"A Soldier's Prayer" by Joseph Warren Speight

A Soldier's Prayer

"Taps" have sounded and all is still,
Deep silence reigns, no light no sound
Disturbs the stillness of the camp;
The watchful sentries make their round.
Though night moves on, no sleep for me,
My thoughts are winged, they fly they roam,
Far, far away to those I love,
My wife, my children, and my home.

And here beneath my soldier's tent,
Though midnight's solemn hour it be,
There is an eye that sees us all---
My prayer ascends, O God, to Thee;
God of the faithful, of the strong,
God of the weak, God of the brave,
My native land, O God protect
My home, my wife, my children save.

At Thy behest do nations rise;
Let Thy right arm our cause defend,
The right secure, our country bless,
For this, O God, our prayers ascend;
Extend the shadow of thy wing,
Thou who seeist the sparrow's fall,
And those for whom I live,
My wife, my children, country---all.

And where the din of battle comes,
Be thou, O God, a shield and friend,
Oh, nerve my arm; be Thou our strength
Our homes, our altars to defend,
And swiftly speed the day, O Lord,
When war shall cease and peace shall reign,
When with our loved ones far away,
We'll all unite at home again.

Joseph Warren Speight (1825-1888)

This poem appeared in the Waco Morning News on 31 Oct 1911.  The article said that the poem was written on the back of a piece of discarded wallpaper and had been recently picked up in a Confederate camp. 

Judson Cicero and Warwick Jenkins - Civil War

We plan to write more about this as information is discovered but Judson Cicero Jenkins (1839-1891) was the half-brother of Warwick Jenkins.  Cicero served in the 8th Texas Cavalry along with B. H. Carroll, a name that is familiar to Texas Baptists.  After the war, Cicero practiced law with Warwick in Waco until Cicero died in 1891.  After Cicero's death, his widow Julia Dean Jenkins received a Confederate pension from the U. S. Government.  On the roster of the 8th Texas Cavalry was a W. H. Jenkins, but this was William Herndon "Bill" Jenkins, we believe, a neighbor of the Carrolls from Caldwell, Texas.

Warwick was eight years younger than Cicero, having been born in 1847.  He was 14 1/2 when the Civil War began and Warwick was living with his mother, Harriet Ann Daniel Jenkins, in Waco.  To the best of our knowledge, he joined the 15th Texas Infantry two years later and served under Joseph W. Speight.  Annie Jenkins Sallee writes that Warwick served in Company G (a cavalry unit) under Waller and within that Company, in Green's Brigade.  At this point, we have not found his name on a roster.  Though the activities of the 15th Texas Infantry are well documented, we have not yet found a great deal of personal information other than that of the officers: the Speights, Harrisons and some others.  They were all family friends and later fellow members of First Baptist Church of Waco.

Many of the families were eventually related by marriage.  B. H. Carroll married Hallie Harrison after the death of Ellen Bell Carroll, his wife of many years.  Warwick Jenkins married Jessie Speight, daughter of Joseph W. Speight.