WAR TIME MINISTRIES [ASC#2]*
Any church which has been actively serving a community of believers since 1740 is sure to have a varied history. Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church, at Fort Defiance, Virginia is one of them and it is interesting to look at the minister who served that church during Civil War year.
His biography takes every bit of one-half page in the book detailing the accomplishments of other ministers who have served the church until our own time. He is dubbed “the martyred minister” for something he did after he left the areas. His wartime Christian ministry is all but ignored and we wonder why his was done.
It appears that the mission of the church was was influenced by the rigorous demands of war. Indications are that the church was more or less dormant during the years of conflict, but it certainly it was not from any shortcoming on the part of the young minister. He compared favorably with the five previous pastors at the church as far as education. background and bearing were concerned. His abilities have not been criticized; they have been ignored, possibly by followers who lacked the courage to set him forth as a record of mutual beliefs which have, because of the wars end became largely discredited in a public sense.
Other writings about the Rev. Francis H.. Bowman, fifth minister of the Old Stone church, say he was a “100%-plus” Confederate who is said to have spent more time in jail than in the pulpit for his beliefs and expressed sentiments. He appears to have spoken out often concerning issues of the day. A letter written by a young Confederate soldier camping in the area is quoted in praise of the young minister who preached at the stone church on the hill above the Valley Pike/Indian Road.
It would seem we had a young man of ability who was sacrificed on the altar of war. In other times his life might well have been different and chapters would have been written concerning his views. His brief place in the church's history depends largely on a selfless act of compassion as symbol of his life .
After the war an epidemic of cholera or yellow fever rose to epidemic proportions in the Memphis, Tennessee area and Rev. Francis H. Bowman, of Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church, volunteered to be among those who went into the stricken area to minister to all in need. He came back briefly to Charlottesville, where his parents resided; sickened with the fever he had fought and died ...a martyr in service to Mankind in another time of stress.
We owe something to this man today, when we face the ravages of war so frequently. He, as others do today, spoke of the Prince of Peace in times of war which is not an easy thing to undertake.
A.L.M. October 22. 2003 {505wds]
*[ASC]one of a series concerning the history of Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church, Ft. Defiance, Va.
