Syracuse in 1859 was the West.  I felt there all the influences that are now western.  Now there is no West left.  They have chased it into the Pacific Ocean.

In 1862 I accepted a call to the Second Reformed Church of Philadelphia.

What remembrances come to me, looking backward to this period of our terrific national carnalism!  I shall never forget the first time I ever saw Abraham Lincoln.  We followed into his room, at the White House, a committee that had come to Washington to tell the President how to conduct the war.  The saddest-looking man I ever saw was Abraham Lincoln.  He had a far-away look while he stood listening to an address being made to him by one of the committee, as though beyond and far and wide he could see the battlefields and hospitals and conflagrations of national bereavement.  One of our party asked for his autograph; he cheerfully gave it, asking, “Is that all I can do for you?” He was at that time the most abused man in America.

I remember the alarm in Philadelphia when General Lee’s army invaded Pennsylvania.  Merchants sent their goods quietly to New York.  Residents hid their valuables.  A request for arms was made at the arsenals, and military companies were organised.  Preachers appealed to the men in their congregations, organised companies, engaged a drill sergeant, and carried on daily drills in the yards adjoining their churches.

In the regiment I joined for a short time there were many clergymen.  It was the most awkward squad of men ever got together.  We drilled a week or two, and then disbanded.  Whether General Lee heard of the formation of our regiment or not I cannot say, but he immediately retreated across the Potomac.

There were in Philadelphia and its vicinity many camps of prisoners of war, hospitals for the sick and wounded.  Waggon trains of supplies for the soldiers were constantly passing through the streets.  I was privileged to be of some service in the field to the Christian Commission.  With Dr. Brainerd and Samuel B. Falls I often performed some duty at the Cooper shop; while with George H. Stuart and George T. Merigens I invited other cities to make appeals for money to forward the great work of the Secretary and Christian Commissions.  In our churches we were constantly busy getting up entertainments and fairs to help those rendered destitute by the loss of fathers and brothers in the field.

Just before the battle of Gettysburg a long procession of clergymen, headed by Dr. Brainerd, marched to Fairmount Park with spades over their shoulders to throw up entrenchments.  The victory of the Federal troops at Vicksburg and Gettysburg rendered those earthworks unnecessary.

A distinguished gentleman of the Civil War told me that Abraham Lincoln proposed to avoid our civil conflict by purchasing the slaves of the South and setting them free.  He calculated what would be a reasonable price for them, and when the number of millions of dollars that would be required for such a purpose was announced the proposition was scouted, and the North would not have made the offer, and the South would not have accepted it, if made.