The First American Army - Bruce Chadwick [47]
The journey of Greenwood’s regiment down the lake was slow and languid. At its narrow sections they could see deer and a wide array of small animals on the shores and some of the birds that lived off the lake, such as the great blue heron, bald eagle, and the marsh wren. Osprey occasionally flew overhead.
From time to time, when the men were tired from rowing on calm days, or when it became very hot as the sun was reflected off the lake, Greenwood pulled out his fife and played some music. As always, the men appreciated it and, after a few moments of rest, rowed again, the splashing sounds of their oars dipping into the lake accompanied by some lively tunes on the fife and the squawks of a bird soaring high above them.
Chapter Ten
THE HEALERS:
The Reverend, the Doctor, and the Smallpox Scourge
The Rev. Ammi Robbins’s journey toward the valley of death began on March 18, 1776. His departure from his home near Canaan, in the northwest corner of Connecticut, for service as a chaplain in the Continental Army could not have been more pleasant. He met friend and fellow minister Rev. Farrand in Canaan and together they rode six miles north to Sheffield, Massachusetts, just over the Connecticut state line, to the home of Robbins’s sister, who was also married to a minister, the Rev. John Keep. The three ministers and Robbins’s sister enjoyed a lengthy dinner and then prayed together. On the following morning, Rev. Robbins left the comfort of friends and family and headed into the heart of the American Revolution.
Robbins was a thirty-five-year-old Presbyterian minister from a state that had sent thousands of young men to war. He had joined the Continental Army because he hoped that as a chaplain he would be able to heal the hearts and souls of the men in the service who were risking their lives every day in the battle for independence that had lasted for nearly a year.
He was one of the many spiritual healers who volunteered to serve in the army after the Revolution began in the spring of 1775. The military had no difficulty signing up ministers. The men of God, who received officers’ pay, were eager to join the army because they saw the rebellion as not just a political and military revolution, but a campaign to redeem men’s souls, the logical extension of the Great Awakening.
George Washington believed that it was important to have many chaplains in the service. He believed that the comfort they could provide the men was as important as military leadership and that a fear of God helped to maintain discipline. The chaplains were not asked to do much more than they did for their congregations back home: they were charged with offering two prayer services on Sunday and one daily service during the week, if they so chose. They were to visit the sick and dying in the field hospitals when and if they could. They were to comfort anyone who sought them out. Some chaplains were good and some were bad, just like some doctors and officers.
Some ministers offered just one Sunday service and some faked illness to avoid Sunday work at all. Others offered a service every day in addition to their Sunday chores. Some ministers never visited the sick and some visited the hospitals all the time. Most of the army’s chaplains in winter or summer camps were local ministers who added army duties to their congregational responsibilities; others traveled with the army twelve months a year. Only a few served for more than one year; Rev. David Avery served for five. They all believed that they were appreciated by the troops, especially the enlisted men and the homesick young soldiers far from their villages and loved ones.
The men of God put their lives at risk. Some chaplains died of illnesses during the war and some were killed in accidents. At least one committed suicide.