A Confederate Soldiers Prayer Bookmark

Front:
(poem) I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I may learn to humbly obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be …

Front:
(poem) I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I may learn to humbly obey. I asked for health, that I might do greater things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things. I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God. I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things. I got nothing that i asked for, but got everything that I hope for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among all people, most richly Blessed.

Back:
The lines written on the obverse of this bookmark were found penciled upon a scrap of paper which was discovered inside a jack pocket on the body of a Confederate Soldier. Unfortunately his name, age and Regiment were not recorded, nor was the date or battlefield. He is known only to God and his verses have become know as: A Confederate Soldiers Prayer. He and his kinsmen were not fighting to preserve slavery, nor for the license to pilfer the treasury of others. He and they fought for the righteous cause of the defense of hearth and home and the preservation of that most sacred right which is to live under a government of Law as established by their father and grand fathers.