Improvement Era, 1940 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Religion

When Lincoln Called a Day of Prayer By William Carle

HAVING carried for some time an uncertain opinion concerning an event in our nation's history, I addressed a letter to the Librarian of Congress asking for information. My question had reference to the Civil War: "Did President Lincoln call for a day of prayer at a time when a long series of crushing defeats had made the Union cause seem well nigh hopeless; and did the tide of battle immediately turn in favor of the Union?"

I quote now from the Librarian's reply:

"Whenever the occasion seemed to require, Lincoln called his people to their knees in supplication or thanksgiving, as on March 10, 1863, when he announced a Day of National Prayer and Humiliation. . . . This message was born of the bitter disappointments and agonies of the dark days of 1863, days made terrible by the crushing defeat at Fredericksburg. The whole land was burdened with taxes, stricken with sorrow, and harrowed by sentiments of treason. The national debt had grown until, on February 2, 1863, the public credit reached the lowest point in our history. Many regiments in the army of the Potomac had not received pay for six months. Beaten under Burnside, decimated and penniless, the Army of the Potomac had lost its morale, and six hundred desertions were reported daily. Northern editors were clamoring for peace at any price, and Greeley wrote to the President, 'I venture to remind you that the bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country longs for peace.'

"It was in this extremity that Senator Harlan of Iowa called the Senate to the recognition of Jesus Christ in the solemn resolution offered in the Senate at the crucial moment and adopted without a dissenting vote. . . .

"In his proclamation in response to the resolution of the Senate, Mr. Lincoln speaks for himself:

"'Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of God in all the affairs of men and nations, has by resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a Day for National Prayer and Humiliation . . . now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a Day of National Humiliation.

"'Done at the City of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863.'

"The turning point in the military history of the rebellion came during the month of July, 1863. In that month fell Vicksburg . . . and in that month was fought the battle of Gettysburg, by which the last frantic effort to invade the North was frustrated."

These two battles were fought at the same time. My father, Uriah Carle, fought at Gettysburg, and a cousin of his, Jason Carle, died there. My deceased wife's father, Robert A. Henderson, fought at Vicksburg. After these two battles, which were the first important conflicts after the Day of Prayer and Humiliation, the war was almost a continuous series of victories for the Union.

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