“On The Battlefield For My Lord”: Chaplain Henry McNeal Turner, Part 4

R3 Editor

*This is the fourth and last installment of “On the Battlefield for My Lord” series. Read the other installments here.

After the capture of Fort Fisher and the Union soldiers moving further South, Turner focused more on describing black/white relations. In Smithville, North Carolina, Turner wrote that the white people “showed a bitter and chagrined countenance, while the blacks appeared timid and doubtful.” One black woman however, did not show any timidity. Turner reported that she found herself in an argument with some white women over the use of some wood. She did the unthinkable in the South at that time—she called one of the white women a liar after they had accused her of lying. The white women in response grabbed clubs to attack the women but Turner intervened.

“Halt!”. Said they, “Who are you?” “A United States Officer,” was my reply. “Well are you going to allow that negro woman to give us impudence.” “You gave her impudence first,” was my reply. “What we give a negro impudence! We want you to know we are white, and are your superiors. You are our inferior, much less she.” “Well,” said I, “All of you put together would not make the equal of my wife, and I have yet to hear her claim superiority over me.”…….Finally, becoming tired of their annoying muscle, I told them to leave or I would imprison the whole party. They then went off, and dispatched one of their party to Head Quarters, to Colonel Barney, to induce him to send a file of men, and have me arrested. But the Colonel, I believe, drove her off, and that was the end of it. I afterwards learned that they were some of the Southern aristocracy (Johnson, 86-90).

Turner also noticed the religious practices of blacks in the South. While Turner later appreciated the ecstatic and celebrant styles of what is now known as Black Worship, Turner was not a fan of it during this time. In mocking tones he noticed how some of the people acted while he preached. Some, he wrote

crying, some laughing, some dancing, some crazy, some drunk, some having a fit, some fighting, some kissing, some clapping hands, some dying &c; and you glean a faint conception of the rhapsodical paroxysms, and the heaving genuflections exhibited on the occasion” (Johnson, 86-90).

Later he compared balls (dancing) to that of African American worship.

…..During this time the assembled crowd becomes enraged at their feet, and in order to vent their spleen, both men and women will stamp, kick, scrape, and knock their heels and toes over the floor, so cruelly that a more civilized person could not but feel sorry for them, especially where most of the persons were bare-footed. And yet this same vulgar fun is countenanced in more enlightened parts of the country, and among what we sometimes style big fish and upper tens. It is certainly a mystery how ladies and gentlemen can take pleasure in leaving their comfortable homes for the purpose of engaging in such outlandish pastimes. But some evil genius or false prophet prompts them to it. Many of our Churches are cursed with the same moral miasma. Talk about having a revival, without cutting similar capers, is regular nonsense. But let a person get a little animated, fall down and roll over awhile, kick a few shins crawl under a dozen benches, spring upon his feet, knock some innocent person on the nose and set it bleeding, then squeal and kiss (or buss) around for awhile, and the work is all done; whereas, if the individual had claimed justification under more quiet circumstances, its legitimacy would have been doubted. O, that people could learn, that “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Johnson, 96-99).

Turner however, began to think about this differently after overhearing a conversation two men had.

I was struck by a remark made recently by a gentleman:- “Do you hear those negroes over yonder making all that fuss,” said he. “Yes,” was the reply. “Well,” said he, “Some of those ignorant fuss makers will be living with God in peace when such fellows as you and I will be scrambling all over hell.” The uncouthness of the phrase did not in the least detract from the genuine meaning with which it was pregnant. However meager our moral and devotional conception may be of the intrinsic truths of the Bible, those who embrace them with an undeviating determination draw out a signal majesty from th

em, whose reactionary power will be felt and improved upon by the most hard-hearted sinner (Johnson, 138-141).

After the Confederate surrender and the end of the War, Turner continued to write about the new relations between blacks and whites. In a humorous story, Turner wrote about the time the men in his regiment, as they marched along, came across a river which they had to cross. They commence to wade in the water, some clothed and other not, to get to the other side and continue their march. The white women, Turner wrote, “watched with the utmost intensity” as many of the soldiers were naked. Turner further wrote:

I suppose they desired to see whether these audacious Yankees were really men, made like other men, or if they were a set of varmints. So they thronged the windows, porticos and yards, in the finest attire imaginable. Our brave boys would disrobe themselves, hang their garments upon their bayonets and through the water they would come, walk up the street, and seem to say to the feminine gazers, “Yes, though naked, we are your masters” (Johnson, 127-132).

When Turner arrived in Augusta, Georgia in December of 1865, he had much on his mind. He had a job as a chaplain with the Freedmen’s Bureau, yet his heart pulled him to focus more on his church work. He believed he could do both, but as the demands grew and with the resignation of James Lynch and the death of William Gaines, Turner decided to resign his chaplaincy position and turn his complete focus to the church. When Turner arrived there, the churches, not unlike many of the people Turner encountered, were in disarray. Therefore, he focused his attention on helping the freed people establish themselves in the “new South” while at the same time, building the AME church.

Works Cited

Johnson, Andre E. and Henry McNeal Turner (ed). An African American Pastor Before and During the American Civil War. The Literary Archive of Henry McNeal Turner, Vol 2: The Chaplain Letters. Edwin Mellen Press, 2012

“On the Battlefield for My Lord”: Chaplain Henry McNeal Turner, Part 4