. Klaft

In Time Of War… continued:   In The South

On the opposite side of many of Garfield’s skirmishes was a young scout who would eventually become one of the more effective preachers of Restoration principles. T. B. Larimore reported for duty to the Confederate Army in the first year of the war under the command of Colonel McClellan at Knoxville, Kentucky. Much of his involvement is well documented. He was part of the retreat to Corinth, Mississippi, and he was on scout duty in the Sequatchie valley when captured by the Union forces.

At Franklin College, W.D. Carnes frantically struggled to keep the discussion of war out of the classroom. Unfortunately, it was when President Lincoln first issued the call for volunteers to invade the south that almost the whole student body left to join the Confederate forces. Carnes was forced to close the school.

The brethren, in what was considered “the west” (Arkansas and Missouri), were severely conflicted over the war. Missouri first held the southern point of view, but the Governor was dismissed and the state legislature voted pro-Union. Arkansas was not thus persuaded. Nevertheless, the general population of these states thought they were so far to the west and out of reach from the North that warfare would never reach them. In this, they were sadly and badly mistaken. When the war came, it came with its full fury as it did in every other place it touched.

William Baxter was the president of the school in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He tried, to the best of his ability, to keep the war discussions to a minimum. The school, at its opening, had high hopes of prosperity. Nearly all of the students were of the brotherhood practicing Restoration principles, but the student body was now divided in political sentiment. Fort Sumter fell, Lincoln called for volunteers, and many of the young men announced their intentions to enlist – some to the Union armies, some to the Confederacy. Most of them would never hear the echoing sound of the last gun firing at the end of the war. Most of them were left silent on the grounds of battle all the way from Prairie Grove to Gettysburg.

The college at Fayetteville was taken over frequently by both armies, but after the long battle at Prairie Grove, the entire city became a makeshift hospital for Union and Confederate forces alike. Baxter remained, witnessing the cries of agony from the young men, riddled with led from opposing muskets. Doctors were forced to amputate limbs without the use of anesthesia or antiseptic, and the terrifying screams of pain shook Baxter to his foundations. The dead bodies of soldiers lined the streets, waiting for workers to have time to bury them all. The bodies of young men known to be members of the church were brought to the church building. It was heart wrenching to see grieving mothers cry and kiss the cold, lifeless faces of their sons.

Many members of the church fought and died in both Northern and Southern Armies. Each tragic loss for either side was an even greater loss for the cause of Christianity. The Lord only knows what good might have come from their lives spent, not in futile bloodshed against their own countrymen, but rather preaching the soul-saving Gospel, insisting on the principles of restoring the ancient order.

Nothing would be gained by listing all the dead whose names once graced the membership rosters of the churches of Christ and who gave their influence for the advance of His kingdom. Most of their names would remain unrecognized by us. There were some, however, whose names we may indeed recognize. For instance, at the battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas, none other than the son of one of the earliest of restoration initiators, Barton Stone, named after his father, Barton W. Stone, lead a regiment of Texas Rangers.

This regiment had a Chaplain among them, B. F. Hall. Once a highly respected preacher, after moving to Texas, Hall would never again hold the influence he once wielded, and for good reason. As Baxter had opportunity to observe for himself, Hall had changed greatly, and in a way wholly unexpected.

(Continued Next Week)

Immutable Kingdom – Part 73

(Petosky, Michigan – Photographer unknown)

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 73

By Scott A. Klaft

The Church In Time Of War …continued

While Tolbert Fanning was touring the South, on the same day after South Carolina taking the lead in secession, Alexander Campbell was journeying through the North, promoting Bethany College. In Indianapolis, Campbell met with his new associate-editor of the Millennial Harbinger, Isaac Errett. Errett had turned down a teaching position, but had agreed to help raise funds for the school, and this is what he and Campbell were doing in the northern states. Starting with the churches and cities in Indiana, Campbell’s and Errett’s tour had them preaching at many stops.

On New Years Day, Campbell preached at Crawfordsville, visiting the home of S. M. Huston, who was still faithfully serving the Lord’s cause. They traveled from there to many cities, major and minor, finally returning back to Indianapolis. A powerful preacher by the name of D. S. Burnet joined them at Vincennes and carried on through the rest of their journey. Errett went back to Detroit, Michigan, where he had been preaching, holding a rather successful meeting in Ionia, despite the rising political upheaval. Traveling to Virginia to reunite with Campbell and the school’s fundraising efforts in mid-February 1861, he found little success amidst the war fervor.

Dispatches were passing from Washington D.C. to Fort Sumter by the hour, and the worst was being expected. The news of Anderson’s surrender of the Fort was followed by what could only be described as madness. Errett hastily returned to Detroit, and through every city, large or small, people were milling about in an outrage. Flags and banners streamed everywhere. Shouting and cheering was heard all over the nation.

On April 5, 1861, W. H. Hopson was feeling rather hopeful about the gospel meeting he was holding in Cincinnati, but the news of the fall of Fort Sumter arrived during the meeting. The streets began to fill with the frenzied populace. One of the elders of the congregation, R. M. Bishop, happened to be the Mayor of Cincinnati, and only a month earlier, he had entertained President-elect Lincoln on his way to Washington D.C. for the inauguration. Talking it over with great sadness and disappointment, they decided to cancel the rest of the gospel meeting.

In both North and South, members of the church joined their respective causes. Young men in brotherhood-run Colleges left to join the armies of either side. Reputable teachers were often granted officer status. Preachers of the gospel left their “good fight of faith” and their pulpits behind to fight the bloodiest war in American history.

 

In The North

Once the president of such a brotherhood-school (the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute in Hiram, Ohio), James A. Garfield petitioned the governor for an appointment. He was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and given permission to raise a regiment. He did just that with his own student body, forming the 42^nd Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was soon given command of the entire regiment as a full Colonel.

Garfield’s regiment fought their first battle in Paintsville, Kentucky, proving victorious. From there, they joined the Union army of the not-yet-famous but well respected General Grant at Shiloh, Tennessee. Pushing the Confederates to Corinth, Mississippi, and heading east into northern Alabama, they set up temporary headquarters in Huntsville.

Garfield’s fame spread through the Union. He was recalled to Washington, assigned to be an aid to General Rosencrans at Murfreesboro, who was later defeated at Chickamauga. Garfield was then promoted to Brigadier General, but he soon resigned to become an Ohio Representative in Congress. Under Garfield, there were two hundred fifty boys from the school fighting in Company A of the 42^nd Ohio Regiment, many of whom died on the field of battle one by one. Some lasted longer and rose in rank, but all were changed by the horrors they saw.

(Next week: “In the South”)

Immutable Kingdom – Part 72

(“The Mighty Mac at Dusk” – Macinaw Island Bridge – photographer unknown)

The Immutable Kingdom – Part 72

By Scott A. Klaft

The Church In Time Of War …continued

(Setting the Stage for Struggle)

All but two of Lincoln’s newly appointed cabinet members recommended that Major Anderson abandon Fort Sumter, but Lincoln strongly disagreed. He had no intentions of recognizing or legitimizing the Confederate government. Evacuation of Federal property to southern seizure seemed very much like doing just that, let alone what doing so would do to northern morale. He notified the Confederates that he was sending provisions to the fort without additional troops or ammunition, and then he gave the order to send the supplies. His judgment proved to be wise as the move avoided a war-like stance and left the decision to the south. If the Confederates fired upon them now, they would be branded as the aggressors.

Upon receiving the information, the Confederates instantly demanded Major Anderson’s surrender, which was cordially refused. On April 12, 1861, with thundering southern artillery, followed by fire, smoke, devastation, and death, the first shots of war sounded the trumpet of woe that would be heard throughout the continent, and the world, for years to come. The North would pit its superior numbers, weaponry, and supplies against the South’s tenacity, guile, and passion for four years.

It is difficult to tell with any brevity how this would affect the churches of the Restoration Movement. The sources are scarce and the details concerning how the war affected them in a material way, or the extent to which they took part or suffered, and the issues or positions taken and by whom are all difficult to find.

From the election of November 1860, to the dramatic commencement of war-guns in 1861, there was political agitation throughout the land, the likes of which had not yet been seen. It was during this period that Tolbert Fanning was journeying through the southern states. On November 27, he left Nashville to travel to Corinth, Mississippi, and then south to Jackson, the State Capital. The state legislature was in session, and Fanning freely admits to have been taken aback by the political fervor. He confessed he had not seen such political excitement before. He went to the legislative halls to hear the political speeches, and it seemed that the only question before them was, “When, and how, shall Mississippi secede from the union?”

What, if any, difference did the war make to the church? In many ways, it made an astounding difference. The veteran preacher, T.W. Caskey was among those who drew up the papers of secession. Fourteen years prior, Fanning had preached for a crowd in Jackson that would have filled the chambers of the State House of Representatives. Now he preached for two days to very small numbers. From Jackson he traveled to Vicksburg, and then to New Orleans, finding, in all his searching, only two or three Christians worshiping after the New Testament manner.

He headed east to Mobile, Alabama, and visited brethren throughout the state. Arriving in Montgomery, the State Capital, he discovered the city in such turmoil that no one had time to hear about the Lord. Finding no brethren there, he moved on to the east again, toward Atlanta, Georgia, arriving on December 21, the day after South Carolina’s announcement of secession. He had hoped to visit a dear brother in Christ, Dr. A.G. Thomas. With solemn disappointment, Fanning wrote:

“Dr. A. G. Thomas is a brother of fine address, superior talents and learning, but we saw him with a feather in his hat and a glittering sword in his right hand, and doubted if he would be able to hold the sword of Georgia in one hand and the sword of the Spirit in the other.”[1]

Fanning was deeply regretful that so many of the brethren were getting so heatedly excited over political affairs while forgetting the Lord; he scolded them for doing so.

 

(Continued next week)

 

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[1] Tolbert Fanning, “Tour Through Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia”, Gospel Advocate, Vol. VII, No. 2 (February, 1861) p. 39