Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
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“May 12…Letters from Richmond. Great solitude felt. Lord, deliver our Capitol from our invaders. Went to the new hospital, conversed with all the sick. Found several Baptists, Methodists, etc. Enjoyed talking with them. After resting went to the other hospital and visited all the wards but one and talked with the sick.
[May] 18th. – It is just – we have sinned and God has frowned. I preached from “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him.”
[May] 24th…Went to hospital – spent very pleasant time. The sick seem so thankful for Christian sympathy.
While he was absent from home, attending the regular session of the Ministers and Deacons’ Meeting of the Eastern Association, held at Bear Marsh, Duplin county, news came that the seven days’ battles around Richmond had commenced [in late June, 1862]. Among the gallant young spirits engaged in the bloody strife was some representative from every family, and the anxiety which pervaded the assembly was painful to witness. Nor was it without cause, as the list of casualties afterwards proved. Mr. P. [Rev. Prichard] announced his intention to go to Richmond to aid in caring for the sick and wounded, and the next day found him on the way to the Southern Capitol. A week was spent in crowded hospitals, in ministering to the sufferers.
He writes:
“I make it a point to talk to each individual about his soul and ascertain whether he has a hope in Christ. It is interesting to find so large a percentage of pious persons and especially of Baptists. I regard this as one of the most interesting fields for the minister and colporter. I love the work.”
And again:
“North Carolina has suffered severely in the recent battles. Not less than 3,000 has she lost in killed, wounded and missing. Her devotion to the cause can never be questioned.”
About three weeks afterwards he again visited Richmond in charge of a car containing fruits, vegetables and other articles needed for the sick and wounded, sent from Wilmington and other parts on the [Wilmington & Weldon rail] road. The distribution of these articles involved much labor but he cheerfully performed it, feeling that he could not do too much for his country’s defenders. Of this trip he writes:
“At almost every station additions were made to the load. I wish you could have seen the quantity at Warsaw, Faison’s, Mount Olive and other places. Another car could have been almost filled.” His labors on behalf of the soldiers, continued to the close of his life, were highly appreciated by them…In this connection we give a touching testimonial furnished by a soldier after Mr. P’s decease:
“I never knew him well,” says the writer, “until the summer before God took him from us. He had come to Richmond on a mission of mercy to the sick and wounded soldiers from North Carolina. It was a work of love and pleasure with him. Being at home wounded, at the time, I was constantly thrown into his company, and never have I seen a man more earnest or conscientious in the discharge of his duty. From early morning till the night he was engaged passing from one bedside to another in the various hospitals.
Once I urged him to rest. Said he, in reply, “While I rest this evening, some man may die whom I might tell of Jesus. No, I must work.”
In 1862, I stood with him on the shell covered beach at Fort Caswell, N.C. The surf was rolling heavily in, and wave after wave broke at our feet. He stood in deep thought, looking out on the vast expanse, for some minutes, and presently exclaimed: “Life is like those restless billows, O for peace, for rest in Jesus!”
(Memoir of Rev. John L. Prichard, Late Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Wilmington, N.C., Rev. J. D. Hufham, Hufham & Hughes Publishers, 1867, pp. 132-136)
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Ministering To The Sick And Wounded
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