Dr. James Henley Thornwell, was perhaps the greatest preacher and theologian which South Carolina produced. He was President of the University of South Carolina from 1851-56, twice pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia and professor of systematic theology at Columbia Theological Seminary. He said that the South of his time, circa l832-1863 had the most pure Biblical Christianity to be found in the world of that time.

This is why so many of the leaders of the Confederate States, including some Generals were Christians. Not all of them were Christians, but they were all influenced by Christianity. This is proven by the great revival that swept the Army during the second half of the war. During the revival, at least 200,000 men were converted. You may read about this in three great books, Christ in the Camp, Chaplains in Grey, and The Great Revival in the Southern Armies. General Robert E. Lee said to a group of soldiers whom he joined for an improvised prayer meeting, “I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation, and need all of the prayers they can offer for me.”

Concerning the Bible, Lee said, the Bible is the book of all books, a book which supplies the place of all others and cannot be replaced.”

After the war, while President of Washington College, Lee said concerning his students, “If I could only know that all were Christians, I should be satisfied.

General Stonewall Jackson, like Lee, was interested in the Gospel being preached to his men. He also made prayer a regular habit. At a council of war one night, Jackson, asked to be excused, saying that he would give his opinion of the plans for an attack the next morning. General A. P. Hill, said laughingly to General Richard Ewell, “Well! I suppose, “Old Jack” wants time to pray over it.” Ewell went immediately went to Jackson’s tent. He stood outside and listened as Jackson prayed, asking God for wisdom and victory. Ewell was so impressed with his commander’s sincere prayers that he told Hill the next day, “if that is religion, I must have it. He made a profession of faith shortly thereafter.

Jackson did all he could to promote preaching, prayer meetings, and the distribution of Bibles and Christian tracts to his soldiers. After he was mortally wounded by North Carolina troops, one of the few items found in his saddle bags were some gospel tracts which he planned to give to his men.

After a battle, Jackson would always write in his official reports: by God’s blessing we have defeated the enemy.” Jackson once said, when meeting with several of his chaplains, “Denominational distinctions should be kept out of view….. I would like to see no question asked in the army of what denomination a chaplain belongs to; but let the question be, does he preach the Gospel?”

It was their faith in God and the gospel of Jesus Christ that gave our Confederate ancestors their valor, their dedication to principal, and their love for their country.

If we want to truly understand our history and our heritage, we must go back to the faith of our fathers. If we are going to win the battle for the Southern cause today, we must turn to God and our Lord Jesus Christ to lead us. As the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 8:34-37: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? As it is written: ‘for your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.