“I Was Not Scared”

by John Comer

UNION GENERAL G. B. McClellan had a plan to take Richmond, the Rebel capital. He brought his troops by ship down the Chesapeake Bay, moved up the Virginia peninsula, and soon was knocking at Richmond’s back door.

The Confederate defense of Richmond had been handled dismally. Its fall would be devastating for the South, so President Davis took Robert E. Lee away from a desk job and turned the Army of Northern Virginia over to him. Within seven days Lee led his troops into seven engagements with the Union invaders. This became known as the Seven Days Battle.

The last of these engagements took place at Malvern Hill. The Union forces had solid rows of cannon, lined up hub to hub, firing down a long slope at the charging Confederate infantry. Confederate General D. H. Hill said, “It was not war. It was murder.”

Two Confederate soldiers in this action were Miles and John Lewis, brothers of my great-grandmother. A month after these battles, Miles and John were encamped at Falling Creek, just south of Richmond, where the army was recovering. John could barely walk. He could not see, and said his eyes were mending slowly. In a letter to their family in north Georgia, he dictated these words to Miles, who scribed these words for him: “When I get well enough, if God grants me that blessing, I will write . . . .

“I am thankful to my Maker that he spared me through the battles. There was about 150 cannon a-firing at one time. I never heard such a thunder before, but I was not scared.”

John was a brave young man. I think, though, he might have been a smarter man had he known a scary situation when he saw one. It might even have prevented his battle injuries. His father was a Methodist preacher, and John may have been remembering that “Fear not!” often appears in the Bible.

We Christians know that Christ has won the final victory in the war against Satan, though for now there are daily battles to be fought. Scripture does not depict Satan as having rows of cannon thundering at us, but it does remind us of our Christian warfare, and that we must put on the full armor of God and stay alert. There will be some scary battles along the way, but for Christ’s ultimate triumph, we need have no fear. He will bring us safely through to victory.