he was beheaded. The walls are adorned with elegant paintings that represent the chief events of his life, arranged in chronological order. Underneath the paintings are medallion likenesses of all the popes down to the present time.

My sojourn in Italy was ended. I wanted to go to Naples; but volunteers for Garibaldi were crowding the steamers and I was barred out. I had improved my sojourn to good advantage and felt my mind enriched with the knowledge I had gained. At Civita Vecchia I took the steamer for Marseilles, and went on my homeward way.

T

IV

IN THE CIVIL WAR

July, August, 1864

HE Civil War brought upon the United States the darkest years of its history, threatening the most free and enlightened government that had ever existed among men with destruction.

The rise of the American Republic is the miracle of modern history. That a nation founded upon the principles of civil and religious liberty should be able to hold up its head, and should become great and strong, was the wonder of wonders in a world that had been full of arbitrary and tyrannical governments.

Our country had been strong in the affections of the whole American people, but a frenzy seized a portion of them, upon the election of President Lincoln, and they cried disunion and let slip the dogs of war. The Southern churches of all denominations joined in the fray. A prominent bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church became equally prominent as a major general in the Confederate army, and in a fierce battle was killed in its service. "The Book of Common Prayer," Richmond, Virginia, 1863, contains a prayer for the president of the Confederate states: "O Lord, our heavenly Father, most heartily we beseech Thee with thy favor to behold and bless thy servant the President of the Confederate States;" also the prayer: “Most gracious God, we humbly beseech Thee, as for the people of the Confederate States in general, so especially for their Senate and Representatives in Congress assembled."

Abroad, the pope acknowledged the Confederacy, the only

crowned head that did so. The emperor of France was in sympathy; in England, Lord John Russell allowed Liverpool merchants to build and send out the "Alabama" to prey upon American commerce, and Carlyle and Gladstone spoke good of the Confederate cause, to their confusion afterwards. The "Prayer Book" was printed in England; an invoice was shipped in the "Anglo-Rebel Blockade Runner, 'Minna'," which was captured in running the blockade. Without aid from England, the Confederacy could not have clothed its soldiers, or equipped them with arms and ammunition.

In these anxious years, the United States Christian Commission was organized to aid in ameliorating the horrors of war. It was part of its work to send ministers of the gospel to the hospitals, to carry to the sick and wounded Christian sympathy and consolation and render such kindly offices as they could. In this service I left home on the 4th of July, 1864, in company with Joseph W. Pickett, pastor of the Congregational church of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, to visit the hospitals of General Sherman's army, then in northern Georgia, marching towards Atlanta. The march was being made with firm resolve and steady tread, but not without repulses and losses, that filled the hospitals with wounded and dying men. On arriving at Louisville I found that city to be the base of supplies for General Sherman's army. The great number of teams employed in the transportation of army stores impressed me with the magnitude of the military operations. In the Christian Commission rooms I had the pleasure of meeting a Burlington lady, Miss Shelton (later the wife of Judge I. S. Huston), her hands full of tender and considerate care for our soldiers. I found myself at once in the lines of a great army, as I procured from the military authorities a pass to Nashville, which I had to show to an armed soldier before entering a car for that city. Along the line of the railroad were frequent detachments of soldiers and at every bridge-crossing a stockade

or fortifications with a larger body of troops. The whole line to Atlanta, four hundred and seventy-five miles, was thus under guard. This service required men enough to make a great army. They were kept continually on the watch for guerillas and bushwhackers. Only in this way could communication with General Sherman be maintained, and supplies be forwarded. Many of the works had been constructed by the Confederates, but were now in possession of our forces. Even within a dozen miles of Louisville guerillas invaded the country and loyal citizens were liable to be waylaid and murdered.

At Nashville the military authorities had granted to the Christian Commission a large and commodious house, from which the owner had fled when the Union troops entered the city. It afforded comfortable accommodations for the delegates after their day's work in the hospitals. Carrying a haversack filled with writing-paper, envelopes, pens, newspapers, magazines, testaments, combs, and knicknacks, I did my first hospital work in the Cumberland and General Field Hospital. It was located about a mile east of the city and consisted of tents having three thousand beds. I visited about two hundred and fifty of the sick and wounded in this hospital, distributing as they seemed to want, or have need. For some, at their request, I wrote letters to their friends. Among the wounded were a number who had been brought off from the fight on Kenesaw Mountain, some wounded in the head and eyes, some with legs off, or arms off. Mr. Pickett had the nerve and strength to carry to them his gracious and genial sympathy; but the sight was too oppressive for me, and I had to move on.

At Nashville I met Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer of Fort Madison, and saw how efficient and useful were the "diet kitchens" she had established. I had known that brave and patriotic lady from the beginning of the war, and it gave me peculiar pleasure

1 Memoirs of Joseph W. Pickett. 1880. pp. 24-33.

to witness her skilful arrangements in providing a sanitary diet for the hospitals. Many a soldier ascribed his convalescence to the wholesome food he got from the "diet kitchens." A number of noble women from Burlington, Keokuk, Muscatine, and other Iowa towns, were serving in this work. I found a former pastor (1885-6) of "Old Zion," Thomas M. Goodfellow, the faithful chaplain of one of the hospitals.

At Nashville I felt a desire to make a pilgrimage to the "Hermitage," twelve miles distant, the old home of Andrew Jackson, who had sworn thirty years before: "The Federal Union! By the Eternal, it must be preserved!" But I was told it would be unsafe without a guard of soldiers.

Beyond Nashville the railroads were in possession of the military authorities and operated by them. It looked strange to see "U. S." upon every locomotive and car. The engineers, conductors, and trainmen were all in the military service. The bridges which the enemy had destroyed were rebuilt. In vain did Governor Brown call upon the people of Georgia, "to destroy the long line of railroads over which General Sherman brings his supplies, and compel him to retreat with the loss of most of his army." Occasionally, guerillas might burn a bridge, or stop a train; but the damage was soon repaired, and the trains moved on. Securing transportation on one of the trains, I went to Murfreesboro, where I visited two hospitals containing about four hundred patients. General Van Cleve, of Minneapolis, commander of the post, had established a post chapel in one of the churches, and I preached on the Sabbath to a large company of soldiers, with General Van Cleve and many officers and a respectable number of citizens of the town in attendance. A choir of soldiers sang with fine spirit. At this place I visited the battlefield of Stone River, where in the closing days of 1862 the armies of Rosecrans and Bragg had been pitched against each other in a terrible slaughter. A chaplain of an Indiana regiment, who