by James Ray

William was coming home. Mary’s mind flashed back to the day William was born. She remembered showing him to Mary and Hardy Ray and the other relatives that came to congratulate her. When the women in Crawford County met, usually at church, the new baby was the big news (William McCrary, ancestor of author).

That day, long ago, seemed only yesterday. Now William, her little boy, was a soldier, a man, but still her little boy… and William was coming home! Mary now pondered the thoughts she had the day he left for the war, “Will he come back? Will I ever see him again?” But now William was coming home!

After joining the Ray Guards of Crawford County, March 18, 1862, William’s unit had been placed into the 45th Infantry, Company K, Mary had been greatly concerned. The 45th was sent to Virginia to the very front line defense of the South under Robert E. Lee.

Mary might have despaired even more had she known everything. Some rail transport was available, but most of the thousands of troops on both sides marched hundreds of miles on foot from battle to battle. Shoes wore out in days. The troops had marched the 150 miles from the Shenandoah Valley in 12 days, and by this time the weather had changed drastically. Instead of contending with sunstroke and heat exhaustion, as in the summer, they marched over frozen ground and many with wornout shoes left bloody tracks in the snow.

The stage was being set at Fredericksburg, Virginia, for one of the great battles of the war. As the hours of battle approached, Lee expanded his army to nearly 90,000 men facing a Federal force of 120,000. Fredericksburg would go down in history as a great victory for the Southern forces. The cost in lives, however, for both sides would be staggering. On the Union side, 1,284 would be killed with 9,600 wounded and 1,769 missing. For the Confederates, 595 were killed, 4,061 wounded and 653 would be listed as missing.

In the days preceding the great battle, religious meetings were held in the camps by chaplains and visiting ministers. From a work entitled Christ in the Camp by J. William Jones, DD., Sprinkle Publications, Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1986, one of the ministers recalled:

“I preached to a packed house, and in appealing to the men to accept Christ as their personal Savior then and there, I said, ‘How know you but that ere tomorrow’s sun shall rise the long roll may beat, and this brigade be called to meet the enemy? It may be that some of these brave men are hearing now their last message of salvation.’”

Numerous meetings like this were held throughout the camps. Thousands of New Testaments were given to the men. The religious meetings in the camps at Fredericksburg were described as a mighty revival. Hundreds responded to the invitations accepting Christ.

The men who so responded received their Bibles and retreated to their tents that night to read and to pray. Also from Christ in the Camp, a young soldier penned the following verse to describe the atmosphere of those meetings in the camp and the spirit-filled messenger who had come to bring God closer:

The rich light fell tenderly
and like a heaven-sent blessing
Upon the prayerful, upturned faces
Of a great multitude.

The music ceased, and looking up,
I saw, through lingering tears,
A man of God with book in hand,
He spoke, and then it seemed
As if that living mass had but one heart,
One mighty quivering, throbbing heart,
And each word pierced it through.

And strong men cowered
Before his searching words, and every eye
Was drawn to his, and helpless hands were wrung,
And tears welled up unbidden,
To eyes unused to weep, and the rent heart,
The mighty heart of that great multitude,
Sent up its terrible wail.

A holy silence fell
Upon us then, I know not what he said;
I know not how he prayed; I only know
I felt his words within my inmost soul,
And bowed in awe, for God was very near.”

GOD WAS VERY NEAR … as well as death and eternity. As the fog rose in midmorning of December 16, from the plain southeast of Fredericksburg, Federal troops drove toward the hills defended by Jackson’s Confederates. The Battle of Fredericksburg had opened. William McCrary, with other Georgia forces, fought bravely and was commended later for valor.

How precious October had been to have William home on furlough. Those days were cherished like apples of gold in Mary and Wiley’s hearts. Now the cold December winds were blowing and the Battle of Fredericksburg was over. William was coming home.

It could be safely assumed that friends gathered with Mary and Wiley to meet the wagon. Probably Mary and Hardy Ray were there. Mary Ray was Wiley McCrary’s sister. William was her nephew. Wiley and Mary McCrary nervously watched the dirt road for signs of the wagon. Would it ever come?

At last the sound of horses and the wagon was there in front of the house. Mary’s heart was in her throat. The McCrarys and Rays stood vigil, bracing each other, as the coffin was unloaded with its precious cargo packed in charcoal for preservation. WILLIAM was HOME!

A thousand thoughts and questions raced through her mind: “What were his last thoughts? Did he suffer? Was there any last message–any letters–was he prepared to meet God?”

Mary and Wiley would later know of the great revival that had spread throughout the army at Fredericksburg before the battle. They would hear of the thousands responding to Christ and the thousands of Bibles given to the men. Was William in those meetings? Did he prepare to meet God before the battle? Did he die with HOPE?

When tender hands unpacked his meager possessions, sent along with his body, a little book fell out … a Bible … a Bible given to William at Fredericksburg during the great “turning to God,”

… and the Little Book Said it All:
William was Home!

[William McCrary was cousin to the great grandfather of the author. William McCrary fought in the Confederate Army in the 45th Georgia Infantry, Company K. William enlisted March 18, 1862, for three years. It is recorded in the Confederate Army records that he was KILLED December 16, 1862, at Fredericksburg, Virginia.]