Divine Service by Moonlight...

[connecticut yankee]

"I reached home a little after sun down and after supper, went over to the camp of the 2d Del. Regt., where they were having divine service by moonlight. It was a very impressive sight, I assure you, to see these soldiers with uncovered heads, lying about the ground, or sitting on a neighboring fence enclosing a lot where reposed the remains of about a dozen soldiers killed in battle; a few standing, and all with their eyes bent upon a middle aged man, evidently a chaplain, who was preaching to them 'neath the blue canopy of heaven', by the light of a most lovely moon. We see strange things in the army, and this night meeting struck me as among the strangest I've yet seen. Within rifle shot of the enemy did this meeting take place. After the last prayer, the crowd had dispersed to their little shelter tents…"

Lt. William Washburn of the 35th Massachusetts Vol. Inf.
In front of Petersburg July 17, 1864, (2 weeks before he was wounded at Petersburg and taken prisoner)

 

[7thWisconsin]

Nice description of a worship service. The next day was a bloody frontal assault on the Confederate works.