Gethsemane and Calvary?

Certain it is that though Lee's army were ragged and poorly fed their
courage was never higher, their faith in their Commander never more
sublime than in those beautiful spring mornings in April when they
burnished their bayonets to receive Grant's overwhelming host.

The Chaplain of Ned Vaughan's regiment was leading a prayer meeting in
the moonlight. An earnest brother was praying fervently for more
manhood, and more courage.

A ragged Confederate kneeling nearby didn't like the drift of his
petition and his patience gave out. He raised his head and called.

"Say, hold on there, brother! You're getting that prayer all wrong. We
don't need no more courage--got so much now we're skeered of ourselves
sometimes. What we need is provisions. Ask the Lord to send us something
to eat. That's what we want now----"

The leader took the interruption in good spirit and added an eloquent
request for at least one good meal a day if the Lord in his goodness and
mercy could spare it.

No persimmon tree was ever stripped without the repetition of their old
joke. They all knew the words by heart,

"Don't eat those persimmons--they're not good for you!"

"I know it, man, I'm just doin' it to pucker my stomach to fit my
rations!"

Ned was passing the door of a cabin in which a prayer meeting of
officers was being held. He was walking with his Colonel who was fond of
a sip of corn whiskey at times. He was slightly deaf.

The leader of the meeting called from the door:

"Won't you join us in prayer, Colonel?"

"Thank you, no, I've just had a little!" he answered innocently.

Ned roared and the brethren inside the cabin joined the laugh.

No body of men of any race ever marched to death with calmer faith than
those ragged lines of grey now girding their loins for the fiercest,
bloodiest struggle in the annals of the world.

Lee allowed Grant to cross the Rapidan unopposed and penetrate the
tangled wilds of the Wilderness. The Southerner knew that in these dense
woods the effectiveness of his opponent's superior numbers would be
vastly reduced. Longstreet's corps had not yet arrived from Gordonsville
where he had been sent to obtain food, and he must concentrate his
forces.

The days were oppressively hot, as the men in blue tramped through the
forest aisles of the vast Virginia jungle--a maze of trees, underbrush
and dense foliage. A pall of ominous silence hung over this labyrinth of
desolation