love wins

While touring Antietam I heard a story that was new to me and captured my attention -

On August 22, 1838, Samuel Mumma Jr. was born in a little white brick farmhouse near Sharpsburg, Maryland.  Samuel was one of thirteen children.  He grew up playing on green rolling hills, working in the fields and was baptized in Antietam Creek.  Samuel's parents were devout Dunkers (German Baptists).  They believed in equality, pacifism, and service

Their peace and tranquility ended on September 17, 1862.  Confederate and Union armies swarmed the countryside in the Battle of Antietam.   The Mumma family fled to their church north of the battle grounds.  That day, Robert E. Lee ordered Confederate soldiers to burn the Mumma farmhouse to the ground so that Union snipers could not use it as a home base.

A few days later the Mumma family returned home to total devastation.  Crops were trampled, livestock killed, a pile of ashes where their house had been.  As the armies were burying soldiers on both sides of their land, the Mummas began to rebuild the farm.  They had to start from scratch.  It took eighteen back breaking months.  

Fast forward to 1890.   Samuel Mumma Jr. still lived in Sharpsburg.  He and his wife had two grown sons and seven daughters. At almost 70 years of age, Samuel took the job of town postmaster.

One day a letter arrived at the post office.  It was from James Clark of New Burn, North Carolina. James said that he was the officer who reluctantly followed orders to burn the Mumma farm.  James and several other soldiers tossed a piece of burning campfire wood through an open window where it landed on a straw mattress, soon engulfing the house in flames.  James had felt terrible about this for years and now had written this letter of apology.  Would the postmaster please forward this letter to the family who had lived in that home?

As Samuel read James' letter, memories of his childhood home came back to him.  He remembered the helplessness of losing everything, the anger from needless destruction, the toll on his parents.  And then he remembered the principles of his faith - peace, love, forgiveness.  Samuel sent a letter back to James.  He assured James that he understood the young soldier was only acting under orders and that the Mumma family held no grudge and offered their  full forgiveness.  He sent James some postcards with scenes of Antietam as a good will gift.  For Samuel and James, once again, the war was over.

There is a plaque outside the Dunker church of Antietam pictured above.

The Battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest battles in the history of this nation. Yet, one of the most noted landmarks on this great field of combat is a house of worship associated with peace and love. Indeed, the Dunker Church ranks as perhaps one of the most famous churches in American military history. This historic structure began as a humble country house of worship constructed by local Dunker farmers in 1852. It was Mr. Samuel Mumma, owner of the nearby farm that donated the land the church is on.

Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.  Jude 1:2

courage

Mr. Brooks and I sat on his porch enjoying a little lite summer weather.  He told me about his upcoming trip to Charleston to see his two teen-age grandsons.  He planned to tell them that he was now on hospice and, as he put it, "start preparing them for what's coming."  Then he turned to me and asked "are you afraid of dying?"


What a question.  I told him that I worry about what my boys would do without me. I sure don't want to die.  But right now it doesn't cause me a lot of fear.   "But, with you just joining hospice, it's more of a reality for you, Mr. Brooks.  Are you afraid?"


"I don't think so." He said.  "I don't want to either.  I know my grandsons will be sad, and I don't like that.  But I think I am ready for whatever."


Brave man.  


This weekend we were in Maryland.  On Sunday, we got to go on a four hour tour of Antietam Battlefield.  (great fun for us history buffs!)  At one point our guide had us sit behind the fence (pictured) on Bloody Lane.   During the Civil War, Union and Confederate soldiers fought for almost four hours on this very road.  Casualties, in the end, totaled about five thousand, making this the bloodiest battle fought at Antietam.  


Our guide had us picture what it would be like to be hunched down on that road.  Listening to the sounds of bullets flying by and wounded men crying out.  Waiting for the enemy to crest the hill so we could attack.  Knowing our chances of surviving were almost zero.


I thought about the young soldiers.  15 years old, 19, 24.  Waiting for their moment....  And then I had to stop thinking about it.  It is unimaginable.  If dying of old age, in your lovely home, surrounded by a compassionate hospice team is hard, than what do you call Bloody Lane?


Bottom line.  Death takes courage.  And life takes courage too.  Whether we are a hospice patient, a Union soldier, a mom, a chaplain, a student, or a friend - there are always moments where we need courage.


I bought this magnet yesterday at Barnes and Noble.  It's on my fridge so I can see it often.


courage does not always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow."  mary anne radmacher