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008 - Ch7 - Was It a Miracle · Prison Life in Andersonville

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven of Prison Life in Andersonville by John Levy Miley.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Smith, New Orleans, Louisiana. Was it a miracle? A
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  Speaker 1: profound conviction has been cherished by many that the unsealing
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  Speaker 1: of Providence spring was as marked an interposition of the
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  Speaker 1: hand of the Almighty as that recorded in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of Numbers, where it is said, and Moses lifted up
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  Speaker 1: his hand and smote the rock with his rod twice,
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  Speaker 1: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drink Numbers
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty, verse eleven. Are they wrong in this conviction?
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  Speaker 1: The unwontedness of the incident admits of no dispute. In
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  Speaker 1: such a sober work as Rhodes History of the United States,
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  Speaker 1: we have the statement after a severe storm, a spring
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  Speaker 1: broke out within the enclosure Andersonville Stockade, and this became
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  Speaker 1: one of the main reliances for drinking water Volume five,
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  Speaker 1: page four ninety two. And I witness records about the
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  Speaker 1: first of August showers fell that beat anything I ever saw.
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  Speaker 1: There was one good result, for where the stockade was
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  Speaker 1: washed away on the north side, it opened a spring
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  Speaker 1: of pure water enough to supply nearly the whole of
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  Speaker 1: the prison. The narrative of Amos E. Sterns Company, A
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  Speaker 1: twenty fifth Regiment, Massachusetts, published by Franklin Pierce eighteen eighty seven.
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  Speaker 1: While comparatively few of the prisoners knew of the days
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  Speaker 1: of prayer that preceded the storm, everyone recognized that something
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  Speaker 1: out of the ordinary course of events had happened, and
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  Speaker 1: that a new spirit pervaded the camp. Before this, no
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  Speaker 1: one would give a dying man a drink, for water
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  Speaker 1: was scarce, and the scurvy in the recipient's mouth might
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  Speaker 1: contaminate the cup for its owner. And indeed not many
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  Speaker 1: had the strength to wait upon others. But now the dull, somber,
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  Speaker 1: despairing mood was changed. The little stream of pure water
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  Speaker 1: contrasted with the former slew that supplied us, murmured sweetly
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  Speaker 1: down through the night, and during the day it overbrimmed
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  Speaker 1: thousands of cups that eager hands reached fourth In after days.
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  Speaker 1: Many of these men were gathered at Camp Chase, Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: and there detained until improved health rendered them presentable for
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  Speaker 1: return home. We recall that when in the chapel of
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  Speaker 1: that place, a Captain Allen conducted evening religious services. Hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of testimonies were given to the effect that the breaking
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  Speaker 1: out of the spring at Andersonville was a distinct answer
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  Speaker 1: to prayer and a convincing fact of the reality of
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  Speaker 1: help coming from above. Many of the speakers declared that
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  Speaker 1: their Christian faith began from that occurrence. Questions such as
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  Speaker 1: the following naturally arise? Was providence spring a miracle? Would
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  Speaker 1: the saving relief have been withheld if prayer had not
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  Speaker 1: been offered? The situation is not more difficult of analysis
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  Speaker 1: than is that described in the story of Queen Ester,
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  Speaker 1: whereas exhibited the interplay of natural and supernatural elements in
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  Speaker 1: human activity and divine overruling. The northern section of the
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  Speaker 1: Andersonville Enclosure was mainly a bank of clay, as evidenced
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  Speaker 1: by the many wells which were partially sunk but filled
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  Speaker 1: by order of Captain Wurtz, because tunnels therefrom were dug
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  Speaker 1: for escape. The vein of water which issued in Providence
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  Speaker 1: spring doubtless flowed from time immemorial, and, being unable to
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  Speaker 1: work upward through a too great overpress of clay, had
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  Speaker 1: found a lower scene through which it seeped into the
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  Speaker 1: depths of the swamp below. This implied fact was low
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  Speaker 1: earned as follows. As the prison administration was unable to
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  Speaker 1: cook meal and bacon for the increasing thousands of men,
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  Speaker 1: these articles were issued raw for two weeks alternately to
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  Speaker 1: the north and south sides of the enclosure. A distressingly
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  Speaker 1: small lot of wood must suffice a detachment of two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy men for three days. Often the individual
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  Speaker 1: portion would not make a fire that would scald, much
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  Speaker 1: less cook the scant portion of corn meal, which was
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  Speaker 1: sometimes coarse and unbolted. It was said that more than
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  Speaker 1: ten thousand cases of bloody dysentery prevailed at one time,
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  Speaker 1: aggravated by irritation to stomach and intestines from the practically
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  Speaker 1: uncooked food. The awful, unsanitary conditions which prevailed can be described,
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  Speaker 1: but respect for the sensibilities of the reader forbids, suffice
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  Speaker 1: it to say that the need for fuel was urgent
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  Speaker 1: that a number of the stronger captives would lay aside
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  Speaker 1: their tattered remnants of clothing, weighed into the slimy muck
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  Speaker 1: of the swamp, and sinking to their armpits, would pull
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  Speaker 1: up fragments of wood that had long been submerged. This
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  Speaker 1: was mostly pitch pine, and when broken up, would quickly burn.
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  Speaker 1: The work of exhuming fuel under such repulsive conditions was
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  Speaker 1: chiefly done at night. It was noticed that in the
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  Speaker 1: morning the partially remaining footprints and depression from which the
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  Speaker 1: stick had been drawn were filled with clear water. This
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  Speaker 1: fact was a mystery until after the spring was opened.
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  Speaker 1: Then the conclusion was reached that the spring water followed
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  Speaker 1: a deep seam in the clay and oozed into the
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  Speaker 1: swamp some distance below the surface, and rose up through
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  Speaker 1: the openings made by the wood diggers. Therefore, providence spring
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  Speaker 1: was not especially created to order like topsy. It had
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  Speaker 1: all has been the providential. Aspects of the case may
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  Speaker 1: be thus stated. The spring existed but was unknown. It
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  Speaker 1: was located under the space between the deadline and the stockade,
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  Speaker 1: through which digging for a well was not permitted. It
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  Speaker 1: therefore remained undiscovered. The out of plumb position of the
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  Speaker 1: stockade timbers had existed for a long time, but was
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  Speaker 1: not noticed by the officials until the time when prayer
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  Speaker 1: began to be offered for water. As the petitions of
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  Speaker 1: Esther and Mordecai unknown to the King in a manner
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  Speaker 1: unseene affected his action. So by analogy, the prayer of
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  Speaker 1: Sergeant Shepherd and his colleagues influenced the state of mind
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  Speaker 1: of the quartermaster and of commandant words, and they were
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  Speaker 1: moved to the repairing of the stockade, which had long
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  Speaker 1: been neglected. This decision led to the forming of a
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  Speaker 1: broad trench by digging away the ground to afford the
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  Speaker 1: needed watershed from the base of the stockade. Thus a
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  Speaker 1: channel was formed which gathered the storm water with force
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  Speaker 1: sufficient to tear away the ground over the spring and
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  Speaker 1: release the life giving fountain. The slaves removed quite a
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  Speaker 1: depth of the earth directly over the u unknown reservoir.
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  Speaker 1: Thus the deepest part of the trench was brought so
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  Speaker 1: near the spring that the rush of the storm flow
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  Speaker 1: could do the rest. The spring water was uncovered, and
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  Speaker 1: its pressure was sufficient to throw it into the air. However,
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  Speaker 1: as it was located on the forbidden margin, any prisoner
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  Speaker 1: reaching under or over the deadline for a draft of
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  Speaker 1: the water would be instantly shot by the sentinel posted
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  Speaker 1: overhead on the wall. Hence, after the spring was opened,
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  Speaker 1: an object of much desire and suitable as a subject
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  Speaker 1: of prayer was that the hardness of Captain Wurtz would
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  Speaker 1: be relaxed to the extent of allowing the prisoners to
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  Speaker 1: have access to the water. This result was accomplished, and
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  Speaker 1: the relief is complete. A recent writer, commenting on the
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  Speaker 1: development of Providence Spring, refers to the Marble fountain erected
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  Speaker 1: by the ex Prisoners of War Association inside the granite
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  Speaker 1: pavilion built over the spring by the Women's Relief Corps. Remarks,
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  Speaker 1: the waters flow strong and sweet, with a never ceasing
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  Speaker 1: stream into the Marble basin. It is said to be
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  Speaker 1: the best water in all Georgia, that which gushes forth
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  Speaker 1: from the side of the little hill in Andersonville. Confirmatory
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  Speaker 1: to this statement is the following incident. In eighteen ninety six,
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  Speaker 1: when the writer lectured in Warsaw, New York, on reminiscences
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  Speaker 1: of Battlefields and Prisons, a prominent war veteran of the town,
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  Speaker 1: who had been a member of the staff of General Grant,
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  Speaker 1: showed him a bottle of water from Providence Spring, which
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  Speaker 1: nine years before had been hermetically sealed by the Reverend G.
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  Speaker 1: Stanley Lathrop of Atlanta. So pure was the content that
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  Speaker 1: no sediment existed. The further comment is the scientific fact
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  Speaker 1: of Providence Spring is that in the August electrical storm,
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  Speaker 1: the clay which held back this spring were cracked or
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  Speaker 1: broken open by a lightning bolt, and the waters gushed forth.
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  Speaker 1: No one ever believed that it was a sort of
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  Speaker 1: Moses intervention for the prisoners, but it was undoubtedly looked
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  Speaker 1: upon in that light by the poor, thirsty, half starved prisoners,
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  Speaker 1: to which we reply that if we believe in prayer
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  Speaker 1: as an instrumentality by which human and divine forces cooperate
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  Speaker 1: to a beneficent end, and the result takes place, why
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  Speaker 1: should we question the efficacy of intercession. The fact that
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  Speaker 1: a number of believing men in the prison were engaged
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  Speaker 1: for some days in protracted prayer for relief from water
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  Speaker 1: famine was not ostentatiously announced at the time and was
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  Speaker 1: little noticed by the crowd. Thus has it ever been
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  Speaker 1: with the origin of great spiritual movements. The relief came,
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  Speaker 1: and a new spirit of hope and gladness, such as
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  Speaker 1: prevailing prayer engenders, swept through the multitude. The scientific fact
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  Speaker 1: of a mighty rainstorm being the visible agency of completing
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  Speaker 1: the opening of Providence Spring fitly coordinates with the moral
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  Speaker 1: force of prayer, as in numberless instances such convergence occurs
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  Speaker 1: in history. Nevertheless, this explanation will probably be accepted or
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  Speaker 1: challenged according to the personal experience of the reader in
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  Speaker 1: matters of Christian faith. In the case of the Smitten
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  Speaker 1: Rock of the Palestine Desert, water doubtless existed in an abundant,
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  Speaker 1: although unknown supply. The Almighty, by the agency of Moses,
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  Speaker 1: brought it forth for the satisfying of a great multitude.
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  Speaker 1: The prophet was commanded to speak to the rock, and
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  Speaker 1: it would give forth water. The response could be from
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  Speaker 1: none other than the creator of all mountains and flowing streams.
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  Speaker 1: And although Moses went beyond the divine command and struck
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  Speaker 1: with a rod instead of speaking with his voice, yet
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  Speaker 1: the divine goodness was not withheld, and the water came abundantly.
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  Speaker 1: So at Andersonville, the sufficient, though unknown supply was close
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  Speaker 1: at hand. Human voices pleading for relief were answered by
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  Speaker 1: him who spoke by the wind, the lightning, and the flood.
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  Speaker 1: It is said that the spiritual desires of our hearts
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  Speaker 1: are the reflection of what God is waiting to do
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  Speaker 1: for us through our own cooperation. Surely, then the prayers
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  Speaker 1: of the Andersonville prisoners for water were incited by him
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  Speaker 1: who saw their dire necessity, and who waited only for
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  Speaker 1: human hands to aid in the release of the fountain
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  Speaker 1: of water which his omnipotence had created. During the subsequent years,
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  Speaker 1: the writer has given the foregoing account in lectures and
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  Speaker 1: conversations to his comrades of the Great Army of the Republic,
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  Speaker 1: and to many others gentlemen of scientific and Christian attainments,
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  Speaker 1: has said that this explanation of the phenomenon of Providence
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  Speaker 1: Spring is the most satisfactory of any that they have heard.
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  Speaker 1: The event here chronicled is commemorated by the erection on
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  Speaker 1: the spot of a granite pavilion, which is appropriately named
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  Speaker 1: Providence Spring. The inscriptions are as follows. This fountain erected
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  Speaker 1: by the National Association of Union ex Prisoners of War
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  Speaker 1: in memory of the fifty two thousand, three hundred forty
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  Speaker 1: five Comrade Dads who were confined here as prisoners of
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  Speaker 1: war and of the thirteen thousand, nine hundred comrades buried
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  Speaker 1: in the adjoining National Cemetery. Dedicated Memorial Day, May thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen hundred and one James Atwell, National Commander S. M. Long,
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  Speaker 1: Adjutant General J. D. Walker, Cham Period ex Period Committee.
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  Speaker 1: A reverse tablet bears the words this pavilion was erected
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  Speaker 1: by the Women's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand Army
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  Speaker 1: of the Republic, in grateful memory of the men who
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  Speaker 1: suffered and died in the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia,
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  Speaker 1: from February eighteen sixty four to April eighteen sixty five.
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  Speaker 1: The prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven. God heard,
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  Speaker 1: and with his thunder cleft the earth and poured his
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  Speaker 1: sweetest waters gushing here. Erected nineteen oh one, end of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven.