Pentecostal Possibilities or "The Story of My Life"
by Milton Lorenzo (M. L.) Haney
CHAPTER 41
At Atlanta
On the 29th of July, we were thrown around to the northwest of Atlanta, and General Hood made a desperate effort to break the Union line at the point where we were situated. We were approaching the enemy in two lines, and that day our brigade was in the reserve line, some rods to the rear. The front line had ascended a long hill to near the summit, with skirmishers in front. The latter had passed an open spot of ground and entered a woodland, when the enemy rose up in full force right before them. Nothing could save them from capture or death but retreat, and as they turned, and ran, the storm of bullets was fearful. The bravest men can be made wild when running, if a hailstorm of bullets is pursuing them! It was plain a battle had opened, and I had promised my wife not to expose myself as before, unless there was great need; so I turned to find my place with our doctor, to help care for the wounded. I had crossed a deep little ravine with steep banks, and gone some distance, when I turned, and a host of men were coming down the hill onto my boys like a herd of wild buffalo! I saw at a glance if our lines were broken and we forced to retreat, we would have to pass over an open field with the probable loss of a thousand men; and the time of "great need" had come! I shouted to my men to close the ranks and not allow a man to pass if they had to take his life, and turned to join them. I had no weapon and sought for a club, but found none. Some mischievous boy had twisted and plaited a rubber blanket, which in my wildness I seized at once. There was a natural crossing of that deep ravine between two high rocks, where retreating men would be liable to cross, and some of them were coming that way. Planting myself on that steep bank, the first man whose feet struck my side went on his back, which sobered him and brought him to his senses. I then used my natural weapons and nearly blockaded the pass. Dr. Smith, seeing the terrible conflict, came to the rescue and met a big Indianan. He seized the giant, and the doctor was small of stature. The Indiana soldier did not seem to know he had any opposition and went off with the doctor like an ox would with a fly on his horn! It would be rare to find a bantam rooster more plucky than Doctor Smith. The skirmishers in front had gotten such momentum as they reached the front line that instead of stopping or being stopped, they dashed through, bringing many others with them, making a gap in the ranks, and we filled that gap.
The enemy made three distinct assaults on us at that point during the afternoon. To break the line they had to take a battery on our right. My regiment as broken in two by the abruptness of the hill, and I had taken up a musket which one of the raiders had left and stood with two companies. The second assault was furious, and my two companies commanded the open space to our right, and front, which had to be passed to reach our battery. The weather was hot, and my musket being fired so rapidly, seemed as though it would burn me, and was in danger of exploding. So I buried it in the sand to cool it off, as we waited for the third assault, which was led by a young Colonel, who, as we were told, was the Captain of the company who killed General McPherson a week before, and was promoted to the colonelcy on that account. He brought his men to the death line, where the two preceding parties had give way, and they halted. He urged and roared at them, but they did not move. I think the dead of the previous parties were lying there before them, and the fire of our men was fearful. Having failed to drive them, he dashed through and led them. Much is said about officers leading men, but, as a rule, they only lead in retreat which is right and in accord with military science. An officer leading cannot command, but he can inspire courage to the death, by such an example, while his subordinates in the rear of their men can hold them together and keep them in control. This colonel had to pass a lengthened open ground, in passing which his death rate was fearful. Their flag came down at least three times and would be seized by another, till they were only fifty yards from the battery, which is much too near for safety. Attention was called to the colonel, and when he was buried the next day we found fifteen bullets had pierced his body! Among that company who were left, was a little boy of probably from eleven to thirteen summers who was at the heels of his colonel till he fell, and the whole remnant surrendered. he dear child threw down his musket and threw up his hands, crying: "Don't shoot me; don't shoot me!" We were below him, and I cried loudly: "Run down to me quickly," and he came down like a little antelope. As I took him into my hands like a mother, he said: "O, I will not go to war any more!" I hid him behind a big rock and patting him on the back told him nothing would harm him there, and we would take nice care of him till he could be sent back to his mother. Between these three attacks I hastened to help the doctor with those who were hurt. He was sheltered by high rocks not far away, and the last time I went I saw a lone man, up to my left, on an elevated spot of ground, lying on his back and beckoning me to come. I hastened and knelt by his side. A musket ball had gone clear through his body, near the stomach. His eyes were badly sunken, and he was breathing heavily. He looked me, piercingly, in the eyes, in silence, till I had felt his pulse, when he said, "Chaplain, I suppose I have but a few minutes to live, and I feel that I am unprepared for eternity. I hoped you might tell me words whereby I could be saved!" It seems now to me that in all this ministry I never was so empowered from God to bring a soul so quickly and so thoroughly to Christ as in this case. I had a clear inner sense that he saw, and would, with his whole heart, take hold of Christ as his present, Almighty Saviour, and I struck up to sing:
"Grace's store is always free,
Drooping souls to gladden;
Jesus calls, come unto me;
Weary, heavy laden.
Though your sins like mountains rise,
Rise and reach to heaven,
Soon as you on him rely
All shall be forgiven.
Now methinks I hear one say,
I will go and prove him;
If he takes my sins away
Surely I shall love him.
Yes, I see the Saviour smile.
Smiling moves my burden;
All is grace, for I am vile,
Yet he seals my pardon.
Streaming mercy, how it flows,
Now I know, I feel it,
Half has never yet been told.
Yet I want to tell it;
Jesus' blood hath healed my wounds,
O, the wondrous story,
I was lost, but now I'm found,
Glory, glory, glory!"
He had closed his eyes while I was singing, but when I was half way through the last verse he opened those eyes now beaming with God light, and said: "Chaplain, I have found Him," and his spirit went up to God.
In this singing I omitted the first and last stanzas. It begins with:
"Drooping souls no longer grieve,
Heaven is propitious;
If on Jesus you believe
You shall find Him precious;
Yes, He now is passing by,
Calls the mourner to Him.
He has died for you and I;
O, look up and view Him."
In my earlier ministry I think probably hundreds laid hold on Christ while I was singing that hymn, and I wish it were now brought into all our revival meetings.
After the third assault, that afternoon, the enemy retired, leaving their wounded on our hands. I hastened to the front. At the root of a tree nearby lay three wounded, and two dead, Confederates. The wounded boys looked wildly at me as I approached them, having heard terrible things about the "Yanks;" but I quieted their fears by assuring them of the best care we could give them. At this stage of the war, they died from wounds through which our men would live. Their food was insufficient, and their power of endurance crippled by it. I wept more than once when burying the brave boys, on finding nothing in their haversacks but a little unbolted corn meal, and in a few cases ground with the cob, as we grind it for cattle! Then they were disheartened, and felt their cause was practically lost before the end of the war. But few of them, with the best of care that could be given, now survived a thigh breach. The thigh of one of these was badly broken, and before leaving him I asked about his soul. He said he had really opposed the war, but was shut in to either be drafted or volunteer and he finally volunteered. Up to that time he was a Christian and a Methodist class leader, but from the day he entered the army till now, God had seemed to have left him. I told him I was a Methodist preacher, and we both wept, and on giving him what encouragement I could, duty called me. The next day I was at the general hospital, and some distance away I saw a Confederate holding up his hand and beckoning to me, and, on reaching him, he asked if I was not the man who talked with him at the tree where he was wounded. I said, "Yes." He expressed a strong desire that I talk and pray with him, which I did, and while praying the Lord saved him. He was wondrously blessed from that hour till his death three days later! So great was the triumph of his soul and so glorious the manifestations of God in him, that the Christian soldiers in the hospital felt the ground was hallowed where he gave his spirit up to God, and after his body was removed they held their prayer meetings on that spot.
While we were advancing by a succession of approaches on the west side of the city there was another marvelous exhibition of grace, which, somewhere, ought to have a record. There was no battle going on at the time, but an occasional shot came over from the guns of the enemy. A Christian soldier was standing alone on an open spot of ground nearly facing the enemy, when a six-pound solid shot came over and destroyed his shoulder, leaving the arm hanging by a few cords, making an opening in his windpipe and tearing the flesh from his breast. His comrades hastened to lift him up, and found him praising God. He could not speak except by closing the wound in his throat with his hand. He was laid down in the ambulance to be carried to the hospital, but insisted on sitting up all the way, that he could use his voice in praises rendered to God! After reaching the hospital he wrote a letter to his wife, telling how God had assured him that He would care for her, and his two children, and that they should all meet in glory. How unspeakably he was now blessed, as he was dying for his country, and he had no regrets that he had put his body on his country's altar. How he gloried in the cleansing blood of Jesus, through which he had no fear of death, and heaven now within him! When his voice gave way, among the last things he did was to reach out his hand and with his finger write in the dust beside his couch: "Glory to the Father, glory to the Son, and glory to the Holy Ghost!" How can people doubt God in the presence of scenes like this?
It was arranged, by request, that I be sent home to recruit my regiment. We were so small, that a full corps of officers could not be mustered in. So I came home during the campaign between Lincoln and McClellan. A great act of injustice was committed against Captain Shaw, one of our purest, and best, officers, just before my leaving. To drive the enemy from Atlanta, we were forcing their outposts by gradual approaches. Hence a succession of rifle pits were made. The pickets would press their way as far in advance of the present line in the night as possible, and a new line of works would be seen in the morning. Our little regiment had been kept in front three days, and nights, and had made one line of breastworks twice the length of its own battle line. Instead of being relieved as they should have been, they were pushed, the third day, to ground in advance of all others, under a flanking fire of the enemy, having to crawl on their faces to keep from utter extermination and, lying flat on the ground, each man had to dig a hole for himself with his bayonet, or whatever he could get, piling up the dirt before him where the enemy was not only before them, but to the right and left of them, and they were exposed to an enfilading fire at any moment, till they developed that digging into a decent rifle pit. The third day General Lightburn sent his aid, ordering them, when so weak they could hardly stand on their feet, forward to a higher spot of ground beyond the enemy's lines, right and left, which place would have to be crawled to as above, and the same amount of digging as before, when at any time they were subject to be captured at the will of the enemy. Captain Shaw was in command, and sent word to the General as to the situation, requesting that he modify the order after hearing the facts. This would have involved a fourth day and night without rest, when hundreds of troops were lying in the works these men had made doing nothing. So Lightburn procured the Captain's dismissal from the service! That sentence of disgrace hung over Captain Shaw, and his children, for many years, when, through the agency of his comrades, the Congress of the United States reversed it, and did him justice. Lightburn was an old backslidden preacher, and a badly backslidden preacher is about as bad as there is! He came west as a Colonel, evidently for promotion, which he could not get where he was known, and got it. He was recognized as a vile man, and drunkard, and should not have had any command in any army. Not many days after this he was crouching in the works these men had made, and a troop who had been ordered to the front were a few rods away, when one of their number stepped out of ranks on seeing Lightburn peeking through the brush which shielded the works, and took aim at his forehead, the bullet striking him above, and between the eyes. Fortunately his skull as very thick, and his forehead slanted back, and the bullet glanced upward, marking its passage as it went. He was not killed, but knew he would be, from this serious hint, and so he was not seen any more! I traced the matter till I found it was a man from Missouri who did it, and at once ceased further inquiries! It is hoped that bullet brought him to repentance, but that was not the design for which it was sent!